Chera dynasty
The first recorded history on the origin of Changanacherry is obtained from Sangam period literature. According to Sangam era documents, Uthiyan Cheralathan (Perum Chorru Udiyan Cheralathan, Athan I, or Udiyanjeral - AD c. 130) is the first recorded Kera (Chera) dynasty ruler of the Sangam period in ancient South India. He had his capital at a place called "Kuzhumur" in Kuttanad and expanded the kingdom northward and eastward from his original homeland ("izham" or "illam" in Tamil). His lifetime is broadly determined to be between the first and third century AD. His queen was Veliyan Nalini, the daughter of Veliyan Venman. Present-day Changanacherry and Kuttanad was the capital of the Kera (Chera) dynasty at that time until it was burnt down by Karikala Chola, changing the name of Kuzhumur to Chutta-nadu ("burnt-land"), which became Kuttanad. Similarly, "Keralathan" is the Malayalam pronunciation of Tamil "Cheralathan" and the world "Keralam" may be a derivative version of "Chera-izham" or "Kera-illam", meaning "Chera-homeland" in Tamil). Keralathan's descendant was Senguttavan Cheran (Chenguttavan means "brave-hearted" in Malayalam); the towns of Chenganacherri and Chengana are named after him). Sengana-cherri means "Sengan's town" in old Tamil. After the Chera dynasty defeat, the word "cherri" took on the concurrent meaning of "the land of the defeated" and eventually was equated to mean a slum in Chola kingdom.