A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c15.32.1

c15.32.1

We may stop for a while for an account of the impressions gathered by Marco Polo, that ‘prince of medieval travellers’, who spent several months in South India and used them very well. 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)’, says a contemporary Muslim chronicler. Writing on Kāyal, the chief emporium of the Pāndya kingdom, Marco Polo says that the king to whom the city belongs ‘possesses vast treasures and wears upon his person a great store of rich jewels. He maintains great state and 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.