Poompuhar also called 'Kaveripoompattinam' (Kaveri Pugum Pattinam) is an ancient historic town in Nagapattinam district. It was one of the most important, busiest and richest international port of the Sangam era in Ancient India, during the time of early Cholas. 

        At first, it was called 'Puhar', this is a place where the river Cauvery enters into the Bay of Bengal, but due to its magnificent beauty it was named 'Poompuhar'. It served as the political, commercial and cultural activities centre of Ancient Tamil. 

        Puhar is a coastline town and the capital city of Early Chola rulers. The King who ruled at the time of Early Cholas is Sembiya, Muchkunda, Manuneethi Cholan and Karikaala Cholan. 



Ancient History of Puhar:

        In one of the five epics of Tamil Literature, Silapathigaram says that Lord Indra ordered Vishwakarma to build this city for King Muchkunda Chola, as a matter of gratitude, the king stood with Lord Indra and helped him to win the battles against Asuras (demons).

        The Sangam Tamil literature Silapathikaram, Pattinappalai, Manimekalai and Agananuru describes Poompuhar as the Capital port city of Cholas. This glorious city was constructed in a well-planned manner, which was rich in cultural diversities, served as an international trade centre with huge and tall beautiful mansions, warehouses near the shore with high platforms.    

        This historic place was classified into two broad division, Maruvurpakam which is near the seashore and Pattinapakkam to its west.

Maruvurpakam:

        Maruvurpakam was near the beach and had several mansions and gauge warehouses. This town was occupied by fisherman, foreign traders, overseas travellers, silk merchants, potters and jewellers.  This port had a huge warehouse and from here the stocked goods were spread to all parts of the country. Since this town is located at the seashore it was considered as the main hub for trade and transport.



Pattinapakkam:

        Pattinapakkam was occupied by Kings, nobles, Rice merchants, farmers and Astrologers. The main highway of the place is called King's street (Raja Veedhi). Pattinapakkam had a huge space to train their horses and elephant in different quarters. Early Cholas were well known for their huge Elephant army, and Kings used to ride in the elephants in the street to visit people, this is considered as a most prestigious, powerful and honourable act.

        These two cities were separated by a stretch of a wide beautiful garden, where the daily market (Angadi in Tamil) was held under the shades of the trees. The day market is known as 'Nalangadi' and the night market is called 'Allangadi'.

        In spite of the flourishing richness, Poompuhar had been repeatedly affiliated by floods and erosions. This town was rebuilt several times. Though this beautiful city was rebuilt repeatedly several times, the beauty was destroyed by erosion and Sea.

        Later in 850AD, the city regained its past glory by Later Cholas. It is mentioned as 'Rajathiraja Valanaattu Nangoor Naattu Kaveripoompattinam' by Vikrama Cholan. This place is later called "Puhar Nagarm". After the Sangam Chola period, a major part of the Phoompuhar town was swallowed by the Bay of Bengal.

Excavation of Puhar:  

        The untold stories of ancient Tamilians, historical truth of Sangam Era and this ancient Chola city was vanished away by several major Tsunamis, floods and regular erosions. Now, the remains of the city with structures and clear sculptures was found under the water of Bay of Bengal, rediscovered by marine archaeologist and excavated the offshore sites near to the remains of Puhr city. 

   Excavation sare carried out in the remains of small villages near Poompuhar such as Kelaperumpallam, Vanagiri, Palavaneswaram, Keezhaiyur and Melaperumpallam, where a considerable amount of terracotta figures were found. During this evacuation, temples for Lord Siva, idols of Indra, Ganesha and Chathuka Bootham, the last deities were also found. 



        In 1981, a team of Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department and the National Institute of Oceanography (Goa) conducted an underwater excavation survey at Tarangambadi which is 5km south of Poompuhar, about 3.5 Kms from shore, a shipwreck has been identified at the depth of 19 meters, which was made of wood.  The underwater excavation led to the discovery of the stone structure of ancient ports and temples which were buried about 30 feet in the sea.  



        At present Poompuhar is under the Mayiladuthudrai district and now Poompuhar is a tourist place where there is a small village and the fishing community people used to stay.
    

How to reach Poompuhar?

        You can reach Poompuhar by travelling through road transport (ie.,) bus or you can travel by train too. From Chennai, it takes (approx) 6 hours to reach Poompuhar. 
        
        If you travel by train then the nearest railway station is Mayiladuthudrai Junction and from there you can reach Poompuhar by using public transport. It takes (approx) 45 minutes to reach.


       I hope this blog will be interesting and helpful to know about the ancient history of Poompuhar. I will come soon with another interesting historical place.