Template:Infobox royalty Kuttuvan Kotai (Template:Langx), also spelled Kothai/Kodai,[1] was a Chera ruler of early historic (pre-Pallava) south India.[2][3]
Silver coins bearing a portrait facing right with Tamil-Brahmi legend "Ku-t-tu-va-n Ko-tai" have been discovered from Amaravati riverbed in Karur, central Tamil Nadu.[4][3][5] The reverse of the coins are blank. The coin seems to be an imitation of the Roman portrait head coins.[5] Whether these coins were used as a currency in trade transactions is not clear.[2]
Scholars identify Kotai with "Cheraman Kuttuvan Kotai" mentioned in the early Tamil text Purananuru, 54.[5] 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".[5][1] The Chera is eulogized in the Puram by Konattu Ericchalur Matalur/Matalan Madurai Kumarananar (Purananuru).[1] The son of Chera ruler Cenkuttuvan was also referred to as "Kuttuvan Cheral".[1]
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.[6] The term Kuttanatu is indicated in the entry in Periplus Maris Erythraei, referring to "Cottonora", ‘where the pepper grows’.[6] The estuarine region Kottayam and Alappuzha districts of Kerala is now known as Kuttanatu.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chera Kings of the Sangam Period{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Luzac and Co.(1937)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Emergence of Early Historic Trade in Peninsular India. ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute(2011).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Trade, Ideology, and Urbanization: South India 300 BC to AD 1300{{#if:Champakalakshmi|, Champakalakshmi}. Oxford University Press(1996)
- ↑ Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD{{#if:Mahadevan|, Mahadevan}. Cre-A and Harvard University(2003)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Imperial Rome, Indian Ocean Regions and Muziris: New Perspectives on Maritime Trade{{#if:Majumdar|, Majumdar}. Routledge(2017)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Historical Geography of Natu in South India with Special Reference to Kerala. Indian Historical Review({Template:Date).