Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.105

c7.105

*Coḷa*.—The Coḷa country (Śoramaṇḍalam) includes the Tanjore, and Trichinopoly districts (*S.I.I.*, I, pp. 32, 51, 59, 60, 79, 92, 96, 97, 100, 111, 112, 118, 134, 135, 139, etc.). It was watered by the river Kāverī (*Ibid.*, Vol. II, pp. 21, Introduction, and 503). The Coḷa kingdom stretched along the eastern coast from the river Penner to the Vellar and on the west reaching to about the borders of Coorg. It included the modern districts of Trichinopoly and Tanjore and part of Pudukottah State (K. A. Nilkanta Śāstri, *The Coḷas*, Ch. II, p. 22). Its capital was Uraiyūr (Old Trichinopoly) which corresponds to Sanskrit Uragapura. Daṇḍin in his *Kāvyādarśa* (III, 166—Rāmacandra Tarkavāgīśa’s Ed.) mentions Coḷa country but the commentator includes it in Karṇāta. The country of Coḷa known to the Chinese as Chūlli-ye was about 2,400 li in circuit. The population was very small. It was deserted and wild. The climate was hot, and the people were dissolute and cruel. They were fierce by nature. There were some *saṅghārāmas* in ruins and deva temples (Beal, *Buddhist Records of the Western World*, II, 227). Rājarāja desirous of the Coḷa kingdom conferred the Veṅgī country on his paternal uncle Vijayāditya. The origin of the name Coḷa is uncertain. The name Coḷa indicated from the earliest times the people as well as the country subject to the Coḷa dynasty of rulers. The Coḷa kings were alleged to belong to the tribe of Tiraiyar or ‘men of the sea’. Ptolemy refers to the kingdom of Sora (Coḷa) ruled by Arkatos, and the kingdom of Malanga ruled by Bassaronagas. Ptolemy calls the Coḷas by the name of Soringae whose capital was Orthoura (McCrindle, *Ancient India as described by Ptolemy*, Majumdar Ed., pp. 64-65, 185-186). Pāṇini mentions Coḷa in his *Aṣṭādhyāyī* (4. 1. 175). Aśoka’s Rock Edicts II and XIII mention the Coḷas along with others as forming outlying provinces (*Pracaṃta*) outside his empire. The *Rāmāyaṇa* (IV, Ch. 41, Bom. Ed.), the *Mārkaṇḍeya* (Ch. 57, v. 45), the *Vāyu* (Ch. 45, v. 124) and *Matsya* (Ch. 112, v. 46) refer to Coḷas. The *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* (XIV. 13) mentions it as a country. The early history of the Coḷa country is obscure.