Puli Thevar - The End

The End

Soon Yusuf Khan received huge reinforcements and massive quantities of ammunition. He decided to conquer Thevar's country inch by inch. Thevar and his men put up most valiant resistance but their strongholds fell one by one and finally Nelkettumseval also fell. Thevar and men retreated from fort to fort and once they lost forts they fled in jungle where they continued fight until 1761.

What happened after this point of time is not clear - There are multiple versions of what followed.

One version is that he was forced to go into exile in Ramanad where he died.

Another version is that Thevar soon was caught by a party of Yusuf Khan's troops and he was sentenced to death. He was made to march to a hill named Kalugamala in fetters and chains to be hanged. It is reported that he escaped on route. But it is also said that he requested his captors to permit him to pray and worship God before his execution and he was led to the nearby shrine, in those days the temples in Shankarankoil did not have any deity but there used to be a "deepam" or lamp that was always burning.There he sang praises in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and suddenly on sound of chains fall, the guards rushed into the sanctum sanctorum only to find his chains and not Puli Thevar- He had vanished.