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0416 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 416 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000246
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400   172. COILUM

and I have taken it for Quilon rather than Colombo (cf TP, 1928, 460; 1930, 435); but I have been wrong in adducing, besides « Columbum », etc., the Kulanbû (first two vowels uncertain) of Ibn Battùtah, which is really Colombo; and, if the Hebrew document be late enough, it may after all refer to Colombo too.

In 983, a Chinese Buddhist priest went to India with a series of letters, one of which was for

the king of ,ir   K'o-lan (Sung shih, 490, 2 a); although this transcription supposes *Kalan, it is

supported by a later form of the Ming period, and the place meant is probably Quilon (in FERRAND'S note, JA, 1924, I, 115, ,, is a misprint, and it is wrongly stated that the transcription can be restored to *Ka-lam, with a final -m). In 1778, the Ling-wai tai-ta writes 'A Apo Ku-lin (_ *Kuiom), and in 1225, we have the same spelling Ku-lin (= *Kulom) in Chao Ju-kua (cf. BEFEO, Iv, 319; HR, 88, 91).

Under the Mongol dynasty, there are many mentions of Quilon, particularly in the notice of u Ma'abar and other countries » of YS, 210, 7a-b, abominably translated in Pa, 603-605, and not

very satisfactorily by ROCKHILL in TP, 1914, 431436. PAUTHIER is responsible for the pseudo-

royal residence « A-pu-ho-ta » which has puzzled YULE; the text really speaks of the distance from Ma'abar to the domains of the great (ta) king A-pu-ha, i. e. the ilkhan Aba)a (see « Abaga »).

I shall only remark here that the name in that notice is written (f1. ;,: Chü-lan (_ *Kulam or

*Kulom), and that the king reigning in 1280 is named   (I;J Pi-na-ti (or Pi-no-ti), his younger

brother being *Kenokä Buramusing. Quilon is also mentioned, with the same spelling Chü-ian,

in YS, 12, 4 a (s. a. 1282) ; 12, 6 a, 6 b (s. a. 1283, the name of the king being   f,); Wa-ni) ; 14,

5b (s. a. 1287, the name of the envoy from Quilon being *Buruwunai); 16, 9a (s. a. 1291); there are certainly other mentions too which I have not noted. In 1293 *Quituga, and in

1294 *Tagil- Tämür were sent as envoys to "40   Ko-lan (Ko-lam); YS, 17, 9 b; 18, 3b; this too is
Quilon.

In the same YS, 94, 11 a, mention is made of regulations published in 1296 for the trade with Ma`abar, p (l j Pei-nan and Fandaraina; as CORDIER had it from me already (Y, III, 120; Y',

Iv, 27; cf. also TP, 1914, 425), we should read jl ffj Chü-nan (_ *Kunam or *Kunom), Quilon.

The same correction must be adopted for the « barbarian kingdom » (fan pang) of 1!J(, [16j Chü-nan whose ambassador, Ma Burhanu-'d-Din, arrived in 1291 (YS, 16, 8 b); and the spelling Chü-nan,

instead of Chü-ian and Ko-lan, is adopted in 1349-1350 by the Tao-i chih-lio, which has a notice

on « Small [,J, hsiao] Chü-nan », « Small Quilon » (cf. TP, 1915, 445-447). In the first half of the

15th cent., Quilon is marked as , J,   Hsiao Ko-lan, « Small Ko-lan » on the map published by

PHILLIPS (JNCB, xix, 222), in the Ying-yai shêng-lan, in the revised Hsing-ch'a shêng-lan and

in the Ming shih (cf. TP, 1915, 447-448; 1933, 288-289); the original Hsing-ch'a shêng-lan writes Hsiao Chü-nan, the same as the Tao-i chih-lio. The Hsing-ch'a shêng-lan has besides a notice

on a « Great Quilon », the name of which is written Ta [ JC J Chü-nan in the original text, and Ta

Ko-lan in the revised edition; but this « Great Quilon n, with both spellings, in an arbitrary creation of the Hsing-ch'a shêng-lan, whose notice of it is simply copied from that of the « Small

Quilon » in the Tao-i chih-lio. In spite of the fact that the Ian of Ko-lan never ended in -m, and that, in the beginning of the 15th cent., Ko-lan ought to have represented an original *Golan, it cannot be doubted that the name meant is Kollam or Kulam, our Quilon.