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August, 1902.]
NOTES ON MALABAR AND ITS PLACE NAMES.
899
in the locality as Pudu Vaippa, i. e., new foundation, and the people there oommence an era from the date of its formation in A. D. 1841. It would appear that previously small river flowed by the town of Cochin, having a narrow opening into the sea, the main outlet for the discharge of the freshes that came in torrents down the Ghâts being at the well-known opening at Cranganore. In the year 134), an extraordinary flood occurred which brought down from the Ghâts such a mass of water that it forced itself iu to the sea at Cochin and opened a capacious estuary, converting the land-locked harbour of Cochin into one of the finest and safest ports in India. The Boil of the low lying lands on the sea-coast, consisting of sea-sand and calcareous matter combined with various kinds of earth and clay, attests the nature of the formation. The nature of the subsoil brought up at the sinking of an artesian well recently in British Cochin makes it clear that the strip of land on which the town is now situated lay not long ago submerged in the sea.
Fra Bartholomeo says that in his day the natives believed that the sea formerly extended even to the foot of the Gats, evidently referring to the tradition we are now discussing. He, however, was of opinion that the tradition had no foundation, though he is willing to concede that some of the plains found in this country have been produced by conflicts between the waves of the sea and torrents of rain. The devastation occasioned by such inondations,' says he, can hardly be described. Grand-children sometimes can scarcely point out with any certainty tho spot where their grand-father resided, because it has assumed a form totally different. There is, indeed, strong reason to suppose that in the early years of the Christian era the sea-coast ran along the eastern shore of the backwater, which extends at present to over 40 miles from Changanaberi to Pallipuram, and it is extremely doubtfut if the long strip of land which forms its western bank, and on which stand the now flourish ing seaports of Cochin and Allepy, had any existence then. The towns mentioned by Ptolemy as lying on the sea-coast between Musiris (Cranganore) and Barkare (near Quilon) can nowhere be identified with their modern sites as the coast now stands, whorens some of them, Podoperours, Semine and Korthora, may be identified with Udayamperor (the Diamper of the Portuguese) Chembu and Kothar, all of which are situated on the eastern coast of the backwater,"
In a Report on the mud bank at Alleppy in Travancore, Mr. Rhode, a former Commercial Agent of the State, observed: "I cannot give dates as I have no records, but it is certain that the coast from about north of Caliout to south of Quilon was once well above the level of the sea, and was after a long period totally submerged and then again was thrown op by volcanic action and has again been partially covered by son. I state this because in cutting the Warkalai Tunnel trees were found. and also shells have been found on the coast which are known to belong to a class of shell-figh that only live in deep water. Remnants of a fort at Poracaud were visible 30 years ago, and at Calicut and Vypeen massive buildings are now in the sea." "It is curious," says Dr. Day," that this law of encroachments of the sea is now the rule on the western coast, because tradition and an examination of the geology of the country both lead to the conclusion that the sea formerly washed up to the Western Ghats ; thus, Malabar has been literally raised from the sea." Dr. Day refers to a Manusoript Account of Malabar by Hernen Lopes de Castanheds, in 1525, where it is said that little more than 2,300 years ago the sea came up to the Western Ghats.
The theory that the sea-coast originally ran along the line of the eastern shore of the backwater receives support from the names by which certain places situated on that line are still known. About 8 miles to the north of Cochin, on the eastern side of the backwater, lies the village of Kadakara, or more correctly Kadal = 'sea' + Kara = shore' (in Malayalam) = Kadalkara, signifying sea-shore. To the south of it, almost in close proximity, is another village called Elikara which,
1 A Voyage to the Past Indies, p. 188.
The Madras Review, Vol. I. p. 324. • Para 831 of the Report on the Administration of Travancore for the Year 1861-C2 (W. Loggan).
See Vol. 22, Mad. Jour, o it, and Sd. N. 8. Pp. 230 and 264, 1961; Narakal or Cochin Mud Bank, by Francis Day, Oivil Burgoon, Coobin And The Mud Bank at Narakal, near Cochinita composition of exhibited dy the Wicroscope, by Lieut. J. Mitchell.
