A matrilineal chiefly house with its home ground inland near Ponnani at Perumpadappu and Vanneri, and a palace at old Mahodayapuram (Kodungallur).
Its port in 1200 is Kodungallur, whose harbour is silting; who holds the old Perumal capital in 1200 is not pinned (Perumpadappu, or the Padinjattedam house at the Kodungallur kovilakam, as Wikipedia calls it after the Perumals).
Who he is
- Name
- not known for 1 January 1200
- Title
- Perumpadappu Moopil (head of the swarupam)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Perumpadappu swarupam; traditionally Veerakerala Varma, a nephew of the last Perumal, is the first maharaja (a late tradition)
- Confidence
- low
Wikipedia (Kingdom of Cochin): independent from the early twelfth century; capital at Chitrakooda (Vanneri) from the start of the twelfth century, with a palace at Mahodayapuram. Written dynastic records are late.
What it holds
- Perumpadappu and Vanneri near Ponnani
- a palace at Mahodayapuram
- claims on the Sukapuram and Panniyur villages' protection
How it was acquired
By the break-up of the Perumal kingdom.
Allies and rivals
Valluvanad and the Eradis; the Nambudiri blocs.
How things stand that morning
A chiefdom of the central coast.
Wealth
Land, Nair levies, pepper from the Periyar and Bharatapuzha country.
Military
Nair militia.
Threats
- Eradi and Valluvanad quarrels
Places of note
- Vanneri (Chitrakuta): the swarupam's seat
Where the sources disagree
- Wikipedia's Kochi capital date is given as 1341 in the lead and 1405 in the body; both are later than 1200.
- Later facts kept out of the text: the capital moves to Mahodayapuram after Zamorin attacks in the later thirteenth century; written dynastic records begin only in 1503; the Kochi harbour opens only with the flood of 1341 (Wikipedia, Kingdom of Cochin).
Evidence: Chief unnamed; seat per Wikipedia.
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
Sources and studies
- Kingdom of Cochin, Wikipedia (read for this sheet)
- OMNIA board notes for the place (a lead, checked against the other sources)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.