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CHAPTER XLV
KERALAS OR CHERAS
The Keralaputra (Ketalaputra or Chera) is the country south of Kūpaka (or Satya), extending down to Kanneti in Central Travancore (Karunagapalli Taluk). South of it lay the political division of Mūshika'. It was watered by the river Periyār on the banks of which stood its capital Vañji (near Cochin) and at its mouth the seaport of Muziris (Kranganur). According to L. D. Barnett 2 the Chera or Kerala territory comprised Travancore, Cochin and the Malabar District; the Kongu-deśa (corresponding to the Coimbatore District and the southern part of Salem District), which at one time was separate from it and later annexed to it. Its capital was originally Vañji (now Tiru-Karūr, on the Periyār river, near Cochin), but later Tiru-Vañjikkalam (near the mouth of the Periyār). It had important trading centres on the western coast at Tondi on the Agalappulai, about five miles north of Quilāndi, Muchiri (near the mouth of the Periyār), Paļaiyur (near Chowghāt), and Vaikkarai (close to Kottayam).
The three Tamil kingdoms, viz. Cāļa, Chera and Pāņdya, are vaguely mentioned in the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas. Thus in the Purāņas, as Sir R. G. Bhandarkar points out,' the term Dakṣiṇāpatha or Daksina is used to denote the whole peninsula to the south of the Narmadā. The Mārkandeya Purāņa (Chap. 57, 45) reads Kevalas. The Vāyupurāna (XLV, 124) and the Matsyapurāna (CXIII, 46) as well as the Bhīşmaparvan of the Mahābhārata (IX, 352 and 365) give the correct reading Kerala: According to the Mahābhārata, 4 the Keralas seem to have been a forest tribe. In historical times they are associated with the Colas and Pandyas. This is upheld by Harivamśa as well (XXXII, 1836). The Mārkandeya, Vāyu and Matsya Purānas mention the Cõļas, Pāņdyas and Keralas among the peoples of the Dakşiņāpatha. In the Mārkandeya Purāņa,5 the reading of the second line, as R. G. Bhandarkar says, is wrong. He gives his reading as follows: 'Pāņdyāśca Keralāścaiva Colah Kulyās tathaiva ca'. In the Rāmāyana, we read that Sugrīva, the
1 Political History of Ancient India, 4th Ed., p. 273. 2 Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 595. 3 Early History of the Dekkan, p. I. 4 Sabhāparvan, XXX, pp. 1174-5. 5 Chap. 57, 45 (ed. Bibliotheca Indica). 13
6 IV, Chap. 41, Bom. Ed.
