cut their moustaches to a set pattern. Added to these, Adjutant General Agnew designed and introduced under his direct supervision a new model turban for the sepoys. The most obnoxious innovation in the new turban, from the Indian point of view, was the leather cockade. The cockade was made of animal skin.
Pig skin was anathema to Muslims, while upper caste Hindus shunned anything to do with the cow’s hide. To make matters worse the front part of the uniform had been converted into a cross. commanders of the British army won the day. Following Umathurai’s arrest Marudu brothers were captured from the Singampunary hills, and Shevathiah from Batlagundu and Doraiswamy, the son of Vellai Marudu from a village near Madurai.
Chinna Marudu and his brother Vellai Marudu were executed at the fort of Tiruppatthur on October . Umathurai and Shevathiah, with several of their followers, were taken to Panchalamkurichi and beheaded on November . Seventy three rebels were banished to Penang in Malaya in April . Theeran Chinnamalai The Kongu country comprising Salem, Coimbatore, Karur and Dindigul formed part of the Nayak kingdom of Madurai but had been annexed by the Wodayars of Mysore.
After the fall of the Wodayars, these territories together with Mysore were controlled by the Mysore Sultans. As a result of the Third and Fourth Mysore wars the entire Kongu region passed into the hands of the English. Theeran Chinnamalai was a palayakkarar of Kongu country who fought the British East India Company. He was trained by the French and Tipu.
In his bid to launch an attack on the Company’s fort in Coimbatore ( ), Chinnamalai tried taking the help of the Marudu brothers from Sivagangai. He also forged alliances with Gopal Nayak of Virupatchi; Appachi Gounder of Paramathi Velur; Joni Jon Kahan of Attur Salem; Kumaral Vellai of Perundurai and Varanavasi of Erode in fighting the Company. Chinnamalai’s plans did not succeed as the Company stopped the reinforcements from the Marudu brothers. Also, Chinnamalai changed his plan and attacked the fort a day earlier.
This led to the Company army executing