Punnata

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Punnata was an ancient region frequently referred to in Indian history.

Available evidence point to the region of S. Coorg and N. Coimbatore district as the region designated as 'Punnata' by Harisena, (see Harivamsha Purana), thus a portion at least of the modern district of Coimbatore was a center of Jainism before the beginning of the Christian era.

1 Historical Mentions
2 Origin of the term Punnata
3 Also see
4 References

[edit] Historical Mentions

A copper plate of the Ganga King Durvaniti refers to the King's conquest of Punnata in his 20th. regnal year. The Komaralingam copper plates of the Punnata King Ravidatta indicate the occupation of the Kingdom by Durvaniti. The latter plates record the grant of the village of Pungisoge by Ravidatta while in his camp at Kirtipura, generally identified as the southern portion of modern Mysore.

Kirtipura was not its capital, as has often been maintained by writers, but only a camp of King Ravidatta. The mention of varuous grants made on the occasion from Kirtipura of places like Kolur, Kodamuku etc., "to persons to whom they belonged," as the grant clearly mentions, only confirm this conclusion. The copper plate grant from the village of Komaralingam in the Udumalpet Taluk in the modern district of Coimbatore. Ptolemy mentions a country called 'Ponnuta' as a "land of beryls," which is found in the Kangayam area of the same district. Ravidatta, expressly states that he is making it with the permission of the Cheramman: "While his, Ravidatta's, victorious camp is at the town of Kirtipura, which is the best of towns, with the permission of Cheramma(n) ........the village known as Pungisoge in the east central desa in the Kudugur nadu which is in the Punnadu vishaya has been granted."

Several villages like Kolur, Kodamuku, Tanagundur and Elagovanur are mentioned as coming under other grants made on the same occasion. Tt is clear that all these places abutted on the Kongu frontier. The location of Pungisoge as mentioned in the above quoted passage, "in the eastcentral desa in the Kudugurnadu (Modern Coorg)" supports this conclusion. The name Elagovanur suggests the possibility of a location near to if not Coimbatore itself. Ravidatta was a feudatory of the Cera sovereign of the time is proven by the permission he obtained from the Cheramman for issuing the grants.

We can conclude that the Kingdom of Punnata must have been a small state corresponding to parts of S. Mysore and N. Coimbatore during rule of the Gangas over Kongu, possibly immediately after the death of Vishnugopa. The omission of the Chera name in all the victories mentioned in the inscriptions of the Ganga rulers from Kongani I to Durvaniti is significant. A few inscriptions from Vellalur in Coimbatore district give the names of two Cera rulers, Kokkandan Viranarayana and Kokkandan Ravikodan who call themselves "sovereign jewels of the luni-solar race. The letters of the records are of old archaic characters. The title assumed by the kings, "Jewels of the luni-solar race" clearly indicates the Cera-Pandya connection, since the moon is mentioned. The effective appearance of the Pandya in Kongu occurs in the VII century AD, thus these inscriptions of the Cera must belong roughly only to this period.

These suggest that

the Ceras decline helped the rise of Ganga power in Kongu and Karnataka;

the Ceras made attempts to revive in the VII century AD;

the Vellalur inscriptions record the establishment of Cera power once again in Kongu;

The rulers of the Komaralingam copper plates were Cera feudatories.

From these the Punnata country must have been a kingdom subordinate to the Ceras comprising parts of Coorg and Coimbatore district. Ptolemy's description of Punnata as "a land of beryl" seems definitely to point to the region of Kangayam in modern Coimbatore Dist, as lying within the kingdom of Punnata (McCrindle: Anc. India). The Mercara copper plates refer to Punnata as a "ten-thousand country;" and, as Mr. Rice contents, it must be the same as the later-day "Padi-Nadu" (Ten country), mentioned in the Yelandur inscription of AD. 1654 (Mys. Inss., P. 283, 334). In locating this region the above mentioned record clearly mentions the place. 'Tarapura,' evidently modern Dharapuram in the district of Coimbatore, which is said to lie SE of the kingdom (Ibid, p.334). 'The fact that equidistant to both Kangayam and Dharapuram (lying within a distance of six miles) is Padiyur, which is still famous for the far-famed beryls of Ptolemy, must be taken as giving a very strong cnfirmation to the view here advanced. That Coorg and this region of Coimbatore district must have once formed a unit in early times is seen from what the celebrated historian of Mysore, Col. Wilks, records in his "History of Mysore":

"In the southern part of Mysore the Tamil language is at this day named the Gangee from being best known to them as the language of the people of Kankayam. (Wilks, Mysore, p. 4, F, N.2) On the other hand, the same Wilks bears testimony to the fact that for some time the Cera king had complete mastery over this region, when he says: "Cheran united Kangiam and Salem to the dominions of Kerela of Malabar."(Op., cit., p.5).

[edit] Origin of the term Punnata

The name 'Punnata' seems to be a corruption of the name, 'Pounnadu' the land of gold. There was gold to be had from the region of Coorg and Kongu. While the Mysore gold mines bear evidence to this in some indirect way, the XVII century Tamil work, Maduraikalambakam mentions the "gold that is found in Kondu" (Konguraippon). The term Ponnadu seems to have been analogous to the name of the Cola country near Cauvery, Viz., the 'Punalnadu'.