Vira Kerala

Royal title

Viraraghava copper plates (1225 CE)

Vira Kerala, also spelled Veera Kerala or Keralan, was a name given to male members of several medieval ruling families of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Several royals with the name "Vira Kerala" are known to scholars.

The following is a list of royals with the name "Vira Kerala" (till c. 12th century)

1. Vira Kerala Amara Bhujanga Deva, a royal from Kongu Chera dynasty.[1]
* Probably identical with Amara Bhujanga Deva, one of the princes defeated by Chola king Rajaraja (Tiruvalangadu Grant). Probably a Pandya or a Kongu Chera prince.[1]
2. Vira Kerala, from a Nagari coin legend in British Museum (11th-12th centuries AD).[2]
3. Vira Kerala, a royal found in several inscriptions of Kongu Chera dynasty (western Tamil Nadu).[2]
4. Vira Kerala, fl. 11th century, one of the so-called "thennavar muvar".[2] Defeated by Chola king Rajadhiraja (trampled by his war elephant called Attivarana).[2]
* Probably a Kongu Chera or a Pandya prince (son of a Pandya and a Chera princess).[2]
* This royal was previously considered as a successor of Bhaskara Ravi (i. e., a Chera Perumal king of Kerala) (K. A. N. Sastri and E. P. N. K. Pillai).[3]
5. Minavan Vira Kerala, a Pandya prince, probably identical with the Kerala defeated by Rajadhiraja.[4]
6. Vira Kerala, the first post-Chera Perumal king of Venad (south Kerala), 12th century AD, appears in a Cholapuram (Nagercoil) inscription (1126 AD).[5]
7. Vira Kerala, a son of the last Chera Perumal Rama Kulasekhara and a Venad princess (as per Kerala tradition) - probably identical with (6).[6]
8. Vira Kerala Chakravarti, the ancestor of Vira Raghava Chakravarti, the 13th century Perumapadappu king of Cranganore (Viraraghava copper plates).[7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 136-37.
2. ^ a b c d e Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 304-05 and 322-23.
3. ^ Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 84-85.
4. ^ Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 122-23 and 140.
5. ^ Travancore Archaeological Series (IV), I, no. 3, pp. 17-18.
6. ^ Narayanan, M. G. S. Perumāḷs of Kerala. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 171.
7. ^ Epigraphica Indica, Volume IV. [V. Venkayya, 1896-97] pp. 290-7.