Venad

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For general context, see History of Travancore.

vENad (véNAd),(വേണാട്) was one of the eighteen kingdoms of the ancient Cheran empire periodically though it was under the suzernity of Madurai Pandiyan kingdom before 880 AD when the Pandiyan power declined. Plini in 1st century recorded that the Pandiyan kings representative invited him to places south of Thrissur (kodungalloor) which was under the suzernity of the Pandiyan king offering spice. The Ay Vel rulers were Vassals under Pandyan kings. It included most of modern day Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts of Kerala State, India.This kingdom was the forerunner to the modern Kingdom Of Travancore.

[edit] Origin

The name veNad originates from land of Ay vel or vEL nAd . The ancient rulers of were believed to be Ay veLs (Ay =Shepherd Vel=King). It is also said that Vezham in ancient Tamil was elephant so Vezha Nadu meant Elephant country. The term Venad is found earliest in the Tharisapalli plates of 892 AD which gifted lands to the Nestorian Metron Mar Sapir Easo by a Venad king. There has been lot of manuscripts which lead to the conclusion of a land rules by VeLs.

[edit] History

The Chera power was re-established in Kerala by Kulasekhara Varman about 800 A.D. the founder of the royal dynasty of the Kulasekhara Empire, the revived or second Cheran empire. After the fall of Mahodayapuram in 1102, the capital of the emperor was relocated to Kollam to regroup. Though the Cholas supported the early Later Chera kings by making the Venad kings accept the suzernity of the Imperial Mahodaya Cheras and thus started the Kerala Perumal Vazcha (900 AD to 1100 AD) after 1100s the Cholas became increasingly hostile to the Cheras. In the ensuing battles Cheran armies defeated the Chola using chaver (suicide squad of nair warriors) tactics, eclipsing the Cholan power in South India for good. Unfortunately for Cherans -and Keralam- a hundred years of war and loss of the imperial capital took its toll. The imperial power broke down soon after the war and all thirteen kingdoms became independent. Venad beacame one of the more powerful of these successor kingdoms. Though Venads Yadava (Ay Vel) kings absorbed some elements of Chera blood they succeeded in defeating Cheras when when they occcupied Purakkad and Kodungaloor(1180 AD)the strongholds of Imperial Cheras. At the height of its glory, the kings of Venad conquered most of South India. Sangramadheeran alias Kulasekhara Ravi Varma crowned himself Tribhuvanachakravarthi ruler of Chera,Chola and Pandiya kingdoms at 1312 at Kancheepuram. After 1300s the Venad rulers gradually mixed with Namboothiris and sometimes with Nairs and adopted Marumakkathayam - Matrilineal descendency.The original Ayar or Yadava Clan itself believed to have mixed with the Quilon Nairs. In the 18th century the newly crowned young prince Marthanda Varma, who was in his twenties, defeated the Thampi sons of the King and Eight Lords popularly called Ettuveetil Pillamar (Pillai's of the Eight Noble Houses) with the help of the British East India Company. He not only united the kingdom, but destroyed other nair lords and kings and expanded it to the north to include half of modern-day Kerala. He named it Thiruvithamcode (Travancore) after the branch of Venad royal family from which he hailed.

Thiruvithamcore or Travancore lost its sovereignty to the British at the end of 18th Century, and remained a princely state with its own government. After the independence of India, Travencore joined Indian Union and became a part of the State of Kerala when it was formed in 1956.