South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c13.s1.69

c13.s1.69

9. Hercatou.—This is the place to which Ibn Batuta was taken by Kamaru-d-din who was sent in charge of the escort to fetch him by his brother-in-law Ghiyazu-d-din, Sultan of Madura, who was then laying siege to a town in the immediate neighbourhood. Hercatou has been identified by the French translators with Arcot. This identification involves a number of assumptions which require to be examined carefully. Ibn Batuta left Puttalam in Ceylon and sailed for the country of Ma'bar; the port of landing certainly would be somewhere immediately north or immediately south of the present day island of Rāmēśvaram. He was caught in a storm and was rescued by some of the native inhabitants of the locality. Through their good offices he sent intimation of his arrival to his brother-in-law, the Sultan, to the place where he was engaged in the siege. The Sultan sent Kamaru-d-din who brought one palanquin and six horses. They started and reached the fort of Hercatou, where, according to him, they spent the night. Leaving the girls and some of the party behind, Ibn Batuta reached the Sultan the second day after setting out from the port where he landed. Now if Hercatou is Arcot the port where he landed must be about a day's march from that place according to him. If the identification with Arcot is correct, the port would have to be necessarily either Madras itself or some other place quite close, and then the place that the Sultan was besieging must be very near also. From Madras or somewhere near, Arcot would be more than a single day's march, but the place that the Sultan was besieging might certainly have been somewhere nearer; but then the question would be whether a place in the vicinity of Arcot would exactly answer to the further progress of the party as described by Ibn Batuta. After leaving the camp Ibn Batuta went along with the Sultan to Fattan till the campaign should be over and then apparently they proceeded to Madura. If Fattan is to be looked for in the peninsula opposite Rāmēśvaram, Arcot for Hercatou would be too far and the country they had to pass through will not be the forest country that it is described to be. Besides we know from various inscriptions that the authority of Vīra Baḷḷāḷa had at the time extended to the southern frontier of Pudukoṭṭa where about the time restoration of temples, etc., had already begun under Vijayālaya Dēva of Śūraikkuḍi. If the Madura Sultan had gone as far north as Arcot he would run the imminent risk of his communication being cut off by the Hoysala in occupation of Tiruvaṇṇāmalai. As a matter of fact Ibn Batuta clearly says that Vīra Baḷḷāḷa made an effort to take possession of the whole of Ma'bar and it was at about this time that he is described as planting a pillar of victory at the 'root' of the Rāmēśvaram 'Bridge.' We therefore feel justified in looking for the place of landing somewhere south on the Ramnad coast or the extreme south of the Tanjore coast rather than anywhere near Madras. This locality would answer to the dense forests through which the army had to pass and the indication given of their going forward to Fattan and thence to Madura. There is a place called Ariyakuḍi within a day's march from the coast, if Ibn Batuta's ship had been lashed ashore somewhere about Vaṭṭāṇam or Mimaśal where there must have been ports in those days. Ariyakuḍi is a place of some importance now and contains a rich temple believed to be even old. It is not at present a fortified place, but there are places very near it which are fortified and which were in those days regarded as fortified stations on the frontier of the Chola country. From there if an army retired or had to march towards Fattan it would have had necessarily to pass through forest country and nothing else, and the further description of Ibn Batuta would be correct to a nicety. Ibn Batuta's Hercatou therefore must be looked for somewhere in that vicinity and it might possibly have been Ariyakuḍi which is near enough in sound.