a tragic close. Nevertheless, some of their monuments and works of art which have stood the ravages of time stand out as silent reminders of their reign. The Madura Temple so captivating in its ornamental work hewn in stone, catches the eye and foreigners to this day come a long way to admire this work of art. Most of the Nayaks were lovers of art, but fear of perpetual invasion from a superior power or the ever present problem of defending the frontiers combined with the insurmountable problems of famine and pestilence occupied the monarchs’ time and energy. Unless peace prevails and the land is prosperous, works of art and literature cannot grow and flourish.

Torn by domestic quarrels and internal strife, perpetually threatened by the Moguls and other northern forces, frequently ravaged by famine and diseases and devastated by daring robbers, the history of South India was one of turmoil and chaos from the 16th century onwards. In that era of vicissitudes and oscillating alliances, the foreign missionaries had to toil amidst great obstacles the advance their cause and to spread the Gospel. Their consistent faith-despite the many quarrels betwixt one mission and the other and remarkable energy to overcome the obstacles stands out during an almost dark period in Tamilnad. Each force vying with the other to rule supreme and respectively trying to force their culture and language on the conquered was the order of the day. Tamil was over-ridden in turn by Telugu, Urudu, Marathi and last but not least by Sanskrit. There was a day when the bards of Tamilnad shied to write in their mother tongue. One is almost reminded of Bacon who preferred to write his books in Latin so as to preserve them for all posterity. Most of the earlier works were in Ōlai (Palm leaves) and were inaccessible. The learned few, jealously guarded what they had. During this dark era, the work of the several missions and the missionaries is the redeeming feature and their work ushered in a period of reawakening and enlightenment. Their work is epoch making history.

“The termination of the war of Austrian Succession by the peace of Aix-La-Chapelle left the English and French armies in