Kottayam is one of 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. Kottayam district comprises six municipal towns: Kottayam, Changanassery, Pala, Erattupetta, Ettumanoor, and Vaikom. It is the only district in Kerala that does not border the Arabian Sea or any other Indian state.
Venad was a medieval kingdom lying between the Western Ghat mountains and the Arabian Sea on the south-western tip of India with its headquarters at the port city of Kollam/Quilon. It was one of the major principalities of Kerala, along with kingdoms of Kannur (Kolathunadu), Kozhikode (Nediyiruppu), and Kochi (Perumpadappu) in medieval and early modern period.
The Chera dynasty, was a Sangam age dynasty who unified various regions of the western coast and western ghats in southern India to form the early Chera empire.
Rama Kulasekhara was the last ruler of the Chera Perumal dynasty of medieval Kerala. He was a contemporary to Chola kings Kulottunga I (1070–1120) and Vikrama Chola. Rama Kulaskehara is best known for briefly recovering Kollam-Trivandrum-Nagercoil region from the powerful Chola empire around 1100/02 AD.
Kulasekhara, one of the twelve Vaishnavite alvars, was a bhakti theologian and devotional poet from medieval south India. The Trikkulasekharapuram Temple in Kodungallur is considered as the Alvar's birth place. (Kerala). He was the author of Perumal Tirumoli in Tamil and "Mukundamala" in Sanskrit. The Perumal Tirumoli, whose second decade is known as "Tetrarum Tiral", is compiled as a part of Nalayira Divya Prabandham. The Trikkulasekharapuram Temple in Kodungallur is considered as the Alvar's birth place.
Kollam/Quilon Syrian copper plates, also known as Kollam Tarisappalli copper plates, or Kottayam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, or Tabula Quilonensis record a royal grant issued by the chieftain of Kollam to a Syrian Christian merchant magnate in Kerala. The royal charter is engraved in Old Tamil in Vattezhuthu on six copper plates. The document is the oldest available Chera Perumal inscription.
Vazhappally is a suburb of Changanasserry Municipality, Kottayam District, in central Kerala. The famous Vazhappally Shiva Temple is situated in Vazhappally. Vazhappally is a part of Changanacherry Taluk in Kottayam District. It is located in the city of Changanacherry and Vazhappally Panchayath. The ancient Vazhappally gramam (village) was shifted to the Changanassery Municipality, so small portions of the village were reunited in the Municipal Town of Changanassery, while the rest were reconstructed in the Vazhappally Gram Panchayat.
Rama Rajasekhara was a Chera Perumal ruler of medieval Kerala, south India. Rajasekhara is usually identified by historians with Cheraman Perumal Nayanar, the venerated Shaiva (Nayanar) poet-musician of the Bhakti tradition.
Vazhappally Maha Siva Temple is a Hindu temple located in Vazhappally near Changanassery in Kottayam district in the Indian state of Kerala. The temple is administered by the Travancore Devaswom Board. The temple is believed to be constructed by the first Chera king of Kodungallur. The legends suggest that the installation of the idol of god Mahadeva (Shiva) was performed by Parasurama himself. This temple is one among the 108 Shiva temples established by Parasurama. It is one of the few temples in Kerala where two nalambalams and two flag-masts are dedicated. The temple, a Grama Kshetra, also contains some seventeenth century wood carvings depicting figurines from epics. A Vattezhuttu inscription on the northern part of the base of the cultural shrine indicates that the repairs were completed in Kollam Era 840 (1665 AD).
Areekode is a town on the banks of the Chaliyar River in Areekode Grama Panchayat in Malappuram district, India. It was part of the Malabar district in British India.
Ravivarman, styled Maharaja Ravivarman, Kulasekhara was the ruler of Venatu, with capital at port Kolambam (Quilon), southern India between 1299 – 1316/7. He – in all likelihood – was a descendant of the ancient Cheras. and was the son-in-law of the Pandya ruler of Maravarman Kulasekhara. Ravivarman raided large parts of southern India in a short period by skillfully taking advantage of the weakening of the Pandya kingdom and the confusion prevailed after the Khalji raids (1311).
Sthanu Ravi Varma, known as the Kulasekhara, was the Chera Perumal ruler of Kerala in southern India from 844/45 to 870/71 AD. He is the earliest Chera Perumal ruler known to scholars.
The legend of Cheraman Perumals is the medieval tradition associated with the Cheraman Perumals of Kerala. The sources of the legend include popular oral traditions and later literary compositions. The time of origin of the legend is not known to scholars. It seems the legend once had a common source well known to all Kerala people.
Vikramaditya —better known as Vikramaditya "Varaguna"—was a monarch of the Ay dynasty of Kerala, south India. His surname indicates that he was a vassal or feudatory of the Pandya ruler Varaguna II. He was the immediate successor of Karunantatakkan "Srivallabha", a vassal of Pandya king Srimara Srivallabha.
Cheraman Perumal Nayanar was a bhakti poet-musician and religious teacher of Tamil Shaiva tradition in medieval south India. The Cheraman Perumal's friendship with Sundarar, one of the 'Three Nayanars', is celebrated in the bhakti tradition. The legend of the Cheraman Perumal is narrated in the hagiographic Periyapuranam, composed by Chekkizhar, a courtier of Chola Kulottunga II, in mid-12th century AD. The collection is based on an earlier work by Nambiyandar Nambi. Thiruvanchikulam Siva Temple in Kodungallur is associated with the Perumal and Chundaramurtti Nayanar.
Vazhappally copper plate is a copper plate inscription in Malayalam language from Vazhappally, in the state of Kerala, south India. Recent scholarship puts the date of the plate in c. 882/83 AD.
Thiruvatta Mahadeva Temple is an ancient Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is situated on the banks of the Manimalayar (river) in Thiruvalla of Pathanamthitta District in Kerala state in India. Reference to this temple is found in Vazhappally inscription relates to the rule of Kodungallur Chera king Rama Rajasekhara and temple at Vazhappally. It is the earliest available epigraphical record mentioning a Kodungallur Chera king and written in Malayalam language. According to folklore, sage Parashurama has installed the idol of Lord Shiva in the Treta Yuga. The temple is a part of the 108 famous Shiva temples in Kerala.
Cheraman Perumal dynasty, also known as the Perumal dynasty of Kerala, or Chera Perumals of Makotai, were a ruling dynasty in present-day Kerala, South India. Mahodayapuram, or Makotai, the seat of the Cheraman Perumals, is identified with present-day Kodungallur in central Kerala. Initially, their influence appeared limited to the area between present-day Quilon and Quilandy, but later extended to up to Chandragiri river in north Kerala and to Nagercoil in the south.
Old Malayalam, the inscriptional language found in Kerala from c. 9th to c. 13th century CE, is the earliest attested form of Malayalam. The language was employed in several official records and transactions. Old Malayalam was mostly written in Vatteluttu script. Most of the inscriptions were found from the northern districts of Kerala, those lie adjacent to Tulu Nadu. The origin of Malayalam calendar dates back to year 825 CE.
A śālā (Shala) is a Sanskrit term that means any "house, space, covered pavilion or enclosure" in Indian architecture. In other contexts śālā – also spelled calai or salai in South India – means a feeding house or a college of higher studies linked to a Hindu or Jain temple and supported by local population and wealthy patrons. In the early Buddhist literature of India, śālā means a "hut, cell, hall, pavilion or shed" as in Vedic śālā, Aggiśālā, Paniyaśālā.
