this act he was supported by the then Nayak of Madura Tirumala. The unfortunate wars between Madura, Mysore and Tanjore, made the invasion of the Carnatic by Sivaji possible and by the time Mysore and Madura agreed to get on peacefully together, the Marattas were a power to reckon with in the South, with Tanjore fully under their control. During the close of the 17th century the Muhammadan states were pre-occupied with the Moghul, Aurangazib. After the cessation of the Vijayanagar empire, the history of South India is one of constant struggle between the various Viceroys, complicated by the Marattas and later by the advancement of the Moghul generals.

The Nayaks ruled Madura for about 200 years (1529-1736). During this period, the Jesuit Missionaries were active and a considerable amount of history of this era is gleaned from the annual letters the Jesuit Missionaries wrote. Though some of the later Nayak rulers did persecute the Christians, as a whole they were tolerant. Religion was actively fostered by the Nayaks, who believed that it was the state’s duty to safeguard and further the moral and spiritual welfare of her people.

Visvanatha Nayak - who previously served the Vijayanagar Monarch-is generally considered the founder of the Nayakship of Madura (1529-1564). We have already seen that in 1543 Francis Xavier worked on the coast to spread Christianity.

In 1592, the Jesuit Missionaries who had done much missionary work among the Paravās established under Father G. Fernandez in Madura a mission to convert people belonging to the higher castes of Hindus. Then the Madura Nayak Virappa gave them permission to build a church. Fernandez worked for 14 years trying his best to attract the higher caste Hindus to Christianity but all his best to attract the higher caste Hindus to Christianity but all his efforts proved futile. The chief cause of his failure was the great contempt the people had for the Portuguese. They were Paraṅkis as pointed out in the early part of this chapter. Besides they ate beef, drank intoxicating liquors and associated with the Paṟaiyars (low caste untouchables) and hence were ostracised. The first attempt to convert high class Hindus was a total failure.