CHAP. VIII. kings were all brethren. Marco Polo says that the brethren often prepared for war against each other, but were prevented by their mother who was still living. On occasions when battle seemed imminent, the queen-dowager drew a sword and declared that she would cut away the paps that gave them suck, and the womb that gave them birth, unless they stayed their arms. Marco Polo was satisfied that when she died the five kings would ruin themselves by war. The Tamil kings. The temple Women. The kings had immense zenanas. One is said to have maintained five hundred wives, for their dignity was estimated by the number of their women. It is added that whenever he heard of a beautiful damsel, he sent for her and made her his wife. He had naturally a large number of children. The king had a number of "barons" who rode with him, and kept always near him, and exercised great authority in the kingdom. They were called his trusty lieges. When the king died, and his remains were burnt on the funeral pile, these lieges threw themselves into the fire and perished with him, saying, that as they had been comrades in this life, so they would be his comrades in the next. When the king died none of his children would touch his treasures, but collected separate treasures for themselves.3 32 The dancing-girls of the temples are also quaintly described by Marco Polo. "In this country," he says, "there are certain abbeys in 32 Marco Polo, ibid. The principal kingdom is called Maaber, and Colonel Yule identifies it with Chola. Marco Polo says that the kingdom is also named Soli. The name of the king is said to be Sonder Bondi Davar. Possibly, however, the name of Maaber is a form of Madura. Many pearls are said to have been found there. which are gods and goddesses, and here fathers and CHAP. VIII. mothers often consecrate their daughters to the service of deity. When the priests desire to feast their god, they send for these damsels, who serve the god with meats and other goods, and then sing and dance before him, for about as long as a great baron would be eating his dinner. Then they say that the god has devoured the essence of the food, and fall to and eat it themselves.' 11 33 Old Kayal. The great commercial port on the coast of Coro- Emporium at mandel was the city of Cail in the district of Tinnavelly. Marco Polo describes it as a great and noble city, an emporium of the trade with Aden and the Persian Gulf. The imports chiefly consisted of horses. The king was one of the five brethren already mentioned. He had three hundred wives. The town has been successfully identified with Old Kayal. In the present day it has shrivelled into a fishing village, but relics of its former greatness still remain, and prove it to have been a great resort of Chinese traders in the remote part. For two or three miles along the coast the plain is strewed with tiles and pottery of Chinese make, and the ruins of the old fortifications, temples, store-houses, wells, and tanks are still to be found.34 Thomas near The shrine of St. Thomas on the mount near Shrine of St Madras was already in existence in the thirteenth Madras. 33 Marco Polo, Book iii., chaps. 16 and 17. This institution still prevails. It appears to have originated, like female infanticide, from the difficulty experienced in finding suitable husbands for daughters. The girls become mistresses to the priests, or lead a life of prostitution. 34 Dr Caldwell appears to have first discovered the true Cail of Marco Polo. Old Kayal is situated near the mouth of the Tamraparní river. In the present day it is a mile and a half from the sea. The silting up of the ancient harbour has formed a waste sandy tract between the town and the sea, and thus deprived the port of all commercial value. CHAP. VIII. century. According to pious legend this apostle visited India in the first century of the Christian era, and converted many of the inhabitants; and Marco Polo duly describes the locality. "The tomb of St Thomas," he says, "is to be found in a little town having a small population. Few traders visit the place, because there is very little merchandise there, and it is not very accessible. But Christians and Saracens make pilgrimages to it; the Saracens regarding the saint as a holy man. The earth near the tomb was taken away by the Christian pilgrims, for by the power of God, and the blessing of St. Thomas, it is a cure for certain fevers." 35 Kingdom of Malabar coun try. Marco Polo refers to the kingdom of Telinga, to the northward of the Tamil country, but does not appear to have visited it. He describes the diamonds that are to be found there, and no doubt refers to the ancient mines of Golcónda, not far from the coast. The kingdom of Telinga was governed by a queen. The country was famous for the fineness of the buckrams manufactured there; 36 and indeed was celebrated for its cottons down to a very recent period. Westward of Comorin was the Malabar country, the ancient Kerala. It was the land of the Malayalam, the Kanarese, and the Mahratta-speaking people, and extends northward along the Indian Ocean to the peninsula of Guzerat. Marco 35 Marco Polo, Book iii., chap. 18. Fah-Hian (chap. xxiii.) says that the people in the neighbourhood of the tomb of Kasyapa use the earth as a cure for head-aches. It will be seen hereafter that the shrine of St Thomas is probably of Buddhist origin. 36 The diamonds were said to be obtained by throwing pieces of meat into the valley where the diamonds were. The white eagles carried away the meat with the diamonds sticking to it. The eagles were then frightened into dropping the meat. The same story is told by Sindbad the sailor in the Arabian Nights. Polo describes in succession the kingdoms of Tra- CHAP. VIII. varum, Cananore, Malabar, and Konkana. The kings of the several states were independent and paid no tribute. The people of each kingdom appear to have had a dialect of their own. The kingdom of Travancore 37 contained some Travancore. Christians and some Jews. The city of Quilon was a great mart for ships from Arabia and the Levant on the one side, and from southern China on the other. The people had no corn, only rice. They made good wine from palm-sugar. Every other necessary of life was cheap and abundant. They had good astrologers and physicians. Men and women were all black and naked, excepting that they wore a fine cloth from the middle downwards. Sins of the flesh were not regarded as sins. The people married their first cousins. They also married the widows of their brothers, but this custom. prevailed over all India.38 The kingdom of Cananore had no harbour, but Cananore. rivers with navigable estuaries. Pepper, ginger, and other spices were procured there in great plenty. Ships bound for Cananore were received with every respect; but those which anchored there by mere accident were seized and plundered on the plea that God had sent the ship to the people, and this evil custom prevailed all over India.39 Malabar was a great kingdom, but a nest of 37 Marco Polo calls it Coulam, after its capital of Quilon, Book iii., chap. 22. 38 Marco Polo, ibid. It was not the people of Travancore, but the Kallans of Madura, who were accustomed to marry their first cousins. In the present day a Kallan boy of fifteen must marry a cousin, even if she is thirty or forty, if the father of the woman insists upon it. See Nelson's Madura, Part ii., p. 57. Madras, 1868. 39 Marco Polo, Book iii., chap. 24. He calls the country Eli. See Yule's notes on the chapter. CHAP. VIII. pirates. Every year a hundred corsair vessels went Malabar proper. out to cruise. Twenty or thirty joined in one fleet Konkana. and formed a line a hundred miles in length, having a ship at every interval of five miles. This line scoured the seas. Whenever a corsair sighted a merchantman, he made a signal of fire and smoke which was repeated along the line. The whole fleet then bore down upon the ship, and plundered her of her cargo and then let her go. In Marco Polo's time, however, the merchants were sailing in such large vessels that they could set the pirates at defiance.40 42 The kingdom of Konkana lay to the north of Malabar. It apparently extended northward as far as Guzerat, and included the modern Bombay." Marco Polo describes the Brahmans of this country as the best merchants in the world. Nothing would induce them to tell a lie. They would neither eat flesh nor drink wine. They were faithful to their wives, very honest, and distinguished by the thread. The king was rich and powerful. He was eager to purchase large pearls and precious stones. He sent his merchants to the Chola country to buy them, and paid them double the cost price. The people were great idolaters, and paid the utmost heed to signs and omens. They were very long lived. They never allowed themselves to be bled. They had capital teeth in consequence of the betel which they chewed. There was a class of people amongst them who were more properly Bráhmans, and were called 40 Marco Polo, Book iv., chap. 25. This kingdom was Malabar proper. 41 Marco Polo calls this region Lar. See Colonel Yule's notes on chap. 20. 42 Marco Polo has given the name of Brahmans to the Banians. The Banians of western India are treated as Vaisyas and wear the thread. The Baniaus of Bengal are treated as Sudras and do not wear the thread. |