Kongunadu

Etymology

Kongunadu is a combination of two Tamil words meaning "Kongu country". Kongu might mean nectar or honey, probably arising from the area's early residents Kongars, who used to wear a garland made of konganam flowers, which were plentiful in this area. Kongu might have also been derived from the Tamil word Kangu, which meant edge or boundary. Since this area served as a border between the ancient Tamil kingdoms, it might have eventually transformed to Kongu. The region was also known as Kongadesam with Konga, a variant of the term Ganga to mean the land ruled by Western Gangas. The region is also known as "Kongu Mandalam" with mandalam meaning "region" in Tamil. At various times, the region was known by different names such Chola-Kerala mandalam, Adhiraja mandalam, Ezhukarai nadu, Veerachola mandalam and Onbathukarai nadu.