Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.94

c7.94

*Cera*.—This country comprised present Malabar, Cochin and Travancore (*S.I.I.*, Vol. II, p. 21). Cera is a corruption of Kerala. The people of Kerala are known as the Kairalaka (*Bṛhat-Saṃhitā*, XIV, 12). Originally its capital was Vañji, now Tiru-Karūr on the Periyār river near Cochin, and its later capital was Tiruvañjikkalam near the mouth of the Periyār. It had important trading centres on the western coast at Tondi on the Agalappulai about five miles north of Quilandi, Muchiri, Palaiyur (near Chowghāṭ) and Vaikkarai. After the Coḷas the Ceras became the leading power in the south. Keralaputra finds mention in Aśoka’s R.E. II. The Tamil kingdom of Chera is mentioned in the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas. (*Mahābhārata*, IX. 352, 365; Sabhāparva, XXX, pp. 1174-75; Rāmāyaṇa, IV, Ch. 41 (Bombay Edition); Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Ch. 57, 45; Vāyu Purāṇa, XLV, 124; Matsya Purāṇa, CXIII, 46). For further details, vide B. C. Law, *Tribes in Ancient India*, 193ff.