After the Cheras
Venāḍ was a Chera dependency around Kollam that became independent when the Kulaśekhara kingdom dissolved in the twelfth century. Its rulers, styled Venāḍ Adikal and later Kulaśekhara Perumāḷ, claimed the Chera inheritance and held the coast from Kollam south to Kanyakumari.
Kollam was a major port on the route between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, visited by Chinese, Arab and later European traders, and the Malayalam era still used in Kerala is reckoned from 825 CE, traditionally from a council held there.
Toward Travancore
Venāḍ was one of several Kerala principalities in constant low-level conflict, and its history for four centuries is a matter of succession disputes, temple politics and dealings with the Portuguese and then the Dutch. The Ettuveettil Pillamar, eight noble houses, and the temple corporations held much of the real power.
That changed under Marthanda Varma, who succeeded in 1729, broke the nobility, annexed the neighbouring principalities and created the kingdom of Travancore. Venāḍ's institutions and its ruling house continued; the state was reconstituted around them.
Further reading
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- Champakalakshmi, R. Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: South India. Oxford University Press, 1996
- Fritz, John M. Hampi Vijayanagara. Jaico, 2003
- Hawley, John Stratton. A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement. Harvard University Press, 2015
- Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. The Colas. University of Madras, 1955
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.