Kolathiri

Who he is

Name

not known for 1 January 1200

Title

Kolathiri (Vadakkan Perumal, 'king of the north')

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

Mushika dynasty, traced to the Mushika kings (Vikrama Rama, Jayamani, Vallabha II, Srikantha) and the Mushika-vamsa of Atula (eleventh century); matrilineal since the eleventh century

Confidence

low

Wikipedia (Kolathunadu): no reign dates for the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; Vallabha II founded Marahi (Madayi) and Valabha Pattanam and annexed the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi islands (undated); an Arabic inscription in the Madayi mosque records its foundation in 1124.

What it holds

• Ezhimala and the Madayi port
• Valapattanam (Valabha Pattanam), a walled town with towers on the Valapattanam river (Wikipedia)
• Dharmadam, Kannur and the shore
• the Kasaragod march to the Chandragiri (claimed)
• the Periya and Thamarassery passes up to Wayanad (claimed)
• the Laccadives, Minicoy and Amindivi (by the Mushika tradition)

How it was acquired

By descent from the Mushika kings, with the Perumals as probable overlords.

Allies and rivals

Alupas across the Chandragiri; the Eradis to the south; Hoysala pressure on Wayanad.

How things stand that morning

An independent northern chiefdom.

Wealth

Pepper and ginger, coir, horses landed from the Gulf, Arab shipping at Kannur and Madayi.

Military

Nair militia; no numbers.

Threats

• Hoysala move on the Wayanad passes
• Alupa claim on Kasaragod

Places of note

• Madayi mosque (inscription of 1124): Arabic inscription records the foundation
• Ezhimala: ancient capital and seamark

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry says Valapattanam as the seat is a fourteenth-century fact (Ibn Battuta's Balia Patanam); for 1200 the seat is Ezhimala or Valapattanam, not recoverable.
• Later: Wikipedia (Kolathunadu) describes a later division into Kovilakams (Udayamangalam, Palli) and the Kurvazhcha ranks Kolattiri, Tekkalankur, Vadakkalankur, Naalamkur and Anjamkur; the date is not pinned.

Evidence: A mixed picture of reigns and traditions; the Madayi inscription is the one firm date.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

Primary sources for Kerala chiefdoms

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.

• 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
• The Book of Roger (the Pleasure of Him who Longs to Cross the Horizons), Muhammad al-Idrisi (completed 1154 at Palermo). The nearest Arabic geography in time to 1200 for the Indian Ocean. Read online
• A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
• Description of the Foreign Peoples (Chau Ju-kua), Zhao Rukuo (趙汝适) (about 1225, while superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou). The Song customs officer's survey of the overseas world, compiled from merchants and from Zhou Qufei, a generation after 1200 but describing trade routes that were the same in 1200. Read online