Mushika Kingdom

Mushika kingdom
c. 6th century BCE (conventional dating)–early 11th Century CE
Capital		Ezhimalai
Languages		Tamil
Religion		Hinduism and others
Government		Monarchy
History
•	Established	c. 6th century BCE (conventional dating)
•	Disestablished	early 11th Century CE

The Mushika Kingdom (Mushaka Rajya, also called Ezhimalai Rajya, Puzhinadu, Kolathunadu, Chirakkal Rajya among the more common names) was an ancient kingdom of the Tamil Sangam period in present-day Kerala, India, ruled by a royal dynasty of the same name. Its dominions, for most of its recorded history, covered the present-day regions of Northern Kerala, Tulunadu and Coorg, between the western slopes of the Western Ghats in the East and the Arabian Sea in the West. It was one of the five primary ruling dynasties in the ancient Tamilakam of recorded history, and in the Tamil Sangam Period, along with the Cheras, the Pandyas, the Cholas and the Ays. Ezhimalai Nannan was the most powerful ruler of Ezhimalai. He expanded the kingdom to include Gudalur and Coimbatore in his lifetime. With the death of Nannan towards the close of the 5th century C.E, in a battle with the Cheras, the kingdom was absorbed by the Chera kingdom, though they had several periods of independence alternating with those of being vassals or tributaries of the Cheras, as well as of the Pandyas. Most mainstream scholars believe that the erstwhile Kolathiri Dynasty (who had their last capital at Chirakkal, Kannur) are descendants of Nannan and the Mushika Royal Family, which the Family itself believed, and a fact that has been upheld by the various Tamil, Sanskrit, and Malayalam texts surviving to this day.

Like with the other ruling dynasties of recorded history's ancient Tamilakam, namely the Cheras and Pandyas and Cholas and the Ay Dynasty among others, pre-ancient Dravidian legends trace the origin of the Mushika Royal Family to the legendary Kumari kandam of prehistoric times. Keralolpathi mentions this Dynasty as a direct line of the Cheras and having descended from Cheraman Perumal. According to other legends, Parasurama is said to have appointed Ramaghata Mushika the first king of Mushika Dynasty, and therefore christened the Dynasty itself as Royalty.

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