THE WORLD ATLAS

Realm · approximate borders · 300 BCE – 190 CE

Aruva Nadu (lower Pennai valley)

Sastri places the Aruvalar's country in the lower Pennai valley, north of the Kaveri delta. Kanakasabhai uses Aruva Nadu more widely, for the whole country around Kanchi.

See Aruva Nadu (lower Pennai valley) on the map in 300 BCE

On the map
300 BCE – 190 CE
Capital
unknown
Ports
Arikamedu (Poduke of the Periplus and Ptolemy, probably)
Attested in
Pattinappalai (the Aruvalar); Ptolemy's 'Aruvarnoi' (as read by Kanakasabhai); Arikamedu excavations (Wheeler 1945; Begley 1989–92)

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