Indian Antiquary Vol 08

SR No.: 032500
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 404
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 167

PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHREAN SEA.
MAY, 1879.]
53. After Kallie na other local marts occur-Sê mulla, Mandagora, Palaipat mai, Melize igara, Buzantion, Toparon, and Turannos boas. You come next to the islands called Sê se kreienai and the island of the Aigidioi and that of the Kaineitai, near what is called the Khersonêsos, places
(53) Semulla (in Ptolemy Timoula and Simulla) is identified by Yule with Chênval or Chaui, a seaport 23 miles south of Bombay; [but Bhagvanlâl Indraji suggests Chimala in Trombay island at the head of the Bombay harbour; and this is curiously supported by one of the Kanhêri inscriptions in which Chemû la is mentioned, apparently as a large city, like Supârâ and Kalyana, in the neighbourhoood]. After Simulla Ptolemy mentions Hippokoura [possibly, as suggested by the same, a partial translation of Ghodabandar on the Choda nadi in the Thana strait] and Baltipatna as places still in Ariakê, but Mandagara Buzanteion, Khersonêsos, Armagara, the mouths of the river Nanagouna, and an emporium called Nitra, as belonging to the Pirate Coast which extended to Dimurikê, of which Tundis, he says, is the first city. Ptolemy therefore agrees with our author in assigning the Pirate Coast to the tract of country between Bombay and Goa. This coast continued to be infested with pirate's till so late a period as the year 1765, when they were finally exterminated by the British arms. Mandagara and Palaipat ma may have corresponded pretty nearly in situa tion with the towns of Rajapur and Bankut. Yule places them respectively at Bankut and Debal. Melizeigara (Milizêguris or Milizigêris of Ptolemy, VII.i. 95), Vincent identifies with Jaygadh or Sidê Jaygaḍh. The same place appears in Pliny as Sigerus (VI. xxvi. 100). Buzantium may be referred to about Vijayadrug or Esvantgadh, Toparon may be a corrupt reading for Togaron. and may perhaps therefore be Devagadh which lies a little beyond Vijayadrug. Turannosboas is not mentioned elsewhere, but it may have been, as Yule suggests, the Band or Tirakal river. Müller placed it at Acharê. The first island on this part of the coast is Sindhudrug near Malwan, to which succeeds a group called the Burnt Islands, among which the Vingorla rocks are conspicuous. These are no doubt the Heptanêsia of Ptolemy (VII. i. 95), and probably the Sêsi
-145
in which are pirates, and after this the island Leakê (or the White'). Then follow Naoura and Tundis, the first marts of Limurikê, and after these Mouziris and Nelkunda, the seats of Government.
54. To the kingdom under the sway of Kêprobotras Tundis is subject, a village
in the Periplús, namely Dounga (VII. i. 6) | krienai of the Periplús. The island Aigidion near the mouth of the river Bên da.
called that of the Aigidii may be placed at Goa, [but Yule suggests Angediva south of Sadasiva. gadh, in lat. 14° 45′ N., which is better]. Kaineiton may be the island of St. George.
We come next to Naoura in Dimurikê. This is now Honâvar, written otherwise Onore, situated on the estuary of a broad river, the Saravati, on which are the falls of Gêrsappa, one of the most magnificent and stupendous cataracts in the world. If the Nitra of Ptolemy (VII.i. 7) and the Nitria of Pliny be the same as Naoura, then these authors extend the pirate coast a little further south than the Periplús does. But if they do not, and therefore agree in their views as to where Dimurikê begins, the Nitra may be placed, Müller thinks, at Mirjan or Komta, which is not far north from Honavar. [Yule places it at Mangalur.] Müller regards the first supposition however as the more probable, and quotes at length a passage from Pliny (VI. xxvi. 104) referring thereto, which must have been excerpted from some Periplús like our author's, but not from it as some have thought. "To those bound for India it is most convenient to depart from Okelis. They sail thence with the wind Hipalus in 40 days to the first emporium of India, Muziris, which is not a desirable place to arrive at on account of pirates infesting the neighbourhood, who hold a place called Nitrias, while it is not well supplied with merchandize. Besides, the station for ships is at a great distance from the shore, and cargoes have both to be landed and to be shipped by means of little boats. There reigned there when I wrote this Caelobothras. Another port belonging to the nation is more convenient, Neacyndon, which is called Becare (sic. codd., Barace, Harduin and Sillig). There reigned Pandion in an inland town far distant from the emporium called M odura. The region, however, from which they convey pepper to Becare in boats formed from single logs is Cottonara."
(54) With regard to the names in this extract which occur also in the Periplus the following passages quoted from Dr. Caldwell's Dravidian
20 Ind. Ant. vol. I. pp. 309-310.