Nāyak

The Nāya took advantage of the decline of the Vijayanagar after their defeat of Tilacota against Muslim armies, to successor in Madurai, stronghold of the Pandyas in the South of Tamil Nadu. The Nāya rebuild the Madurai city destroyed by Muslims and gave it its current form, the large and magnificent temple of the consort of Śiva: “Mīnākṣī”, the beautiful “in the eyes of fish.  The Madurai Nayak dynasty lasted from 1565 (approximately) in 1736, date at which they were overthrown. The English constituted the “protective” as early as 1564