Page:The Aristocracy of Southern India.djvu/170

180 of the South Indian Railway. The game preserved consists of deer, antelope, hare, and wild boar. They are preserved chiefly with a view to afford sports to gentlemen visitors, majority of whom are European Officers of rank in the service of His Majesty's Government. The South Indian Railway skirts the Zemindari. The nearest Railway station is Koilpati Vhich is nine miles west of Ettayapuram and which is connected with it by a metalled road.

Tradition says, and there are also records to show, that the ancestors of the Zemindar of Etaiyapuram were at Chandragiri, being in possession of territories adjacent to it. The first of those prominent among them was Periappa Nayakar who flourished in 856 A. D. Nine generations passed away without any member in the family doing anything worthy of record.

The tenth in succession was Nallama Nayakar, who was distinguished for his prowess and adventurous career. He had a great desire to proceed to Vijianagram, which was then in the height of its glory and to pay a visit to the Rajah, but one thing that stood in his way before venturing to pass the gates of the fort to interview the Kajah was that he should choose one of the two alternatives—either he should wrestle with a powerful man, named Soman, and overcome him, or pass underneath the gold chain that Soman had attached to his left leg. Nallama Nayakar whose body was of a colossal build chose the former alternative, and in the combat he came off victorious, and beheaded Soman. The eight brothers of the gate-keeper threw themselves on the mercy of Nallama Nayakar and sought his protection. He fixed the head of Soman to a spear, and his garments stained