Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/32

Rh attacked the fort. Over the gates in the walls, were towers plastered with white mortar and adorned with flags. Surrounding the walls was a broad moat in which man-eating alligators of large size abounded. The king’s palace, a temple of Vishnu called Adakamadam or the “golden shrine,” a Buddhist Chaitya, and a Nigrantha monastery which was outside the Eastern gate of the fort, appear to have been the most conspicuous buildings in the town. If Madura was noted for its many mansions and towers, Vanchi, with its flower-gardens and tanks full of crystal water, limpid streams and little islands, shady bowers and parks with artificial hills and waterfalls, was charming to every visitor. Outside the fort resided the soldiers of the Chera king. Ascetics and philosophers also dwelt in the silent and shady groves, far away from the din and bustle of the capital.

Near the mouth of the Periyar was Muchiri, an important seaport. A poet describes it as follows:— ”The thriving town of Muchiri where the beautiful large ships of the Yavanas bringing gold, come splashing the white foam on the waters of the Periyar, which belongs to the Cherala, and return laden with pepper.” “Fish is bartered for paddy which is brought in baskets to the houses” says another poet : “sacks of pepper are brought from the houses to the market; the gold received from ships, in exchange for articles sold, is brought to shore in barges, at Muchiri, where the music of the surging sea never ceases, and where Kudduvan (the Chera king) presents to visitors, the rare products of the seas and mountains.”

Thondi was another flourishing seaport on the western coast. It stood on the banks of the Mâkkali or the “big salt river” which is now known as Agalappulai. “It was bounded” says a poet “by groves of cocoanut trees bearing heavy bunches of fruits, a wide expanse of rice-fields, verdant hills, bright sandy tracts and a salt river, whose glassy waters are covered