The estate of Sivaganga also known as Kingdom of the Lesser Marava, was a permanently settled zamindari estate in the Ramnad sub-division of Madura district

Madura District (Madras Presidency)

Madura District was one of the districts of the Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the present-day districts of Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai and parts of Virudhunagar District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.- History :...

, Madras Presidency

Madras Presidency

The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...

, British India. Along the estate of Ramnad

Ramnad estate

The Ramnad Estate is a permanently settled Zamindari estate in the Ramnad subdivision of the Madura district of the erstwhile Madras Presidency in British India. It comprises the southern and eastern parts of Madura district.The estate was ruled by a Zamindar who bore the title "Raja"...

, it formed one of the two zamindari estates of Ramnad subdivision.

The Sivaganga estate was ruled by a branch of the Marava royal family of Ramnad. The kingdom was reduced to a zamindari by the British in 1803. The zamindari was abolished through socialist reform on India's independence.

Location

The estate of Sivaganga was located in the Ramnad subdivision of Madura district, Madras Presidency. It was situated between 9 degree 30' and 10 degree 17' N latitude and 78 degree 5' and 78 degree 58' E longitude. The zamindari covered an area of 1680 square miles (4,351.2 km²). It was bound by Pudukkottai state

Pudukkottai state

Pudukkottai was a princely state in the Madras Presidency which existed from 1680 to 1948. It was one of the five princely states that were under political control of the Government of Madras.- Location :...

 on the north, Madura district on the west, Tinnevely district

Tinnevely District (Madras Presidency)

Tinnevely district was one of the districts in the erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the aera of the present-day districts of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Theni in Tamil Nadu.- Demographics :...

 on the south and Ramnad estate on the east. The estate paid an annual tribute of Rs. 3 lakh.

Divisions

The Sivaganga estate was sub-divided into Sivaganga, Tirupattur and Tirubuvanam tehsils. The headquarters of the zamindari was the town of Sivagangai.

History

The Pudukkottai and Sivaganga regions were actually parts of the kingdom of Ramnad when it became independent in the 1680s. In 1725, Ramnad was invaded by the polygar of Nalkottai who captured two-fifths of the kingdom including the territory of Sivaganga. Since then, occasionally, Ramnad was referred to as the kingdom of the Greater Marava and Sivaganga, the kingdom of the Lesser Marava. In 1773, the British conquered Sivaganga and killed the Raja. His widow, the queen, fled to Dindigul

Dindigul

Dindigul is a town and municipality in the Tamil Nadu state of southern India. The name Dindigul comes from the Portmanteau of “Thindu” meaning pillow and “kal” meaning Rock and refers to the bare hill dominating the city’s both land and skyscape...

 and lived under the protection of Hyder Ali

Hyder Ali

Hyder Ali was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born Hyder Naik, he distinguished himself militarily, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers...

.

In 1803, the British restored the rightful heir Udayathevan on the throne. The kingdom was subsequently reduced to a zamindari by the permanent settlement of Lord Wellesley. The estate was ruled by the descendants of Udayathevan till India's independence when the zamindari was abolished.

Monarchs

• Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Periyavudaya Thevar (1730-1750)
• Muthu Vaduganatha Periyavudaya Thevar (1750-1772)
• Velu Nachiar (1772-1780)