Frontier town · The Chola empire of Kulottunga III · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Namakkal, Sankagiri, Tiruchengode and the north Kongu hill forts

A chain of rocks and temple hills along the road from the Kaveri to the Salem gap: Namakkal (the rock with rock-cut shrines), Sankagiri (a hill fort whose present fort belongs to later centuries), Tiruchengode (the Ardhanareeswarar hill temple) and Salem on the gap.

The Hoysala frontier lies on the Dharmapuri side, not on this chain. The campaign board lists Namakkal and Sankagiri as castles; the fortresses of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries are not on the ground in 1200.

Who holds it

Name
The Kongu chiefs and the Adigaman chiefs of Tagadur under Chola overlordship; the Hoysala frontier lies to the north
Title
see the lord or tenant line below
Born
not known
Confidence
low

Lord in 1200

The Kongu chiefs and the Adigaman chiefs of Tagadur under Chola overlordship; the Hoysala frontier lies to the north

How things stand that morning

A quiet march of the Kongu.

Places of note

  • Sankagiri: Hill fort site on the road to the Kaveri.
  • Tiruchengode: Ardhanareeswarar hill temple.
  • Salem: The Salem gap, the road between the delta and the Mysore plateau.

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board entry namakkal-rock and sankagiri-hill call them castles; we could not find a dated fort of 1200 at either.

Evidence: Short secondary sources only; no dated record of the person or office for 1200.

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

Primary sources for Chola empire

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.

4 more in the sources library for Southern India and Sri Lanka.

Sources and studies

  1. Namakkal, English Wikipedia
  2. Tiruchengode, English Wikipedia

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.