The Colas c10.8

c10.8

The grammarian Kātyāyana knew of the Cōḍas.¹⁴ The earliest records which mention the Cōḷas and which can be dated with certainty are the Aśōkan inscriptions,¹⁵ where they are mentioned among kingdoms which, though not subject to Aśōka, were on friendly terms with him. The Cōḷas, like the Pāṇḍyas, are spoken of in the plural in all the versions of the Aśōkan edicts, and this has been held to imply that 'in Aśōka's time there were more than one Cōḍa and one Pāṇḍya king.'¹⁶