Battle of Venni is a military engagement fought by the early historic Chola (

Uraiyur Uraiyur (also spelt Woraiyur) is a posh locality in Tiruchirapalli city in Tamil Nadu, India. Uraiyur was the ancient name of Tiruchirappalli City. Now, it became the one of the busiest area in Trichy City. It was the capital of the early Chol ...

) ruler

Karikala Karikala ( ta, கரிகால சோழன்) was a Tamil Chola Emperor who ruled southern India. He is credited with the construction of the flood banks of the river Kaveri. He is recognised as the greatest of the Early Cholas. Source ...

with a confederacy of Pandya (Madurai) and Chera rulers. Venni is identified with present day

Kovilvenni Kovilvenni is a town near Needamangalam in the district of Thiruvarur. It is 24 km away from Thanjavur. History Kovilvenni was under the Chola Kingdom during the ancient period. The great battle of Venni took place between the Cholas and ...

near

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

, southern India. Upon the accession of Karikala, at a young age, there was a civil conflict in the Chola territory. By the time Karikala had succeeded in vanquishing rival claimants and establishing his hold over the territory, the neighboring Chera and Pandya rulers saw their opportunity. The two rulers formed a confederacy which also included eleven Velir chieftains apart from the two major rulers and invaded the Chola territory. It is unclear why even the Velir who were generally the allies of the Cholas stood against Karikala, the scion of the solar race and of the Kashyapa gotra, though Karikala by his brilliant stratagem inflicted a crushing defeat on the alliance in the ensuing encounter at Venni. Following his defeat, the Chera ruler

Uthiyan Cheralathan Uthiyan Cheralathan ("Perum Chottu Uthiyan") is earliest known Chera ruler of early historic Kerala (c. 1st - 4th century CE) from available literary sources. He had his headquarters at a place called Kuzhumur in Kuttanad (southern Kerala). H ...

starved himself to death (suicide by slow starvation). The battle is generally considered historical and dated approximately to 130 CE.

References

* {{cite book, title= A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar, first=K. A. Nilakanta, last=Sastri, authorlink=K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, page=113 Venni Venni Chera dynasty 130 2nd century in India Venni