Realm · approximate borders · 300 BCE – 300 CE

Nannan of Ezhimalai (Pali)

This is the north-western edge of Tamilakam, from Badagara to about Kasaragod and inland to Coorg. Sources disagree on which Nannan ruled which lands, and the Kosar of Chellur also raided Ezhimalai.

See Nannan of Ezhimalai (Pali) on the map in 300 BCE

On the map: 300 BCE – 300 CE
Capital: Pali, on the slopes of Ezhimalai (Ezhil hill)
Ports: Naravu (probably the Periplus' Naura)
Attested in: Akananuru 152, 199, 396; Natrinai 270; Patirruppattu 40 and 4th decad; Sastri ('north of Malabar, in the Tulu country')

Rulers named in the sources

Nannan (title borne by several rulers) killed by Narmudicheral (Patirruppattu 40); his general killed Adiyaman Anji at Pali

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.