Polygar

thumb|right|A 1700 AD map of India, showing the region ruled by the Palaiyakkarar in the south. Palaiyakkarars, or Poligar, Polygar or Palegara (as the British referred to them) in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the holders of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, palayam was given for valuable military services rendered by any individual. The word pālayam means domain, a military camp, or a small kingdom. This type of Palayakkarars system was in practice during the rule of Pratapa Rudhra of Warangal in the Kakatiya kingdom. The system was put in place in Tamil Nadu by Viswanatha Nayak, when he became the Nayak ruler of Madurai in 1529, with the support of his minister Ariyanatha Mudaliar. Traditionally there were supposed to be 72 Palayakkarars. The majority of those Palaiyakkarar, who during the late 17th- and 18th-centuries controlled much of the Telugu region as well as the Tamil area, had themselves come from the Kallar, Maravar and Vatuka communities. Most palayakkars in western Tirunelveli and in Ramanathapuram were Maravar, those of Madurai, Tiruchi and Thanjavur Kallar, and those of eastern Tirunelveli, Dindigal and Coimbatore Nayak.

The Palaiyakkarar of Madurai Country were instrumental in establishing administrative reforms by building irrigation projects, forts and religious institutions. The Palaiyakkarar who worshipped the goddess Kali did not allow their territory to be annexed by Aurangzeb.