with their victory in the Second Anglo-Mysore War. After winning the Polygar wars, the East India Company consolidated most of southern India into the Madras Presidency coterminous with the dominions of Nizam of Hyderabad. Pudukkottai remained as a princely state. The Hindu temples were kept intact during this period, and there is no notable destruction recorded. Tamil Nadu in the Republic of India (1947–present) When India became independent in 1947, Madras Presidency became Madras State, comprising present day Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh, South Canara district Karnataka, and parts of Kerala. The state was subsequently split up along linguistic lines. In 1969, Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning Tamil country. The total number of Tamil Hindus as per 2011 Indian census is 63,188,168 which forms 87.58% of the total population of Tamil Nadu. Saints The twelve Alvars (saint poets of Vaishnava tradition) and sixty-three Nayanars (saint poets of Shaiva tradition) are regarded as exponents of the bhakti tradition of Hinduism in South India. Most of them came from the Tamil region and the last of them lived in the 9th century CE. Composers of Tevaram – the Tamil saint poets of 7th century namely Appar, Tirugnana Sambandar and Sundarar with the 9th-century poet Manickavasagar, the composer of Tiruvacakam were saints of Shaivism. The Shaiva saints have revered 276 temples in Tevaram and most of them are in Tamil Nadu on both shores of river Cauvery. Vaippu Sthalangal are a set of 276 places having Shiva temples that were mentioned casually in the songs in Tevaram. The child poet, Tirugnana Sambandar was involved in converting many people from Buddhism and Jainism to Hinduism. The saint Appar was involved in Uḻavatru padai, a cleaning and remodification initiative of dilapidated Shiva temples. The Alvars, the 12 Vaishnava saint poets of 7th-9th century composed the Divya Prabandha, a literary work praising god Vishnu in 4000 verses. The development of Hinduism grew up in the temples and mathas of medieval Tamil Nadu with self-conscious rejection of Jain practises. Monastic institutions Vaishnava Parakala matha was the first monastery of the Sri Vaishnava sect of Brahmin Hindu society. The matha was first established by Brahmatantra Swatantra Jeeyar, a disciple of Sri Vedanta Desika by 1268 CE. The matha got the name "Parakala" by the grace of Tirumangai Alvar also known as Parakalan. The head of this matha is the hereditary Acharya of the Mysore Royal Family.