The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s2.39

c35.s2.39

The earliest reference to the Kerala or Chera kingdom is that made in the edicts of Asoka under the name of Keralaputra, which was known in slightly corrupted forms to both Pliny and the author of the *Periplus* as still used in their time, the first century after Christ. The ancient Tamil literature, dating approximately from the same period, or a little later, proves that the Chera kingdom comprised five *nādus* or districts, namely : (1) Pooli, ‘the sandy,’ extending from Agalappula to the mouth of the Ponāni river, about 10° 50′ N. lat. ; (2) Kudam, ‘the western,’ extending from the Ponāni to the southernmost mouth of the Periyar river near Ernakulam, about 10° N. lat. ; (3) Kuddam, ‘the land of lakes,’ about Kottayam and Quilon ; (4) Ven,³ from below Quilon nearly to Cape Comorin ; and (5) Karkā, ‘the rocky,’ the hill country to the east of No. 2. Pliny’s Cottonara or Kottanara, the pepper coast, corresponds with No. 3.