South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c13.s1.59

c13.s1.59

3. *Bir Dhul*.—This designation in Amir Khusru has long been a puzzle. So far as Amir Khusru is concerned this seems to refer to the head-quarters of Bir (Vīra), and is used synonymously as referring to the country of Bir. The suggestion is offered that it stands for Vīra Śōḻan which at the time might have been an alternative designation of the head-quarters of the Chola country under the Pāṇḍya ruler, which must have been either Gaṅgaikoṇḍaśōḻapuram or Jayaṅgoṇḍaśōḻapuram for reasons given in the text (p. 110). Abulfeda, however, refers to it as Biyār Dāwal. I am informed that the collocation of letters is capable of being read Biyāra Dāwal. In either case there is no doubt that the first part of the word stands for the same as Amir Khusru’s Bir which is the Vīra Pāṇḍya of the records of the country. The latter half of the expression of Abulfeda seems more clearly to indicate Dāwal, perhaps a part of Dawalat, which might mean wealth or possessions of which the Dhul of Amir Khusru may be a modification. In either case it could mean only the country which went to make up the fortune of this particular Pāṇḍyan prince. Sir Henry Yule on the basis of the location of Bir Dhul would make the inference that the part of the Coromandal coast visited by Marco Polo in this region must be looked for in the Chola country rather than in the Pāṇḍya. He has the following about it :—‘As regards the position of the port of Ma’bar visited, but not named, by Marco Polo, and at or near which Sundara Pāṇḍya seems to have resided, I am inclined to look for it rather in Tanjore than on the Gulf of Mannar south of the Rāmēśvaram shallows. The difficulties in this view are the indication of its being “sixty miles west of Ceylon,” and the special mention of the pearl fishery in connection with it. We cannot, however, lay much stress upon Polo’s orientation.’