01Kalaiyar Kovil, 1772
She was the only child of the Sethupathi king of Ramanathapuram, and was taught horse riding, archery, the valari throwing weapon and silambam, as well as several languages. She married Muthu Vaduganatha Thevar, the raja of Sivaganga. In 1772 the Nawab of Arcot, with Company troops under Joseph Smith and Benjamin Bonjour, marched on Sivaganga to force tribute. Her husband was killed fighting at Kalaiyar Kovil. Velu Nachiyar escaped with her small daughter and took refuge with Gopala Nayakar at Virupachi near Dindigul.
02The return, 1780
For eight years she built an army. Hyder Ali of Mysore, at war with the Company and the Nawab, gave her horsemen and guns. In 1780, with the Marudhu brothers commanding, her forces fought their way back and took Sivaganga. Tamil tradition tells of her commander Kuyili, who led the women’s regiment and is said to have set herself alight and walked into the enemy’s ammunition store. Velu Nachiyar ruled Sivaganga through the 1780s with the Marudhu brothers as her ministers, and handed it on to her daughter Vellacci. She died on 25 December 1796.
