South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c13.s1.70

c13.s1.70

Ibn Batuta himself however, seems to give us the lead to look for his port of landing at Fattan. Soon after landing he calls the territory in which he landed as belonging to the Sultan of Madura, which a port near Madras could not well be. He has the following sentence later on in the narrative: ‘He (Nasiru-d-din) made Malik Bedred-din (Malik Badru-d-din) Vizier, the same man whom his uncle sent to meet me when I was at Fattan.’ If this could be held to be the person that was called Kamaru-d-din who was sent with an escort to fetch Ibn Batuta, it admits hardly of any doubt that he actually landed at Fattan. In which case, we shall have to look for Hercatou much nearer Fattan than even Ariyakuḍi. But it is just possible that the reference here is to the period of Ibn Batuta’s stay in Fattan where he waited for the arrival of Sultan Ghyazu-d-din.