Karur

Karur stands on the Amaravati River in the inland Tamil country. It was an ancient centre of the Chera rulers, whose names appear in inscriptions on nearby Aru Nattar Malai. Finds of coins and ornaments attest to exchanges that reached beyond southern India. The town also has an old temple of Pasupatisvara, dedicated to Shiva.

Karur and its surrounding country passed among the Cholas, Pandyas and other powers over the centuries. Its position between the Kaveri valley and the western approaches made it a place of strategic importance. Under later rulers, temples continued to receive gifts and preserve inscriptions, while the river valley sustained the settlements around them. In the eighteenth century the Kongu region became part of the contest between Mysore and the British; after the fall of Tipu Sultan in 1799, it passed to the East India Company.