PREDECESSORS and SHORT
HISTORY: The Kingdom, founded in 1590, became a
Zamindari Estate under the Perminent Settlement of 1801,
and thus became non-sovereign (along with all other
Estates which survived until 1948 in Madras Presidency,
India). Ramnad was one of the largest and most populous
estates in the Madras Presidency and was a permanently
settled Zamindari in the Ramnad subdivision of the Madura
district of the erstwhile Madras Presidency in British
India. It comprises the southern and eastern parts of
Madura district. The first historical reference to the
Sethupati (= protector of the bridge or Lord of the Sethu,
a region now in Tamil Naidu) comes in the 11th century AD,
when Chola king Rajaraja made the head of Marava community
(also known as the Kingdom of the Greater Marava) as
Sethupati to protect the pilgrims to Rameshwaram temple
and the Rama Sethu, later he was officially recognized as
Sethupathi by the Nayak king of Madurai, and in return,
the Chief of Ramnad recognized the sovereignty of the
Nayak king over his lands. When the power of the Nayak
kings of Madurai began to decline in the late 17th
century, the chieftains of Ramnad asserted their
independence. The British took control of the
administration of Ramanathapuram in 1795. It was demoted
to a Zamindari in 1803 and Rani Mangaleswari Nachchiyar
was made a Zamindarani. Ramnad and Sivaganga continued to
be Zamins till the system of Zamindari was abolished in
1948 after India attained Independence. Rulers and estate
holders were....
- Raja SADASICA
THEVAR SETHUPATI, 1st Raja of Ramnad
1590/1623, he was named as the 1st Sethupati.
- Raja KOOTEN
SETHUPATI, 2nd Raja of Ramnad 1623/1637
- Raja DALAVAI
SETHUPATI, 3rd Raja of Ramnad 1637/1638
(deposed)(first time)
- Raja Dalavai Sethupati. Raja of Ramnad 1640/-
(second time)
- Raja DANO KANTHA
SETHUPATI, 4th Raja of Ramnad -/1659
- Raja RAGHUNATHA
SETHUPATI I, 5th Raja of Ramnad 1659/1685
- Raja (name unknown)
SETHUPATI, 6th Raja of Ramnad in 1685 (he
reigned about 2 months)
- Raja (name unknown)
SETHUPATI, 7th Raja of Ramnad 1685/1686 (he
reigned 3 months)
- Raja RAGHUNATHA
SETHUPATI II [Kilavan Sethupati], 7th (8th)
Raja of Ramnad 1673/1710 or 1670/1708 or 1686/1710, he
crowned himself Raja of Ramnad and changed his seat
from Pogalur to Ramnad close to the east coast, where
he erected massive fortifications to protect his
capital; it was
during his rule, that the magnificent still existing
palace of Ramlingavilasam was created as the residence
of the Sethupati Dynasty; he supported the Nayak King
of Madurai against Rustam Khan, later he was granted
the title of Para Rajakesari (Lion to alien kings) by
Raja Chokkanatha Nayak; he constructed a dam across
the Vaigai River; married Rani Kathali Nachiyar,
sister of Raja Raghunatha Raya, 1st Tondaiman Raja of
Pudukottai, and had adoptive issue.
- (A) Raja Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupati
(qv)
- Raja MUTHU
VIJAYARAGHUNATHA SETHUPATI, 8th (9th) Raja of
Ramnad 1710/1725 or 1708/1720, married and had issue.
- Akilandeshwari Nachiyar, married Sasivarna Thevar,
1st Zamindar of Sivaganga, and the son of Nalukottai
Peria Oodaya Thevar.
- Raja SUNDARESWARA
RAGHUNATHA SETHUPATI, 9th Raja of Ramnad
1725/1726, during his reign he lost the Aranthangi
region in the northern part of Ramnad in 1725, to the
Raja of Tanjore, and later the Sivaganga region in the
western part of Ramnad was also lost.
- Raja BHAVANI
SANKARAN SETHUPATI, 10th Raja of Ramnad
1726/1729 or 1720/-
- Raja KATTAYA THEVAN
SETHUPATI, 11th Raja of Ramnad 1730/1761
(brother of Raja Sundareswara Raghunatha
Sethupati)
REGENT
1761/1772, Rani Muthu Tiruveya Naiker, she was deposed
and placed in jail, where she died.
- Raja MUTHU
RAMALINGA SETHUPATI I, 12th (13th) Raja of
Ramnad 1761/1772 (first time), deposed by the British
authorities for misrule in 1772 and jailed for eight
years, and his sister was placed in charge of the
state, but it was no longer sovereign.
REGENT 1772/1780,
sister of the Raja
- Raja Muthu Ramalinga Setupati I, Raja of Ramnad
1780/1795 (deposed) (second time)
BRITISH OCCUPATION
1795/1803
- Rani Mangaleswari
Nachiyar, 13th Rani of Ramnad 1795/1803 and
1st Zamindarani of Ramnad 1803/1807, by a sanad of 1803,
the state was reduced to the status of a zamindari.
- Raja ANNASAMI
SETHUPATI, 2nd Zamindar of Ramnad 1807/1820
- Raja RAMASWAMI
SETHUPATI, 3rd Zamindar of Ramnad 1820/1830,
married Rani Parvata Vardhani Nachhiyar
[Parvathivardhini] (qv), sister of Kottasami Thevar,
and had adoptive issue. He died sp in 1830.
- (A) Ponnuswami Thevar, Zamindar of
Palavanatham, born 1837, he acted as estate
manager during the minority of his younger
brother, married and had issue, three sons. He
died 1870.
- (name unknown) Thevar, married and had
issue.
- (name unknown) Thevar, he was adopted
by the Rani of Raja Bhaskara Sethupati, and
succeeded as Rajarajeswara Muthu Ramalinga
Sethupati III (see below)
- Pandithurai Thevar [Ukkira Pandya] (third son),
Zamindar of Palavanatham/Pazhavanattam 1884/1911,
born 21st March 1867 in Palavanatham, a zamin in
the then Ramanathapuram district, educated
privately by English and indian tutors, he founded
the 4th Tamil Sangam at Madurai; he constructed
Somasundara Vilasam Mansion in Ramnad. He died 2nd
December 1911.
- (A) Raja Muthu Ramalinga Sethupati II (qv)
- Raja DORAI RAJA
MUTHU CHELLA THEVAR SETHUPATI, 4th Zamindar
of Ramnad 1830/1845
- Rani Parvatha
Vardhani Ammal Nachchiyar, 5th Zamindarani of
Ramnad 1845/1862, she adopted the younger son of her
sister; married Raja Ramaswami Sethupati, Zamindar of
Ramnad, and had adoptive issue.
- (A) Raja Muthu Ramalinga Sethupati II (qv)
- Raja MUTHU
RAMALINGA SETHUPATI II, 6th Zamindar of
Ramnad 1862/1873, born 1841, he was adept in the arts
and a great lover of music; married, Rani Muthathaal
Nacciyar, and had issue. He died 15th March 1873.
- Raja Bhaskara Sethupati (qv)
COURT
OF
WARDS [15.3.1873] - [xx.10.1889]
- Raja BHASKARA
SETHUPATI [Hiranyagarbhayaji Ravikula
Muthuvijaya Raghunatha Bhaskara], 7th Zamindar of
Ramnad [xx.10.1889] - [27.12.1903], born 3rd November
1868, installed 3rd April 1889, Manager of Rameswaram
1895/1901 and a leader of the Maravar community; he
was educated in Madras in both the English language
and in Western manners by his English tutor who also
taught him English literature and music; his great
philanthropy (he funded many charitable activities and
events), combined with inherited debts and costs of
litigation, bankrupted the estate, forcing the Raja to
place the estate in a trust for his son in 1895;
married 1888, Rani Sivabhagyam Nacciar, daughter of
one of his kinsmen, and had issue, two sons. He died
27th December 1903.
- Rajarajesvara Dorai Muthu Ramalinga Sethupati III
(qv)
- Raja RAJARAJESVARA
MUTHU RAMALINGA SETHUPATI III [alias Muthu
Ramalinga Dorai Avergal], 8th Zamindar of Ramnad
1903/1929, married and had issue. He died 1929.
- The Hon. Sri. Raja Sri Shanmugha Rajeswara
[Naganatha] Sethupati (qv)
- The Hon. Sri. Raja
Sri SHANMUGHA RAJESWARA NAGANATHA SETHUPATI,
9th Zamindar of Ramnad 1929/1967, born 9th November
1909, graduated in Law; M.L.A. (Madras) 1951/1967;
Minister, House Rent Control [10.4.1952] -
[13.9.1953]; Minister, Public Works, Accomodation
Control [9.10.1953] - [12.4.1954]; Minister, Public
Works, Accomodation Control, Engineering Colleges,
Stationery and Printing, [1.3.1956] - [31.3.1957]; a
thoroughbred race-horse owner with a stable of over 50
horses in Calcutta; owner of an extensive car
collection of Bentleys and Rolls Royces; a First Class
cricketer for the Madras Cricket Team; married and had
issue as well as further issue. He died 4th March
1967.
- Raja Ramanatha Sethupati (qv)
- Rajkumari Latha Sethupati (by a secondary union),
born 1957, she is a well-known film actress,
starring in over 100 Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam
movies, and who was ancouraged by her aunt, actress
Kamala Kotnis, to enter films at a young age, her
first film being Ulagam
Sutram Valiban, (1973); she won a Filmfare
Award for her performance in Vattathukkul Sadhuram
and the Kalaimamani award was bestowed upon her by
the State Government of Tamil Nadu for her
achievements in the film industry; married and has
issue.
COURT
OF
WARDS 1935/1945 due to a number of disputes and
lengthy court cases.
- Raja RAMANATHA
SETHUPATI, 10th Zamindar of Ramnad 1967/1979,
married Rani Indira Devi, and had issue. He died 1979.
- Rajkumari Rajeswari Nachiyar, 11th Zamindarani of
Ramnad 1979/-, she assumed the hereditary title of
the ruler of Ramnad on the death of her father, in
opposition to her cousin, and is the managing
trustee of a number of temples and the palaces owned
by the family.
- Raja KUMARAN SETHUPATI, 11th
Zamindar of Ramnad (see above)
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