Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 13
Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

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Page 378
________________ 350 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. (NOVEMBER, -1884. Mouziris, Nelkynda was generally identified with Nelisuram, which besides the partial resemblance of its name, answered closely in other respecte to the description of Nelkynda in the PeriplusCff. C. Müller, not. ad Peripl., Sec. 56. Lassen, Ind. Alt., vol. III, p. 190. Bw.bury, Hist. of Anc. Geog. vol. I, pp. 467-8. Elang kôn or Elangkôr is now Quilon, otherwise written Kulam. Kottiara, says Caldwell," is the name of a place in the country of the Aïoi of Ptolemy in the Paralia of the Author of the Periples, identical in part with South Travankor. Apparently it is the Cottara of Pliny, and I have no doubt it is the Cottara of the Peutinger Tables. It is called by Ptolemy the Metropolis, and must have been & place of considerable importance. The town referred to is probably Kottara, or as it is ordinari. ly written by Europeans Kotaur,' the principal town in South Travankor, and now as in the time of the Greeks distinguished for its commerce." Dravid. Gram., Introd. p. 98. The name is deriv. ed from kod a foot,' and ar-'a river.' Bam mala :-Mannert would identify this with Bulita, a place a little to the north of An. jenga, but this is too far north. It may perhaps be the Balita of the Periplés. Komaria, a cape and a town :-We have no difficulty in recognizing here Cape Comorin, which is called in the Periplus Komar and Komarei. The name is derived from the Samskrit kumdri, & virgin,' one of the names of the Goddess Darga who presided over the place, which was one of peculiar sanctity. The Author of the Periplus has made the mistake of extending the Peninsula southward beyond Comorin. We may here compare Ptolemy's enumeration of places on the west coast with that of the Periplas from Barygaza to Cape Comorin. Ptolemy. Periplús. Barygaza Barygaza Nousaripa Akabarou Poulipoula Soupara Souppara Dounga Kalliena Simylla Semylla Island of Milizégyris Mandagora Hippokoura Baltipatna Palaipatmai Mandagora Melizeigara Is. of Heptanesia Byzanteion Byzantion Toparon Tyrannosboas 3 separate groups of islands Ptolemy. Periplus Khersonesos Khersonesos Armagara Is. of Leuke Is. of Peperine Nitra Naoura Tyndis Tyndis Trinésia Islands Bramagara Kalaikarias Mouziris Mouziris Podoperoura Semne Is. Leuke Koreoura Melkynda Nelkynda Bakarei Bakarê Elangkôn Mons Pyrrhos Kottiara Bammola Balita Komaria Xomar. There is a striking agreement between the two lists, especially with respect to the order in which the places enumerated succeed each other. There are but three exceptions to the coincidence and these are umimportant. They are, Milizegyris, Mandagora and the Island Leuke, i.e. white island, if the name be Greek. The Melizeigara of the Periplís, Vincent identifies with Jayagadh or Sidi, perhaps the Sigerus of Pliny (lib. VI, c. Ivi, 100). Ptolemy makes Milizégyris to be an island about 20 miles south of Simylla. There is one important place which he has failed to notice, Kalliena now Kalyana, a wellknown town not far from Bombay. 10. Country of the Kareoi. In the Kolkhic Gulf, where there is the Pearl Fishery :-Sôsikourai...122° 14° 30' Kolkhoi, an emporium ..........123° 15° Mouth of the river Solén ....124° 14° 40' The country of the Kare ai corresponds to South Tinneveli. The word karei, as already stated in Tamil, and means 'coast.' The Kolkhic Gulf is now known as the Gulf of Manar. The pearl fishery is noticed in the Periplás. Sosikourai:-By the change of Sinto T we find the modern representative of this place to be Tutikorin (Tuttukuļi) a harbour in Tinneveli, where there are pearl banke, about 10 miles south of Kolkhoi. This mart lay on the solenor Timraparpl river. Tutikorin in the Peutinger Tables is called Colcis Induruw. The Tami) name is Kolkei, almost the same as the Greek. Yule in his work on Marco Polo (vol. II, pp. 360-61) gives the following account of this place, based on information supplied by Dr. Caldwell : "Kolkhoi, described by Ptolemy and the

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