Vira Kerala

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Viraraghava copper plates (1225 CE) Viraraghava copper plates (1225 CE).jpg
Viraraghava copper plates (1225 CE)

Vira Kerala, also spelled Veera Kerala or Keralan, was a name given to male members of several medieval ruling families of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Several royals with the name "Vira Kerala" are known to scholars.

The following is a list of royals with the name "Vira Kerala" (till c. 12th century)

  1. Vira Kerala Amara Bhujanga Deva, a royal from Kongu Chera dynasty. [1]
    • Probably identical with Amara Bhujanga Deva, one of the princes defeated by Chola king Rajaraja (Tiruvalangadu Grant). Probably a Pandya or a Kongu Chera prince. [1]
  2. Vira Kerala, from a Nagari coin legend in British Museum (11th-12th centuries AD). [2]
  3. Vira Kerala, a royal found in several inscriptions of Kongu Chera dynasty (western Tamil Nadu). [2]
  4. Vira Kerala, fl. 11th century, one of the so-called "thennavar muvar". [2] Defeated by Chola king Rajadhiraja (trampled by his war elephant called Attivarana). [2]
  5. Minavan Vira Kerala, a Pandya prince, probably identical with the Kerala defeated by Rajadhiraja. [4]
  6. Vira Kerala, the first post-Chera Perumal king of Venad (south Kerala), 12th century AD, appears in a Cholapuram (Nagercoil) inscription (1126 AD). [5]
  7. Vira Kerala, a son of the last Chera Perumal Rama Kulasekhara and a Venad princess (as per Kerala tradition) - probably identical with (6). [6]
  8. Vira Kerala Chakravarti, the ancestor of Vira Raghava Chakravarti, the 13th century Perumapadappu king of Cranganore (Viraraghava copper plates). [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 136-37.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 304-05 and 322-23.
  3. Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 84-85.
  4. Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 122-23 and 140.
  5. Travancore Archaeological Series (IV), I, no. 3, pp. 17-18.
  6. Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 171.
  7. Epigraphica Indica, Volume IV. [V. Venkayya, 1896-97] pp. 290-7.