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Nedunjeliyan

Pandya king subject of the Maduraikkanci, victor of the battle of Talaiyalanganam against a coalition of Chera, Chola and minor chieftains; central figure of the Madurai-court chapters of the Silappatikaram

Introduction

Pandya king subject of the Maduraikkanci, victor of the battle of Talaiyalanganam against a coalition of Chera, Chola and minor chieftains; central figure of the Madurai-court chapters of the Silappatikaram

Family

Textual Notes

Note: In the Silappatikaram, Nedunjeliyan wrongly orders Kovalan's execution for the theft of the queen's anklet and dies of grief/shock on realizing his error after Kannagi proves Kovalan's innocence — the turning point of the epic.

This article records a figure from Sangam-era and early medieval Tamil literature and dynastic tradition — the Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallava royal lines, the legendary Kadai Ezhu Vallalgal patrons, and the Silappatikaram/Manimekalai epic cycle. Chronology and genealogy in this corpus are drawn from praise-poetry and literary narrative rather than administrative record, and are recorded here as attested textual tradition rather than settled history; the Pallava kings in particular postdate the classical Sangam corpus by several centuries, as noted in their individual entries.

Sources

  1. A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar (scholarly)
  2. Maduraikkanci (primary text)

This entry is independently written for myVamsam using the sources listed above. Where traditions differ, this entry identifies the relevant tradition rather than presenting one account as universally established fact.