Sailing Around Erythraean Sea: Fifty Four

After his account of Lakshadweep islands of Agati, Kavarti, Chetlat and Amini, the unknown sailor proceeds to relate other places. He does not give his direction. He shifts from one direction to another; from Bharuch he goes upto Amu Darya in the North and coming back to Bharuch, he goes upto Paithan and Ter in Southeast direction, again from Bharuch upto Chetlat island in southwest. Thus, his accounts have no chronological order. Thus, interpretation that the document is a Captain's log is no more valid. Let us see how he proceeds.

Tyndis is of the Kingdom of Cerobotra; it is a village in plain sight by sea. Muziris, of the same kingdom, abounds in ships sent there with cargoes from Arabia, and by the Greeks; it is located on a river, distant from Tyndis by river and sea five hundred stadia and up the river from the shore twenty stadia. Nelcynda is distant from Muziris by the river and sea by five hundred stadia and up the river from shore twenty stadia, and is of another kingdom Pandian. This place is also situated on a river about one hundred and twenty stadia.

My Search:-

1. Tyndis: The author does not give the distance from Kalpeni (his last point) to Tyndis (next point) in his voyage. He left Naura unexplained. The distance between Tyndis and Muzris is five hundred stadia, which is equal to fifty miles or eighty kilometres. Tyndis according to some historians is Kadalundi. Muziris according to them is Kodungallur. Now the distance from Tyndis to Kodungallur given by Periplus Maris Erythraea is five hundred stadia; that is fifty miles or eighty kilometres. According to Google Maps the driving distance from Calicut to Kodungallur is one hundred and twenty one kilometres, by coastline driving. It does not match eighty kilometres of Periplus Maris Erythraea. But from Ponnani to North Paravur it is eighty one Kilometres. Therefore Tyndis referred to in Periplus Maris Erythraea is Ponnani. The port is on the southern bank of the river at a distance of twenty stadia or around three kilometres. Assuming "Tyndis" a Greek term, we may look at the origin of the name. "Tun" means, in Koine Greek, marshy or swamp, and the basin near the estuary remains as such if it is not converted into paddy fields for cultivation. Paddy cultivation on wetlands was initiated by Brahmins migrated to Kerala after 5th century CE. "Dis" and "ris" are demonyms which refer to a person who is native to or lives in a place, for eg., Italian is a denomym of a person who is a native or resident of Italy.  Here Tundis mean persons who lives in swamp or marshy areas. It denotes to hunter gatherers' presence in the area in search of fish and other aquatic animals. The society was mainly tribal. A reference to the last sentence of Section fourteen. It runs, "This country is not subject to a King, but each town is ruled by its separate chiefs." It is about Barygaza, where, according to historians, the Mauryan empire had its suzerainty. This gives us a picture of the port cum market-town of Barygaza, which was the epicenter of Mediterranean trade of those times. Development along the coast of Konkan was slow and gradual.  In Tyndis, the land was in the initial period of its habitation. Fish eating tribes must have been the first comers; If there were fish eaters he should have mentioned it. I think at the time of his visit the place must have been uninhabited, and the place was new. Even the fish eaters were unaware of the presence the place and its opportunity. The place is the basin of Bharathapuzha, the second longest river of Kerala. The mention of Tyndis by the author of Periplus Maris Erythraea shows the presence of the place in the first century. The Brahmins came here from Shuparaka, the modern day Sopara of which the author already mentioned. But the five brahmin settlements around the Bharatapuzha were come into existence after nineth century. Therefore it is doubtful whether much trading took place at Tyndis or the port might be shifting from season to season.

In one of the foregoing chapters the unknown sailor says that from Nora starts Damarica. 

Nora:-

The first port after Kalpeni is Nora. Nora means light in ancient languages including Latin and Greek. If we analyse the word "Thikkodi" it may mean thee+ Kodi or dik +kodi; thee kodi being a torch to alert the sailors for safe anchorage in the night and dik kodi being a red flag to direct the sailors during the day; either way it must have been an arrangement to help sailors indicating the direction of safe anchorage with a flag during day time and a torch (pantham) in the night. Nora means light in many ancient languages, including Greek and Latin. Nora is an exonym coined by Greek merchants, to name Thikkodi. According to Wikipedia there are still the remains of a old lighthouse in Velliyamkallu, a rock Island off Thikkodi. Now it is named Chombala Rock Island. Nora is a Koine Greek term for Thikkodi.

Muzris:

Now, let us come to Muzris. Split Muzris into two, we get Muz + ris. Muz indicates Muza or Musa or Mousa, a Koine Greek term to mark the modern port city of Mokha also spelled as Mocha or Mukha, on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until Aden and Al Hudaydah eclipsed it in nineteenth century Mocha was the principal port of Yemen's capital Sanaa. Look at the Google Maps, you will see Mocha on Red Sea coast of Arabian subcontinent. Opposite it is Assab, on the African coast. Now, coming to Muzris, the suffix "ris" is a denomym indicating a person's origin or affiliation. A person who belongs to Muza is called Muzaris, and Muzris is a corruption of the original denomym. It implies large presence of Muzris along the Muzris coast. Muza was a major trading centre as per Periplus Maris Erythraea. Pliny the elder's Natural History mentions Indian trade with Arabia and mentions Muza. Ptolemy's Geographia lists Muza a key trading centre in Red Sea region. Arabian coins, including those from Muza, have been found in Kerala. Muzris is around eighty kilometres south of Tyndis.

The End of the Section 

 

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