Oldest, Largest and Longest Living Micronation? The Vijayanagara Empire was the principal center of trade in Southern India way back in the 1400s. After the Deccan Sultanates (of Northern India) defeated Vijayanagara at the battle of Talikota in 1565 regional governors (Nyaks) became thede facto rulers of much of Southern India. Pudukkottai was ruled by the Nayaks of Madurai from the mid-16th century to the mid-17th century. Raghunatha Kilavan Setupati of Ramnad (1673-1708 A.D.) married Kathali Nachiar the sister of Tondaiman, he appointed his brother in law, Raghunatha Tondaiman, as chief of the district of Pudukottai. In later centuries, the Tondaiman rulers, while nominally feudatories of the Ramnad state, often pursued an independent foreign policy, a trend common in all parts of India at that time. After the death of Raghunatha Kilavan Setupati, Tondaiman became ruler of Pudukottai. Thus the Tondaiman Dynasty took root and flourished. The princely state of Pudukottai was created by Raghunatha Tondaiman. Marathanda Bhairava Tondaiman declared, in 1888, that Pudukkottai become an Independent Kingdom and in 1889 issued an Amman Cash Coin. That was the only coin ever issued by the Kingdom of Pudukkottai. The independence of the state continued to be upheld throughout British rule. Pudukkottai remained the only princely kingdom to maintain its independence in the whole of Tamil Nadu. The kingdom eventually acceded to the independent Dominion of India in August 1947 and merged with Madras state in the following year (1948). Here's that coin: Photo courtesy of Don's World Coin Gallery (worldcoingallery.com) http://worldcoingallery.com/countri...ngdom km6 Amman Cash (1889)&query=Pudukkottai Thought you might like to know... Clinker
