THE WORLD ATLAS

Realm · approximate borders · 300 BCE – 300 CE

Malaiyaman Nadu (Kari of Kovalur)

Malaiyaman Nadu lay in the middle Pennai valley between the Chola delta and Tondai Nadu. Kanakasabhai treats the Malaiyaman as a Chola vassal: when Kari took the crown, the Cholas invaded.

Adiyaman also stormed Kovalur, and his inscription at Jambai shows how much the chiefs' territories overlapped.

See Malaiyaman Nadu (Kari of Kovalur) on the map in 300 BCE

On the map
300 BCE – 300 CE
Capital
Kovalur (Tirukkoyilur) on the Pennai; hill fort of Mullur
Attested in
Purananuru (Kapilar's songs on Kari); Akananuru 208 (Kari kills Ori); Jambai Tamil-Brahmi inscription of Adiyaman Anji, near Tirukkoyilur (1st century CE)

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