Between the five named houses lie smaller chiefdoms.
Their documented history comes from much later records, and the twelfth-century position is inferred from geography and from the fact that a country must exist where the great chiefs do not reach. Drawn as claimed ground, no more.
Who he is
- Title
- chiefs known mainly from later sources
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Porlathiri of Polanad (under the Kolathiri), Odanad (Onattukara), Kurumbranad, Padinjattedam (Kodungallur kovilakam), Thekkumkur and Vadakkumkur, Purakkad
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board reads Polanad as a small country under a Porlathiri answering to the Kolathiri, and Odanad as a seat between Venad and the central chiefdoms; Wikipedia (Kodungallur) names the Padinjattedam swarupam as the principality after the Perumals. Their existence in these forms in 1200 is inference from much later records.
Overlord
the larger chiefs on their borders
What it holds
- Polanad on the Kozhikode shore
- Odanad (Onattukara) from Kayamkulam to the Achankovil
- Kurumbranad in the north Malabar uplands
- Kodungallur under the Padinjattedam house
Allies and rivals
Kolathiri, Venad, Perumpadappu.
How things stand that morning
Inferred.
Wealth
Pepper, rice, coconut.
Military
Nair levy.
Places of note
- Vembanad backwater: the great lagoon of the backwater country
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry marks Kayamkulam contested.
Evidence: Inference.
"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
Sources and studies
- Kodungallur, 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.