THE WORLD ATLAS

Realm · approximate borders · 300 BCE – 190 CE

Adiyaman chiefdom (Tagadur)

The heartland is the Dharmapuri plateau, between the Kaveri gorge and the Javadi hills. The Jambai inscription gives Anji the title 'Satiyaputa', which strongly supports identifying Ashoka's Satiyaputras with the Adiyaman line.

Some still doubt the inscription; R. Nagaswamy defended it.

See Adiyaman chiefdom (Tagadur) on the map in 300 BCE

On the map
300 BCE – 190 CE
Capital
Tagadur (Dharmapuri)
Attested in
Ashoka RE II 'Satiyaputa' (equated with the Adiyaman by Burrow and Sastri); Jambai inscription 'Satiyaputo Atiyan Neduman Anji'; Purananuru (Auvaiyar's songs on Anji)

Rulers named in the sources

Tamilakam in the Sangam age

Sangam poetry (the Purananuru, Akananuru, Ten Idylls and Patirruppattu) describes a Tamil country running from the Venkatam hills to Cape Kumari. It was shared by three 'crowned kings' and a ring of Velir chiefs in the hills between them. The Cholas held the Kaveri delta, the Pandyas the Vaigai and Tamirabarani basins, and the Cheras the Malabar coast and later Kongu. Ashoka's edicts, the Hathigumpha inscription, the Periplus, Pliny, Ptolemy, Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and digs at Keezhadi, Kodumanal, Arikamedu and Pattanam confirm the kingdoms, capitals and ports. No source draws a frontier, though. The changes over time follow Nilakanta Sastri's dating, which puts most named kings in c. 100–250 CE. Other scholars place them a century or more earlier.

Sources