Editing Polygar Wars (section)

==Second Polygar War==
Despite the suppression of the First Polygar War in 1799, a rebellion broke out again in 1800. The Second Polygar War was more stealthy and covert in nature. The rebellion broke out when a band of Palayakkarar armies bombed the British barracks in [[Coimbatore]]. In the war that followed, [[Oomaithurai]] allied himself with [[Maruthu Pandiyar]] and was part of a grand alliance against the company which included [[Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja]] of Malabar.

The Palayakarrars had artillery and a weapon manufacturing unit in [[Salem District|Salem]] and [[Dindigul]] jungles. They also received clandestine training from the [[France|French]] in the [[Karur]] region.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3557002.ece | title=Gopal Naicker Memorial ready for inauguration | newspaper=The Hindu | date=22 June 2012}}</ref> [[Dheeran Chinnamalai|Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder]] headed the western Tamil Nadu popularly known as Kongu Nadu. The British columns were exposed throughout the operations to constant harassing attacks and had usually to cut their way through almost impenetrable jungles fired on from undercover on all sides. The Polygars resisted stubbornly and the storming of their hill-forts proved on several occasions sanguinary (involving or causing much bloodshed)  work.

The British finally won after a long expensive campaign that took more than a year. The Company forces led by Lt. Colonel Agnew laid siege to the [[Panchalankurichi]] fort and captured it in May 1801 after a prolonged siege and artillery bombardment. Oomaithurai escaped the fall of the fort and joined Maruthu brothers at their jungle fort at Kalayar Kovil. The Company forces pursued him there and eventually captured Kalayar Kovil in October 1801. Oomaithurai and the Maruthu brothers were hanged on 16 November 1801 at Tiruppathur (Sivagangai Dist.).{{sfn|Francis|1989|p=261}}{{sfn|Dirk|1988|pp=19–24}}