The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s11.36.1

c8.s11.36.1

Koṅkaṇas.—The term Koṅkaṇ, though used in the Bombay Presidency in a more restricted sense, denotes properly the whole strip of land lying between the Western Ghauts and the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghauts commence at the valley of the Tapti in Gujarât. From one point of view, they end at Pâlghât, at the south of the Malabâr District, Madras Presidency. But, from another point of view, they include also another range which commences on the south side of the Pâlghât valley; and so they would run on to Cape Comorin, at the southern point of the peninsula. In ancient times, there were seven divisions of the Koṅkaṇ, called the Seven Koṅkaṇs; (see, for instance, Ind. Ant. Vol. VIII. p. 18; and P. S. and O.-C. Inscrs. No. 123, lines 25, 26, and No. 180, line 23 (Mysore Inscriptions, pp. 32, 93). They were explained to Prof. H. H. Wilson (see Asiatic Researches, Vol. XV. p. 47, note) as being Kêraḷa, Tuḷuva, Gôvarâshṭra (which he identified with the modern Goa), the Koṅkaṇ proper (meaning, I suppose, Ratnâgiri and Thâṇa), ‘Kerâṭaha,’ ‘Varalatta,’ and ‘Berbêra.’ And a verse in Dr. Gundert’s Malâyâḷam Dictionary, s. v. Koṅkaṇam, for which I am indebted to Dr. Hultzsch, enumerates them thus; Kâraḷam cha Virâṭam cha Mârdlam Koṅkaṇam tathâ Havyaṃ Taulavaṃ cha=aiva Kêraḷam ch=êti saptakam. The list given to Prof. Wilson, and the verse, may probably be accepted, as shewing that Kêraḷa and Tuḷu, i.e.