THE WORLD ATLAS

Realm · approximate borders · 190–300

Tagadur under Chera suzerainty

After Tagadur fell, the Adiyaman acknowledged Chera overlordship and died fighting Nannan at Pali on the Cheras' behalf (Sastri). The date of the change depends on Sastri's chronology, and the inscriptions may point earlier.

See Tagadur under Chera suzerainty on the map in 190

On the map
190–300
Capital
Tagadur (Dharmapuri)
Attested in
Patirruppattu (Arisil Kilar's decad on Perunjeral Irumporai, who took Tagadur); the lost Tagadur Yattirai

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