South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c14.s1.69

c14.s1.69

Coming to the subject-matter of the two inscriptions, the records are in quaint Tamil, and the literal rendering may not make the sense clear. The first record relates to an expedition sent by the Muhammadan Sultan of the south under a number of generals to destroy the Kaḷḷar settlement of Śūraikkuḍi the place known as Vanniyan Śūraikkuḍi, which had sometime before been taken possession of by a family of Kaḷḷars. This place later on became the head-quarters of the chiefs, who called themselves Araiyan Viśayālaya Dēva, as a general title with distinguishing names. The expedition was sent apparently to destroy this village which must have become very troublesome to its neighbours. The people most troubled apparently were those of Viraiyāchilai about four miles west by south of Tirumeyyam, and Tirukkoṭṭiyur, six miles south of Tirupputtūr. The inhabitants of these towns and the villages dependent on them were placed by the Muhammadan general (encamped at Māttūrkoḷam) under the protection of the inhabitants of Pon-Amarāvati, a place of considerable importance in the neighbourhood immediately to the west, and on the high road from Trichinopoly to Madura, an arrangement which probably involved what is called Pāḍikkāval (guardianship of the rural tract).