Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 268

249
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
DECEMBER, 1990
(2) Iangumaa, flows south and south-east and traverses the kingdom of Chiammay,
the Laos and Gueos, and part of Dambambuu, entering the sea at the "barra de
Martauño " in the kingdom of Pegu. (3) Pumfileu, traverses the whole of Capimper, Sacotay, and Monginoco, part of Meleytay and Souady, entering the sea at the barra de Cosmin [Bassein) near Arracão. [Here the present writer would remark that the term Monginoco is of especial interest as an echo of the Portuguese name Branginooo for Bhurin. gyinaungchau (pronounced now Bayin-gyi-naungzaw), a title of the Burmese-Shan
overlord of Pegu and Lower Burma in the early seventeenth century.] (4) Not known by any name, but probably the Ganges of Sategšo in the kingdom
of Bengala. Pinto and his companions crossed the lake and went on by Caloypute. Elsewhere he speaks of a war of the king of Siam against the king of Chiamay, in the course of which he came to the "Lake Singapamor, usually called Chiamay."
Yule, Mission to the Court of Ava (ch. VIII of 1858 ed. and Note E of 1856), speaks of Pinto's account, and says he is probably the only traveller who declares that he has seen the Lake of Chiamay. He identifies elsewhere Jangomaa with Chiengmai, and speaks of the general belief of a common origin for the great rivers of Indo-China, associating it with the fact that the great rivers of Northern India rise so near each other.
Next Barros (quoted by Ramusio at the end of vol. I) gives an account of Lake Chiamay and the rivers in Dec. I, liv. ix, cap. i (ed. of 1777, I (2), p. 308]. He says that the great river of Pegu comes from Lake Chiamai, 200 leagues in the interior, from which six rivers issue, three joining to make the great river of Siam and three others entering the "Enseada de Bengala. One of these last traverses the kingdom of Caor (Gaur, or Northern Bengal), whence the river takes its name," and also the kingdoms of Camotai and Cirote, de bouching near Chatigão (Chittagong) into the branch of the Ganges, opposite the island of Sornagão. The river of Pegu (here obviously the Irrawaddy) traverses the kingdom of Ava, and the third makes its exit at Martabão, between Tavay (sic) and Pegu. The " Capo di Cingapura" is repeatedly mentioned in the same chapter.
Pinto probably added knowledge of his own, if he had any, to the common stock of his time, as the other enrly accounts agree better among themselves than with him. Gastaldi (map of 1561) gives the name Chiamay to the town near it as well as to the lake, whereas Pinto speaks of a country of that name, not as being near the lake, but as situated on one of its effluents. Pinto also calls his second river issuing from Lake Chiamay, the Jangumaa, 1.6., Chiengmai, which is Gastaldi's name for a kingdom cast of all the four rivers. His third river, the l'amphilou, is Caipumo in Gastaldi, which again seems to be the Capimper of Pinto. This river, Mercutor (1569 and later) calls Cosmin, from the old name for Bassein, which place Pinto places at its bar. Magini, it may be noted, gives an acoount of the lake and the rivers in his supplement to Ptolemy in 1596. Chiamay does not seem to be mentioned by Gaspar da Cruz (ob. 1570).
Sven Hedin has a chapter on Lake Chiamay in his Southern Tibet, in which he strangely identifies the lake with Mansarowar, merely because one of its effluents was supposed to be the Ganges.
To the above notes by Mr. Heawood I added the following at the same time. The obvious remark to make is that Pinto, Barros, etc., and the cartographers of the day were re. porting only what they heard, and at the best but partially comprehended, with the result the name Chiamay came to stand for a State, a town, a river and a lake in various situations,