Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/424

 366 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH early days at Korkai on the Tamraparni River in Tinne- velli. Korkai, or Kolkai, the Greek Ko*ot, now an insig- nificant village, was once a great city, and is indicated by all native traditions as the cradle of South Indian civilization, the home of the mythical three brothers, who were supposed to have founded the Pandya, Chera, and Chola kingdoms. In the days of its glory the city was a seaport, the headquarters of the pearl trade, which constituted the chief source of wealth enjoyed by the Pandya kings, whose special crest or cognizance was the battle-axe, often associated with the elephant. In the course of time, the silting up of the delta ren- dered Korkai inaccessible to ships, and the city gradu- ally decayed, like the Cinque Ports in England. Its commercial business was transferred to the new port, Kayal (Coel), which was founded three miles lower down the river, and continued to be for many centuries one of the greatest marts of the east. Here Marco Polo landed in the thirteenth century, and was much impressed by the wealth and magnificence of prince and people. But the same process which had ruined Korkai caused the abandonment of Kayal, and compelled the Portuguese to remove their trade to Tuticorin, where a sheltered roadstead, free from de- posits of silt, offered superior convenience. The site of Kayal is now occupied by the huts of a few Moham- medans and native Christian fishermen. Madura, which was regarded in later times as the Pandya capital, and the central seat of Tamil literature