THE WORLD ATLAS

Realm · approximate borders · 300 BCE – 300 CE

Chera kingdom (Kuda Nadu, Malabar coast)

Sastri and Gurukkal see two Chera lines: one on the coast, and the Irumporai at Karur. The northern limit at Badagara follows the Periplus' White Island, as Kanakasabhai reads it.

The eastern limit is the Ghats crest, with the Palghat gap included. Pattanam's link to Muziris is strong but not certain.

See Chera kingdom (Kuda Nadu, Malabar coast) on the map in 300 BCE

On the map
300 BCE – 300 CE
Capital
Vanji: Tiruvanchikulam near Kodungallur, Tiru-Karur on the Periyar (Kanakasabhai), or Karur in Kongu (Sastri) — disputed
Ports
Muziris (Muciri; probably Pattanam), Tondi (Tyndis)
Attested in
Ashoka RE II ('Kelalaputa'); Patirruppattu; Akananuru 149 (Yavana ships at Muziris); Periplus 54 (Tyndis and Muziris in the kingdom of Cerobothra); Pliny (Muziris, king Coelobothras)

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