During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Europeans like the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes and the French were entered for trade in Tamilnadu. They established their trade centres in Tamilnadu with the permission of local rulers. Due to the establishment of trade centres, the contest was rose among them. Finally in this contest, the British was won and foundation of political domination in tamilnadu. The period between 1792 and 1799 was characterised by an uneasy side-by-side existence of the two conflicting jurisdictions, each struggling to expand and consolidate its sphere at the expense of the other. The Company was conferred with the right to collect the tribute from the poligars and the revenue of the Carnatic. By the Treaty of 1792 the Company exercised military authority and controlled foreign relations while the Nawab administered revenue and justice which were also liable to be taken over by the Company. The poligars of Madurai withheld payments to the Company, captured circar villages and committed depredations. Nevertheless the Company acquired possession of the different regions of Madurai partly by war and partly by diplomacy. The Company took the acquisition of Madurai in 1801. On 1 December 1801 Edward Clive, the Governor of Madras issued a proclamation to abolish the poligari system and introduce the Zamindari system in its place. The poligars were transformed into a class of Zamindars and they were required to disband their armed establishment and pay enhanced amount to the company’s government under a permanent assessment. The period between 1802 and 1807 can be called as the period of the Permanent Zamindari Settlement. After the acquisition of Madurai, the British extended the Permanent Revenue Settlement to Dindigul. Hurdis, the Collector at Madurai was instructed by the Special Commission following by a communication from the Tamil Nadu government to introduce the Permanent Settlement at Dindigul in Madurai. The settlement was extended to the southern part of Madurai. Hurdis decided to extend the Permanent Settlement to Madurai. Thus the Permanent Settlement was introduced in the fourteen estates and forty mittas of Dindigul and ten palayams of Madurai on permanent basis. The East India Company expected that the system would work well. Thackeray in his report clearly mentioned that the system was not suitable, but in favour of Ryotwari Settlement. Hence the system miserably failed and gradually began to decline. After the decline of the Permanent Revenue Settlement, the Village Lease Settlement was implemented. This paper deals with the Company’s Revenue system, the acquisition of Madurai, the implementation of Permanent Revenue Settlement and its restriction and failure and finally discussed the decline of Zamindary system between 1792 and 1807.

acquisition of Madurai, Company Rule, Zamindary System, Poligars, Colonial, British