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Velir
The Velir were a royal house of minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamilakam in the early historic period of South India. They had close relations with Chera, Chola and Pandya rulers through ruling and coronation rights. Medieval inscriptions and Sangam literature claim that they belong to the Yadu dynasty. Velir may refer to master of land. Origin The Purananuru, one of the Eight Anthologies of Sangam literature, praises King Irunkōvēl, a 49th generation descendant of the Vēlir clan whose ancestors appeared from the pitcher (தடவு) of a Northern sage (Agastya), and said to have ruled Thuvarai (Dvārakā) with a fort containing tall huge walls made of bronze. According to a commentary on '' Tholkappiyam'', the earliest long work of Tamil literature, eighteen clans of the Velirs came from the city of '' Tuvarapati'' under the leadership of the sage Agastya.Pivot politics: changing cultural identities in early state formation processes By M. van ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irunkōvēl
Irunkōvēl, also known as ''Irungkōvēl'', ''Irukkuvēl'', and ''Ilangōvēlir'', was a title of the Irunkōvēl line of Velir kings. The Irunkovel line of kings ruled over ''Konadu'' identified with the Kodumbalur and surrounding areas in ancient Tamilakkam. They trace their lineage to the clan of Krishna; one of the inscriptions at Kodumbalur belonging to one of the kings in the Irunkovel line, namely Tennavan Irunkōvēl alias Maravan Bhutiyar. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri mentions in his study. The contemporary of Karikala The most famous among them was a contemporary of Karikala Chola as well as poet Kapilar and lived during the Sangam era. There is a song of Kapilar when Irunkovel would not accept Pari s daughters. Sangam literature mentions a chieftain called Irunkovel who could trace his lineage back over 49 generations to residence in Dvārakā. He is later defeated by Karikala Chola and becomes a subordinate to the Chola sovereign.Studies in Indian epigraphy, Volume 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamilakam
Tamilakam () also known as ancient Tamil country as was the geographical region inhabited by the ancient Tamil people, covering the southernmost region of the Indian subcontinent. Tamilakam covered today's Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and southern parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Traditional accounts and the '' Tolkāppiyam'' referred to these territories as a single cultural area, where Tamil was the natural language and permeated the culture of all its inhabitants. The ancient Tamil country was divided into kingdoms. The best known among them were the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyans and Pallavas. During the Sangam period, Tamil culture began to spread outside Tamilakam. Ancient Tamil settlements were also established in Sri Lanka (Sri Lankan Tamils) and the Maldives ( Giravarus). During the Prehistorical, Classical, Middle and Early Modern ages, the entire region of Tamilakam mostly remained unconquered by the Northern Indo-Aryan dynasties, ranging ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sangam Literature
The Sangam literature (Tamil language, Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam''), historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil language, Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ''), connotes the early classical Tamil literature and is the earliest known literature of South India. The Tamil tradition links it to Legendary Tamil Sangams, legendary literary gatherings around Madurai in the ancient Pandya dynasty, Pandya kingdom. It is generally accepted by most scholars that the historical Sangam literature era, also known as the Sangam period, spanned from 100 BCE to 250 CE, on the basis of linguistic, epigraphic, archaeological, numismatic and historical data; though some scholars give a broader range of 300 BCE to 300 CE. The Eighteen Greater Texts (Patiṉeṇmēlkaṇakku), along with the Tamil grammar work Tolkāppiyam, Tolkappiyam, are collectively considered as Sangam literature. These tex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ay Dynasty
Ay dynasty (transliteration: Āy, ), also known as Kupaka in medieval period, was an Indian dynasty which controlled the south-western tip of the Indian peninsula, peninsula, from the early historic period up to the medieval period. The clan traditionally held sway over the port of Vizhinjam, the fertile region of Nanjinad, and southern parts of the spice-producing Western Ghats, Western Ghat mountains. The Ays were traditionally subject to the Pandya dynasty, Pandya rulers of Madurai. The Ay formed one of the major rulers of early historic Kerala, along with the Chera dynasty, Cheras of central Kerala and the Mushika dynasty, rulers of Ezhimalai in the north. List of Graeco-Roman geographers, Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century CE) described the "Aioi" territory as extending from the Pamba River, Baris (Pamba) to Kanyakumari, Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari). The Indian elephant, elephant was the emblem of the early historic Ay rulers. The Ay kingdom, whose ancient ruler ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agastya
Agastya was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He is regarded in some traditions to be a Chiranjivi. He and his wife Lopamudra are the celebrated authors of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Sanskrit text ''Rigveda'' and other Vedic literature. Agastya is considered to be the father of Siddha medicine. Agastya appears in numerous itihasas and Puranas including the major ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata''. He is one of the seven most revered rishis (the Saptarishi) in the Vedic texts, and is revered as one of the Tamil Siddhar in the Shaivism tradition, who invented an early grammar of the Old Tamil language, Agattiyam, playing a pioneering role in the development of Tampraparniyan medicine and spirituality at Saiva centres in proto-era Sri Lanka and South India. He is also revered in the Puranic literature of Shaktism and Vaishnavism. He is one of the Ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamil Literature
Tamil literature includes a collection of literary works that have come from a 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 Tamil people from south India, including the land now comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Sri Lankan Tamil people, Eelam Tamils from Sri Lanka, as well as the Tamil diaspora. The history of Tamil literature follows the history of Tamil Nadu, closely following the social, economical, political and cultural trends of various periods. The early Sangam literature, dated before 300 BCE, contain anthologies of various poets dealing with many aspects of life, including love, war, social values and religion.Akananuru (1, 15, 31, 55, 61, 65, 91, 97, 101, 115, 127, 187, 197, 201, 211, 233, 251, 265, 281, 311, 325, 331, 347, 349, 359, 393, 281, 295), Kurunthogai (11), and Natrinai (14, 75) are dated before 300 BCE. This was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chera Dynasty
The Chera dynasty ( or Cēra, ), also known as Keralaputra, from the early historic or the Sangam period in Tamil-speaking southern India, ruled over parts of present-day states Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Cheras, known as one of the mu-ventar (the Three Crowned Kings) of Tamilakam (the Tamil Country) alongside the Cholas and Pandyas, have been documented as early as the third century BCE. The Chera country was geographically well placed at the tip of the Indian peninsula to profit from maritime trade via the extensive Indian Ocean networks. Exchange of spices, especially black pepper, with Middle Eastern or Graeco-Roman merchants is attested to in several sources. Chera influence extended over central Kerala and western Tamil Nadu until the end of the early historic period in southern India. The Cheras of the early historical period (c. second century BCE – c. third/fifth century CE) had their capital in interior Tamil country ( Vanchi-Karur, Kongu Nadu), and ports/capit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purananuru
The ''Purananuru'' (, literally "four hundred [poems] in the genre puram"), sometimes called ''Puram'' or ''Purappattu'', is a classical Tamil literature, Tamil poetic work and traditionally the last of the Eight Anthologies (''Ettuthokai'') in the Sangam literature. It is a collection of 400 heroic poems about kings, wars and public life, of which two are lost and a few have survived into the modern age in fragments. The collected poems were composed by 157 poets, of which 14 were anonymous and at least 10 were women. This anthology has been variously dated between 1st century BCE and 5th century CE, with Kamil Zvelebil, a Tamil literature scholar, dating predominantly all of the poems of ''Purananuru'' sometime between 2nd and 5th century CE. Nevertheless, few poems are dated to the period of 1st century BCE. The ''Purananuru'' anthology is diverse. Of its 400 poems, 138 praise 43 kings – 18 from the Chera dynasty, 13 Chola dynasty kings, and 12 Early Pandya dynasty kings. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athiyamān
Athiyaman, also known as Athiyan, Adhiyaman, Adigaman, or as Sathiyaputhra in Indo-Aryan, were a line of rulers based in Thagadur, present day Dharmapuri, in northern Tamil country, dating back to at least the 3rd century BCE. They were one of the four major powers of the Tamilakam (the Tamil country) during the second half of the first millennium BCE, bordered by the Cheras to the southwest and the Pandyas and Cholas to the south. The Athiyamans are mentioned in early historic Tamil literature (the Sangam Literature), as well as in inscriptions such as the edicts of the Maurya emperor Asoka (3rd century BCE) and a Tamil-Brahmi cave record from Jambai. The Tamil-Brahmi inscription at Jambai village, Jambai, Tirukkoyilur, provide details of their sovereignty in the 1st century CE. The most well-known ruler of this dynasty was Athiyamān Nedumān Añci, Athiyaman Neduman Anchi, who is listed as one of the Last seven great patrons, kadai ezhu vallal (the last seven great patron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malayamān
The Malaiyamān were chieftains who ruled Nadu Naadu, the area around Tirukkoyilur of Tamilakam, during the Sangam period. Chiefs of this dynasty readily took the title ''Chēdirāyan'', and ruled the hill countries. This clan's most famous king was Malaiyamān Thirumudi Kaary. Their royal emblem featured a horse, depicted on their issued coins. Malaiyamans descended from Ayar tribe in the Mullai (forest) region. It is of interest to note that Vanavan Mahadevi, the mother of Rajaraja Chola I, was a princess of Malaiyamān family. Malaiyaman coins The Malaiyamans issued copper coins of quadrilateral shape which bore their royal emblem, a horse (sometimes facing left, and sometimes right). In some of the early coins, the legend "Malaiyaman" above the horse motif decorates the coin obverse. Most of their coins carried the symbolic map of their territory on the reverse: "A wide curved river with fishes flowing in it, and a hillock on side of the river". This depicted the ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harappa
Harappa () is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal, that takes its name from a modern village near the former course of the Ravi River, which now runs to the north. Harappa is the type site of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation ("IVC"), as it was the first IVC site to be excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India during the British Raj, although its significance did not become manifest until the discovery of Mohenjo-daro some years later. For this reason, IVC is sometimes called the "Harappan civilisation," a term more commonly used by the Archaeological Survey of India after decolonization in 1947. The discovery of Harappa and, soon afterwards, Mohenjo-Daro, two major urban settlements of IVC, was the culmination of work that had begun after the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1861. The city of Harappa is believed to have had as many as 23,500 residents and occupied about with clay brick houses at its greatest extent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamraparni
Tamraparni (Sanskrit for "with copper leaves" or "red-leaved") is an older name for multiple distinct places, including Sri Lanka, Tirunelveli in India, and the Thamirabarani River that flows through Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. As a name for Sri Lanka The rock edicts of the 3rd century BCE Indian emperor Ashoka mention the word Tamraparni (as "Tambapanni") in connection with his foreign missions. One edict states that his ''dhamma vijaya'' (victory through dhamma) prevailed in frontier kingdoms of the Choda (Cholas), Pada (Pandyas), and as far as Tambapanni. This seems to be a reference to Sri Lanka, as the Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka mention that a port city called Tammapanni was established there during the reign of the legendary king Vijaya. The city was called "Tammena" during the reign of Vijaya's successor Panduvasdeva and "Tammapanni" during the reign of Ashoka's missionary son Mahendra. According to these chronicles, the place was so called because its dust stuck ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
