Chera dynasty

"Chera" and "Cheras" redirect here. For other uses, see Chera (disambiguation) and Cheras (disambiguation).

Chera dynasty
Cēra vamcam
c. 300s BCE–c. 1124 CE
Insignia of Keralaputras
Insignia
CapitalEarly Cheras

Kongu Cheras

Chera Perumals

Common languages
Religion
Demonym(s)Cheran
GovernmentMonarchy
History 
• Established
c. 300s BCE
• Disestablished
c. 1124 CE
 Succeeded by
Zamorin of Calicut
Kingdom of Travancore
Kingdom of Cochin
Kattan dynasty
Mannanar dynasty
Today part of
Chera dynasty
Early Cheras
-
  • Kadummipudha Chera
  • Ko Athan Cheral Irumporai
  • Perum Kadungo (Irumporai)
  • Ilam Kadungo (Irumporai)
-
Kongu Chera dynasty (Karur)
  • Ravi Goda
  • Kanthan Ravi
  • Vira Goda
  • Vira Narayana
  • Vira Chola
  • Vira Kerala
  • Vira Kerala Amarabhujangadeva
  • Kerala Kesari Adhirajarajadeva
Chera/Perumals of Makotai (Kerala)

The Chera dynasty (or Cēra, IPA: [t͡ʃeːɾɐr]), was a Sangam age Tamil dynasty which unified various regions of the western coast and western ghats in southern India to form the early Chera empire.[1][2] The dynasty, known as one of the Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakam alongside the Chola and Pandya, has been documented as early as the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE.[3] Their governance extended over diverse territories until the 12th century CE.

The Chera country was geographically well placed to profit from maritime trade via the extensive Indian Ocean networks. Exchange of spices, especially black pepper, with Middle Eastern and Graeco-Roman merchants are attested in several sources.[4][5][6] The Cheras of the early historical period (c. second century BCE – c. third century CE[6]) are known to have had their original centre at Kuttanad in Kerala, and harbours at Muchiri (Muziris) and Thondi (Tyndis) on the Indian Ocean coast (Kerala) and Kongunadu. They governed the area of Malabar Coast between Alappuzha in the south to Kasaragod in the north. The region around Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheras during the Sangam period between c. 1st and the 4th centuries CE and it served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap, the principal trade route between the Malabar Coast and Tamil Nadu.[7] However the southern region of the present-day Kerala state (The coastal belt between Thiruvananthapuram and southern Alappuzha) was under Ay dynasty, who was more related to the Pandya dynasty of Madurai.[8]

The early historic pre-Pallava[9] polities are often described as a "kinship-based redistributive economies" largely shaped by "pastoral-cum-agrarian subsistence" and "predatory politics".[6] Old Tamil Brahmi cave label inscriptions, describe Ilam Kadungo, son of Perum Kadungo, and the grandson of Ko Athan Cheral of the Irumporai clan.[10][11] Inscribed portrait coins with Brahmi legends give a number of Chera names,[12] with the Chera symbols of the bow and the arrow depicted in the reverse.[12] The anthologies of early Sangham texts are a major source of information about the early Cheras.[2] Cenguttuvan, or the good Chera, is famous for the traditions surrounding Kannaki, the principal female character of the Sangam epic poem Cilappatikaram.[4][13] After the end of the early historical period, around the 3rd-5th century CE, there seems to be a period where the Cheras' power declined considerably.[14]

Cheras of the Kongu country are known to have controlled eastern Kerala and only a few kilometres of current western Tamil Nadu in the early medieval period.[15] Present-day central Kerala and Kongu Cheras detached around 8th–9th century CE to form the Chera Perumal kingdom and Kongu Chera kingdom (c. 9th–12th century CE).[16] The exact nature of the relationships between the various branches of Chera rulers are unclear. After this, the present day parts of Kerala and Kongunadu became autonomous.[17] Some of the major dynasties of medieval south India - Chalukya, Pallava, Pandya, Rashtrakuta, and Chola - seem to have conquered the Kongu Chera country. Kongu Cheras appear to have been absorbed into the Pandya political system by 10th/11th century CE. Even after the dissolution of the Perumal kingdom, royal inscriptions and temple grants, especially from outside Kerala proper, continued to refer the country and the people as the "Cheras or Keralas".[14]

The rulers of Venad (the Venad Cheras or the "Kulasekharas"), based out of the port of Kollam in south Kerala, claimed their ancestry from the Perumals.[14][18] Cheranad was also the name of an erstwhile province in the kingdom of Zamorin of Calicut, which had included parts of present-day Tirurangadi and Tirur Taluks of Malappuram district in it.[19] Later it became a Taluk of Malabar District, when Malabar came under the British Raj.[19][20] The headquarters of Cheranad Taluk was the town of Tirurangadi.[19][20] Later the Taluk was merged with Eranad Taluk.[19][20]

  1. ^ Karashima 2014, pp. 143–145.
  2. ^ a b Zvelebil 1973, pp. 52–53.
  3. ^ "The Cheras - The creators of the land of Kerala | History Unravelled". historyunravelled.com. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b Thapar 2018.
  5. ^ Edward Balfour 1871, p. 584.
  6. ^ a b c Gurukkal 2015, pp. 26–27.
  7. ^ Subramanian, T. S (28 January 2007). "Roman connection in Tamil Nadu". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 September 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  8. ^ KA Nilakanta Sastri
  9. ^ Gurukkal 2002, pp. 138–150.
  10. ^ Pletcher 2018.
  11. ^ Veluthat 2018, pp. 13–31.
  12. ^ a b Majumdar 2016.
  13. ^ Narayanan 2013.
  14. ^ a b c Menon 2007, p. 118.
  15. ^ Narayanan 2013, pp. 89–90, 92–93.
  16. ^ Narayanan 2013, pp. 89-90 and 92-93.
  17. ^ Narayanan 2013, pp. 80–81.
  18. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 368.
  19. ^ a b c d Logan, William (2010). Malabar Manual (Volume-I). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. pp. 631–666. ISBN 9788120604476.
  20. ^ a b c C.A., Innes (1908). Madras District Gazetteers: Malabar and Anjengo. Government Press, Madras. p. 373. Retrieved 30 September 2020.