The princely state of Pudukottai was created by .

Raghunatha Kilavan Setupati of Ramnad

(16731708 A.D.) married Kathali Nachiar, the sister of Thondaiman. He appointed his brother-
in-law, Raghunatha Thondaiman, as a chief of the district of Pudukottai. Raghunatha
Thondaiman earlier had ruled Thirumayam. In appreciation of Raghunatha Thondaiman's
services, Raghunatha Kilavan Setupati gave Pudukkottai as an honour for his services. In later
centuries, the Thondaiman 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 Raghunatha Thondaiman become ruler of Pudukottai.[2]

After becoming the ruler of Pudukottai, Thondaiman fought against the Nayaks of Tanjore in
support of the Nayaks of Madurai and conquered Thirukkattupalli, a very important place. Then
there was a direct clash between the Thondaimans of Pudukottai and the Nayaks, rulers of
Tanjore.[3] Thondaiman conquered the west of Thirukkattupalli. The next ruler, Raja Vijaya
Reghunatha Raya Thondaiman, helped the Arcot Nawab against Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore.
He was also loyal to the British Government. After some time, when Hyder Alis army tried to
enter Pudukkottai, Thondaiman's army defeated them and drove Hyders army away.
Thondaiman captured Kilanilai and Aranthangi. He helped the British government against Tipu
Sultan.

Pudukkotai finally came under formal British protection. This was arguably unavoidable, since
the Thondaimans were much menaced in that period by a resurgent Mysore, ruled by Hyder Ali
and Tipu Sultan. When Tipu Sultan sought to leverage the power of the French against his British
adversaries, Pudukkotai, in common with its neighbours, such as Thanjavur and Travancore,
found it expedient to ally with the British.[4]

Raja Rajagopala Thondaiman (19281948), the last and ninth in the line of Thondaiman rulers,
was selected by the British Government and was crowned when he was six years old. After
Indian independence in 1947, the Pudukkottai Princely State was amalgamated with the Indian
Union on April 3, 1948 and became a division in Tiruchirappalli district. The long history of the
Thondaimans' rule came to an end.

Thondaiman King in his Durbar, Pudukkottai, 1858.

Revenue stamp issued by the princely state of Pudukkottai with a portrait of Martanda Bhairava
Tondaiman

Some of the major kings of the dynasty are Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman (16861730), Vijaya
Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman,(17301769), Raya Raghunatha Tondaiman (1769 Dec 1789),
Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman (Dec 1789 1 February 1807), Vijaya Raghunatha Raya
Tondaiman (1 February 1807 June 1825), Raghunatha Tondaiman (June 1825 13 July 1839),
Ramachandra Tondaiman (13 July 1839 15 April 1886), Marthanda Bhairava Tondaiman (15
April 1886 28 May 1928) and Rajagopala Tondaiman (28 October 1928 4 March 1948).

The coat of arms of Pudukkottai state

Pudukkottai became a princely state of British India under the political authority of Madras
Presidency. The state had an area of 4663 Sq.miles and in 1901, a population of 380,000. The
Rajas of Pudukkotai were entitled to a 17-gun salute. The last Thondaiman raja of Pudukkottai
acceded to newly-independent India in 1948, and the state became a division of Tiruchirappalli
District of Madras State. The state was reorganised twice in the succeeding decade, taking its
present form in 1956; it was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1968. On 14 January 1974, the present
Pudukkottai District was formed from parts of Tiruchirappalli and Thanjavur districts.[5]

Geography[edit]
Pudukkottai is located at
1023N 7849E10.38N 78.82E in the valley of river Vellar. The city has a semi-arid climate
with high temperatures throughout the year, and relatively low rainfall. The city is located in
Pudukkottai district of the South Indian state, Tamil Nadu, at a distance of 390 km (240 mi) from
Chennai. Pudukkottai has a plain terrain with a few rocky hills intersped in the outskirts.
Urugumalai, Athimalai, Chennaimalai are the hills that surround the city. The rivers that flow in
Pudukkottai are Amaravathy, Noyal, Bhavani, and Kaveri. There are no notable mineral
resources available in and around the city. Red loam and red sandy are the types of soil found in
the town. Paddy, groundnut and sugarcane are the major crops in the region. Pudukkottai
experiences hot and dry weather throughout the year. The temperature ranges from a maximum
of 38.7 C (101.7 F) to a minimum of 19.6 C (67.3 F). Like the rest of the state, April to June
are the hottest months and December to January are the coldest. Pudukkottai receives an average
of 919.4 mm (36.20 in) of rainfall yearly. The South west monsoon, with an onset in June and
lasting up to August, brings scanty rainfall. Bulk of the rainfall is received during the North East
monsoon in the months of October, November and December. The municipality covers an area of
21.25 km2 (21,250,000 m2)[6][7][8]

Demographics[edit]
Religious census
Percent(%
Religion
)
Hindu 79.4%
Muslim 15.14%
Christian 4.89%
Sikh 0.02%
Other 0.5%
No religion 0.04%
[show]Historical population

According to 2011 census, Pudukkottai had a population of 143746 with a sex-ratio of 1,003
females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929.[11] A total of 11,762 were
under the age of six, constituting 6,028 males and 5,734 females. Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes accounted for 11.87% and .06% of the population respectively. The average
literacy of the town was 92.19%, compared to the national average of 72.99%.[11] The town had a
total of 28838 households. There were a total of 41,408 workers, comprising 268 cultivators, 275
main agricultural labourers, 994 in house hold industries, 35,578 other workers, 4,293 marginal
workers, 128 marginal cultivators, 47 marginal agricultural labourers, 144 marginal workers in
household industries and 3,974 other marginal workers.[10] As of 2001, 20 slums were identified
in the town and approximately 37,740 people resided in the slums. The population of the town
decreased during the 19912001 period is attributed to the migration to other cities in search of
employment and lesser job opportunities in the town.[9] The city covers an area of 21.25 square
kilometres (8.20 sq mi).
As per the religious census of 2011, Pudukkottai had 79.4% Hindus, 15.14% Muslims, 4.89%
Christians, 0.02% Sikhs, 0.5% following other religions and 0.04% following no religion or did
not indicate any religious preference.[12]

The Thondaiman king, Vijaya Raghunatha rebuilt the town based on the principles of town
planning so that the main streets were laid intersecting at right angles with the palace at the
centre.[7] Out of the total area, 80.85% of the land is marked developed and 19.15% of the city
remains undeveloped. Residential areas make up 60.1% of the town's total area while
commercial enterprises and industrial units make up 4.43% and 1.47% respectively.[13] The
population density is not uniform throughout the town. It is high in the centre and lower in the
peripheral areas such as Sivagandapuram, Ganesh nagar and the Tamil Nadu Housing Area. The
density ranges from 200-300 persons per hectare in the central part of the town and 16 - 55
persons per hectare (PPH) in the peripheral areas with low density Hindus form the majority of
the urban population, followed by Muslims and Christians. Tamil is the main language spoken in
the city, but the use of English is relatively common; English is the medium of instruction in
most educational institutions and offices in the service sector.[9]

Municipal administration and politics[edit]

Municipality officials
Chairman Rajasekaran[14]
J.
Commissioner
Subramanian[15]
S. Abdul
Vice-Chairman
Rahman[16]
Elected members
Member of
Periannan
Legislative
Arasu[17]
Assembly
Member of
P. Kumar[18]
Parliament

Pudukottai is the headquarters of the Pudukkottai District. The town was constituted as a third-
grade municipality in 1912, promoted to first-grade during 1963 and selection-grade from 1998.
The Pudukottai municipality has 42 wards and there is an elected councillor for each of those
wards.[19] The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: general
administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, city planning and Information
Technology (IT). All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who
is the executive head.[20] The legislative powers are vested in a body of 42 members, one each
from the 42 wards.[21] The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson assisted by a
Deputy Chairperson.[22]
Pudukottai is a part of the Pudukottai and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative
Assembly once every five years.[23] From the 1977 elections, All India Anna Dravid Munnetra
Kazhagam (AIADMK) won the assembly seat three times (in 2001, 2006 and 2011 elections),
two times by [[Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam]] (DMK, 1989 and 1996), four times by Indian
National Congress (INC) (1977, 1980, 1984 and 1991 elections). The current MLA of Pudukottai
constituency is Periyannan arasu from DMK party, who won the byelections after the previous
member expired on 1 April 2012.[24][25][26]

Pudukottai is a part of the Pudukkottai (Lok Sabha constituency) till the 2004 elections before
delimitation in 2009 it had the following six assembly constituencies Pattukottai, Peravurani,
Kolathur (SC), Pudukkottai, Alangudi and Arantangi state assembly constituencies. From the
2009 elections, the town is a part of Tiruchirappalli constituency and the current Member of
Parliament from the constituency is P. Kumar from the ADMK party. From 1951, the Pudukottai
parliament seat was held by the Indian National Congress for five times (during 1957, 1980,
1984, 1989 and 1991 elections), ADMK for three times (during 1998, 1991, 1999 and 2009
elections), Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam three times (during the 1971, 1996 and 2004 elections)
and once each by KMPP (during 1951 elections), CPI (during 1962 elections) and CPM (during
1967 elections). [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] The current Member of Parliament from the
constituency is P. Kumar from the ADMK party.[40]

Law and order in the city in maintained by the Pudukottai sub division of the Tamil Nadu Police
headed by a Deputy Superintendent. There are four police stations in the town, with one of them
being an all women police station. There are special units like prohibition enforcement, district
crime, social justice and human rights, district crime records and special branch that operate at
the district level police division headed by a Superintendent of Police.[41]