Ramnad Estate
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Ramnad Estate
A permanently settled zamindari estate in the south and east of Madura District, Madras, lying between 9 6' and 10 6' N. and 77 56' and 79 19' E., consisting of the five zamindari tahsih of Ramnad, Tiruvadanai, Paramagudi, Tiruchuli, and Muduku- lattur, with an area of 2,104 square miles. Population (1901), 723,886. It includes the whole of the sea-coast of the District. The peshkash (including cesses) payable to Government by the estate in 1903-4 was 3- lakhs."
Regarding the early history of the estate legends are plentiful but facts are few. Its chiefs are the titular heads of the numerous caste of the Maravans, and bear the title of Setupati, or ' lord of the causeway.' This causeway is the ridge of rock which used to connect the tongue of the mainland running out into the Gulf of Manaar withthe island of Pamban. Pamban Island contains the holy temple of RAMESWARAM ; and tradition has it that when Rama crossed to the island from Ceylon by way of ADAM'S BRIDGE and founded the temple as a thank-offering for his victory over Ravana, he also appointed the first Setupati to protect the pilgrims who should traverse the causeway to visit it. The chiefs of Ramnad appear to have undoubtedly borne the title as far back as the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ; and in the early years of the seventeenth century it was formally conferred by one of the Naik kings of Madura on the head of the Maravans, from whom the present owners of the estate are descended.
Of the earlier chiefs, Raghunatha Kilavan (1673-1708) is perhaps the best known. It was he who moved the capital of the country from Pogalur, the ancient family seat, to its present site to miles farther east at RAMNAD, which he fortified. About 1725 a usurper became Setupati ; but he treated his vassals so harshly that one of them joined the legitimate heir and, with the help of the Raja of Tanjore, attacked and defeated him. The country was divided by the victors, the Raja of Tanjore annexing that part of it which lay north of the Pambar river. The rebellious vassal took the more valuable two-fifths of the remainder, and founded there the line of the present zamindars of SIVAGANGA, while the other three-fifths, the present Ramnad estates, went to the lawful heir. Throughout the Carnatic Wars the troops of Ramnad frequently figure on one side or the other. In 1795 the Setupati was deposed by the British for insubordination and misrule, and died a state prisoner. The estate was formed into a zammddri in 1803, a permanent sanad (title-deed) being granted to the deposed chief's sister. The rule of her successors has been in the main one long chronicle of mismanagement, litigation, and debt. The last Raja of Ramnad succeeded in 1873 as a minor, and the estate was accord- ingly managed for the next sixteen years by the Court of Wards. During this period 8J lakhs was spent on repairs to irrigation works, 14 lakhs of debt was cleared off, and the estate was handed over to its owner in 1889, in good order, with a revenue which had been increased from 5 to 9 lakhs, and with a cash balance of 3^ lakhs. Within the next five years the Raja had spent this balance, incurred further debts of over 30 lakhs, and pledged the best portions of the estate to his creditors. The zammddri is now managed by trustees for the creditors and the present proprietor, who is a minor.
The Ramnad estate is perhaps the most desolate and uninviting area of its size in the Presidency. Almost dead level throughout, and for the most part infertile, the coast is lined with blown sand and brackish swamps, diversified only by stunted scrub and palmyra palms. It has only two fair roads (those from Madura to Ramnad and to Tiruchuli) ; its hrigation works depend upon the capricious rivers Vaigai and Gundar, and are often in the last state of disrepair and neglect; and except Ramnad and Rameswaram, already, referred to, it contains no town of interest or importance. Its chief port, Kllakarai, is in a declining state, and two others of its principal towns, Kamudi and Abiramam, have advanced but little for many years. Paramagudi, on the road to Madura, has some reputation for hand-painted cloths } but the only flourishing town in the estate is Aruppukkottai on the western border, which derives much of its prosperity from trade with the neighbouring District of Tinnevelly.
The South Indian Railway has recently been carried from Madura through Ramnad to Mandapam, at the extreme end of the tongue of mainland which runs out to meet PAMBAN ISLAND. Projects for carry- ing it over the remains of the old causeway on to the island, and for cutting a ship canal through the island and establishing a port for ocean-going vessels near by, are now under consideration, and if carried out will greatly increase the prosperity of this portion of the zamindarL Pamban and the other smaller coral islands in the Gulf of Manaar are even at present the pleasantest portions of the estate, and are noted for their turtles and oysters,
