Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c5.s3.22

c5.s3.22

¹ The Periplus and Ptolemy have λυμορική, but as the Peutingerian Table, the Ravenna geographer and Guido have Dimirice; there can be no doubt that the copyists have mistaken Λ for Δ, an exceedingly easy error in Greek. Dimurikē is thus Tamil + ikē; now Malayāḷam was called Tamil formerly, and at the time of the classical writers (beyond doubt) the languages in no way differed. It is thus impossible to identify Dimurikē with Canara, (as was done by Vincent[^1]) following Rennell for quite illusive reasons), but it must be taken to mean S. Malabar, and the three great ports Tundis, Mouziris and Nelkunda (Nincylda) are Kaḍal(t)uṇḍi (near Beypore), Muyirikkōḍu (Kishaṅkoṭṭa opposite to the site of Cranganore) and Kallaḍa (inland from Quilon up a large river). The Vaṭṭĕḻuttu must, therefore, have been imported at one of these places. The reasons for this new identification would take too much space here, and must be given elsewhere. (See Col. Yule's remarks on the map of Ancient India in Smith's "Ancient Atlas", 1875.)