Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c8.s3.25

v1.c8.s3.25

There is every reason to believe that on the southern and eastern shores the fisher-folk swept the seas with their catamarans, which, however, do not figure prominently in Vijayanagara days. Nevertheless from a letter dated A.D. 1700 from the Jesuit Father Peter Martin we learn that he was met, on his approaching the southern coast, by a fisherman "sitting on a catimaron, or several thick Pieces of Wood fastened together in the Form of a Raft".² These catamarans (kaḷḷumaram) are to be classed with the leppa mentioned above.