ZitaKight7091 at 06:34, 3 March 2026

2026-03-03T06:34:15Z

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{{Short description|Chera ruler}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name =Kuttuvan Kotai
| title =
| image= Kuttuvankotai-cash.jpg
| caption =Kuttuvan Kotai. Legend in Tamil-Brahmi: "Ku-t-tu-va-n Ko-tai"
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| royal house = [[Chera dynasty]]
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'''Kuttuvan Kotai''' ({{langx|ta| குட்டுவன் கோதை}}), also spelled '''Kothai/Kodai,'''<ref name=":03">{{cite book |last1=Aiyar |first1=K. G. Sesha |author-link1= |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.277483 |title=Chera Kings of the Sangam Period |publisher=Luzac and Co. |year=1937 |isbn= |location=London |pages=53-54 |chapter= |orig-year=}}</ref> was a [[Chera dynasty|Chera]] ruler of early historic (pre-[[Pallava dynasty|Pallava]]) south India.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Rajan |first=K. |title=Emergence of Early Historic Trade in Peninsular India |date=2011 |work=Early Interactions between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange |pages=182–183 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/early-interactions-between-south-and-southeast-asia/emergence-of-early-historic-trade-in-peninsular-india/C8F5F19AA9DCF34B04E40D4CF7B90190 |access-date= |series= |publisher=ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute |isbn=978-981-4311-17-5}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Champakalakshmi |first=R. |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Trade_Ideology_and_Urbanization/IGTaAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Trade,%20Ideology,%20and%20Urbanization |title=Trade, Ideology, and Urbanization: South India 300 BC to AD 1300 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1996 |pages=111 and 137}}</ref>

Silver coins bearing a portrait facing right with Tamil-Brahmi legend "Ku-t-tu-va-n Ko-tai" have been discovered from [[Amaravati River|Amaravati]] riverbed in [[Karur]], central [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last=Mahadevan |first=Iravatham |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674012271 |title=Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD |publisher=Cre-A and Harvard University |year=2003 |series=Harvard Oriental Series |pages=117–119 and 62–63}}</ref><ref name=":02" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Majumdar |first=Susmita Basu |url=https://www.routledge.com/Imperial-Rome-Indian-Ocean-Regions-and-Muziris-New-Perspectives-on-Maritime-Trade/Mathew/p/book/9781032919553?srsltid=AfmBOopryRo-rHn6ZWG1saQp5tEVhProWop3fYIfuXKhoau6ysttvYF8 |title=Imperial Rome, Indian Ocean Regions and Muziris: New Perspectives on Maritime Trade |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |editor-last=Mathew |editor-first=K. S. |pages=410-411 |chapter=Money Matters: Indigenous and Foreign Coins in the Malabar Coast}}</ref> The reverse of the coins are blank. The coin seems to be an imitation of the Roman portrait head coins.<ref name=":1" /> Whether these coins were used as a currency in trade transactions is not clear.<ref name=":0" />

Scholars identify Kotai with "Cheraman Kuttuvan Kotai" mentioned in the early Tamil text ''Purananuru'', 54.<ref name=":1" /> This Chera is mentioned as Kotai, not as Kuttuvan Kotai, in the body of the poem, but the appended colophon gives the full name "Kuttuvan Kotai".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":03" /> The Chera is eulogized in the ''Puram'' by Konattu Ericchalur Matalur/Matalan Madurai Kumarananar (''Purananuru'').<ref name=":03" /> The son of Chera ruler [[Cenkuttuvan]] was also referred to as "Kuttuvan Cheral".<ref name=":03" />

Kuttuvan was probably an ancient title for the Chera rulers of south India. Early Tamil texts refer to "Kuttuvar" as a kingship group and "Kuttanatu" as the country of the Kuttuva people.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Ganesh |first=K. N. |date=2009 |title=Historical Geography of Natu in South India with Special Reference to Kerala |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/037698360903600102?icid=int.sj-abstract.citing-articles.4 |journal=Indian Historical Review |language= |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=3–21 |doi=10.1177/037698360903600102 |issn=|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The term Kuttanatu is indicated in the entry in ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea|Periplus Maris Erythraei]]'', referring to "Cottonora", ‘where the pepper grows’.<ref name=":2" /> The estuarine region Kottayam and Alappuzha districts of Kerala is now known as [[Kuttanad|Kuttanatu]].<ref name=":2" />

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Chera kings]]

Kuttuvan Kotai - Revision history

ZitaKight7091 at 06:34, 3 March 2026