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The Cheras were the principal ruling dynasty of the present-day state of Kerala and to a lesser extent, parts of Tamil Nadu in South India. Along with the Ay kingdom and the Ezhimala kingdom, they formed the ruling kingdoms of Kerala in the early years of the Christian Era. The origins of the dynasty are unclear and it is understood that they were speakers of Proto-Tamil-Malayalam while being practitioners of literary writing in Old Tamil. In fact, most of their history is reconstructed from the body of literature known as the Sangam literature written in Old Tamil around the 3rd century CE. The earliest traveller's accounts attesting the existence of the Cheras are by the Greek ambassador Megasthenes (4th century BCE), Pliny in the 1st century CE, in the Periplus of the 1st century CE and by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE. While Pliny and Ptolemy refer to the Cheras as 'Calobotras', the Periplus refers to them as the 'Keprobotras'. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas in the adjacent modern-day State of Tamil Nadu, the Cheras formed one of the three most powerful warring Iron Age kingdoms of the southern-most States of South India.

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Notes - 1. Chera origins are unclear. There are no specific places given for their origins. 2. Their local language is not noted anywhere though Tamil was used as a language for literature.

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The exact antiquity of the Cheras is difficult to establish. However, based on the traveller's accounts and the Sangam literature, it can be confirmed that they were already existing around the 4th century BCE. The Sangam literature describes a long line of Chera rulers. It records the names of the kings, the princes, and the court poets who extolled them. The internal chronology of this literature is still far from settled, and at present a connected account of the history of the period has not been derived. Uthiyan Cheralathan, Nedum Cheralathan and Senguttuvan Chera are some of the rulers referred to in the Sangam poems. Senguttuvan Chera, the most celebrated Chera king, is famous for the legends surrounding Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram.

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The location of the Chera capital has not been clearly determined yet. However, it is generally assumed to be near the famous port known as Muziris, now identified to be near modern-day Kodungallur.

. The extent of the Chera kingdom varied at various times and can be understood to have extended from the plains of Kerala, the Palghat gap, along the river Bharathappuzha and occupied land between the river Bharathappuzha and river Periyar. The two harbour towns, Tondi (Tyndis) and Muciri (Muziris), where the Roman trade settlements flourished.

The Cheras were in continuous conflict with the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. The Cheras are said to have defeated the combined armies of the Pandyas and the Cholas and their ally states. They also made battles with the Kadambās of Banavasi and the Yavanas (the Greeks) on the Indian coast. After the 2nd century CE, the Cheras' power decayed rapidly with the decline of the lucrative trade with the Romans.

The Chera kingdom owed its importance to trade with West Asia, Greece and Rome. Its geographical advantages, like the abundance of exotic spices, the navigability of the rivers connecting the Ghat mountains with the Arabian sea, and the discovery of favourable Monsoon winds which carried sailing ships directly from the Arabian coast to Chera kingdom, combined to produce a veritable boom in the Chera foreign trade.

The Later Cheras ruled from the 9th century. Little is known about the Cheras between the two dynasties. The second dynasty, Kulasekharas ruled from a city on the banks of River Periyar called Mahodayapuram (Kodungallur). Though never regained the old status in the Peninsula, Kulasekharas fought numerous wars with their powerful neighbours and diminished to history in the 12th century as a result of continuous Chola and Rashtrakuta invasions.

The Chera rulers of Venad, based at the port Quilon in southern Kerala, trace their relations back to the later/second Cheras. Ravi Varma Kulasekhara, ruler of Venadu from 1299 to 1314, is known for his ambitious military campaigns to former Pandya and Chola territories. -

A commonly held view is that the name Chera, like the Chola, is a name of great antiquity. However, several theories have been put forward for the origin of the word 'Chera' and it is still a matter of considerable speculation. One approach proposes that the word Chera is probably derived from Cheral, meaning "declivity of a mountain" in ancient Tamil. . This theory emphasises the mountainous character of parts of Kerala and the subsequent derivation of 'Keralam' from 'Cheralam'. Another attempt is made to derive the word from 'Kera' (a root word for coconut) and this theory emphasises the coconut as one of the primary products of the land. Another theory argues that the word is a derivation from the word "cher(meaning sand) + alam" and it literally refers to the area as slushy land. Still another theory suggests that the word Cher or Chertha means 'added' - and this could make 'Cheral' as the land added to mountainous or hilly country.

In other sources, the Cheras are referred to by various names. The Cheras are referred as Kedalaputa ("Kerala Putra") in the Ashoka's edicts (3rd century BCE). . While Pliny and Ptolemy refer to the Cheras as Calobotras, the Graeco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers the Cheras as Keprobotras. .

The term Ceralamdivu or Ceran tivu and its cognates, meaning the "island of the Ceran kings", is a Classical Tamil name of Sri Lanka that takes root from the term Chera, from which the dynasty name is derived.