After the fall of Chola dynasty, the newly formed Later Pandyan Empire in Tamil country under Kulasekara Pandyan invited the Seljuk Turks from the fractions of Hanafi (known as Rowther in South India) for trade relations in 1279 C.E.. The largest armada of Turkic traders and missionaries settled in Tharangambadi (Nagapattinam), Karaikal, Muthupet, Koothanallur, Podakkudi and Athikkadai. Rowthers settled in that area expanding into an Islamic community of almost one million.