The Nayakas of Madurai and Thanjavur had close ties with the Kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka. Kandy was the last independent kingdom left on the island of Sri Lanka, parts of which had been taken over, first by the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British. The kings of Kandy regularly married into the Madurai and Thanjavur royal families. These matrimonial alliances had two objectives. First, it helped them establish alliances against the colonial powers and second, it helped them keep a check on the powerful and ambitious Sinhalese noble clans, who wanted to gain power through their own matrimonial alliances with the royals of Kandy.

With the Nayaka brides from India, also came their retinue of relatives who gained positions of power at the Kandy court - forming what was called the ‘Nayaka Nobility’. This was the beginning of the Kandy Nayakas.