Karur in the context of "Pudukottai"

The Chera dynasty (or Cēra, IPA: [t͡ʃeːɾɐ]), also known as Keralaputra, from the early historic or the Sangam period in southern India, ruled over parts of present-day states Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Cheras, known as one of the mu-ventar (the Three Crowned Kings) of Tamilakam (the Tamil country) alongside the Cholas and Pandyas, have been documented as early as the third century BCE. The Chera country was geographically well placed at the tip of the Indian peninsula to profit from maritime trade via the extensive Indian Ocean networks. Exchange of spices, especially black pepper, with Middle Eastern or Graeco-Roman merchants is attested to in several sources. Chera influence extended over central Kerala and western Tamil Nadu until the end of the early historic period in southern India.

The Cheras of the early historical period (c. second century BCE – c. third/fifth century CE) had their capital in interior Tamil country (Vanchi-Karuvur or Karur, the Kongu country), and ports/capitals at Muchiri-Vanchi (Muziris) and Thondi (Tyndis) on the Indian Ocean coast of Kerala. They also controlled Palakkad Gap and the Noyyal River valley, the principal trade route between the Malabar Coast and eastern Tamil Nadu. The bow and arrow, or just the bow, was the traditional dynastic emblem of the Chera family.

This is a list of archaeological artefacts and epigraphs which have Tamil inscriptions. Of the approximately 100,000 inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India (2005 report) in India, about 60,000 were in Tamil Nadu

Tyndis (Ancient Greek: Τύνδις, Tamil: Thondi) was an ancient south Indian seaport/harbor-town mentioned in Graeco-Roman writings. It was located about 500 stadia north of the port Muziris (Muchiri), in the country of the Chera rulers. No archaeological evidence of Tyndis has been found.

The Chera rulers of early historic south India (c. second century BCE - c. third century CE) had their headquarters at Karur (Karuvur) in the interior Tamil Nadu and headquarters/harbors at Muziris (Muchiri) and Tyndis (Thondi) on the Malabar Coast (present-day Kerala). Early Tamil texts contain several references to a port named "Thondi" on the Kerala coast in Chera territory.

The earliest deciphered epigraphy found in the Indian subcontinent are the Edicts of Ashoka of the 3rd century BCE, in the Brahmi script.

If epigraphy of proto-writing is included, undeciphered markings with symbol systems that may or may not contain linguistic information, there is substantially older epigraphy in the Indus script, which dates back to the mid 4th millennium BCE. Two other important archeological classes of symbols are found from the 1st millennium BCE, Megalithic graffiti symbols and symbols on punch-marked coins, though most scholars do not consider these to constitute fully linguistic scripts, and their semiotic functions are not well understood.