Atiyamāṉ (also known as Adhiyamān, Adigamān or Satyaputra-Atiyān) were a royal Velir dynasty. These king-chiefs ruled from their capital Tagadur (present day

Dharmapuri Dharmapuri is a special grade town in the north western part of Tamil Nadu, India. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district which is the first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by sp ...

) from at least the 3rd century BCE. The royal house was one of the four kingdoms of

Tamilakam Tamiḻakam (Tamil: தமிழகம்; Malayalam: തമിഴകം), refers to the geographical region inhabited by the ancient Tamil people, covering the southernmost region of the Indian subcontinent. Tamilakam covered today's Tamil Nad ...

, ruling parts of the

Kongu Nadu Kongu Nadu, also known by various names as Kongu Mandalam and Kongu belt, is a geographical region comprising present day parts of western Tamil Nadu, southeastern Karnataka and eastern Kerala. In the ancient Tamilakam, it was the seat of th ...

. They were surrounded by the Cheras to the west and the Pandyas and

Cholas The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE d ...

to the east. The Atiyamāṉs are mentioned in the

Puranas Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

as well as in ancient

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

. Their rule in Southern India is mentioned in rock inscriptions of the

Sangam period The Sangam period or age (, ), particularly referring to the third Sangam period, is the period of the history of ancient Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Sri Lanka (then known as Tamilakam) spanning from c. 6th century BCE to c. 3rd century CE. ...

as well as in the Edicts of Asoka dated to the 3rd century BCE and the Gummireddipura plates with the added title ''Satyaputra'' – the "members of the fraternity of truth", synonymous with the Chera clan. Vidukalagiya Perumal, an eighth century chief of this family is described as the descendant of Adigaman Elini of Chera dynasty (vamsa) in one of his epigraphs. A number of inscriptions in Jambai (also known as "Tirukkoyilur") add details of their sovereignty in the 1st century CE. This ruling tribe rose in prominence during the classical period of the

history of Tamil Nadu The region of Tamil Nadu in the southeast of modern India, shows evidence of having had continuous human habitation from 15,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE. Throughout its history, spanning the early Upper Paleolithic age to modern times, this regio ...

. Their most famous ruler was Athiyamān Nedumān Añci, a powerful king who was one of the ''Kadai ezhu vallal'' (''7 great patrons'') of arts and literature in Tamilakam.

Kingdom

The Athiyamān was a small kingdom situated on the eastern valley of

Malaya Mountains The Malaya Mountains were a range of mountains that were mentioned in the Hindu sacred texts like ''Matsya Purana'', the ''Kurma Purana'', the ''Vishnu Purana'', and the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The Vishnu Purana specifi ...

of the Western Ghats (

Anamalai The Anamala or Anaimalai, also known as the Elephant Mountains, are a range of mountains in the southern Western Ghats of central Kerala ( Idukki district, Ernakulam district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district) and span the border of west ...

Palani Palani ( or ''Palni'' as in British records, is a town and a taluk headquarters in Dindigul district of the western part of Tamil Nadu state in India. It is located about south-east of Coimbatore and north-west of Madurai, from Kodaik ...

and Nilgiri).

Inscriptions

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

mentions the Athiyaman clan in his inscriptions along with the Cholas, Pandyas and the Kerala putras (Cheras). The Athiyamans wielded sufficient power in the time of Asoka (3rd century BCE) almost on par with the Cheras,

and Pandyas. In several excavated

Tamil-Brahmi Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamizhi or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in the early form of Old Tamil.Richard Salomon (1998) ''Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptio ...

inscriptions dated to 1st century CE found at Jambai,

Tirukkoyilur Tirukoilur also spelt as ''Tirukkoyilur'' or ''Tirukovilur'' is a city and the headquarters of Tirukoilur taluk in Kallakurichi District, Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located on the southern bank of Thenpennai River and famous for Ulagala ...

Viluppuram district Viluppuram, Villupuram or Vizhuppuram is one of the 38 districts that make up the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded on 30 September 1993, prior to which it was part of the Cuddalore district. Vizhuppuram district lies in the way of the ...

South Arcot South Arcot District was a district in the Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the area of the present-day districts of Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Viluppuram in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The district was divided into eight ta ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

mention is made again of the dynasty: Jambai inscription on Adhiyamaan Nedumaan Anji

The inscription mentions the Athiyā Chief Neduman Anci, a heroic historic king celebrated in volumes of the

Sangam literature The Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam'';) historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ'') connotes ...

classics '' Purananuru'' and '' Akananuru''. This Athiymān king was a descendant of the Satyaputra dynasty mentioned in Asoka's edicts. The inscription records the endowment of a cave-shelter by the chieftain Atiyan Netuman Anci who sports the title Satiyaputo. The inscription gives the name of his clan (Atiyan), of his father (Netuman) and of himself (Anci). This clear statement enables researchers with absolute certainty, to identify a chieftain mentioned in the Tamil Sangam literature with a personage figuring in a

inscription.I. Mahadevan, RECENT DISCOVERIES OF JAINA CAVE INSCRIPTIONS IN TAMILNADU The Satyaputra-Athiyamān wielded sufficient power in the 3rd century BCE to be considered on par with the Cheras,

and Pandyas, a power which continued for the next four centuries. The Gummireddipura plates make mention of the Satyaputra Adigaman dynasty.

Notes

References

* Sastri, K.A. Nilakanta, ''A History of South India'' (1955), OUP, New Delhi * {{DEFAULTSORT:Athiyamaan Tamil history Kingdoms in the Puranas Kadai ezhu vallal Tamil empires and kingdoms

Kingdom

Inscriptions

See also

Notes

References