Traders Kings and Pilgrims — Social Studies STD 6 — Question

The southern half of the Indian subcontinent is marked by a long coastline, hills and plateaus, and river valleys, of which that of the Kaveri is the most fertile.

Chiefs and rulers who controlled the river valleys and the coasts became rich and powerful.

Sangam poems mention the muvendar. This is a Tamil word meaning three chiefs, used for the heads of three ruling families, the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas, who became powerful in south India around 2300 years ago.

Each of the three chiefs had two centres of power: one inland, and one on the coast. Of these six cities, two were very important: Puhar or Kaveripattinam, the port of the Cholas, and Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas.

The Chiefs (of these new Kingdoms) did not collect regular taxes. Instead, they demanded and received gifts from their subordinates. They also went on raids, and collected tribute from neighbouring areas. They kept some of the wealth and distributed the rest amongst their supporters, including kinsmen, soldiers and poets.

Many poets whose compositions are found in the Sangam collection composed poems in praise of chiefs who generally rewarded them with gold, horses, elephants, chariots, precious stones and line as well as very costly cloth.