Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/35

Rh mouth of the Periyar and was frequented by Yavana merchants. Pseudostomos signifies in Greek “false-mouth” and is a correct translation of the Tamil or Malayalam expression “Alimukam” by which the mouth of the Periyar below Kadungolur is known even now. It was so called, because during the monsoon the river frequently made a new opening for itself in the low sand banks, which obstructed its entrance to the sea. The proper name of the river was Periyar or Porunai. South of this river at a distance of 500 stadia or about 58 miles, Ptolemy mentions another river called Baris. Neither the river Baris, nor any of the towns mentioned as situated between Muziris and Cape Kumari or Comorin, has been satisfactorily identified by the scholars who have hitherto examined Ptolemy’s account of ancient India. I experienced the same difficulty till one day, when travelling by boat from Alleppy to Kottayam, the boatmen informed me that I should land at Vaikkarai. This brought to my mind Ptolemy’s Bakarei and on further enquiry, I was glad to learn that the landing place at Kottayam is known as Vaikkarai, and-the hill, on which the Dewan Peishkar’s Court-house is built, is called Vaikkarai-kunnu or the Vaikkarai-hill. I came to know also that- the river which flowed through Kottayam is called Pâlâi or Pâli, and this corresponded to the Baris which Ptolemy places next to Bakarei. I was satisfied therefore that the ancient seaport of Bakarei was identical with the village of Vaikkarai near Kottayam. I was surprised to find that the towns on the sea coast between Muziris and Bakarei named by Ptolemy, viz., Podoperoura, Semne and Koreoura may be identified with Udiamperur, Smbai and Kothora which are situated on the eastern coast-of the backwater. This led me to the startling discovery that in Ptolemy’s time the sea coast was along the eastern shore of the backwater, and that neither the backwater, which extends at present to over 40 miles from Changanachery to Pallipuram, nor the long strip of land which forms its western bank, and on which now stand the flourishing sea-ports of Cochin and Alleppy, was then in existence.

Nelkunda, the town from which pepper was exported in barges to Bakarei, appears to be Nirkunram. It is mentioned by