Kaveripattinam: the chief port of Chola kingdom
Kaveripattinam, the chief port of the ancient Chola kingdom, was situated at the mouth of Kaveri river. It is today identified with Puhar, a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of Tamil Nadu. Kaveripattinam is also known as Kaveripaddinam , and Kaveripumpattinam . Once the capital of the early Chola rulers, Kaveripattinam has been described in various Sangam works and also in Ptolemy’s Geography and the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea . According to a Sinhalese source, spacious harbour of Kaveripattinam was built by soldiers captured by the great Chola King Karikalan in a raid on Ceylon. During the first three centuries of the Christian era, Kaveripattinam was a prosperous city inhabited by rich merchants, traders, craftsmen and sailors.