Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Poligar

by Edgar Thurston

Poligar (feudal chief). — A synonym of Pālayakkāran. According to Yule and Burnell,*^[1] the Poligars "were properly subordinate feudal chiefs, occupying tracts more or less wild, and generally of predatory habits in former days. They are now much the same as Zemindars (land-owners) in the highest use of that term. The Southern Poligars gave much trouble about a hundred years ago, and the 'Poligar wars' were somewhat serious affairs. In various assaults on Panjalamkurichi, one of their forts in Tinnevelly, between 1799 and 1801, there fell fifteen British officers." The name Poligar was further used for the predatory classes, which served under the chiefs. Thus, in Munro's 'Narrative of Military Operations' (1780-84), it is stated that "the matchlock men are generally accompanied by Poligars, a set of fellows that are almost savages, and make use of no other weapon than a pointed bamboo spear, 18 or 20 feet long."

The name Poligar is given to a South Indian breed of greyhound-like dogs in the Tinnevelly district.

1. • Hobson-Jobson.