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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

762   271. LAR

no satisfactory explanation to offer for the duplication. In Ma Huan's Ying-Yai shenna-lg of 1416, the name of the country is written p j it g Nan-po-li (*Nambori or *Nambri), but the author adds that the native name of the ocean (yang) to the west of the country is f i pfa Na-mu-li (*Namuri) ; with the frequent change 1> n, this is the « Lamuri » of Mussulman texts; cf. TP, 1915, 149-150; 1933, 403-404; 1936, 220.

271.  LAR

It seems as though the name meant was Lar (Skr. Lila), an ancient designation of Guzerat and Northern Konkan, but it would be strange to describe it as being reached by going west of the region of Madras; on the other hand, the name cannot have been applied to Mysore. Polo, when speaking of merchant-brahmans from « Lar », seems to have confused the brahmans whom he saw on the coast of Coromandel with the « banyans » (merchants) who may have travelled from Konkan to Coromandel. This is YULE'S view (Y, II, 367), and it seems to be the soundest. In Hobson-Jobson2, 505-506, YULE has assembled ancient mentions of three different «Lar», but has been careful not to quote Polo.

272.  LIITAN SANGON

bitan sangon, liycan FB   liytan FA, FB   lufa V

lacansagor, lucansagor VB   liytan sangon FA   lutan sangon, lutan Z

liitam sangon, liitan, litam F   lucansor R

In Chinese . 3. 40 ïl. Li T'an hsiang-kung (see « Sangon »). The forms in °am are mis-readings of o i, since t'an is not one of the words which were pronounced with a final -m in the Mongol period. Polo's double i has been supposed to mark the shang-shêng, which, to foreign ears, lengthens the pronunciation (cf. Ch, III, 12), but this is most improbable.

Li T'an's biography is in YS, 206, and T'u Chi, 66; Ch, III, 13-14, adds to MAILLA and PAUTHIER some extracts from the pên-chi of YS. Li T'an's father, Li Ch'üan, had revolted against the Sung in 1221 and greatly helped Muqali in bringing Shan-tung under the Mongol rule. As a reward, Muqali, who was lieutenant-general in Northen China while Chinghiz-khan fought in the West, created for Li Ch'üan a governorship which included a great part of Shan-tung and the region to the south towards the Yang-tzû. Li Ch'üan died in 1231, and his son Li T'an succeeded him at the