Madurai District Court

ABOUT DISTRICT COURT

The last of the Naicks was gone. The Dynasty that gave Madurai an uninterrupted era of peace and prosperity for two centuries and recaptured to the City many of its past glories faded into oblivion. Rani Meenakshi committed suicide. The year was 1736. The pretender who engineered her untimely death and was a rival for royalty came to an ignominious end poisoned by his minions in 1743.

The usual chaos in Indian History on the disappearance of a dynasty followed. There was an era of confused fighting with none to call himself effectively in power for long. Usuf Khan’s stern but just governorship (1757-64) raised glimmers of hope and proved evanescent. The three expeditions in 1755, 1757 and 1764 by the English were like visitations of locusts though undertaken with the best of motives by the authorities in Madras.

The troops of the East India Company finally occupied the City never to leave it. The year 1801 seemed to open with still more lurid prospects. But the Civilians whose Counsel prevailed in Madras were determined to bring order out of Chaos. Mr. Hurdis was appointed the Collector with sweeping magisterial powers. His one fear on taking charge[...]