page_title: Chera dynasty
section_title: Pandya conquests in Chera country
hierarchical_section_title: Chera dynasty / Cheras in the medieval period / Pandya conquests in Chera country
caption_attribution_description: English: South India, based on the map given in "A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations" by Noboru Karashima (OUP)
context_page_description: The Chera dynasty was one of the principal lineages in the early history of the present day states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in southern India. Together with the Cholas of Uraiyur and the Pandyas of Madurai, the early Cheras were known as one of the three major powers of ancient Tamilakam in the early centuries of the Common Era.
  The Chera country was geographically well placed to profit from maritime trade via the extensive Indian Ocean networks. Exchange of spices, especially black pepper, with Middle Eastern and Graeco-Roman merchants are attested in several sources. The Cheras of the early historical period are known to have had their original centre at Karur in interior Tamil Nadu and harbours at Muchiri and Thondi on the Indian Ocean coast.
  The early historic pre-Pallava Tamil polities are often described as a "kinship-based redistributive economies" largely shaped by "pastoral-cum-agrarian subsistence" and "predatory politics". Tamil Brahmi cave label inscriptions, describe Ilam Kadungo, son of Perum Kadungo, and the grandson of Ko Athan Cheral of the Irumporai clan. Inscribed portrait coins with Brahmi legends give a number of Chera names.
context_section_description: There are clear attestations of repeated Pandya conquests of the Kerala or Chea country in the 7th and 8th centuries AD. 
  Pandya king Sendan/Jayantan (fl. 645 – 70 AD) was known as the Vanavan, an ancient name for the Chera king. Arikesari Maravarman (670 – 710 AD), another Pandya ruler, probably defeated the Keralas/Cheras on several occasions. His successor Ko Chadayan Ranadhira also made gains against the Cheras.
  The so-called "renewal of the capital city of Vanchi (Karur) along with Kudal (Madurai) and Kozhi (Uraiyur)", described in the Madras Museum Plates of the Pandya king Rajasimha I (730 – 65 AD), may suggest a Pandya occupation of the Kongu Chera capital Karur.
  It is known that when Pandya king Jatila Parantaka (765 – 815 AD) went to war against the Adigaman of Tagadur (Dharmapuri), the Keralas and the Pallavas went to the aid of the latter though "the Pandyas drove them back to the quarters from which they had emerged" (Madras Museum Plates). Perhaps the Chera branch from present-day Kerala had crossed the Ghat Mountains to offer support to the Adigaman and after defeat they were pursued up to the Palghat Gap by the Pandya forces.
  Present-day central Kerala probably detached from Kongu Chera/Kerala kingdom (around 8th-9th century AD) to form the Chera/Perumal kingdom.
  The Pandyas are known to have made a defensive alliance with the Cheras of Kongu country (who were under their influence) in this period. Pandya king Parantaka Vira Narayana (c. 880 – 900 AD) is known to have married a Kerala (Kongu Chera) princess "Vanavan Maha Devi". The son of this alliance, Rajasimha, described as a member of Chandra-Aditya Kula (Sinnamanur copper plates), was "destroyed by the Chola king Parantaka". It was initially assumed by K. A. N. Sastri and E. P. N. K. Pillai that the Vira Narayana had married a Chera Perumal princess of Kerala.
caption: Chera Perumal Kingdom with the Chola Empire on the east.
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