Venad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For general context, see History of Travancore.

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

Venad (véNAd),(േവണാട്) 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. Pliny in 1st century AD recorded that the Pandiyan kings representative invited him to places south of Thrissur (Kodungalloor) which was under the suzerainity of the Pandiyan king offering spices.The Pandyan kings had their capital at Nelkinda (Nelcynda)(Niranam) while Thiruvattuvai Nadu(Thiruvalla)Quilon and Pandalam were minor capitals. The Ay Vel rulers were Vassals under Pandyan kings. Venad included most of modern day Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts of Kerala State, and the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu State India. Trivandrum which was established by Nedumchadaya Pandyan when he converted a Jain Temple as a Vaishnavaite temple and Consecrated Sri Padmanabha Swami Idol at 785 ad. This kingdom was the forerunner to the modern Kingdom of Travancore established by King Marthanda Varma who annexed many erstwhile kingdoms of Southern Kerala like Ilayidathu Swarupam (Kottarakkara), Desinga Nadu (Kollam), Pandalam, Kayamkulam, Chempakasseri (Ambalappuzha), Thekkumkur (Kottayam), Vadakkumkur (Vaikkam), and some parts of Kochi to Venad.

[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 Sangha literature mentions about three sets of seven Vallals, Philanthrophists. Out of the last set of seven Vallals (Kadaiyezhu Vallals)three of them lived in the present day Kollam and one at Trivandrum area (100 ad). The Sangham literature talks about the murder of Pari the ruler of Quilon. Paris friend the poet Kapila married the slain Ays daughters off to Thirukovilur (Kollam)prince and also built a temple for Pari at Parippalli.The places Ayur (Ay), Oyur (Oy) and Kariavattam (Kari) were named after Ay vels too. The term Venad is found earliest in the [[Tharisapalli plates]] of 892 AD which gifted lands to the Nestorian Metropolitan Mar Sapir Easo by Venad king Iyenadikal Thiruvadikal. There has been lot of manuscripts which lead to the conclusion of a land ruled 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,also called Kulasekhara Azhvar (the vaishnavaite saint) revived or second Cheran empire. After the fall of Mahodayapuram in 1122, 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 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 (1706-1758), who was in his twenties, defeated the Thampi sons of the King Rajah Rama Varma and Eight Nair Lords popularly called Ettuveetil Pillamar (Pillai's of the Eight Noble Houses). Marthanda Varma not only united the kingdom, but destroyed other kings of Southern Kerala and expanded it to the north to include half of modern-day Kerala. He named it Thiruvithamkur (Travancore) after the Thiruvithamkode branch of Venad royal family from which he hailed. Marthanda Varma rebuilt the Anandha Padmanabha Swami Temple in 1730 ad. He defeated the Dutch in the Colachel War in 1741. But he maintained good relations with the English East India Company for tactical reasons.

During the Mabar sulthans of Madurai Travancore paid annual tribute. During the Madurai Naicker period (1550 to 1801)yearly tribute was paid by the Travancore kings which was collected by a General of the Madurai Naicker who annually visited, the capital Padmanabhapuram.

Thiruvithamkur or Travancore became a subsidiary of the British at the end of 18th Century, and remained a princely state with its own government under the Maharaja.On India becoming independent, Travancore joined the Indian Union in 1947 and later became a part of the State of Travancore-Cochin in 1949 which in turn became part of the state of Kerala when it was formed in 1956.