This Was A Great Sea-Port At One
Of The Mouths Of The Kaveri, Which Is Said To Have Been Destroyed By An
Inundation About The Year 1300.
According to Mr. Burnell it was the
"Pattanam 'par excellence' of the Coromandel Coast, and the great port
of the Chola kingdom."[6]
[Illustration: Chinese Pagoda (so called) at Negapatam. (From a sketch
taken in 1846 by Sir Walter Elliot.)]
Some corroboration of the supposition that the Tanjore ports were those
frequented by Chinese trade may be found in the fact that a remarkable
Pagoda of uncemented brickwork, about a mile to the north-west of
Negapatam, popularly bears (or bore) the name of the Chinese Pagoda. I
do not mean to imply that the building was Chinese, but that the
application of that name to a ruin of strange character pointed to some
tradition of Chinese visitors.[7] Sir Walter Elliot, to whom I am
indebted for the sketch of it given here, states that this building
differed essentially from any type of Hindu architecture with which he was
acquainted, but being without inscription or sculpture it was impossible
to assign to it any authentic origin. Negapatam was, however, celebrated
as a seat of Buddhist worship, and this may have been a remnant of their
work. In 1846 it consisted of three stories divided by cornices of stepped
brickwork. The interior was open to the top, and showed the marks of a
floor about 20 feet from the ground. Its general appearance is shown by
the cut. This interesting building was reported in 1859 to be in too
dilapidated a state for repair, and now exists no longer. Sir W. Elliot
also tells me that collectors employed by him picked up in the sand, at
several stations on this coast, numerous Byzantine and Chinese as well
as Hindu coins.[8] The brickwork of the pagoda, as described by him, very
fine and closely fitted but without cement, corresponds to that of the
Burmese and Ceylonese mediaeval Buddhist buildings. The architecture has
a slight resemblance to that of Pollanarua in Ceylon (see Fergusson, II.
p. 512). (Abulf. in Gildemeister, p. 185; Nelson, Pt. II. p. 27
seqq.; Taylor's Catalogue Raisonne, III. 386-389.)
Ma'bar is mentioned (Ma-pa-'rh) in the Chinese Annals as one of the
foreign kingdoms which sent tribute to Kublai in 1286 (supra, p. 296);
and Pauthier has given some very curious and novel extracts from Chinese
sources regarding the diplomatic intercourse with Ma'bar in 1280 and the
following years. Among other points these mention the "five brothers who
were Sultans" (Suantan), an envoy Chamalating (Jumaluddin) who had
been sent from Ma'bar to the Mongol Court, etc. (See pp. 603 seqq.)
NOTE 2. - Marco's account of the pearl-fishery is still substantially
correct. Bettelar, the rendezvous of the fishery, was, I imagine, PATLAM
on the coast of Ceylon, called by Ibn Batuta Batthala. Though the centre
of the pearl-fishery is now at Aripo and Kondachi further north, its site
has varied sometimes as low as Chilaw, the name of which is a corruption
of that given by the Tamuls, Salabham, which means "the Diving," i.e.
the Pearl-fishery.
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