Kangundi

Kangundi was a fortified seat near present-day Kuppam, on the borderlands between Mysore, Palamaner and Salem. Its rulers belonged to the Kambi Nayudu line. Local tradition linked the founding hill and the town's name to Indigenous guides who helped the dynasty's ancestor find a suitable stronghold; the precise medieval chronology is less secure. Eighteenth-century politics drew the estate into the expanding power of Mysore. A historical study describes a struggle in which the minister Chinnayya sought Hyder Ali's support against the ruling family. Supporters of the dynasty recovered the estate and freed Venkatapathi Nayudu, but Tipu Sultan later attacked the fort, driving Venkatapathi to seek shelter at Arcot. Mysore's defeat in the Third Anglo-Mysore War allowed him to recover his territory. Kangundi belonged to the Baramahal lands acquired by the British after that war and was later attached to North Arcot. Its hill fort embodied the authority of a local ruling house caught between stronger regional powers.