The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s4.13

c7.s4.13

of the Byzantians (Byzantium) in Ptolemy.¹ Besides these Ptolemy alone mentions the river Binda between Sopára and Semulla, Hippocura south of that, and the islands called Heptanesia.² These last are identified by Lassen with the islands of Bombay and Sálsette.³ Semulla he puts at Bassein, Balipatna about Cheul or Dánda Rájápur, and Manadagora a little further south. Melizigaris, called by Pliny Zizerus, he puts at Suvarndurg, Vincent at Jaygad. Ptolemy calls this place an island, Pliny a river and a port, and the author of the Periplus a place on the continent. A tolerable agreement can be found between these three apparently contradictory descriptions if it is remembered that the Arabic word Janjira, which may be evidently traced in the two names given, is still used not only for the rocky island off Dánda-Rájápur, but also for the similar rocks at Suvarndurg and Málvan, either of which places, with the towns on the mainland which they protect, might then be identified with Melizigara or Zizerus.⁴ Byzantium Lassen puts at Vijaydurg. And Nitrias, mentioned by Pliny as a chief station of the pirates, Rennell identifies with Nivti, between Málvan and Vengurla.⁵