The Pandyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century c17.16

c17.16

The name by which the country was known to foreigners was Ma'bar, a word which, in Arabic, signifies Passage or Ferry and was applied to the part of the Indian coast most frequented by travellers and merchants from Arabia and the Persian Gulf. 'Ma'bar extends in length from Kulam (Quilon) to Nilawar (Nellore). The curiosities of Chin and Machin and the beautiful products of Hind and Sind, laden on large ships (which they call junks), sailing like mountains with the wings of the winds on the surface of the water, are always arriving there. The wealth of the Isles of the Persian Gulf in particular, and in part the beauty and adornment of other countries, from Irak and Khurasan as far as Rum and Europe, are derived from Ma'bar, which is so situated as to be the key of Hind' (Wassaf). Writing of Kāyal (Cail), the chief emporium of the Pāndyan kingdom, Marco Polo says that the king to whom the city belongs 'administers his kingdom with great equity and extends great favour to merchants and foreigners, so that they are very glad to visit his city.' 'It is at this city that all the ships touch that come from the West, as from Hormos and from Kis and from Aden, and all Arabia, laden with horses and with other things for sale. And this brings a great concourse of people from the country round about, and so there is great business done in this city of Cail.'