[1][2] The country of the Ezhimala, ruled by an ancient chiefly lineage ("the Muvan"), appears in early historic (pre-Pallava) south India.

[11] The hereditary title of the Mushika kings in the medieval period was "Ramaghata Mushaka" (Malayalam: "Iramakuta Muvar").

[14][15] Two subsequent Chola inscriptions (c. 1005 AD, Rajaraja I and c. 1018–19, Rajadhiraja) mention the defeat of the Kolladesham and the fall of the Iramakuta Muvar.

[7] The Mushaka Vamsa Kavya, a dynastic chronicle composed in the 11th century by poet Athula, describes the history of the Mushika lineage.

[15] The term "Mushika" or "Mushaka" [Parvata] is the Sanskrit translation of the ancient Tamil name "Ezhimalai" (the Ezhil Kunram).

[22] The ancient ruling family of the Ezhimala seems to have existed in northern Kerala at least from early historic (pre-Pallava) period.

[23] Ancient Tamil poems also describe the polity of Ezhimalai (also Ezhilmalai) on the northern edge of Tamilakam on its west (Malabar) coast.

[29] He was known as a great enemy of the early (pre-Pallava) Chera rulers (western Tamil Nadu and central Kerala).

[30][31] In the battle of Pazhi, the warriors of Nannan led by certain Njimili (or Minjili) defeated the Tagadur Adigan [Adigaiman] ruler (the Satiyaputra) Neduman Anji.

[8] The Satiyaputra, on behalf of the Chera ruler Perumcheral Irumporai, had invaded Pazhi of Nannan with a large force.

The Satiyaputra ruler was slain by Njimili or Minjili in the battle ("who won fame by putting to the sword vast numbers of enemies").

[6][8] Njimili or Minjili also killed Ay ruler Eyinan, also in a fight at Pazhi ("Pazhipparanthalai", Akam, 141, 181, and 396, and Natrinai, 265).

[6] Another ruler of by the name [Nannan] is infamous for killing a young women (apparently for eating a fruit [mango] that came floating down to her in a stream).

[5] It is generally identified with Naura, which is mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as a port somewhere north of Tyndis and Muziris.

[33] The sweet, ripe fruits covered with bees satisfy the travelers on the pathways and the town [of Naravu] is rich with resources.

Let's go and see him in Naravu, where on trees no ax can fell, fruits ripen, unharmed by swarms of bees, egg-shaped [jackfruit], ready for the weary traveler in fields of steady, unfailing harvests; where warriors with bows that never tire of arrows shiver but stand austere in the sea winds mixed with the lit cloud and the spray of seafoam.

[20] Nannan is described as the ruler of a land called "Punnadu", and settlements such as Viyalur and [the slopes of] Pazhi, the Ezhil Hill, and Param.

[20] […] in the slopes of Pāḻi in the tall/long Ēḻil mountain of Naṉṉaṉ with a pearl necklace, the chief of Pāram with joy of charity/abundant toddy, who liberally gives/flings elephant bulls [due his] famous liberalism, the chief with a spear who overcame Piṇṭaṉ while breaking [his] opposition on the battlefield, [Piṇṭaṉ] who very much swarmed around showing copious enmity like a colony of small white shrimps that attacks while the good vessels which give the wealth (taṉam) of great harbour (peruntuṟai) with seashore groves at the extension of the sounding water, had been sundered/dispersed […] Until the 16th CE, Kasargod town was known by the name Kanhirakode (may be by the meaning, 'The land of Kanhira Trees') in Malayalam.

The medieval Chera authority remained nominal in northern and southern Kerala compared with the power that local rulers (such as that of the Mushika in the north and Venad in the south) exercised politically and militarily.

He is described as the overlord of the Fort Valapattanam, the medieval Chera king's Palace, the Taliparamba Temple, and the Perinchellur Brahmin village.