" "The matchlock men are generally accompanied by poligars, a set of fellows that are almost savage, and make use of no other weapon than a pointed bamboo spear, 18 or 20 feet long."—Munro's Narrative, 131.
1783.—"To Mahomet Ali they twice sold the Kingdom of Tanjore. To the same Mahomet Ali they sold at least twelve sovereign Princes called the Polygars."—Burke's Speech on Fox's India Bill, in Works, iii. 458.
1800.—"I think Pournaya's mode of dealing with these rajahs ... is excellent. He sets them up in palankins, elephants, &c., and a great [sowarry], and makes them attend to his person. They are treated with great respect, which they like, but can do no mischief in the country. Old Hyder adopted this plan, and his operations were seldom impeded by polygar wars."—A. Wellesley to T. Munro, in Arbuthnot's Mem. xcii.
1801.—"The southern Poligars, a race of rude warriors habituated to arms of independence, had been but lately subdued."—Welsh, i. 57.
1809.—"Tondiman is an hereditary title. His subjects are Polygars, and since the late war ... he is become the chief of those tribes, among whom the singular law exists of the female inheriting the sovereignty in preference to the male."—Ld. Valentia, i. 364.
1868.—"There are 72 bastions to the fort of Madura; and each of them was now formally placed in charge of a particular chief, who was bound for himself and his heirs to keep his post at all times, and under all circumstances. He was also bound to pay a fixed annual tribute; to supply and keep in readiness a quota of troops for the Governor's armies; to keep the Governor's peace over a particular tract of country.... A grant was made to him of a tract of a country ... together with the title of Páleiya Kâran (Poligar)...."—Nelson's Madura, Pt. iii. p. 99.
" "Some of the Poligars were placed in authority over others, and in time of war were answerable for the good conduct of their subordinates. Thus the Sethupati was chief of them all; and the Poligar of Dindigul is constantly spoken of as being the chief of eighteen Poligars ... when the levying of troops was required the Delavay (see [DALAWAY]) sent requisitions to such and such Poligars to furnish so many armed men within a certain time...."—Nelson's Madura, Pt. iii. p. 157.
The word got transferred in English parlance to the people under such Chiefs (see quotations above, 1780-1809); and especially, it would seem, to those whose habits were predatory:
1869.—"There is a third well-defined race mixed with the general population, to which a common origin may probably be assigned. I mean the predatory classes. In the south they are called Poligars, and consist of the tribes of Marawars, Kallars (see [COLLERY]), Bedars (see [BYDE]), Ramuses (see [RAMOOSY]): and in the North are represented by the Kolis (see [COOLY]) of Guzerat, and the Gujars (see [GOOJUR]) of the N.W. Provinces."—Sir Walter Elliot, in J. Ethn. Soc. L., N.S. i. 112.
[POLIGAR DOG, s. A large breed of dogs found in S. India. "The Polygar dog is large and powerful, and is peculiar in being without hair" (Balfour, Cycl. i. 568).]