Indian Antiquary Vol 04

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 17

MALIFATTAN.
JANUARY, 1875.]
in infinite quantities." The name re-appears in the Papal records in connexion with the nomination of Jordanus, the Pope in two letters commending the new Bishop to the Christians of Columbum, and "to the whole body of Christian people dwelling in Molep hatam."*
The only other notice that I can find is in the interesting memoranda of Joseph the Indian of Cranganore (circa 1500) published in the Novus Orbis. After noticing the former trade of the Chinese (incolae Catâ ii) with Calicut, and their abandonment of that port on account of the king's ill-treatment of them, he goes on: "Post hoc adivere urbem Mailapetam, quae urbs paret regi Narsindo; regio respicit orientem, et distat ab Indo flumine milliaribus xc. Ibi nunc sua exercent mercimonia."
The statement about the Indus is perplexing,t but the eastern aspect, and the subjection to the Narsingha, or king of Vijayanagar, show that the place was on the Coromandel coast. Joseph, however, does not mean St. Thomas's, for in another passage he speaks of that as Milapar, "urbs...quae instar promontorium in mare prominet." This, and the mention of the pearl-fishery by Friar Jordanus, are considerable obstacles to the identification of the two places, though the Mole por of Jordanus seems in favour of that identification.
Is there any evidence that Mailâpûr was frequented by the Chinese traders ? Ritter cites the name China patam, applied to Madras, as a trace of ancient Chinese traffic there. I have elsewhere objected to this statement (quoted from J. T. Wheeler) that the name in question, properly Chennapattan or Chennapapattan, was bestowed on the site granted to the English in 1639 by the Naik of Chinglepat, in honour of that chief's father-in-law, Chennapa by name. But this may not be conclusive; for the Naik may have only modified an existing name, as often happens. And De Barros says§: "Though the greatness which the city of Meliapor possessed in those (ancient) days had, by the time our people arrived, become almost annihilated by the wars that occurred in the time of the Chinese, who had held in that place their
Od. Raynaldi, Annales Ecclesiast. An. 1330. lv. From another passage he would seem by Indus to mean Ganges. Possibly he was shown a map founded on Fra Mauro's, in which the Indus does take the place of the Ganges.
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principal settlements, of which we see traces. to this day in their great edifices."-This seems at any rate to imply traditions of Chinese frequenting Mailipûr. Barbosa also tells a story of Chinese in connexion with the tomb of St. Thomas.
Chinese coins have been found on the beach, I believe, at various points down the coast as far as Kayal, both by Col. Mackenzie's people and by Sir Walter Elliot's; but what De Barros says of buildings left by the Chinese warns us to recall the confusion which has taken place in some instances certainly, between Chinas and Jainas. This is particularly the case, as Dr. Caldwell has pointed out to me, with regard to the famous China Pagoda of Negapatam, the destruction of which, I may observe, has been variously ascribed to the Railway Company and to the Jesuit College there-Palmam qui meruit ferat!" I trust at least it was not the Public Works Department!
My own impression has always been that Malifattan was to be sought further south than Madras, but the only map on which I could ever trace such a name is one in the Lettres Edifiantes (Recueil XV.) representing the southern part of the Coromandel coast. In this Malepatan appears in Palk's Bay north of Ramiswaram, about the position of Tondei-scarcely a possible place, I imagine, for a seaport frequented by foreign trade.
I have generally found my ideas recur to Negapatam as the most probable locality. Dr. Caldwell mentions that the Jaina Tower aforesaid was sometimes called the "Tower of the Malla." Is it possible that Negapatam, so long one of the most frequented ports on the coast, was ever called Malla pattan? The three names "Fattan, Malifattan, and Kâyil" would then be in proper order, Fattan representing K â vêrîpaṭṭanam (as Mr. Burnell confirms), Malifattan-Nega patam, and Kayil of course Kayal at the mouth of the Tamraparni.|| Further, is not Nega patam the city which is sometimes called the "city of Coromandel," marking it as the place on the coast which foreigners recognized as the great place of traffic, just as old geographers give us the city of
Ritter, V. 518, 620; Wheeler's Madras in the Olden Time, I. p. 25; Cathay, &c. p. lxxvi.
Dec. III. liv. II. cap. i.
The Missionary's map just alluded to presents Cael in its proper position.