Symbols of substance, court and state in Nāyaka period Tamilnadu

Looking at the three major Nayaka states--ruled from Senji, Tanjavur, and Madurai/Tiruccirapalli--as well as at minor states located at their periphery, this volume deals with the political culture of the NaAyaka period in medieval South India, an era which extends from the early sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century. Supplementing standard sources by an imaginative use of Dutch, Portugese, Tamil, Sanskrit, and Telugu sources, the authors show how the Nayakas witnessed, and partly produced, a profound shift in the conceptual and institutional bases of South Indian civilization.