The Cheras were one of the three principal ruling families - other being, The Cholas and Pandyas - of ancient Tamil region. These three principal ruling authorities emerged along the three river banks namely Periyar, Kaveri and Vaigai. They are collectively called as muventar. They are considered as overlords of the entire Tamil region (refer Tolkappiyam). The prominent features of these muventars is possessing two political centers each. The Chola had Puhar and Uraiyur as their administration centers and The Pandyas had Madurai and Korkai. On the other hand, The Cheras - native of Kerala region - was originally ruling from Vanchi in Kerala later moved their capital to Karur in Kongu country around mid-second century BCE.
Among the three ventars, The Chera rulers are, upto some extent, chronologically reconstructed - thanks to Pukalur inscriptions and Patiruppatu.
[Note: Cheras existed much before King Ashoka. However, nothing is known about them - political history ,rulers , cities etc..]
The Patiruppatu gives valuable information about 8 Chera kings and other parts of sangam anthologies also gives considerable amount of information. The most important epigraphic source is Pukalur inscription- dated around second century CE. The inscription speaks about additional 3 Chera kings who identified with some kings mentioned in bardic literature. These valuable info helps us to reconstruct their genealogy and lineage. There are two lineages of the Chera namely Irumporai line and Atantuvan line.
The Political Organization under the Cheras :
Transition from tribal Chiefdom to proto-State (260-200 BCE):
The Cheras were native of Kerala region and they were ruling from their political center very closer to modern day Kochi. However, around 2nd century BCE they conquered Kongu region - which was then ruled by number of chieftains called Vels .This expanded their control upto western part of modern Tamil country. Later Sangam texts says that Kōṟṟaṉ- native chieftain of Kongu region - joined the Chera army as Commander-in-chief around first century CE and later become a merchant leader.The Palghat pass - a gap in continuous western ghats between Nilgiris hills and Anaimalai hills - played major part in their annexation into modern Tamil country. Therefore, they established their second capital at Karur and their territory becomes vast stretching from Karur to Kochi vertically . In deep south, there were Ay chieftains who were subordinates of the Pandyas.
The Cheras were ,indeed, must be very famous among the people of Mediterranean. The anonymous author of the Periplus , Pliny and Ptolemy mentions the Cheras through different names. The Periplus is a handbook/travel guide for merchants travelling to Indian ocean. While Pliny's Naturalis Historia is a encyclopedia and about general history of whole world during Roman period. The Malabar coast - Mons Lymodus - is mentioned as 'where elephants are born' in 5th century Peutinger map. Muziris along with Tyndis appears in the map as a prominent city. It lead some people to hypothesis that it was the most important city east of Turkey. Even empires like Satavahana is not mentioned in those works.
It is recently opinionated by prof.Rajan Gurukkal (2010 and 2016) and previously by Champakalakshmi (1996) that there was no well organised state formed in Tamil regions and Tamilakam was consist of uneven tribal chiefdoms.
[note: the phrase 'tribal chiefdom' , in the context, means kinship based society and redistribute economy rather than well organised stratified state-esque society and monetized economy.]
The arguments of Gurukkal(2010) is summarised as follows:
- The society does not show adequate stratified relations.
- A proper territorial sense is lacking.
- Though there was a role for agriculture in the economy, it could not thrive under the conditions of continuous predatory warfare, leaving little scope for surplus production.
- There is no semblance of taxation or of government as fund.
- Trade in the interiors and that carried through sea ports did not play a major role in the economy as they mostly dealt with prestige goods catering to elite sections of the society.
They both argue against the first premise that there was some definite hierarchical relations among elite groups. In literature, there were Ventars - foremost of all ruling authorities, there were Vels - independent chieftains concentrated in smaller areas and sometimes subordinates to Ventars, kuṟunila-maṉṉaṉ - chief of small territory, ciṟūrmaṉṉan - chief of lesser settlements, ūraṉ - village head and kiḻavaṉ - family/clan head (Rajan 2014:31).
For instance, The Chera king Kotai is considered as lord of chief Kōṟṟaṉ(Puram 172). This demonstrates the supremacy of Ventars over the chieftains of lower rank. The Tolkappiyam - it's earlier parts, with uncertainty, dated from 100 BCE to 200 CE, thus, time period of our interest - states that Tamilakam - from Kumari to Tirupati - was protected and ruled by Muventars and therefore leaving out non-ventar chieftains ruling various lands within the confined area. The Ashoka's Girnar inscription also calls Muventars as their neighbour leaving out the other chieftains except Satyaputra. [Satyaputra-mentioned along with Ventars-could have raised as a prominent power outside the ventar's influence around 260 BCE]
K Rajan says,
The concept of kingship is started of emerging and the political situation also changes due to social leadership. This is reflected much in Puṟam poems (p.31-32)The Tolkappiyam says the land comprising from Tirupati to Kumari are Tamil speaking areas. True to Tolkappiyam verse, K Rajan sees the Brahmi inscriptions appears in Tamil in this region and in Prakrit outside the region. There are clear evidence that the kings took interest to create more wetlands by clearing forests and creating reservoirs for cultivation (Subbarayalu 2014:54 & Rajan 2014:36)
The Pandyas waged war with the Cheras over Muziris. K Rajan says Ventars waged war always on economic point of view rather than cattle raiding(Rajan 2014:36). Ventars waged war to seize enemy lands in attempt to extend territory. It is one of deceive factors in state formation. However, local chieftains in pastoral region,unlike Venters, relied on cattle raiding rather than agricultural background.
[For strong critique of Gurukkal see: Sidebotham(2017) , Evers (2016) and Cobb(2018)]
Annexation of Coimbatore (190-150 BCE) :
The Muziris was in transition period - from a fishermen village to a commercial hub- during this time. Muziris was slowly gaining importance due to surplus pepper produced in Kuttanad. The Cheras conquering Kongu region during this period demonstrates their primary interest in increasing trade. The rich mineral - sapphires ,beryls and quartzs - region of Coimbatore might have attracted the Cheras. The Cheras wanted to fuel the trade/exchange by optimally using the resources of the region.
The Kodumanal - along with Arikamedu - become one of the main manufacturing center in the Indian ocean trade. Kelly(2009) says there were many production in different level of organisation was took place in Kodumanal. This includes iron and steel manufacturing, textile manufacturing, conch-shell industry and most importantly stone and glass bead manufacturing industry. The raw material for sapphire,quartz and beryl was locally mined (Rajan & Athiyaman 2004) while stones like carnelian , agate were likely imported from Krishna-Godavari basin(Francis 2002) and lapis lazuli from Afghan. Kodumanal most likely supplied glass beads that are found in Pattanam and also semi-precious stone beads. The town of Kodumanal is referred in Cankam literature one time as Kodumnam. It is not exaggeration to say that conquering Coimbatore region is turning point in world economy. It literally made Indian ocean a trade lake with Muziris in nodal position.
[for more information about variety of productions in Kodumanal, see Kelly(2009) ]
By this time Karur become major trading station. The excavations `in Karur revealed many Mediterranean, Arabic and Chinese coins (numismatic evidence) along with local coins issued by the Cheras.
The local Chera punched-marked coins were excavated in huge numbers. There are evidence for local production of punched-marked coins with Chera symbol in reverse (Nagaswamy 1995).
By going through Puram verses, the barter system was , indeed, prevailed in the society across tinais. For instance, the people of neytal tinai exchanged fish for paddy with marutham tinai people. Such scenario is naturally possible. When something is surplus in one region, it is exchanged for other. However, in long distance trade when price and size of commodities is fairly large barter system must paved way for monetised transaction. In the light of this modern numismatists and archaeologists argue,
However, in the principal center i.e. Karuvur and Muciri, most of the elites ,merchants and traders can be expected to have been more familiar with the use of coins. The requirement of metal currency was due to the brisk transactions in these regions and the local people could not tackle it with barter, In these two centers the transaction were much beyond reciprocity and redistribution, and especially for barter coincidence of needs is very important. The economic processes in these twin centers were much more complex and would naturally led to emergence of a more complex system of metallic currency. (Majumdar 2015:397)
Though it has been argued that '[t]here is no evidence for transactions based on exchange value' and that trade was conducted only on basis of barter, this does not seem tenable considering the realities of the logistics of long-distance maritime trade. It would have been impossible for trade to function on such unless goods were exchanged for money. The enormous quantity of [the]Chera coins that have been found on the bed of the river Amaravati [discovered by K Rajan's team] in Karur also shows that money was definitely used as a medium of exchange. The finds ranged from copper coins dating back to the second century BC to silver portrait coins of the third century. (Kanakalatha Mukund 2015 p.29)
For instance, there were 144 Chera copper/lead coins found in stratigraphic level in Pattanam excavations. PJ Cherian argues that these finds signals presence of monetised economy and existence of state.
Based on Pattanam excavation, Pius Malekandathil (2015) argues that,
The recent discovery of square coins of the early Cheras from Pattanam near Parur shows that the early Chera rulers were also not silent spectators to the commercial developments happening between Muziris and Alexandria. The issuing of coins by the Chera rulers isto be seen as part of their attempts to oil the wheels of commerce of Muziris, which in turn activated the different modes of exchange at local level. While the Roman coins, a portion of which were obtained from different parts of south India as coin hoards, functioned both as bullions and monetary medium for inter-port ex-changes as well as hinterland trade, the Chera coins seems to have been a regional monetary device for country trade. The prevalence of a credit-market with arrangements for mercantile loans for overseas trade in Muziris is evident from the Vienna Papyrus.These pieces of information about the economic condition of this period suggest that the political realm of the early Chera rulers was shaped not only by the meagre share of wealth locally generated, but also by a sizeable form of wealth coming as profit from different channels of trade that got activated by the incorporation of their maritime circuits into the Mediterranean centred world economy ( Pius Malekandathil 2015 pp.353)
Text like MaduraiKanchi speaks of markets - morning and night markets - in Madurai. In that scenario it is impossible to imagine barter-esque transaction especially , according to Madurai Kanchi, when markers was used by foreigners.
As stated above, Palghat pass helped The Cheras to control both the regions of Kongu Nadu and Kerala Nadu as single unit. Many archaeologists hypothesis there were trade path existed through Palghat gap. Many Roman coins and ceramics found in Tamilakam is actually concentrated in this region along with local coins ,Satavahana coins, Sri Lankan Lakshmi type coins and other non-Roman foreign(non-Indic) coins.
The Muziris, according to Francis(2002:120), was the most important city east of Antioch-modern Turkey- become a famous port not just for pepper. From Muziris, commodities of North India and South-east asia were exported to Roman world (Cobb 2018:162). The Periplus made it clear that products of North Indic and SE Asian origin was available at Muziris (for more details see Cobb 2018: Imports). Muziris Papyrus- a trade contract signed between a merchant from Muziris and other from Alexandria, dated to 2nd Century CE-confirms it by mentioning Gangetic nards and Malabathrum-both originated from Gangetic plains-in list of products exported from Muziris to Egypt.
Therefore, Muziris become very popular port during 1st Centuries BC to 4th Centuries CE, thanks to surplus production of pepper and gemstones industry initiated by the Cheras.
From the ongoing observations, it is obviously the Cheras had a plan of increasing the commerce between Mediterranean and themselves. It is evident from the facts like conquering Kongu nadu, establishing industrial centers like Kodumanal and Porunthal,optimum usage of resources ,establishing second capital at Karur, issuing local coins, creating trade infrastructures like ports and roads connecting trade ports with capital and Industrial zones and establishing service ports like Tyndis.
Tamil Vessels:
It seems Tamils used to operate the vessels and they could owned vessels. For instance , Puram 126 states
சின மிகு தானை வானவன், குடகடல் பொலந்தரு நாவாய் ஓட்டிய அவ்வழிப் பிறகலம் செல்கலாது அனையேம் அத்தை
[ We are like boats in the Western ocean, which are not allowed to ply where Chēran sails his vessels ]
From this verse it is obvious that angry Cheran (வானவன்) army/commanders (தானை) did not wanted other vessels to sail in kutakadal - that is, Arabian sea - and also it seems they had systematic control over Arabian sea. (See: தானைத் தலைவன் - தமிழ் விக்சனரி)
It seems Cheran kings were operating their vessels across oceans. For instance, Pattiruppatu verse 46 states:
கோடு நரல் பெளவம் கலங்க வேல் இட்டு
உடை திரைப் பரப்பில் படுகடல் ஓட்டிய
வெல் புகழ்க் குட்டுவன் கண்டோர்
செல்குவம் என்னார் பாடுபு பெயர்ந்தே.
[ He sails his vessels, splashing in the roaring
vast ocean with blaring conch shells, to battle,
and vanquishes his enemies with his army
with spears, the famous Kuttuvan ]
It seems Tamil kings were aware of monsoon winds- we get numerous references to it. Tripati (2015) says Indians had knowledge of monsoon wind much before Europeans. According to Tripati, Indians used monsoon winds to navigate and they already had trade connections with Southeast Asia much before Roman trade. Tamil poems also speaks monsoon winds and their usage. For instance, Puram 66 extols Karikalan as following:
நளி இரு முந்நீர் நாவாய் ஓட்டி
வளி தொழில் ஆண்ட உரவோன் மருக
களி இயல் யானைக் கரிகால் வளவ
[ O heir of a mighty man who mastered the movement
of the wind and had his vessels sail on the hugefull ocean! ]
Similarly, The MaduraiKanci (378-79) speaks about a vessel - with masts - that sails on the ocean with help of wind/monsoon.
கடுங்காற்று எடுப்ப கல்பொருது உரைஇ
நெடுஞ்சுழிப் பட்ட நாவாய் போல
[ appearing like a huge ship with torn sails in heavy wind, its tightly tied, strong mast ropes broken, mast ruined, its anchor rock swaying, ]
These demonstrates that the Indians had great knowledge in maritime technology.
The seafarers of India had knowledge about the sea pertaining to weather, winds, currents, waves and tides. Their observations were often correct and they succeeded in presenting a general picture of the physical conditions of the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. Information on these early concepts is found in Pali, Sanskrit and Tamil literature and also archaeological excavations, numismatics and paintings (Tripati 2015:865)The Puram verse 6 speaks about Navy of a Pandyan king which destroyed the enemy's nation.
செய்வினைக்கு எதிர்ந்த தெவ்வர் தேஎத்துக்,
கடற்படை குளிப்ப மண்டி, அடர்ப் புகர்ச் சிறுகண் யானை செவ்விதின் ஏவிப்.
[O great King, destroy those who oppose you by your navy and elephant power.]
There is Pandyan king called as Kadalul Māyntha Ilamperuvaluthi - Ilamperuvaluthi, who died in sea - clearly demonstrates Kings owned vessels and sailed across oceans.
Pattinappalai 126-136 states,
வான் முகந்த நீர் மலைப் பொழியவும்
மலைப் பொழிந்த நீர் கடல் பரப்பவும்
மாரி பெய்யும் பருவம் போல
நீரினின்றும் நிலத்து ஏற்றவும்
நிலத்தினின்று நீர்ப் பரப்பவும்
அளந்து அறியா பல பண்டம்
வரம்பு அறியாமை வந்து ஈண்டி
அருங்கடி பெருங்காப்பின்
வலிவுடை வல் அணங்கினோன்
புலி பொறித்து புறம் போக்கி
மதி நிறைந்த மலி பண்டம்
Fierce, powerful tax collectors are
at the warehouses collecting taxes and
stamping the Cōla tiger symbols on
goods that are to be exported.
Warehouses are filled with unlimited
expensive items packed in sacks. They
lay heaped in the front yard.
The poem, on whole, describes events in front of warehouses in Puhar. It compares the things that were imported from sea to land and exported from land to sea with sea water turns into vapor and return back to sea as rain.
Also it states the things were uncountable , immense worth and very diverse - அளந்து அறியா பல பண்டம் வரம்பு அறியாமை வந்து ஈண்டி & மதி நிறைந்த மலி பண்டம்.
The highlighted part of the verse is important.
அருங்கடி பெருங்காப்பின் - [The warehouses] were well protected. வலியுடை – with strength, வல் அணங்கினோன் – fierce men, புலிப் பொறித்து புறம் போக்கி – put the Chōla kingdom tiger symbol on the things and placed.
It says the warehouses were protected by fierce men with strength - army personals? - and they inscribed the Chola insignia on the things - that were imported/exported.
This verse gives details about the level of systematic way of organisation. The things that were imported placed in well protected warehouses that were protected by officials who inscribed Chola symbol on the bags as part of their trademark.
[further read : Presence of Traders, Merchant Guilds, Tolls and Customs duty in Puhar and Tondai Nadu and reconstructing it in the wider Tamilakam perceptive : Dictating the terms through Archaeological, Epigraphic, Numismatic and Literacy sources.
]
Scholars like Gurukkal downplay these significant reference by pointing to the poetic/bardic nature of the literature.
Cobb(2018:151) criticise Gurukkal ,
"Some texts from the Sangam corpus also speak of impressive Indian ships, like the Maturaikkanci, which describes huge ships with posts and sails. Gurukkal downplays the significance of these references by pointing to the poetic nature of the texts, but this need not mean they lack historical validity, especially in light of other available evidence"
Though Gurukkal downplay these reference by pointing to poetic nature, he does not align with scholars who studied the classical literature of Tamil.
Scholars like AK Ramanujan who studied Tamil and Sanskrit literature has said that Tamil literature - unlike Sanskrit literature - does not reflect imaginary scenarios - like that of Sanskrit epics, puranas, vedas etc. - but rather they best tend to describe/depicts real life events. Therefore, by neglecting these reference without giving any proper reason deserves mockery.
More importantly, Periplus(60) clearly mentions voyage of local ships from Poduka ,Sopotama and Kamara to Gangetic plain and SE Asia. [see Appendix]
In the light of this,
According to early Tamil authors of Pattiruppatu, Senguttuvan, who was contemporary more or less to Nedum-celiyan, the Pandya, and Nedumudi Killi Cola, the grandson of Karikala, as well as to Gajabahu I of Ceylon, led an expedition to the Gangetic valley, and in that expedition "the journey from the Cera kingdom to Orissa was performed by sea." At the end of one poem, Senguttuvan is praised as the king "who with his army crossed the sea and reached the banks of the Ganges.
They did not invade or went for conquest, but they sailed their vessels to Ganga region for trade.
The Periplus (56) and Muziris Papyrus confirms the availability of Gangetic nard and Malabatrum at Muziris. These products more likely arrived at Muziris through sea ports. Indians might have felt that bringing products through land is difficult since they had to cross rocky Deccan region -and other difficulties - en route. Moreover, Tamilakam had many ports operating at eastern cost -Puhar, Arikamedu,Alagankulam etc.. A journey from Tamralipti port in Ganges mouth to coromandel coast is sufficient.
Needless to say that author of Arthashastra was aware of fine pearls of Pandyan country.
There is a picture of vessel in Ajanta cave dated to 6th century CE and Prakrit-Brahmi inscriptions in Andhra speaks about ship captains and nigama - roughly merchant guild. This shows Indians owned vessels and sailed all the way through oceans.
The merchants specializing in salt, sugar, ploughshare, cloth , gold (Pugalur), oil (Pugalur) and gem (Arachalur) found mentioned in Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions as donors suggest the organized trade (Mahadevan 2003 p.141-142)
The recent views(Evers 2017) supports the sophisticated level of organization by Indians. This is against the earlier Eurocentric views mostly presumed by wheeler-school of thought.
DictionarThis against the Eurocentric view of Indo-Roman trade.The appearance of Roman artifacts, Indo-pacific beads, Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, appearance of an early Chola coin and presence of south Indian pottery confirms the Tamilian presence in far East.
The ports operating in the coromandel coast likely more involved in trade with SE Asia.
Thirst to participate in Eastern trade:
Majumdar(2015) brings new perspective of ancient Chera. She brings new numismatic evidence and try to reconstruct their relationship with Malayamans - a local chiefdom/chieftains ruling from modern Tindivanam - and the Cholas of Puhar.
She draws our attention by bringing out Malayaman-Chera coins - that is, coins with Malayaman insignia(i.e. Horses) in one side and Cheran insignia(i.e. Bow and Arrow) on the other - and Chola-Chera coins.
She argues that the Cheras were more interested and keen in SSR and therefore to participate in that trade they had to make relation with chiefdoms controlling coromandel cost.
The horses, it seems most likely, are not autochthonous to Tamilakam. However, Malayamans had horses as their insignia may indicates their presence in SSR- a trade route in which horse played a major part along with silver and cowry shells.
It is interesting to note that mention of two D(r)ameela asvaha vaniga conquering Ceylon during early historic period in the Mahavamsa - a 6th/7th century Buddhist Pali chronicle.
There is clear indication of horses being shipped from overseas (Perumpanatruppadai 320-21) and more importantly the infamous Cheran chief Kōṟṟaṉ is called as Kattuman Kōṟṟaṉ (i.e Kōṟṟaṉ, the Horseman)
The Muciri :
Muciri was one of the many coastal cities from Tamilakam that was literally known to all parts of then known world during the last few centuries before and first few centuries after the common era, more precisely , from 3rd century BCE to 4th century CE.Muciri was called as Muziris by the Roman and Greek travellers. It was mentioned by Strabo, Pliny the elder, Claudius Ptolemy and the anonymous author of the Greek text The Periplus of Erythrean sea. This, in fact, signals the popularity and importance of the city in a worldwide context. The popularity and wealth of the city is indebted to spice trade as Akananuru(149th poem) states.
However, the connection of Muziris with states other than the Roman is well established through archaeological evidence unearthed from Pattnam, an early historic site which is hypothesised to be ancient Muziris, which yielded some 4.5 million artifacts which ultimately made their way to Pattanam from 40 ports belonging to different parts of the world. However, we don't have any conclusive evidences to firmly establish that Pattanam was ancient Muziris. Therefore, we can only hypothesis that Pattanam was ancient Muziris until a genuine clinch evidence appear out of nowhere.
This hypothesis is agreed by P.J. Cherian, chief archaeologist of Pattanam excavation from 2007-2015, so let us assume that Pattanam as ancient Muziris or at least a part of ancient Muziris throughout this article .
Muziris or Mucir(R)i, as we know from almost contemporary classical Greek, Latin and Tamil sources, was a large port and thriving sophisticated urban settlement in the banks of Periyar river aka Culi river. Muziris being a large cargo handling port is evident from the Vienna Papyrus or Muziris Papyrus which speaks about a ship called as Hermopollan , probably a Greek term, which did ship cargo from the Muziris to Roman Egypt with total mass of 220+ tons (McLaughlin 2014:227). The cargo was worth of 9.2 million sesterces. From the papyrus, it is obvious, that Roman state gained immense profit by imposing tax on goods . According to scholarly studies the trade was great profitable venture to both. The papyrus has given invaluable information about level of organisation of trade between Alexandria and India.
Excavations in Pattanam in Kerala unearthed many artifacts that proves modern Pattanam could be at least part of ancient fabled port of Muziris. However, admittedly we still lack conclusive/clinching evidence. The excavations revealed many bricks walls/foundations, floors, platforms, ballords, drains , tanks, toilet features , kiln or furnace , roof tiles , ring wells , wharf context and a dugout canoe (PJ Cherian et al 2016: 37 ) along with 4.5 million artifacts. This prove it was a well planned city with many infrastructure - tanks, toilets, drains, wharves , platforms etc.. The excavation also revealed existence of a stone bead and metal working shops. Therefore, excavations so far revealed a port city with a sizeable settled people along with an industrial environment. Though there is no conclusive evidence for local manufacture of glass beads, it's predominance appearance among the beads - around 100,000 glass beads - could mean it arrived here either for exports or consumed by locals.
The glass beads - mainly Indo-Pacific beads - has been studied by scholars (eg Dussubieux et al (2010) , Abraham (2013 & 2016) , Kelly(2009 & 2016) & PJ Cherian et al (2016)).
For instance, Abraham(2013: 257) concludes , "We see in glass beads the kind of regional continuity that recalls other local Tamil artifacts, such as ceramics, iron objects, roof tiles, and baked bricks. What we can infer so far from the South Indian glass bead data aligns well with notions of a sustained infrastructure of networked economic activities in Tamil South India, maintained in part with profits generated by overseas trade"
Such conclusion is very important for understanding of socio-economic activities in early historic period. Kelly (2016) argues that the workers of lapidary shops were not homogeneous but rather they were community with members distributed along various sites with common practices.
Recent excavations in Keezhadi (2013-present) and Alagankulam (2014-15 & 2017) also gives valuable information. Though reports are not ready for these excavations, what we can infer from news outlets is the existence of well established trade routes.The chief archaeologist of Alagankulam , J Baskaran , said to media - reported by Ananda Vikatan magazine dated to 28/09/2017 - about findings of over 50 ancient coins , silver punched coins , 6 copper coins, conch adornments, conch beads(?) , 500 stone beads , Roman coins, rouletted ware , amphorae, arretine , along with 13,000 materials. Though he did not mention about the nature of the ancient coins that he mentioned, if it is local Tamil coins then it is one among the significant finds. He mentioned about existence of conch shell making industry in a urban environment. Excavations in Keeladi also revealed many Roman related artifacts. It could have either arrived from Pattanam or Alagankulam.
Therefore it emphasizes on the existence of a trade route connecting an important port with an important inland trading center , the Madurai.
More importantly Muthupatti Tamil Brahmi inscription - dated to 1st century BC- mentions Musiri. According to Mahadevan the inscription reads as Nagaperuthai Muciri Kodan Elamagan and it means ,according to him, the rock-bed was sculpted with donations from a man named Andhai belonging to a village called Naga Perur and also by Elamagan of Muciri Kodu.
This implies the connection of Pattanam (or Muziris) with capital cities like Madurai ,Karur and all over the world.
Exports from Muziris :
The Periplus (56) gives information about commodities exported from Muziris and it states :
There is exported pepper, which is produced in quantity in only one region near these markets, a district called Cottonara
Besides this there are ex-ported great quantities of fine pearls, ivory, silk cloth, spikenard from the Ganges, malabathrum from the places in the interior, transparent stones of all kinds, diamonds and sapphires, and tortoise-shell; that from Chryse Island [South-East Asia], and that taken among the islands along the coast of Damirica [Lakshadweep and Maldives islands]. They make the voyage to this place in a favorable season who set out from Egypt about the month of July, that is Epiphi.
The Silk, Malabathrum, diamonds, spike nard and tortoise-shells are not Tamilakam products.
Tortoise shells were imported from Malaya and then exported to Roman world. Schoff comments this reference gives accurate insights into the brisk trade between southern India and SE Asia.
Imports to Muziris:
The same verse gives valuable information about the commodities imported to Tamilakam through Muziris.
there are imported here, in the first place, a great quantity of coin; topaz, thin clothing, not much; figured linens, antimony, coral, crude glass, copper, tin, lead; wine, not much, but as much as at Barygaza; realgar and orpiment; and wheat enough for the sailors, for this is not dealt in by the merchants there
Karuvur:
The Karur or ancient Karuvur - as mentioned in Pugalur inscriptions - was not the original capital, it later had become capital and trade center. The Silapathikaram is divided into three books namely Vanchi canton , Puhar canton and Madurai canton. The Vanchi is associated with the Karur. While other two are capitals of other two kingdoms.
Karur, however unlike the other two, did not mentioned elaborately in the classical literature. The Madurai and Puhar is thoroughly described in Madurai-Kanchi and Pattinappalai respectively. Such work is not available for Karur - either missing or never composed - and so it rise the problem.Nevertheless, R Nagasamy in his iconic work Roman Karur have demonstrated the site's contact with wider world. Because of continuous habitation, there is no proper archaeological site is identified.
Nonetheless, archaeologists used school grounds for excavation. R.Nagasamy surveyed five grounds and did excavations.
Nagasamy reports thousands of copper Chera coins of sangam age along with silver punched Chera coins , portrait coins of Chera kings in surface collections.
According to excavation results, the early settlers using black-and-red ware pottery arrived here at second century BC thus marking period I.
The next cultural phase (1st -3rd century CE ) 'witnessed the efflorescence of external trade and the influx of important pottery assemblage like the Rouletted ware and Amphorae. Three fragments of Arretine ware is also stated to have been collected from the surface'. Brahmi inscribed pottery reading catan was found. A square copper Chera coin in stratified context is found along with 'highly corroded silver Roman coin'.
'The excavation also showed some architectural remains in the form of brick flooring or pavement and a drain with an adjoining brick structure ' (Yathees Kumar 2014 pp.98-9).
Though excavations were limited to few cents of area of school grounds, they were able to offer good information.
The site located at the confluence of the Amaravathi river with Kaveri was excavated in the years 1973-74, 1977 and 1979. Six trenches laid within the town area yielded important evidences like Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds, graffiti marks, Chera coins, Roman artifacts like coins, amphorae and brick structures, all indicative of urban nature.
The inscribed Tiger square coins of Cholas of Sangam period were also obtained in good numbers at Amaravathi river at Karur along with circular Chola coins (Nagasamy 1995:46). These types of coins were also founded in Poompuhar excavations.
There were also Roman coins , few Satavahana coins along with Mediterranean , Arabic and possibly Chinese coins were also found along with local coins.
This illustrates the contact of Karur with the Cholas , Rome , Deccan ,far east and west.
What we can infer from ceramics and numismatic evidence, therefore, Karur could be a bustling urban center with people from different part of world interacted.
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Appendix:
Periplus of The Erythraean Sea (60):
Among the market-towns of these countries [coromandel coast], and the harbors where the ships put in from Damirica [=Limyrike-Malabar coast] and from the north, the most important are, in order as they lie, first Camara, then Poduca, then Sopatma; in which there are ships of the country coasting along the shore as far as Damirica; and other very large vessels made of single logs bound together, called sangara: but those which make the voyage to Chryse and to the Ganges are called colandia, and are very large. There are imported into these places everything made in Damirica, and the greatest part of what is brought at any time from Egypt comes here, together with most kinds of all the things that are brought from Damirica and of those that are carried through Paralia.
Nachinarkiniyar - 14th Century CE - commentary on Puram 66 goes like :
கில் கடலிலிருந்து முகந்த நீரை மலை மேல் பொழியவும் மலையில் விழுந்த மழை நீரை ஆறுகள் மூலம் கடலில் சேர்க்கவும், மழை பெய்யும் பருவம் போல, கடலிலிருந்து நிலத்திற்கு ஏற்றவும், நிலத்திலிருந்து கடலுக்கு பரப்பவும், அளந்து அறிய முடியாத பல பொருட்கள் எல்லை இல்லாது வந்து குவிந்து கிடக்க, பெறுவதற்கு அரிய பெருங்காவலையுடைய வலிமையுடன் மிகுந்த அதிகாரமுடைய அதிகாரி ஒருவன், சோழ மன்னனுக்குரிய புலிச் சின்னத்தைப் பொறித்து புறத்தில் வைத்த விலை நிறைந்த பல்வேறு பண்டங்களைக் கட்டி வைத்த மூடைக் குவியலின் மீது ஏறி, முகில் உலவும் உச்சியையுடைய உயர்ந்த மலையின் பக்க மலையில் விளையாடும் வருடை மானின் தோற்றம் போல, கூர்மையான நகங்களையும் வளைந்த கால்களையுமுடைய ஆண் நாய்களும் ஆட்டுக் கிடாய்களுடன் தாவிக் குதிக்கும், பண்டகசாலையின் முற்றத்தில்
Puram 6 Tamil commentary:
உன் செயல்பாட்டுக்கு மாறுபட்ட பகைவர் நாட்டில் மீது உன் கடற்படையையும் யானைப்படையையும் ஏவி, அவர்களது பாசி பிடித்த அகழியையும், மதிலையும் கடந்து
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