the three crowned Kings' and seven chieftains, with an eighth coming somewhat later. There were a host of minor chieftains of lesser dignity. It is the coast region and the more open country that belonged to the kings, while the middle regions of hills and forests belonged to the chieftains, and perhaps even a few tribes (Nāgas and others). The east coast from Pulikat to the south of Tonḍi in the Zemindari of Ramnad, belonged, to the Chola, although midway between the kingdom proper and its northern viceroyalty of Kānchi lay the hill-country round Tirukkovilūr in the possession of a class of chieftains named Malayamān; and between his territory and the coast were the chieftains of Oymā -nāḍu very often loyal supporters of otheir suzerain, occasionally turbulent and rebellious. South of the Chola kingdom lay that of the Pānḍya, which extended from coast to coast, and embraced within its borders the modern districts of Madura and Tinnevelly, and the State of Travancore, taking in also a part of Coimbatore and Cochin. This included in it the chieftaincies of Āay (The Aioi of Ptolemy) round the Podiyil hill in the Western Ghats and the domains of Pehan round the Palnis which come under their sphere of influence as well. North of this and along the Western Ghats on the sea-side lay the territory of the Chera; a territory stretching right across the Palghat gap through' Salem and Coimbatore. South Mysore was parcelled out among a number of chieftains corresponding to the modern Pāḷaya-gars, whose allegiance was at the disposal of either, but the more powerful of their neighbour kings. Such were the Irungo of Araiyam, Pāri-of Parambunāḍ (west of the Kaveri in Kongu), Adiyamān of Tagaḍuṛ (Dharmapuri) and Ori of the Koḷḷimalais. The first of these was within the Mysore territory proper and to the east of his domain lay the Gangas, and Kongu to the south. The northern frontier of the Tamil land was held by Nannan of the Tuḷu country and Konkaṇ in the west, and Pulli of Vengadam (Tirupati) in the east, the further north having been the land of the Vaḍukar and Danḍāraṇyam (Sans. Danḍakāraṇyam).

These chieftaincies were the bone of contention between the Cholas and the Cheras. When the period under treatment begins, the Cholas were supreme under Karikāla, who ascended the throne, probably after defeating the Chera and Pānḍya in a battle at Veṇṇil (Koilveṇṇi as it is now called) in the Tanjore District. He was a remarkable sovereign who in many ways contributed to the permanent welfare, of his subjects, and has consequently been handed down to posterity as a beneficent and wise monarch. He constructed the embankments for the Kaveri, and his chief port Puhār was the great emporium of the east coast. His reign was long, and, taken along with those of his two predecessors and the successor next-