The First Polygar War (1752-1767): How Puli Thevar and His Rebel Coalition Held the British East India Company at Bay for Fifteen Years

When we speak of early Indian resistance to British rule, the names that come to mind are usually from the nineteenth century. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. Kittur Chennamma. Pazhassi Raja. But long before any of them, in the parched, palm-fringed landscape of southern Tamil Nadu, a different kind of war was being fought. It began in 1752, more than a century before the mutiny, and it lasted fifteen years. It was a war of guerrilla ambushes, jungle hideouts, shifting alliances, and brutal reprisals. It was the First Polygar War.

The protagonist of this forgotten war was Puli Thevar, the Polygar or Palaiyakkarar of Nerkattumseval, a small fort town in what was then the Tirunelveli region, now part of Tenkasi district in Tamil Nadu. The word “Puli” means tiger in Tamil, and the man lived up to his name. For fifteen years, from 1752 to 1767, Puli Thevar led a coalition of Polygars and Marava chieftains against the combined forces of the British East India Company and their ally, the Nawab of Arcot.

The First Polygar War (1752-1767): How Puli Thevar and His Rebel Coalition Held the British East India Company at Bay for Fifteen Years