Yanaikat-sey Mantaran Cheral was a Chera king who ruled during the Sangam period (between the first and the third century CE). According to 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...

 he was a contemporary of Pandya king Talaiyaalam-Kaanattu Seru Vendra Neduncezhian. 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....

 (PN:20,22,32,53 & 229) states that he participated in the battle of Talaiyaalam-Kaanam allied with Chola emperor Killivalavan

Killivalavan

Killivalavan was a Tamil king of the Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam Literature, and of a period close to that of Nedunkilli and Nalankilli. We have no definite details about this Chola or his reign. The only information we have is from the fragmentary poems of Sangam in the Purananuru.- Sources...

 and five other small rulers including Ezhini, Thithiyan, Irungo Vaenmaan, Porunan and Erumaiyuran . The Pandyan Neduncezhiyan won the battle and the Chera king was taken as a prisoner to Madurai

Madurai

Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...

. After his court trial he was locked in a fort inside a bamboo forest surrounded by the crocodile lake. He later escaped from his cell and returned to his country and "continued to rule his loving people in peace, plenty and harmony for many more uninterrupted years"( Purananuru-PN:229).

The Death of Mantaran Cheral Irumborai and the Halley's Comet of 141 CE

"Seven days after a bright comet appeared in the sky, amidst the Mesha constellation, past midnight on the first leg of the starday of Krittikai in the month of Panguni in the first quarter of Anusham(PN:229), with North star going down on the west, Moolam rising from the east and Mrigasirisha wandering above towards north and east of the port of Tondi, Mantaran Cheral Irumborai died suddenly".
Thus the prediction of an imminent loss for the kingdom by the council of Vaanaviyal Kanidar(ancient Tamil astrologers) came to be agonisingly true. The mentioned brightly visualised comet that appeared in the said month of March and April points to the Halley's comet of 141 CE(February–April 1 week). This apparition was recorded in Chinese chronicles.