Kayattar

Kayattar lies in the dry plains north of Tirunelveli, among the territories once held by the military chiefs known as palayakkarars. It is remembered as the place where Veerapandiya Kattabomman, chief of Panchalankurichi, was executed by the East India Company in 1799. His resistance to the Company formed part of a wider struggle over tribute and authority in southern Tamil country. The execution followed the capture of his fort and his arrest after he fled.