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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
MARCO POLO BOOK III.
374
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Kayal, during the period of its greatness, was ruled by a king. This king is sometimes spoken of as one of ` the Five Kings' who reigned in various parts of Tinnevelly, but whether he was independent of the King of Madura, or only a
viceroy, the people cannot now say The tradition of the people of Kayal
is that . . . . Súr-Raja was the name of the last king of the place. They state that this last king was a Mahommedan, . . . . but though Sûr-Raja does not sound like the name of a Mahommedan prince, they all agree in asserting that this
was his name Can this Sûr be the person whom Marco calls Asciar ?
Probably not, as Asciar seems to have been a Hindu by religion. I have discovered what appears to be a more probable identification in the name of a prince mentioned in an inscription on the walls of a temple at Sri-Vaikuntham, a town on the Tamraparni R., about 20 miles from Kayal. In the inscription in question a donation to the temple is recorded as having been given in the time of ` Asaclia-deva called also Suzya-deva.' This name ` Asaclia' is neither Sanskrit nor Tamil ; and as the hard d is often changed into r, Marco's Ashar may have been an attempt to render this Asad. If this Asaclia or Surya-deva were really Sundara-pandi-deva's brother, he must have ruled over a narrow range of country, probably over Kayal alone, whilst his more eminent brother was alive ; for there is an inscription on the walls of a temple at Sindamangalam, a place only a few miles from Kayal, which records a donation made to the place ` in the reign of Sundara-pandi-deva.' "*
NOTE 3.—[" O aljofar, e perolas, que me manda que iha enuie, nom as posso auer, que as ha cm Ceyli o e Caille, que säo as fontes dellas : compralashia do meu sangue, a do meu dinheiro, que o tenho porque vós me daes." (Letter of the Viceroy Dorn Francisco to the King, Anno de 508." (G. Correa, Lendas da India, I. pp. 908-909.)—Note by Yule.]
NOTE 4.—Tezzzbúl is the Persian name for the betel-leaf or pin, from the Sanskrit Taznbzzla. The latter is also used in Tamul, though Vettilei is the proper 'I'arnul word, whence Betel (Dr. Caldwell). Marsden supposes the mention of camphor among the ingredients with which the pán is prepared to be a mistake, and suggests as a possible origin of the error that hipzzr in the Malay language means not only camphor but quicklime. This is curious, but in addition to the fact that the lime is mentioned in the text, there seems ample evidence that his doubt about camphor is unfounded.
Garcia de Orta says distinctly : " In chewing betre . . . . they mix areca with it and a little lime. . . . Some add Licio (i.e. catechu), but the rich and grandees add some Borneo camphor, and some also lign-aloes, musk, and ambergris" (31 v. and 32). Abdurrazzák also says : " The manner of eating it is as follows : They bruise a portion of faufel (areca), otherwise called sipari, and put it in the mouth.
Moistening a leaf of the betel, together with a grain of lime, they rub the one upon the other, roll them together, and then place them in the mouth. They thus take as
many as four leaves of betel at a time and chew them. Sometimes they add camphor to it" (p. 32). And Abúl Fazl : " They also put some betel-nut and kath (catechu) on one leaf, and some lime-paste on another, and roll them up ; this is called a berah. Some put camphor and musk into it, and tie both leaves with a silk thread," etc. (See Blochnzann's Trans/. p. 73.) Finally one of the Chinese notices of Kamboja, translated by Abel Rémusat, says : " When a guest comes it is usual to present him with areca, camphor, and other aromatics." (Nozcv..2Jí 1. I. 84. )
NOTE 5.—This is the only passage of Ramusio's version, so far as I know, that
-*,
* See above, p. 334, as to Dr. Caldwell's view of Polo's Sonderbandi. May not Ascar very well represent Áskzi(lIza, " invincible," among the applications of which Williams gives " N. of a prince " 1 observe also that Áscdzar (Sansk. Áschariya " marvellous ") is the name of one of the objects of worship in the dark Sakti system, once apparently potent in S. India. (See Taylor's Catalogue Raisonné, II. 414, 423, 426, 443, and remark p. xlix.)
[" Ils disent donc que Dieu qu'ils appellent Aclzar, c'est-h-dire, immobile ou immuable." (F. Bonier, l'oy., ed. 1699, II. p. 134.)—MS. Note.—H. Y.]
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