Thondaman dynasty

So the Raja of Ramnad ousted the chief and appointed his brother-in-law Ragunatha Raya Tondaman, the brother of his queen Kathayi Nachiar, as the new ruler of Pudukottai.

[2][3] In appreciation of Tondaman's services, Raghunatha Kilavan Setupati gave him the region of Pudukkottai.

In later centuries, the Thondaiman rulers, while nominally feudatories of the Ramnad state, often pursued an independent foreign policy, a trend common in all parts of India at that time.

This was arguably unavoidable, since the Thondaimans were much menaced in that period by a resurgent Mysore ruled by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.

Tipu Sultan had sought to leverage the power of the French against the British The Thondaman lineage:[4]