From one to the other; but afterwards when he proceeds
to speak of Cail, which stands on the Gulf of Manar, he does not specify
its position or distance in regard to Sundara Pandi's territory; an
omission which he would not have been likely to make had both lain on
the Gulf of Manar.
Abulfeda tells us that the capital of the Prince of Ma'bar, who was the
great horse-importer, was called Biyardawal,[4] a name which now
appears in the extracts from Amir Khusru (Elliot, III. 90-91) as
Birdhul, the capital of Bir Pandi mentioned above, whilst Madura was the
residence of his brother, the later Sundara Pandi. And from the
indications in those extracts it can be gathered, I think, that Birdhul
was not far from the Kaveri (called Kanobari), not far from the sea, and
five or six days' march from Madura. These indications point to Tanjore,
Kombakonam, or some other city in or near the Kaveri Delta.[5] I should
suppose that this Birdhul was the capital of Polo's Sundara Pandi, and
that the port visited was Kaveripattanam. 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]
