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An extract from The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 2, by Marco Polo and Rustichello
of Pisa, et al, Edited by Henry Yule and Henri Cordier. Marco Polo was a
Venetian explorer (now Italy) who lived between 1254(?) and 1324.
[It must be mentioned there are some historians who question the veracity of Marco Polo's
recordings]
Chapter XII talks about the city of Cail (or Kayal).
At the end of the translation, there are notes added by Henry Yule - which clearly dispute
the claim (quoting Rev.Caldwell) that present Kayalpatnam is same as the ancient Kayal
(the one talked about by Marco Polo)
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THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO, VOLUME 2,
BY MARCO POLO and RUSTICHELLO OF PISA, ET AL,
EDITED BY HENRY YULE AND HENRI CORDIER
CHAPTER XXI
CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIL
Cail is a great and noble city, and belongs to ASHAR, the eldest of the
five brother Kings. It is at this city that all the ships touch that come
from the west, as from Hormos and from Kis and from Aden, and all Arabia,
laden with horses and with other things for sale. And this brings a great
concourse of people from the country round about, and so there is great
business done in this city of Cail.[NOTE 1]
The King possesses vast treasures, and wears upon his person great store
of rich jewels. He maintains great state and administers his kingdom with
great equity, and extends great favour to merchants and foreigners, so
that they are very glad to visit his city.[NOTE 2]
This King has some 300 wives; for in those parts the man who has most
wives is most thought of.
As I told you before, there are in this great province of Maabar five
crowned Kings, who are all own brothers born of one father and of one
mother, and this king is one of them. Their mother is still living. And
when they disagree and go forth to war against one another, their mother
throws herself between them to prevent their fighting. And should they
persist in desiring to fight, she will take a knife and threaten that if
they will do so she will cut off the paps that suckled them and rip open
the womb that bare them, and so perish before their eyes. In this way hath
she full many a time brought them to desist. But when she dies it will
most assuredly happen that they will fall out and destroy one
another.[NOTE 4]
[All the people of this city, as well as of the rest of India, have a
custom of perpetually keeping in the mouth a certain leaf called
_Tembul_, to gratify a certain habit and desire they have,
continually chewing it and spitting out the saliva that it excites. The
Lords and gentlefolks and the King have these leaves prepared with camphor
and other aromatic spices, and also mixt with quicklime. And this practice
was said to be very good for the health. [NOTE 4]
If any one desires to offer a gross insult to another, when he meets him he
spits this leaf or its juice in his face. The other immediately runs before
the King, relates the insult that has been offered him, and demands leave
to fight the offender. The King supplies the arms, which are sword and
target, and all the people flock to see, and there the two fight till
one of them is killed. They must not use the point of the sword, for
this the King forbids.][NOTE 5]
NOTE 1.--KAIL, now forgotten, was long a famous port on the coast of what
is now the Tinnevelly District of the Madras Presidency. It is mentioned
as a port of Ma'bar by our author's contemporary Rashiduddin, though the
name has been perverted by careless transcription into _Bawal_ and
_Kabal_. (See _Elliot_, I. pp. 69, 72.) It is also mistranscribed as
_Kabil_ in Quatremere's publication of Abdurrazzak, who mentions it as "a
place situated opposite the island of Serendib, otherwise called Ceylon,"
and as being the extremity of what he was led to regard as Malabar (p.
19). It is mentioned as _Cahila_, the site of the pearl-fishery, by Nicolo
Conti (p. 7). The _Roteiro_ of Vasco da Gama notes it as _Caell_, a state
having a Mussulman King and a Christian (for which read _Kafir_) people.
Here were many pearls. Giovanni d'Empoli notices it (_Gael_) also for the
pearl-fishery, as do Varthema and Barbosa. From the latter we learn that
it was still a considerable seaport, having rich Mahomedan merchants, and
was visited by many ships from Malabar, Coromandel, and Bengal. In the
time of the last writers it belonged to the King of Kaulam, who generally
resided at Kail.
The real site of this once celebrated port has, I believe, till now never
been identified in any published work. I had supposed the still existing
Kayalpattanam to have been in all probability the place, and I am again
indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Caldwell for conclusive and most
interesting information on this subject. He writes:
"There are no relics of ancient greatness in Kayalpattanam, and no
traditions of foreign trade, and it is admitted by its inhabitants to be a
place of recent origin, which came into existence after the abandonment of
the true Kayal. They state also that the name of Kayalpattanam has only
recently been given to it, as a reminiscence of the older city, and that
its original name was Sonagarpattanam.[1]
There is another small port in the same neighbourhood, a little to the
north of Kayalpattanam, called Pinna Cael in the maps, properly Punnei-Kayal,
from _Punnei_, the Indian Laurel; but this is also a place of recent origin,
and many of the inhabitants of this place, as of Kayalpattanam, state that
their ancestors came originally from Kayal, subsequently to the removal
of the Portuguese from that place to Tuticorin.
"The Cail of Marco Polo, commonly called in the neighbourhood _Old Kayal_,
and erroneously named _Koil_ in the Ordnance Map of India, is situated on
the Tamraparni River, about a mile and a half from its mouth. The Tamil
word _kayal_ means 'a backwater, a lagoon,' and the map shows the
existence of a large number of these _kayals_ or backwaters near the mouth
of the river. Many of these kayals have now dried up more or less
completely, and in several of them salt-pans have been established. The
name of Kayal was naturally given to a town erected on the margin of a
_kayal_; and this circumstance occasioned also the adoption of the name of
Punnei Kayal, and served to give currency to the name of Kayalpattanam
assumed by Sonagarpattanam, both those places being in the vicinity of
kayals.
"KAYAL stood originally on or near the sea-beach, but it is now about a
mile and a half inland, the sand carried down by the river having silted
up the ancient harbour, and formed a waste sandy tract between the sea and
the town. It has now shrunk into a petty village, inhabited partly by
Mahommedans and partly by Roman Catholic fishermen of the Parava caste,
with a still smaller hamlet adjoining inhabited by Brahmans and Vellalars;
but unlikely as the place may now seem to have been identical with 'the
great and noble city' described by Marco Polo, its identity is established
by the relics of its ancient greatness which it still retains. Ruins of
old fortifications, temples, storehouses, wells and tanks, are found
everywhere along the coast for two or three miles north of the village of
Kayal, and a mile and a half inland; the whole plain is covered with
broken tiles and remnants of pottery, chiefly of China manufacture, and
several mounds are apparent, in which, besides the shells of the
pearl-oyster and broken pottery, mineral drugs (cinnabar, brimstone, etc.),
such as are sold in the bazaars of sea-port towns, and a few ancient coins
have been found. I send you herewith an interesting coin discovered in one
of those mounds by Mr. R. Puckle, collector of Tinnevelly.[2]
"The people of the place have forgotten the existence of any trade between
Kayal and China, though the China pottery that lies all about testifies to
its existence at some former period; but they retain a distinct tradition
of its trade with the Arabian and Persian coasts, as vouched for by Marco
Polo, that trade having in some degree survived to comparatively recent
times.... Captain Phipps, the Master Attendant at Tuticorin, says: 'The
roadstead of Old Cael (Kayal) is still used by native craft when upon the
coast and meeting with south winds, from which it is sheltered. The depth
of water is 16 to 14 feet; I fancy years ago it was deeper.... There is a
surf on the bar at the entrance (of the river), but boats go through it at
all times.'
* * * * *
"I am tempted to carry this long account of Kayal a little further, so as
to bring to light the _Kolkhoi_ [[Greek: kolchoi emporion]] of the Greek
merchants, the situation of the older city being nearly identical with
that of the more modern one. _Kolkhoi_, described by Ptolemy and the
author of the Periplus as an emporium of the pearl-trade, as situated on
the sea-coast to the east of Cape Comorin, and as giving its name to the
Kolkhic Gulf or Gulf of Manaar, has been identified by Lassen with
Keelkarei; but this identification is merely conjectural, founded on
nothing better than a slight apparent resemblance in the names. Lassen
could not have failed to identify Kolkhoi with KORKAI, the mother-city of
Kayal, if he had been acquainted with its existence and claims. Korkai,
properly KOLKAI (the _l_ being changed into _r_ by a modern refinement--it
is still called _Kolka_ in Malayalam), holds an important place in Tamil
traditions, being regarded as the birthplace of the Pandyan Dynasty, the
place where the princes of that race ruled previously to their removal to
Madura. One of the titles of the Pandyan Kings is 'Ruler of Korkai.'
Korkai is situated two or three miles inland from Kayal, higher up the
river. It is not marked in the Ordnance Map of India, but a village in the
immediate neighbourhood of it, called _Maramangalam_, 'the Good-fortune of
the Pandyas,' will be found in the map. This place, together with several
others in the neighbourhood, on both sides of the river, is proved by
inscriptions and relics to have been formerly included in Korkai, and the
whole intervening space between Korkai and Kayal exhibits traces of
ancient dwellings. The people of Kayal maintain that their city was
originally so large as to include Korkai, but there is much more
probability in the tradition of the people of Korkai, which is to the
effect that Korkai itself was originally a sea-port; that as the sea
retired it became less and less suitable for trade, that Kayal rose as
Korkai fell, and that at length, as the sea continued to retire, Kayal
also was abandoned. They add that the trade for which the place was famous
in ancient times was the trade in pearls." In an article in the _Madras
Journal_ (VII. 379) it is stated that at the great Siva Pagoda at
Tinnevelly the earth used ceremonially at the annual festival is brought
from Korkai, but no position is indicated.
NOTE 2.--Dr. Caldwell again brings his invaluable aid:--
"Marco Polo represents Kayal as being governed by a king whom he calls
_Asciar_ (a name which you suppose to be intended to be pronounced
_Ashar_), and says that this king of Kayal was the elder brother of
Sonderbandi, the king of that part of the district of Maabar where he
landed. There is a distinct tradition, not only amongst the people now
inhabiting Kayal, but in the district of Tinnevelly generally, that Kayal,
during the period of its greatness, was ruled by a king. This king is
sometimes spoken of as one of 'the Five Kings' who reigned in various
parts of Tinnevelly, but whether he was independent of the King of Madura,
or only a viceroy, the people cannot now say.... The tradition of the
people of Kayal is that ... _Sur-Raja_ was the name of the last king of
the place. They state that this last king was a Mahommedan, ... but though
Sur-Raja does not sound like the name of a Mahommedan prince, they all
agree in asserting that this was his name.... Can this Sur be the person
whom Marco calls Asciar? Probably not, as Asciar seems to have been a
Hindu by religion. I have discovered what appears to be a more probable
identification in the name of a prince mentioned in an inscription on the
walls of a temple at Sri-Vaikuntham, a town on the Tamraparni R., about 20
miles from Kayal. In the inscription in question a donation to the temple
is recorded as having been given in the time of '_Asadia-deva called also
Surya-deva_' This name 'Asadia' is neither Sanskrit nor Tamil; and as the
hard _d_ is often changed into _r_, Marco's _Ashar_ may have been an
attempt to render this _Asad_. If this Asadia or Surya-deva were really
Sundara-pandi-deva's brother, he must have ruled over a narrow range of
country, probably over Kayal alone, whilst his more eminent brother was
alive; for there is an inscription on the walls of a temple at
Sindamangalam, a place only a few miles from Kayal, which records a
donation made to the place 'in the reign of Sundara-pandi-deva.'"
[3]
NOTE 3.--["O aljofar, e perolas, que me manda que lha enuic, nom as posso
auer, que as ha em Ceylao e Caille, que sao as fontes dellas: compralashia
do meu sangue, a do meu dinheiro, que o tenho porque vos me daes." (Letter
of the Viceroy Dom Francisco to the King, Anno de 1508). (_G. Correa,
Lendas da India_, I. pp. 908-909.)--_Note by Yule_.]
NOTE 4.--_Tembul_ is the Persian name for the betel-leaf or _pan_, from
the Sanskrit _Tambula_. The latter is also used in Tamil, though
_Vettilei_ is the proper Tamil word, whence _Betel_ (_Dr. Caldwell_).
Marsden supposes the mention of camphor among the ingredients with which
the pan is prepared to be a mistake, and suggests as a possible origin of
the error that _kapur_ in the Malay language means not only camphor but
quicklime. This is curious, but in addition to the fact that the lime is
mentioned in the text, there seems ample evidence that his doubt about
camphor is unfounded.
Garcia de Orta says distinctly: "In chewing _betre_ ... they mix areca
with it and a little lime.... Some add _Licio_ (i.e. catechu), _but the
rich and grandees add some Borneo camphor_, and some also lign-aloes,
musk, and ambergris" (31 v. and 32). _Abdurrazzak_ also says: "The manner
of eating it is as follows: They bruise a portion of _faufel_ (areca),
otherwise called _sipari_, and put it in the mouth. Moistening a leaf of
the betel, together with a grain of lime, they rub the one upon the other,
roll them together, and then place them in the mouth. They thus take as
many as four leaves of betel at a time and chew them. _Sometimes they add
camphor to it_" (p. 32). And Abul Fazl: "They also put some betel-nut and
_kath_ (catechu) on one leaf, and some lime-paste on another, and roll
them up; this is called _a berah. Some put camphor and musk into it_, and
tie both leaves with a silk thread," etc. (See _Blochmann's Transl._ p.
73.) Finally one of the Chinese notices of Kamboja, translated by Abel
Remusat, says: "When a guest comes it is usual to present him with _areca,
camphor, and other aromatics_." (_Nouv. Mel._ I. 84.)
NOTE 5.--This is the only passage of Ramusio's version, so far as I know,
that suggests interpolation from a recent author, as distinguished from
mere editorial modification. There is in Barbosa a description of the
_duello_ as practised in Canara, which is rather too like this one.
[1] "Sonagar or Jonagar is a Tamil corruption of _Yavanar_, the Yavanas,
the name by which the Arabs were known, and is the name most commonly
used in the Tamil country to designate the mixed race descended from
Arab colonists, who are called _Mapillas_ on the Malabar coast, and
_Lubbies_ in the neighbourhood of Madras." (Dr. C.'s note)
[2] I am sorry to say that the coin never reached its destination. In the
latter part of 1872 a quantity of treasure was found near Kayal by the
labourers on irrigation works. Much of it was dispersed without coming
under intelligent eyes, and most of the coins recovered were Arabic.
One, however, is stated to have been a coin of "Joanna of Castille,
A.D. 1236." (_Allen's India Mail_, 5th January, 1874.) There is no such
queen. Qu. Joanna I. of _Navarre_ (1274-1276)? or Joanna II. of
_Navarre_ (1328-1336)?
[3] See above, p. 334, as to Dr. Caldwell's view of Polo's Sonderbandi. May
not _Ashar_ very well represent _Ashadha_, "invincible," among the
applications of which Williams gives "N. of a prince". I observe also
that _Aschar_ (Sansk. _Aschariya_ "marvellous") is the name of one of
the objects of worship in the dark _Sakti_ system, once apparently
potent in S. India. (See _Taylor's Catalogue Raisonne_, II. 414, 423,
426, 443, and remark p. xlix.)
["Ils disent donc que Dieu qu'ils appellent _Achar_, c'est-a-dire,
immobile ou immuable." (_F. Bernier, Voy._, ed. 1699, II. p.
134.)--_MS. Note_.--H.Y.]
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