Chera : ancient Dravidian dynasty of Tamil origin, who ruled parts of the present-day states of Tamil Nadu (Kongu Nadu) & Kerala in India. Together with the Chōlas & the Pāṇdyās, they formed the three principal kingdoms known as Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakkam. They ruled Keralaputra & Kongu-nada (parts of present Tamil Nadu & Kerala) from their capital Korura (Karur) for about 800 years from 3rd cent. BC. Their kingdom later extended to the plains of Kerala, the Pālghāt gap, along the river Bhārathappuzha & occupied land between the river Bhārathappuzha & river Periyar, creating two harbour towns, Tondi (Tyndis) & Muciri (Muziris) where the Roman trade settlements flourished. Once the Arab, Greek & Roman adventurers discovered how the Monsoon winds could carry their ships directly from the Arabian sea to the west coast of India, discovered how easily they could navigate the local rivers & go right into the hinterland, discovered spices & other items they had never imagined could be grown so abundantly, discovered how cheaply they were sold by trusting natives, their traders rushed to plunder the local markets & make huge profits in markets at home. Soon enough these traders were cast aside by raiders, conquerors & missionaries of their own lands who took over their settlements in India & caused a swift decline in the lots of the native peoples & rulers after the 2nd century. The third dynasty, the Kūlasekharas ruled from the 9th century from Mahodayapuram (Kodungallur), their capital on the banks of river Periyar. The next dynasty, the Cherā rulers of Venad, based at the port Quilon in southern Kerala. Saṇgam literature describes a long line of Cherā rulers, & the court poets. Uthiyan Cheralathan, Nedum Cheralathan & Senguttuvan Cherā are some of the rulers mentioned in its poems. Senguttuvan Cherā is famous for the legends surrounding Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil epic Sīlapathikaram.
... (6th to 8th century A.D.) 28. Bhanja Paintings (8th century A.D.) 29. Pallava Paintings (7th to 9th century A.D.) 30. Early Pandyan Paintings (7th to 9th century A.D.) 31. Early Chera Paintings (8th to 9th century A.D.) Page 257 32. Rashtrakuta Paintings (8th to 10th century A.D.) 33. Chola School of Paintings (9th to 13th century A.D.)* 34. Hoysala Paintings ...
... where Mediterranean wines and swords, Germanic slaves and Roman gold were exchanged for the spices and silks, precious stones, cottons and peacocks of India. The poet prince Illango, brother of the Chera King Kovalan, describes how 'Auroville' appeared in the first century. The text is translated from the original picturesque Tamil. "The sun shone over the open terraces, over the ware Page ...
... Bharati's help he translated into English some pieces from Tamil literature. A few lines from the Kural of Tiruvalluvar; two pieces— Hymn of the Golden Age and Love-Mad —by Nammalwar, a poem by the Chera king and saint Kulasekhara Alwar, and three pieces by Andal. In all his literary works a double action came into play. Sri Aurobindo notes on 7 January 1913, "The only work done in the day was ...
... sacrifice of all else, belonged to that period; the second best came afterwards in larger, but still comparatively small nations and kingdoms like those of the Pallavas, Chalukyas, Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras. In comparison she received little from the greater empires that rose and fell within her borders, the Moghul, the Gupta or the Maurya—little indeed except political and administrative organisation ...
... The second best period of India, according to Sri Aurobindo, came afterwards in larger, but still comparatively small, nations and kingdoms like those of Pallavas, Chalukyas, Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras. Again, Sri Aurobindo finds that even when there developed the organisation of nations, kingdoms and empires, it was groupments of smaller nations which have had the most intense life and not ...
... the Greek city states, the small medieval Italian cities, the modest-sized kingdoms of the Indian Heroic Age, the later (and not much bigger) kingdoms of the Pallavas, Chalukyas, Pandyas, Cholas, Cheras - that have given to humanity its most cherished glories. A monstrously forbidding concentration of humanity in capital cities like London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, New Delhi raises its own problems ...
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