PUDUKKOTTAI  , a

state of southern India, in subordination to Madras, lying between the British districts of Tanjore and Madura . Area, 11oo sq. m . Pop . (1901), 380,440, showing an increase of 2% in the decade . The state consists mainly of an undulating plain, nowhere of great fertility and in many parts barren; it is interspersed with rocky hills, especially in the south-west . Granite and laterite are quarried, red ochre is worked, and silk and cotton fabrics, bell-metal vessels and perfumes are among the principal manufactures . There is also some export trade in groundnuts and tanning bark . The chief, whose title is tondaman, is of the Kallan or robber caste . His ancestors received a grant of territory for loyal services to the British during the wars in the Carnatic at the end of the ,8th century . Estimated gross revenue, £8o,000; no tribute . The state has for some years past been well administered under a council, with a representative assembly . The town of Pudukkottai had a population in 1901 of 20,347 .

It is well laid out, and contains several

fine new buildings .