Pradani Muthirulappa Pillai (or Muthu Irulappa Pillai), son of Sundra Pandya Pillai, of the 18th century was a minister of Ramnad during the reign of Muthuramalinga Sethupathy. As the king was a minor, just an infant, the pradani took over the controls of a languishing kingdom and brought order and a sense of well-being by his careful planning and introduction of several tax and revenue reforms. Due to ideological differences that arose between the king and himself, he was forced to retire from his position in disgrace, was labelled as a traitor of India, and was forgotten. The Ramnad Manual amply records his administrative prowess and tax reforms. The Period The last few decades of the 18th century were a troubled period in the history of India, and in the history of the kingdom of Ramnad in particular. In this period, the Marava chieftains resisted the suzerainty of the Muslim Nawab of Arcot. The Nawab responded by giving the Ramnad Estate the status of a tributary landlord with a tribute of 175,000 rupees, thus quelling the unrest of the Maravas. As the incumbent Sethupathi of Ramnad was an infant, three Pradanis were appointed as regents. The three Pradanis thus appointed were Muthia Pillai, Vellu Pillai and Sankaran Pillai. The three Pradanis, having no oversight from the Sethupathi, acted in their personal interested and neglected the affairs of state. The next Pradani, Muthirulappa Pillai, took sole charge of the administration. Governance for The People It was at this difficult juncture that Pradani Muthirulappa Pillai took control of the kingdom. He was not a starry-eyed idealist. His mission was to make Ramnad strong and her people comfortable. He had to pay tribute to the Nawab. Shrewd statesman that he was, he realised that while he paid his tributes, he must also keep the British happy for the Nawab was no more than a puppet on their stings. The quote from the Gazetteer of India continues thus: "He realized that he should placate the British in order to bring effective internal reforms, since the British were having the leading strings of the Nawab in their hands." More information about this minister can be found in the Ramnad Manual that can be accessed in the Tamil Nadu Government Archives. It has this to say: "This Pradani had the direction of everything. Unlike his predecessors, it was his firm belief that the best chance of