அதிகமான் அதியமான்
Adigaman

Official language Official language An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...	Tamil Tamil language Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
Family Dynasty	Adigaman or Satyaputo-Athiyaman
House	Velirs Velirs Velirs were a royal house of minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamilakkam in the early historic period of South India. Extolled in Sangam literature for their charity and truthfulness, they were the ancestors and head of the modern Tamil Vellalar caste...  (Satyaputo) - Fraternity of Truth
Capital	Tagadur Dharmapuri Dharmapuri is a town and the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is located 65 km north of Salem. Dharmapuri is a part of the Kongu Nadu an ancient division of Tamilakam. It is one of the ancient towns of Tamil Nadu and a rapid developing...

Athiyamān (also known as Adigamān or Satyaputra-Atiyān) were a famous royal Tamil

Tamil people

Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...

 dynasty of the Velir

Velirs

Velirs were a royal house of minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamilakkam in the early historic period of South India. Extolled in Sangam literature for their charity and truthfulness, they were the ancestors and head of the modern Tamil Vellalar caste...

 royal house. These king-chiefs ruled from their capital Tagadur

Dharmapuri

Dharmapuri is a town and the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is located 65 km north of Salem. Dharmapuri is a part of the Kongu Nadu an ancient division of Tamilakam. It is one of the ancient towns of Tamil Nadu and a rapid developing...

 from at least the 3rd century BCE. The Velir royal house was one of the four kingdoms of Tamilakkam, ruling parts of the Kongu

Kongu

Kongu may refer to:* Kongu , a region in Tamil Nadu* Kongu Engineering College, an engineering college in Tamil Nadu* Toa Kongu, a fictional hero from the BIONICLE series.* Kongu Arts and Science College, an Arts college in Tamil Nadu...

 country. They were surrounded by the Cheras

Chera dynasty

Chera Dynasty in South India is one of the most ancient ruling dynasties in India. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas, they formed the three principle warring Iron Age Tamil kingdoms in southern India...

 to the west and the Pandyas and Cholas

Chola Dynasty

The Chola dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which was one of the longest-ruling in some parts of southern India. The earliest datable references to this Tamil dynasty are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BC left by Asoka, of Maurya Empire; the dynasty continued to govern over varying territory until...

 to the east.

The Athiyamans are mentioned in the Puranas

Puranas

The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...

 as well as in ancient Tamil literature

Tamil literature

Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...

. Their rule of Tamilakkam is mentioned in rock inscriptions of the Sangam period such as the Edicts of Asoka in the 3rd century BCE and the Gummireddipura plates with the added title Satyaputra - the "members of the fraternity of truth", synonymous with the Velir clan. A number of inscriptions in Jambai

Jambai

Jambai is a panchayat town in Erode district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Jambai is also a village in Tirukkoyilur Taluk, Viluppuram District.-Demographics:...

 in Tirukkoyilur

Tirukkoyilur

Tirukkoyilur is a panchayat town in Viluppuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-Etymology:'Tiru' + 'Kovil + 'oor' = holy temple village/place in Tamil....

 taluk add details of their sovereignty in the first century CE. This ruling tribe rose in prominence during the classical period of the history of Tamil Nadu

History of Tamil Nadu

The region of Tamil Nadu in modern India has been under continuous human habitation since prehistoric times, and the history of Tamil Nadu and the civilization of the Tamil people are among the oldest in the world. Throughout its history, spanning the early Paleolithic age to modern times, this...

. Their most famous ruler was Athiyamān Nedumān Añci

Athiyamān Nedumān Añci

Athiyamān Nedumān Añci was one of the most powerful Tamil Vēlir kings of the Sangam era. A famous royal of the Athiyamān family dynasty, he was the contemporary and the patron of poetess Auvaiyar of the Sangam period. Athiyamān was a dynastic title of the Vēlir line who ruled over the Dharmapuri,...

, a powerful king who was one of the Kadai ezhu vallal (7 great patrons) of arts and literature in ancient Tamilakam

Ancient Tamil country

The Sangam period is the classical period in the history of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...

. His son Elini ruled Kudiramalai

Kudiramalai

Kudiramalai is a headland cape, point and ancient port town on the west coast of Sri Lanka. It was once a flourishing emporium of international trade and the capital of an ancient Kingdom based in Jaffna peninsula of the Naka, before the capital was moved to Nallur in the medieval period...

 of the ancient Jaffna kingdom

Jaffna Kingdom

The Jaffna kingdom , also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India...

 and Vanni

Vanni

Vanni may refer to:* Vanni , an area of northern Sri Lanka* Vanni Electoral District, an electoral district of Sri Lanka* Vanni Wang, international fashion designer China, USA...

, a co-ruling contemporary of the famous king Korran

Korran

Korran, also known as Korra and Pittan Korran was an ancient Tamil chief of Kudiramalai, Jaffna kingdom, Tamilakkam, who ruled the world famous ancient international port town Kudiramalai on the western Gulf of Mannar coast of the Vanni Malabar country between the 1st century BCE- late 1st...

. These kings belonged to a prolific Tamil horseman tribe.

Kingdom

The Satyaputra Velir-Athiyamān was a small kingdom situated on the eastern valley of Malaya Mountains

Malaya Mountains

The Malaya Mountains were a range of mountains that were mentioned in the Matsya Purana, the Kurma Purana, and the epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata...

 of the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 (Anamala, Palani

Palani

Palani is a city and a municipality in the Dindigul district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located about 100 km South of Coimbatore City and 60 km west of Dindigul...

 and Nilagiri

Nilagiri

Nilagiri is a town and a notified area committee in Balasore district in the Indian state of Orissa.-History:Orissa Freedom Fighters like Banamali Das, Baishnab Patnaik and Nanda Kishore Patnaik violently fought against the local prince and forced him to surrender to newly formed Indian National...

).

Inscriptions

Asoka mentions the Satyaputras Velir clan in his inscriptions along with the Cholas, Pandyas and the Kerala putras. The Satyaputra Velirs wielded sufficient power in the time of Asoka (3rd century BCE) almost on par with the Cheras

Chera dynasty

Chera Dynasty in South India is one of the most ancient ruling dynasties in India. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas, they formed the three principle warring Iron Age Tamil kingdoms in southern India...

, Cholas

Chola Dynasty

The Chola dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which was one of the longest-ruling in some parts of southern India. The earliest datable references to this Tamil dynasty are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BC left by Asoka, of Maurya Empire; the dynasty continued to govern over varying territory until...

 and Pandyas.
In several excavated Tamil-Brahmi

Tamil-Brahmi

Tamil-Brahmi, or Damili is an early phonetic script used to write Tamil characters. It is a variant of many Brahmi scripts used throughout South Asia, namely Ashokan Brahmi, Southern Brahmi, Bhattiprolu script and the Sri Lankan based Sinhala-Brahmi. It is known from surviving inscribed cave beds,...

 inscriptions of the first century CE found at Jambai

Jambai

Jambai is a panchayat town in Erode district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Jambai is also a village in Tirukkoyilur Taluk, Viluppuram District.-Demographics:...

, Tirukkoyilur

Tirukkoyilur

Tirukkoyilur is a panchayat town in Viluppuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-Etymology:'Tiru' + 'Kovil + 'oor' = holy temple village/place in Tamil....

 of Viluppuram district

Viluppuram District

Villupuram is one of the thirty districts which make up Tamil Nadu state situated on the southern tip of India. The district headquarters is located at Villupuram. Villupuram district came into existence on 30 September 1993 when it was created out of South Arcot district...

, South Arcot

South Arcot

South Arcot is a former district of India, located in the state of Tamil Nadu.South Arcot was the southern portion of the Mughal province of Arcot. Arcot came under the control of a local Nawab after Mughals lost control southern India in the 18th century...

 in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

 mention is made again of the dynasty:

The inscription mentions the Athiyā Chief Neduman Anci

Athiyamān Nedumān Añci

Athiyamān Nedumān Añci was one of the most powerful Tamil Vēlir kings of the Sangam era. A famous royal of the Athiyamān family dynasty, he was the contemporary and the patron of poetess Auvaiyar of the Sangam period. Athiyamān was a dynastic title of the Vēlir line who ruled over the Dharmapuri,...

, a heroic historic king celebrated in volumes of the Sangam literature

Sangam literature

Sangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years c. 600 BCE to 300 CE. This collection contains 2381 poems composed by 473 poets, some 102 of whom remain anonymous The period during which these poems were composed is commonly referred to as the Sangam...

 classics Purananuru

Purananuru

Purananuru is a Tamil poetic work in the Pathinenmaelkanakku anthology of Tamil literature, belonging to the Sangam period corresponding to between 200 BCE – 100 CE. Purananuru is part of the Ettuthokai anthology which is the oldest available collection of poems of Sangam literature in Tamil....

and Akananuru

Akananuru

Akananuru , a classical Tamil poetic work, is the seventh book in the Sangam literature anthology Ettuthokai. It contains 400 Akam poems dealing with matters of love and separation...

. This Athiymān king was a descendent of the Velir dynasty mentioned in Asoka's edicts. The inscription records the endowment of a cave-shelter by the chieftain Atiyan Netuman Anci who sports the title Satiyaputo. The inscription gives the name of his clan (Atiyan), of his father (Netuman) and of himself (Anci). This clear statement enables researchers with absolute certainty, to identify a chieftain mentioned in the Tamil Sangam literature with a personage figuring in a Tamil-Brahmi

Tamil-Brahmi

Tamil-Brahmi, or Damili is an early phonetic script used to write Tamil characters. It is a variant of many Brahmi scripts used throughout South Asia, namely Ashokan Brahmi, Southern Brahmi, Bhattiprolu script and the Sri Lankan based Sinhala-Brahmi. It is known from surviving inscribed cave beds,...

 inscription.

The Satyaputra-Athiyamān Velirs wielded sufficient power in the 3rd century BCE to be considered on par with the Cheras

Chera dynasty

Chera Dynasty in South India is one of the most ancient ruling dynasties in India. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas, they formed the three principle warring Iron Age Tamil kingdoms in southern India...

, Cholas

Chola Dynasty

The Chola dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which was one of the longest-ruling in some parts of southern India. The earliest datable references to this Tamil dynasty are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BC left by Asoka, of Maurya Empire; the dynasty continued to govern over varying territory until...

 and Pandyas, a power which continued for the next four centuries.

The Gummireddipura plates make mention of the Satyaputra Adigaman dynasty.