He formed a band of desperadoes which, at its height, comprised some twenty to thirty men, notably amongst them, Kasi Nadan, Kalluli Mangan and Doravappa, Jambulingam's right-hand man.
They started by waylaying travellers on the highways between Madras and Travancore, an act in which they were in no small measure helped by the poor policing of the densely forested frontier.
Jambulingam Nadar's modus operandi was to have his gang lay in wait in thickets or copses, signalling each other with owl-hoots or whistles, awaiting unwitting passers-by on foot or on bullock-cart.
Their fast-growing notoriety brought upon them the unwelcome attention of the law, by the mid-1920s, with the Madras and Travancore police commencing joint patrols of the forests of Aramboly, where Jambulingam was reputed to have his hide-out.
Rewards offered for information leading to Jambulingam's capture were to no avail for long, for he maintained the favour of the villagers and peasants by parcelling out his loot with them.