Pudukkottai became a princely state of British India under the political authority of Madras Presidency. The state had an area of 1100 sq mi (3000 km²) and in 1901, a population of 380,000. The Rajas of Pudukkotai were entitled to an 11-gun salute.
The last Thondaiman raja of Pudukkottai acceded to newly-independent India in 1948, and the state became a division of Tiruchirappalli District of Madras State. The state was reorganised twice in the succeeding decade, taking its present form in 1956; it was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1968. On 14 January 1974, the present Pudukkottai District was formed from parts of Tiruchirappalli and Thanjavur districts.
