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.