Editing Kottayam district (section)

==== Chera dynasty and the Keralaputras of ancient Tamilakam (up to 5th century CE) ====
{{Main|Chera dynasty}}
{{See also|Tamilakam}}
[[File:Chera country (early historic south India).jpg|thumbnail|The extent of the [[Chera dynasty]] (known as ''Keralaputras'' in the inscriptions of the emperor [[Ashoka]] of the [[Maurya Empire]] (322 [[Before Common Era|BCE]] – 184 BCE)<ref name="feudal states in early 18th century Kerala" /> during the early centuries of the [[Common Era]].]]
Early members of the [[Chera dynasty]] (first few centuries of the [[Common Era]]) had their original headquarters in a region called ''Kuzhamur'' at ''Kuttanad'' in the ancient [[Tamilakam]] and were sometimes known as the  ''Kuttuvans''.<ref name="feudal states in early 18th century Kerala" /> The [[Chera dynasty]] is mentioned as ''Keralaputras'' in the inscriptions of the emperor [[Ashoka]] of the [[Maurya Empire]] (322 [[Before Common Era|BCE]] – 184 BCE).<ref name="feudal states in early 18th century Kerala" />

The province ''Kuttanad'' of the ancient kingdom of ''Keralaputras'' included the modern-day districts of [[Kottayam]], [[Ernakulam district|Ernakulam]], [[Idukki district|Idukki]], and parts of [[Alappuzha district|Alappuzha]], which can be defined as the region between the rivers [[Periyar river|Periyar]] and [[Pamba River|Pamba]].<ref name="feudal states in early 18th century Kerala" /> It was bounded by the [[Ay kingdom]] to the south, which included the regions between [[Pamba River]] and [[Kanyakumari]] (Cape Comorin), and the province of ''Kudanad'', which lies between the rivers [[Periyar river|Periyar]] and [[Chaliyar river|Chaliyar]] (modern-day districts of [[Thrissur district|Thrissur]], [[Palakkad district|Palakkad]], and [[Malappuram district|Malappuram]]), to the north.<ref name="feudal states in early 18th century Kerala" />

It was during the reign of [[Uthiyan Cheralathan]] (105–130 CE) that the [[Chera dynasty]] began to expand towards the northern and the eastern regions of ''Kuttanad'' by conquering the provinces of ''Kudanadu'' and ''[[Kongu Nadu]]''.<ref name="feudal states in early 18th century Kerala" /> Afterwards the dynasty got split into three branches and fixed their capitals at [[Muziris]], [[Tyndis]], and [[Karur|Caroura]], respectively, as seen in the ancient [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman]] travelogues as well as the [[Old Tamil]] literary works of the [[Sangam period]].<ref name="feudal states in early 18th century Kerala" /> During the reign of ''Narmudi Cheral'', the regions included in the [[Mushika dynasty|Kingdom of Ezhimala]] was also added to the Chera empire.<ref name="feudal states in early 18th century Kerala" />