National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

CHAP. XXI.   THE CITY OF CAIL

373

manufacture, and several mounds are apparent, in which, besides the shells of the pearl-oyster and broken pottery, mineral drugs (cinnabar, brimstone, etc.), such as are sold in the bazaars of sea-port towns, and a few ancient coins have been found. I send you herewith an interesting coin discovered in one of those mounds by Mr. R. Puckle, collector of Tinnevelly.*

" The people of the place have forgotten the existence of any trade between Kayal and China, though the China pottery that lies all about testifies to its existence at some former period ; but they retain a distinct tradition of its trade with the Arabian and Persian coasts, as vouched for by Marco Polo, that trade having in some degree

survived to comparatively recent times    Captain Phipps, the Master Attend-
ant at Tuticorin, says : ` The roadstead of Old Cael (Káyal) is still used by native craft when upon the coast and meeting with south winds, from which it is sheltered.

The depth of water is 16 to 14 feet ; I fancy years ago it was deeper    There
is a surf on the bar at the entrance (of the river), but boats go through it at all times.'

J~

" I am tempted to carry this long account of Kayal a little further, so as to bring to light the Kolkhoi [KÓÄXot E' iróptov] of the Greek merchants, the situation of the older city being nearly identical with that of the more modern one. Ii olkhoi, described by Ptolemy and the author of the Periplus as an emporium of the pearl-trade, as situated on the sea-coast to the east of Cape Comorin, and as giving its name to the Kolkhic Gulf or Gulf of Manaar, has been identified by Lassen with Keelkarei ; but this identification is merely conjectural, founded on nothing better than a slight apparent resemblance in the names. Lassen could not have failed to identify Kolkhoi with KORKAI, the mother-city of Kayal, if he had been acquainted with its existence and claims. Korkai, properly KOLKAI (the i being changed into r by a modern refinement—it is still called hólka in Malayalam), holds an important place in. Tamil traditions, being regarded as the birthplace of the Pandyan Dynasty, the place where the princes of that race ruled previously to their removal to Madura. One of the titles of the Pandyan Kings is ` Ruler of Korkai.' Korkai is situated two or three miles inland from Kayal, higher up the river. It is not marked in the Ordnance Map of India, but a village in the immediate neighbourhood of it, called 1l'zramanç a-lam, ` the Good-fortune of the Pandyas,' will be found in the map. This place, together with several others in the neighbourhood, on both sides of the river, is proved by inscriptions and relics to have been formerly included in Korkai, and the whole intervening space between Korkai and Kayal exhibits traces of ancient dwellings. The people of Kayal maintain that their city was originally so large as to include Korkai, but there is much more probability in the tradition of the people of Korkai, which is to the effect that Korkai itself was originally a sea-port ; that as the sea retired it became less and less suitable for trade, that Kayal rose as Korkai fell, and that at length, as the sea continued to retire, Kayal also was abandoned. They add that the trade for which the place was famous in ancient times was the trade in pearls." In an article in the Madras Journal (VII. 379) it is stated that at the great Siva Pagoda at Tinnevelly the earth used ceremonially at the annual festival is brought from Korkai, but no position is indicated.

NOTE 2.—Dr. Caldwell again brings his invaluable aid :-

" Marco Polo represents Kayal as being governed by a king whom he calls Asciar (a name which you suppose to be intended to be pronounced Astar), and says that this king of Kayal was the elder brother of Sonderbandi, the king of that part of the district of Maabar where he landed. There is a distinct tradition, not only amongst the people now inhabiting Kayal, but in the district of Tinnevelly generally, that

1

t

a

41$

y_ I am sorry to say that the coin never reached its destination. In the latter part of 1872 a quantity of treasure was found near Káyal by the labourers on irrigation works. Much of it was dispersed without coming under intelligent eyes, and most of the coins recovered were Arabic. One, however, is stated to have been a coin of "Joanna of Castille, A. D. 1236." (Allen's India Mail, 5th January, 1874.) There is no such queen. Qu. Joanna I. of Navarre (1274-1276)? or Joanna II. of Navarre (1328.1336)2

•