The famous Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela mentions that in the eleventh year of his reign, Kharavela destroyed a confederacy of Tamil States, 'Tramira desha Sanghatam', which had long been a source of danger. How old was this confederacy of Tamil States at that time?

The Hathigumpha inscription, located in the Udayagiri caves near Bhubaneswar, provides a year-by-year record of King Kharavela's reign [1]. In the eleventh year of his reign, the inscription records that Kharavela destroyed a confederacy of Tamil states, referred to as 'Tramira desha Sanghatam' [2]. The text specifically mentions that this confederacy had been a source of danger and had existed for 113 years at that time. This confederacy is generally identified as a league of the three major Tamil powers—the Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas—who were established chiefdoms during the Sangam Age [2]. While some modern interpretations or web sources might misread the Prakrit numerals as 1300 years, the standard historical reading of the inscription's eleventh-year entry specifies the duration as 113 years.

Sources

1. [1] https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/S000829IC/P001689/M020089/ET/1493288874P08-M28-HathigumphaInscriptionofKharavela-ET.pdf
2. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharavela
3. [3] History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 5: Evolution of Society in South India > SUMMARY > p. 75