Teroovengadiah Aiyar

Teroovengadiah Aiyar was an Indian businessman that had in the late 18th century obtained the rent of the betel and tobacco farms in Madras. He had managed farms around Madras, modern Chennai, at least from the late 1770s. It appears that the farm was held by a British inhabitant - Dawson Drake – as a cover for the real manager of the farm - Teroovengadiah Aiyar.

In the 1760s the annual rent for the farms was about 10,000 pagodas. In the late 1770s the farm’s value the value had risen to 40,000 pagodas a year. This was a considerable sum, considering that the total annual investment of the East English Company in all stations subordinate to Madras was in the order of 700,000 pagodas. In 1786, as a result of a distressed commercial situation, the investment was reduced to 275,000 pagodas and the area around Madras was supposed to provide cloth for only 60,000 pagodas.

The troubles started when Drake died in 1781 and the administrators of his estate surrendered the farm to the government. On account of earlier complaints against Teroovengadiah, the farm was entrusted to Vivenaida Mudali and Nagapah Chetti without a public auction. Influenced by threats from Teroovengadiah to file a suit against Drake's estate and because the new farmers were suspected of having encouraged the complaints against their predecessor, it was decided in early 1782 to relent the farm after a public auction. The farm was let to Teroovengadiah Aiyar and Chocapah Chetti. The latter did not seem to participate directly in the management of the farm and he was probably only financially involved.

The terms of the farm had now risen to more than 50,000 pagodas per year; an amount the Board of Revenue later admitted was unrealistically high. Soon, the supply of betel fell short and prices rose dramatically. The following years were dominated by quarrels between the farmers on the one side and the betel cultivators on the other. The farmers accused the betel cultivators of selling betel clandestinely to other places. For their part, the cultivators maintained that it was impossible to supply the normal amount of betel, because their gardens had been destroyed by Hyder Ali's (ruler in southern India) army and by bad weather. The cultivators further claimed that they had been forced to sign agreements with the farmers, obliging them to deliver a stipulated amount of betel at a fixed price. In January 1785 the farmers threatened to give up the farm if the government could not secure the supply of the stipulated quantity of betel, and Suncoo Chinna Kistnama Chetti immediately offered to take over the farm.

Six months later, Teroovengadiah and Chocapah wrote to the government that their 'enemies' were working against them. It seems that the competition to obtain the betel and tobacco farm was developing into a bitter rivalry. In 1787, Suncoo Chinna Kistnama succeeded in getting the farm for five years. The rent of the first year was 60,000 pagodas rising steadily to 85,000 pagodas in the fifth. But history seemed to be repeating itself and complaints against the farmer were soon submitted. Whereas Teroovengadiah had been in conflict with the betel cultivators, Suncoo Chinna Kistnama was to have trouble with the shopkeepers. In May 1788 the shopkeepers complained to the government that only three months after he took over the farm, the farmer had raised the stipulated prices, started supplying betel of poor quality, and cheating with the weight of tobacco.