the Marudhu brothers to administer the country in 1780. Velu Nachiar died a few years later, but the exact date of her death is not known (it was about 1790). The Marudhu brothers were the sons of Udayar Servai alias Mookiah Palaniappan Servai and Anandayer alias Ponnathal. They were from Kongulu Street of Ramnad. They belonged neither to the family of the ancient poligars nor to their division of the caste.
Servaikaran was the caste title and Marudhu the family name. The Marudhu brothers served under Muthu Vaduganathan. Later they were elevated to the position of commanders. Two forms of the boomerang were used in India. These weapons were commonly made of wood. It was crescent-shaped, one end being heavier than the other, and the outer edge was sharpened. Their name in Tamil is 'valari' stick. It is said that the Marudhu brothers were experts in the art of throwing the valari stick. It is said that Marudhus used the valari in the Poligar wars against the British. The Marudhu brothers with 12,000 armed men surrounded Sivaganga and plundered the Nawab's territories. The Nawab on the 10th of March 1789 appealed to the Madras Council for aid. On 29 April 1789, the British forces attacked Kollangudi. They were defeated by a large body of Marudhu's troops. He was in close association with Veera Pandiya Kattabomman of Panchalankurichi. Kattabomman held frequent consultations with Marudhus. After the execution of Kattabomman in 17 October 1799 at Kayattar, Chinna Marudhu gave asylum to Kattabomman's brother Oomadurai (dumb brother). He issued an epoch-making Jumboo Deweepa proclamation to the people in the island of Jamboo to fight against the British whether they were Hindus, Mussalamans or Christians. At last the Marudhu Pandiyars fell victim to the cause of liberating the motherland from the British supremacy. Marudhu Pandiyan, the popular leader of the rebels, together with his gallant brother Vellai Marudhu were executed on the ruins of the fort at
