Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/33

Rh with flowers of btiiliant colours.” This description suits exactly the village now called Pallikara which is situated at a distance of five miles north of the modern town of Quilandy. The name Thondi is not now remembered by the inhabitants; but the richest landlord in the village, a hereditary nobleman, is styled Thondippunathil Nair or Thondyil Kuruppachan. About twelve miles up the Agaiappulai, near Kuttiadi, is a village still called Thondippoil, a name, which, I believe, signifies, the way to Thondi. The Agalappulai must have been navigable up to Thondi or Pallikara in former days ; but since the Kotta river diverted into another channel, the Agalappulai has shrunk in size and is no longer navigable.

Ptolemy gives the following list of seaports and rivers on the west coast of Tamilakam:–

Tyndis a city, Bramagara, Kalaikkarias, Mouziris an emporium; mouth of the river Pseudostomos, Podoperoura, Semne, Koreoura, Bakarei, mouth of the river Baris. Then he mentions the Country of the Aioi and the following seaports in it.

Melkynda, Elangkon (or Elangkor) a mart, Kottiara the metropolis, Bammala, Komaria a cape and town.

Of the inland cities he gives the following list: Inland cities of Limurike, to the west of the Pseudostomos are these: Naroulla, Kouba, Paloura. Between the Pseudostomos and the Baris these cities : Pasage, Mastanour, Kourellour, Pounnata where is beryl, Aloe, Karoura, the royal seat of the Kerobothras, Arembour Bideris, Pantipolis, Adarima Koreour. Inland town of the AioiMorounda.

Pliny and Ptolemy agree in fixing the northern limit of the Tamil country on the western coast somewhere above Tundis (Thondi). The Peniplus gives a clearer indication of the boundary as it states that Limurike (Dimirike) or Tamilakam commenced immediately south of the Island Leuke or “ the White.” This Island which is north-west of the modern town of Bada-