THE WORLD ATLAS

Realm · approximate borders · 300 BCE – 300 CE

Pandya kingdom (Pandya Nadu)

The core is the Vaigai and Tamirabarani basins, bounded on the west by the crest of the Ghats at Podiyil. Nedunjeliyan annexed the Milalai and Mutturu districts (Sastri).

See Pandya kingdom (Pandya Nadu) on the map in 300 BCE

On the map
300 BCE – 300 CE
Capital
Madurai (Kudal); Korkai, the pearl port where the heir apparent lived
Ports
Korkai (Kolkhoi / Colchi), Saliyur (unidentified)
Attested in
Ashoka RE II and XIII ('Pandyas'); Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela (pearls from the Pandya); Maduraikkanchi; Pliny ('Pandion' at Madura); Periplus (Colchi, Nelcynda); Ptolemy

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