The Kallar are a warrior and farming people of the dry belt east and north-east of Madurai, from Melur to Tirumayam, who serve the Pandya king or the Chola king for land and who raid the plains between campaigns.
The Pudukkottai Kallar give a line of chiefs (the Tondaiman) in the seventeenth century (a later event); none is attested for 1200.
Who holds it
- Name
- Kallar chiefs (not named)
- Title
- Whoever leads or speaks for the province
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
see allegiance
What it holds
- Clan lands and watch-posts
- Service to the Pandya king for land and for the protection of roads
Allies and rivals
Pandya, with Chola claims through the Pudukkottai chiefs.
How things stand that morning
Quiet; the Pandya-Chola peace holds.
Wealth
Cattle, rice, protection fees.
Military
No figure is given by any source we reached.
Where the sources disagree
- The assignment asks for the Kallar and Maravar country; the evidence for either in 1200 is the brief's and the campaign board's, not a dated source.
Evidence: Short secondary sources; no dated headman or assembly for 1200.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Drawn as a rough polygon snapped to land units.
Primary sources for Pandya kingdom
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Lesser Chronicle (the continuation of the Mahavamsa), Dhammakitti and later monks of the Mahavihara tradition (the first continuation about the 13th century (chapters 37 to 79), carried on in stages to the 18th century). The only narrative source for Lanka in 1200. Read online
- Epigraphia Carnatica: inscriptions of the Mysore country, Various (Hoysala chancery and temple scribes), edited by B. Lewis Rice and R. Narasimhachar (inscriptions of the 4th to 19th centuries; the series ran from 1886 to 1905, revised from 1972). The Hoysala kingdom of Veera Ballala II (reigning 1173 to 1220) is documented almost wholly by the inscriptions in this series, arranged by district and taluk with full English translations. Read online
- Epigraphia Zeylanica: lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon, Various (the Polonnaruwa kings' chanceries), edited by D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe, H. W. Codrington and S. Paranavitana (inscriptions of the 3rd century BC to the 18th century; the series ran from 1904). Prints with translation the stone records of the Polonnaruwa kings who held or lost the throne around 1200. Read online
- South Indian Inscriptions (Archaeological Survey of India), Various (Chola, Pandya and other chanceries and temple scribes), edited by E. Hultzsch, V. Venkayya, H. Krishna Sastri and successors (inscriptions of the 7th to 17th centuries; the series ran from 1890). The temple inscriptions printed here are the primary record of the Tamil country in 1200. Read online
- Travancore Archaeological Series, Various (Kerala chiefs, temples and merchant guilds), edited by T. A. Gopinatha Rao, K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyer and A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar (inscriptions of the 9th to 18th centuries; the series ran from 1910 to 1938). The main corpus for the Kerala coast. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.