In the reign of Tirumalei Nayakkar, the Setu pathi distinguished himself by repelling a Mysorian invasion with an army of 6000 men, for which he was rewarded with a lion-headed palanquin and other insignia by the sovereign of Madura. From the year 1729, the power of the Maravars began rapidly to decline. The Sivaganga zamindari was then formed out of two-fifths of the Ramnad territory, and made over to one Seshavarna Dever.
Ramnad, on its occupation in 1772 by the British under General Joseph Smith, became an integral portion of the British Indian empire.
There are at present only two Marava zamin daris in Madura, viz. Ramnad and Sivaganga, but Tinnevelly contains more than a dozen, of which Nellitungavale, Chokkampatty, Utumalei, Kadambur, and Tirukanangudi are the chief. Almost all the other polygars are' of the Totia caste, and the descendants of the Telugu chief tains that came with the Nayakkans from Vijaya nagar. The Madura Chronicle tells us that Viswanatha, the first of the Nayakkan dynasty, distributed the country amongst his adherents, to the number of seventy-two, for the better defence of the kingdom. The Maravar's names occur in that list: Professor Wilson says: 'Upon the occupation of Madura by the first Nayak, five rajas are said to have combined to revenge the wrongs of the ancient dynasty of Madura. These petty chiefs
were the ancestors of some of the polygars of the south, who gave so much trouble to the British forces in the middle of the 18th century.' This was not.Cataboma Naick, zamindar of Panchalan curitchy, for he was a Totian, and consequently a Telugu ; the chiefs spoken of being no other than Pulee Taleivar and his confederates, who with stood the British forces in 1755. Being all of the Maravar caste, they refused to pay tribute to the nawab. They were literally swept from off the face of the earth ; for nothing remains of their old grandeur and state except the debris of their capitals. Pulee Taleivar was hanged, and his zamindari of Nellitungavale now consists of a few wretched villages in the possession of a branch of the Maniatchy family. Chokkampatty has been sold off, to meet the claims of a Nattukotei Chetty. Kadambur, Utumalei, Nalanthila, and Sirukanangudi drag on a miserable existence compared with their wealth of former times ; while Maniatchy is split up into three or four parts.—Yule, Cathay ; Rev. Mr. Taylor in Madras Government Records, 1867, p. 4 ; As. Soc. Journ. ; 07772e S Hindustan.