Indian Antiquary Vol 60

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

Page 67

MARCH, 1931)
IS S. THOME IN CIVITATE IOT HABIS
IS S. THOME IN CIVITATE IOTHABIS !
BY THE REV. H. HOSTEN, S.J. MR. T. K. Joseph asks (Catholic Register, S. Thome, April 1930, p. 23) what we have to think of Iothabis, which in the Codex Fuldensis of the famous MS. of the Latin Diatessaron, written for, and corrected by Victor, Bishop of Capua, in 546 A.D., is given in the entry of St. Thomas' death. The words cited are: Thomas in India Civitate Iothabis. Is Iothabis, he asks, at Mylapore or at some place in North India ?
We answer that the presumption is in favour of Mylapore, whatever the spelling of the Codex may be. As we cannot twist the tradition away from the tomb at Mylapore, we have rather to twist the unknown name Iothabis in such a way as to satisfy Mylapore.
But, first of all, we should like to know where Mr. T. K. Joseph gets his information from. The Catholic Encyclopædia, New York, 8.v. Tatian, says that the Codex Fuldensis of the Diatessaron is of about 545 A.D. Satisfied with the date 546, we should like to know who was responsible for deciphering the name from the Codex, as even the slightest difference of reading might greatly operate in favour of Mylapore. If the reading were possibly Solhabis or Kolhabis, Soshabis, Koshabis, we would at once think of Shola, Kolha, Sosha, Kosha (Coromandel). If it were Molhabis, we would think of Molhabur, Molepoor (1330), Mylapore. We have still to account for the name Lapis applied by a Flemish sailor to Mylapore about 1502 A.D. Could that have come from the ending of some name like Iothabis, Iolbabis, Iolhapis? Or have we in it only the ending lapur of Mayilapur! If the name were legible as Calhabis, Kalbabis, Colhabis, Kolhabis, we could compare it with the forms of Calamina, i.e., Kalamene, Karamene (Pseudo-Hippolytus), Kalamite (Pseudo-Dorotheus), Calamina (Pseudo-Jerome or Pseudo-Sophronius), Calamina (St. Isidore of Seville, born about 560, died 636), Calamina (Brit. Mus. Syr. Add. Cod. 17193, fol. 80, of the year 874), Calamina (Barhebraeus, thirteenth century), Kalamina (Anonymous Greek writer, published with the writings of Oecumenius), Calamia (Bede, the Venerable ?).
In case Iothabis has been correctly read from the Codex Fuldensis, there remains the possibility that the name was misspelt on the part of the scribe of that Codex or on the part of some earlier scribe.
Why does Mr. T. K. Joseph tell us that Iothabis is earlier even than the Greek writings of the seventh century which mention Calamina ? “No writer that we can name or date before the seventh century, if so early, makes mention of Calamina." (W. R. Philipps, Ind. Ant., 1903, p. 148.) . This appears to be Mr. Joseph's authority. He assumes it proved that Pseudo-Hippolytus, Pseudo-Dorotheus, Pseudo-Jerome or Pseudo-Sophronius, are of the seventh century, i.e., neither later nor earlier. Philipps does not mean that. We can say that these writings might be of the seventh century, or earlier or later. We find Calamina in a Latin writer, St. Isidore of Seville, before 636. We find it in several Greek writers whose dates are not fixed. We find it in two Syrian writers, one of the ninth century, the other of the thirteenth. Shall we imagine that the Syrian writers took it from the unidentified Greek writers or the Latins? The presumption is that the Greek and Latin writers had it from the Syrians, who were nearer India. That being so, and the tradition being what it is, the presumption is that Calamina refers to Mylapore, also that the spelling is nearer to Calamina or Mylapore than Iothabis, unless all are names for the same place; also, that it must be possible to fix Calamina and Iothabis on the ancient toponomy for Mylapore or its district. * Coromandel,' or Karumanal' (black sand,' a village on the coast north of Madras), has a fair chance of satisfying the requirements of Calamina. Mr. Joseph prefers to explain Calamina as meaning Chinnamalai (the Little Mount) of Mylapore. I shall not here discuss the merits of Coromandel or Karumanal in preference to Chinnamalai. Barhebraeus, who