Ramnad History

[nas_ng at lms420.jsc.nasa.gov]

History of Ramanathapuram
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Prof. Pamela Price is writing a book on Ramnad and Sivaganga.
It will be published by Cambridge university press.

These are some references on  Maravar country/ Ramnad district
S. M. Kamal ("es. em. kamAl") is a very good researcher. 
His "cEtupati mannar ceppETukal"
(copper plate grants issued by cEtupathis, a work collected and
edited by him). I have seen his "irAmanAtapuram mAvaTTam: cila varalARRuk
kuRippukal",  ""viTutalaip pOril cEtupati mannar".
Other books of imporatance are:
"M. Ragahva AiyankAr, cEtunaTum tamizhum" 1930's
"M. Raghava AiyankAr, centamizh valartta tEvarkaL" 1930's
"cirancIvi, cEtupatikal varalaru", 1981, Apirami Paplikesans, Madras, 174 p.
"Ira. Ilankumaran, Nankam Tamilc cankam"
"Je. Rajamukamatu, putukkOTTai mAvaTTa varalARu"
Somalay's "Ramanathapuram Mavattam" is good.
K. C. Kamaliah, Iramappaiyan ammAnai: Or ArAycci, Madras, 1980
K. C. Kamaliah, pANTitturait tEvar pATiya kAvaTiccintu, 1984, 70 p.
Ira. NirmalatEvi, muttu vicaya rakunAta cEtupati mItu cokkanAtak kavirAyar
pATiya paNaviTu tUtu. Madras, International Institute of Tamil
Studies, 1980, 116 p.

Given Ramnad's patronage to and interest in Tamil culture, I am sure
in 6 to 10 hands, there are very rare pictures of important people,
say, in the period 1880-1930. Also,
good photos of the palaces of Ramnad and Sivaganga, the murals of
Ramalinga vilasam, Rameswaram temple pictures, the temple contains
Setupathi portraits in pillars, the coins struck by Sethupatis
can be included in a book on Ramnad.

I have seen a nice picture of Bhaskara Setupathi in
'Vivekananda, a biography in pictures', Calcutta, 1977, 119 p.
R. Nagaswamy has a paper on Ramalinga Vilasam murals in
Robert Skelton, Facets of Indian art. London: V & A museum. 1986

Madurai university PhD thesis on cEtupatis exists.
I think it is by K. Seshadri. Also, Tamil university published
R. Raghava Aiyangar's "irArAcEcuvara cEtupati mItu orutuRaikk kOvai"

putukkOTTai history
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Joanne Punzo Waghorne
The Raja's magic: re-visioning kingship and and divinity in
England's India.
Penn State University press, 1994

Splendid photos from colonial era and a thorough study of Thondaman
kings. This follows Nicholas Dirks' work, The Hollow
Crown.

Sincerely,
N. Ganesan
nas_ng at lms461.jsc.nasa.gov