Sailing Around Erythraean Sea: Fifty Eight

In the previous Section, the anonymous author has been giving an account of Southwest Monsoon wind, and how the navigator Hippalus made use of the wind in his voyage to Indian coasts. Let us look at his onward voyage:

Beyond Bacare there is the Dark Red Mountain and another district stretching along the coast toward the south, called Paralia. The first place is called Balita; it has a fine harbour and a village by shore. Beyond this there is another place called Comari and a harbour; here come those men who wish to consecrate themselves for the rest of their life, and bath and swell in celibacy; and women also do the same; for it is told that Godess once dwelt here and bathed.

My Search:-

1. Paralia: Varkala, now a major coastal municipality in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. Not much is known about its classical history. Varakkala may be a corruption of Varakkal. Split into two we get two roots - Vara meaning land (Kara) and kal meaning by. Thus Varakkal means land by sea, or land boardering sea. The word varam in Malayalam language is sea. Varakkal may be changed for the convenience of people speaking Indo European languages or by transliteration into English. Paralia is a Greek term meanings Coastal place, or beach. Many localities in Greece carry Parelia as its prefix. The vastness of the region and its proximity must have prompted him to call it Parelia.

2. Dark Red Mountain: Varkkala Cliff, the only region in southern Kerala where cliffs are found. It is  Cenozoic sedimentary formation cliffs. Dark Red Mountain is English. The translators should have furnished the original Koine Greek terms for reference. It may be"Kokkinos oros" or "Erythros Oros".

3. Balita: Vizhinjam. It is seventeen kilometres south of Thiruvananthapuram air port. Valitha means surrounded. Look at Vizhinjam in the Google Maps, you will see the water surrounded by land on all sides barring a small opening to the sea. That Valitha was landlocked. Balitha is a koine Greek adaptation of Valitha, a Malayalam vernacular word meaning surrounded, here surrounded by land.

3. Comari: Kanyakumari. Etymologically Comari is Kombu meaning a cape or promontory + eri meaning space or locality. Eri also means sea. Kommeri, Komari etc. are its corrupt forms. Comari is its Koine Greek adaptation.

End of the Section 


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