Political geography of pandyan country in sangam age:

The first poet who told about the boundaries of early Tamil

land was Panamparanar.He wrote explanation to the

Tolkappiyam.In that explanations he wrote a fifteen lines poem

as introduction.That poem says the boundaries of Tamilland.

“Vadavengadam Tenkumari

Ayidai

Tamil kurum Nallulangam”

It means that vengadam(Tiruppathi) as north boundary,

Kumari in the south the land in between them gives Tamil.

Tolkappiyam, formula says that twelve lands were joined

with Tamilland.That twelve lands also had Tamil as their language.

That song in below:

“SenTamil sherntha panniru nilathum

Thamkurippinave”

Another historian Kanagasabai in his work “Tamils Eighteen

hundred years Ago” he says the names of the twelve lands with the

evidence from the periplus,Greek like pliny and ptolemy

The twelve lands of Tamils are:

(1) Poozhi Nadu (2) Venadu (3) Kuda Nadu (4) Kutta Nadu

(5) Karka Nadu (6)Tenpandy Nadu(7)Veduvar Nadu(8) Punal

Nadu(9)Ver Kadu or PalaverKadu(10) Vadugu Nadu

(11)Malaiyaman Nadu and (12)Seetha Nadu

Silappadikaram gives the four boundaries of Tamilland as

Tirumal’s hill (vengadamalai) in north and oceans around the

three sides.The song is

“Nediyon kundramum Thodiyol bauvamum

Tamilvarambarutha tanpunal nannadu”

Two Deluges and Three capitals of Pandyan country:

Ten Madurai of KumariNadu was the first captial of pandyan

country.It located at the place where Kumari river mingled with

Indian ocean.This Kumari river and patruliriver were in the

southernside to Kanyakumari. They were ruined by the sea before

second century B.C.It was written in a literary song as

“Patruli attrudan panmalai adukkattu

kumarikkodum kodungkadal kolla.....”

It means pandyan capital and land between kumari river

and patruli river and ponmalai nadu were engulfed by sea.

The second capital of pandyas was Kabadapuram.It was in

the bank of Thamiraparani river.It was also engulfed by the sea.

A literary song says this as

“Music making Tambaneer

land and valuables

unchangeable wealth and the great books

washed away by the sea...”

After the disaster the king Mudathirumaran immediately left

that place and went away some distance towards north.There he

settled in a small town.with his family, poets and wealth.The

name of that town was ‘Manalur’.There he stayed for

sometime.Then he reached Madurai and made it as his capital.

Thus Panamparanar in his paayiram, Nakkirar in his Iriyanar

Agaporul urai, Mullaikalipattu  in Kalithogai and pukar kandam

and Madurai kandam 11 in silappadikaram says the following

messages,

(1) During first sangam there was a big land below the

Kanyakumari.

(2) There was two rivers-kumari river and patruli river -ran in

the big land.

(3) In the first deluge the ocean engulfed some land with patruli

river.

(4) The second deluge engulfed the land with kumari river.

(5) Result of these two deluges Tamilland got kanyakumari as its

southern end.

Capitals of pandyan country:

‘Ten Madurai’  of Kumari Nadu was the first capital of

pandyan country.It was situted at the place where kumari river

mingled with Indian Ocean.It was engulfed by deluge before fifth

century B.C. After that pandyan kings ruled from ‘Kabadapuram’

which was their second capital. A verse in the Kishkindhakandam

of the Ramayana has been taken to refer to the ‘Kabadapuram’ of

the pandyas famed in the Tamil legends of the ‘Three sangams’.

It says that king Sukrivan sent his men to search Seetha at

the following places: Kothavari region,Andra region,Chola and

pandya countries and Kerala.Particularly valmeegi says that the

kings in the place where Thamaraparani River mingled with the

ocean gave pearls to the men of sukrivan.

This kabadapuram was destroyed by the sea.It is mentioned

in a song as

“Music making Tambaneer

Land and valuables...

Unchangable wealth,the

great books

washed away by the sea....

Mahabaratham is the another evidence to the reference of

kabadapuram.

It is perfectly possible that after the ruining of

kabadapuram,the capital was shifted to Madurai.Before that the

pandyan king’ Mudathirumaran’ left the ruinedplace and went

away some distance towards north.There he settled in a small

town with his family,poets and valuables.The name of that town

was ‘Manalur’. It was also known as ‘Kalyanapura’.There he

stayed for some time.Then he reached Madurai and made it as

his capital.The transfer of capital from Kabadapuram to Madurai

is noted by ‘pliny’ in the first century A.D.

Madurai:

The king Mudathirumaran was the founder of the capital

Madurai.It situated on the bank of ‘vaigai’ river.so the city named

as ‘Maruthaithurai’.Then it was shorten as ‘Mathurai’or

‘Madurai’. It means big river bank. ‘Maduraikanchi’ gives us a

detailed description of the city of Madurai,the pandyan

capital.This city having a great deal to do with the story of Kovalan

and Kannaki is described in Silappadikaram also.It was written

by Mankudimaruthanar.The period in which he lived, (if our

reckoning of Nedunjeliyan’s age is correct) was the last years of

the first century and the early years of the second century A.D.

The following is a brief summary of the description of Madurai

in this poem.The city walls are high and the gateways are lofty

and strong.The streets are as broad as rivers. The crowds that

through the morning market place are varied in creed, race and

speech. The city is much beflagged to denote shops and places of

worship. Flags were given also as decorations for valorous deeds.

The forces of the king march through the streets:soliders, elephants

and chariots drawn by prancing horses. Petty traders sell their

various wares such as cakes,flowers,prefume and betel and

arecanuts.

People throng the temples where music is played. And women

escorted by their husbands and children carry votive offering to

the gods. The poet here pauses to speak of eminent people

dwelling in the city such as judges,ministers and counsellors.It is

midnight and the city is wrapped in sweet slumber.The shops are

shut and goblins and vampires are aboard.And so are the burglars

whom the night watchman cleverly check. Then early dawn.The

brahmins chant their vedas and bards tune their instruments.

These reference show that at least a thousand five hundered

years ago the city Madurai was in a highly advanced state of

civilization.

Seaport of pandyan country:

Pandyan country was surrounded by seas on three sides

which favored pandyan kings to conduct trading activity with

neighbouring countries. The people of that country also were

experts in trade with neighbouring territories and well experienced

sea-goars in ancient period. Korkai was the natural port of

pandyan country.It is a Tamil name. ‘ko-ru-kai’ denotes a variety

of grass that is reed.Growth of reeds could be seen in pandyan

country in sangam age.It was proved in a song

“ The tuffed fisherman who trades in fish

Disturbs the pleasant sleep of water fowls

In pulling water plants aside when he

Doth catch his fish and shouts while piling up

The fish he caught in the marutham tracks where grows

The korkai reed”.

In the begining there was no seaport for pandyan country after

transferring the captial to Madurai. At that time Poombukar was the

only seaport for whole Tamil land. Poombukar was the port of cholas.

That also drowned in the sea. It was happended only after the

deluge30. So pandyan selected Korkai as their seaport in second

century A.D.which was sixty miles away from the capital Madurai.

Usually in the sangam age the king of pandya ruled his

country from the capital Madurai. At the same time his son was

thorned as prince and he ruled seaport Korkai and its surrounding

areas. A literary song says the above matter as

“The king’s descent is from the line that guards the southern

lands.He has warred on his foes and seized their lands. A White

umbrella decked with pearls is his and pleasant garlands too.

The king too is the lord of korkai port whose boundaries are set

by leaping waves”.

Maduraikanchi says about the korkai seaport as follows:

“Thou art beloved by those of korkai’s

town containing hamlets in which divers

live who dive for fishing chanks

and pearls mature and

people low that

toddy drink”.

Korkai was famous for pearls.The foreign writers alluded to

the pearls of korkai in their works.pliny says ,

“Pandyan country was famous for pearls.In the pandyan

country pearls are fished by accuseds in korkai.

Ptolemy says that the pandyan country was a small province.It

has korkai as its seaport.Madurai was a big city in that country.From

korkai Muslin cloth,silk,pearls and spices were exported to greek.

Sangam poems confirm it as follows:

“The beautiful pearls of korkai port was guarded saftily by the

pandyan king who also guard the justice. The pearls fished from

here were of good quality and thus had a international demand”.

“The great pandyan king who went to the war by sitting on an

elephant, his captial korkai was familiar in pearls and chanks”.

“Korkai is a very ancient port town and it has enormous

wealth and it gives beautiful pearls to the world.This town’s ladies

wear sea shell bangles.It consists of vast area of pakkams and

cherries.The port area of korkai has countless beautiful pearls

spread out on the sand”.

“The port city korkai was very big seaport

Its king was called Emperor of korkai”.

“Around Korkai port there were small sandhills and the

surrounding area had more padanus flowers and they spread

fragrance against the smell of fish.Like this korkai was celebrated

as the port city of king valuthi”.

Thus Korkai played a big role in sangam age as a port

city.It was also the emporium of south Indian trade.It is further

attested by sangam literature.

Political History:

The normal extent of the pandyan kingdom in the sangam

age corresponded to the modern districts of Tirunelveli, Ramnadu

and Madurai.Pandyan kings and princes ruled them upto near

tenth century.About twenty names of pandyan rulers and princes

can be gathered from sangam works.

The king who ruled in Madurai at the time of the story of the

silapadikaram was Nedunjeliyan. He is said to have died of a

broken heart when the innocence of Kovalan was proved to him by

Kannaki beyond all possibility of doubt. There is a short poem 42 as

described to him which puts learning above birth and caste.His

viceroy at korkai and perhaps his son and successor was another

seliyan called vetriverceliyan,who wreaked terrible vengeance on

the goldsmiths by sacrificing a thousand of them in one day to

appears the great goddess who had been kannaki.

The other pandyas of this period may now be more briefly

noticed.some of them may have been only members of the royal

family who never ruled as kings.

for example : Ilamperuvaludi,the author of paripadal-182 and

Natrinai-55,56 Nambi Nedujeliyan (Puram 239);pandyan

Nalvaludi author of paripadal-12; citthiramadattu Tuniya

Nanmaran (puram-59) and others.

Usually in the sangam period the king of pandyan ruled his

country from the capital Madurai .At the same time his son was

thorned as prince and he ruled the sea port korkai and its

surrounding region. The princes always lived in korkai.

Because of the importance of port, the local rulers of pandyan

country keep the double capital in the inland region and a

commerical capital in the coastal region.Thus the early pandyans

while retaining their political base at Madurai ,kept korkai as

their cheif commerical center which were lying within pandya

territories,as is informed by periplus of Erythraen sea.

When pandyan Nedunjeliyan ruled at Madurai, his son and

successor vetriverceliyan ruled korkai. The king of Madurai at the

time of the story of the silapadikaram was a Nedunjeliyan. He was

called as Ariyapadaikadanda Nedujeliyan. But the Maduraikanji

refers a king as the Nedunjeliyan of Talaiyalanganam.

It also says his another name as Nediyon .The king refered to as

Nediyon or Vadimbalamba Nindravan is an almost Mythical figure

whose achivements find place in the ‘sacred sports’ of Madurai.

The other pandyas of this period may now be more briefly

noticed.Some of them may have been only members of the royal

family who never ruled as kings.For example,Ilamperuvaludi who

died in the sea the author of paripadal No:15 ,puram 182 and

Natrinai 55and56; Nambi Nedujeliyan(Puram 239) :Pandyan

Nalvaludi the author of paripadal 12 ; Cittiramadattu Tunjiya

Nanmaran (Puram 59) and others.

Talayalanganathu seruvendra pandiya Nedunjeliyan was the

son of Vetriverceliyan.He came to the thorne as a youth. so he

ruled Madurai and korkai at the same time. There was no other

prince to rule korkai in his period.Another king who was called

as Kanapperkadantha Ukkira Valutti,he was the son of

Talayalanganathu seruvendra pandiya Nedunjeliyan.Sangam

literature poem  says about him.He himself was a poet and

responsible for bringing out the anthology of the Ahananuru54.

He was the contemporary of Thiruvalluvar, author of famous

Tirukkural.

During the seventh century A.D.Maravarman Arikeswari

ruled the Pandyan country.Two lines of a poem  says that big

seaport korkai has pearls Where the king gives safeguard.

Cinnamanur copper plates says about varaguna

Maharajan.He was a meek follower of Lord siva.The greatest saiva

saint Manikkavasagar who wrote Tiruvasagam was patronized

by this king.So,Manikkavasagar wrote about varagunan in his

song as follows:

“Varagunan was the best of all Dewars

And also he was the first as God”.

Other Sangam Age Pandyan Kings:

There are ten Pandyan kings in the Purananuru poems who

were sung by thirteen poets. Other twelve kings were poets

themselves. Their songs are in Natrinai, Kurunthogai, Paripadal,

Agananuru and Puranannru. Madurai Kanji says about two Pandyan

kings some chera and Chola Kings. Also it says about some Chieftains.

Silapadikaram told the story or Pandyan Nedujeliyan.

Apart from the above kings there are eight Pandyans are in

Sangam works. They are belong to Third Sangam period. The

names of the kings are given below.

1. Karungai volval Perumpeyar Valuthi (Puram - 3)

2. Pannadu thantha Pandyan Maran Valuthi (Kurunthogai - 270)

3. Nalvaluthi (Paripadal - 12)

4. Koodakarathu Thunjiya Maran Valutti (Puram - 51, 52)

5. Ilavanthigai Pallithunjiya NanMaran (Puram - 56)

6. Kuruvaluthi (Agam - 150)

7. Velliam balathu Thunjiya peruvaluthi (Puram - 58)

8. Nambi Neduujeliyan (Puram - 239)