Korran, also known as Korra and Pittan Korran (full name) (Tamil:கொற்றன்/ கொற்ற) (circa 10 BCE-90 CE) was an ancient Tamil chief of Kudiramalai, Jaffna kingdom, Tamilakkam, who ruled the world famous ancient international port town Kudiramalai on the western Gulf of Mannar coast of the Vanni Malabar country between the 1st century BCE- late 1st century CE.[1] He was a commander in chief of the Chera Dynasty under the King Makkotai. An avid horseman and great patron of poetry, Korran ruled from and adminstered the hilly terrained locality surrounding the ancient Tamil capital of Kudiramalai - the "Horse Mountain/Hill". He earned the epithet கட்டுமான் கொற்றன் (Kattuman Korran) meaning "Horseman Korran" due to his love of horse riding. His father was Pittan, another famous Chera chief. His full name was sometimes credited as Pittan-Korran, following Tamil naming conventions detailed in the Tolkappiyam.[2]
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In the Sangam period, Tamil kings and chiefs were known to have brought horses in water craft to the Malabar state of North Eastern Ceylon. During Korran's rule, Kudiramalai, a subsidiary port 20km south of the famous Tamil emporium Mantai became known to the ancient Greeks as Hippuros, (literal translation of Kudiramalai in Greek - Horse Mount/Hill), a famous port of the island itself. Both ports find mention in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea of Ptolemy. Korran ruled Kudiramalai alongside two other chieftains, Elini and Kumanan of the first-second century CE. The historian Pliny states that in the reign of the Emperor Claudius in 47 CE:
The Jaffna king later sent a Tamil embassy of four of his own envoys to Rome, including the ambassador-in-chief Rasaiah.[3] To the Romans, the Kudiramalai envoys related particulars about their kingdom's inhabitants, including their common life expectancy of 100 years, their government, a council of thirty persons, free civil liberties and laws pertaining to abuse of sovereign power, their trade with the Seres (Chinese), their festivals surrounding "the chase", and their delights in the elephant and the tiger. The ambassadors felt their kingdom to be richer than Rome's, although in their eyes Rome put its wealth to much better use.[4]
Inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi script from the late 1st century CE bearing his name (Korra-Puman - Korra The Chieftain) were excavated on an amphora fragment at the international Roman trading port of Berenice Troglodytica in present day Egypt.[5]
Korran oversaw the trade of Jaffna Tamils with the early Pandyans, Cholas, Kalingas, the Nakas, the Cheras, Romans, Phoenicians, the Seres and Egyptians at Kudiramalai and across the Jaffna Vanni country.[6]
Similarly, copper kohl sticks from ancient Egypt and coins from Rome, Madurai and Karur have been found in ruins at Ucchapannai, Kandarodai-Kadiramalai in North Jaffna.
Korran's rule is described at length in the Purananuru and he is eulogised in several poems of Sangam literature.[7] Korran was a brilliant bowman, typical of the inhabitants of the Chera kingdom whose royal emblem was the bow. Korran brought horses to the battlefield for the first time. His contemporaries, Athiyamān Nedumān Añci of Tagadur and Pajayan Maran of Madurai belonged to the same Tamil horseman tribe and were Velir aristocrats. Korran likely belonged to the Malayaman family dynasty of the Velir royal house, whose royal emblem was the horse. Neduman Anci's son Elini and another Chief Kumanan also ruled Kudiramalai. Korran and his father Pittan are mentioned as part of a genealogy of Chera kings in the Pugalur inscriptions of Karur district in the 2nd century CE, the ancient capital of the Chera dynasty.[8]
By the medieval period, the ancient capital of the northern Tamil country moved from Kudiramalai to Nallur. Nearby Puttalam would serve as the medieval Jaffna kingdom's second capital during the pearling season, and increased fishery activity was noted along the banks between Kudiramalai and Mannar.