Muziris

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Muziris (मुजीरिस) was an ancient harbour - seaport and urban centre - on the Malabar Coast (modern-day Indian state of Kerala) that dates from at least the 1st century BC, if not earlier. Muziris, or Muchiri, found mention in the bardic Tamil poems and a number of classical sources. It was generally speculated to be situated around present day Kodungallur, a town near Cochin. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala.

Variants

• Marichipattana मारिचिपत्तन = murchipattana मुर्चिपत्तन (p.712)
• Marichapattana मरिचपत्तन दे. Murchipattana मुर्चिपत्तन (p.712)
• Marichipattan (मरिचीपत्तन) (AS, p.246), (AS, p.342)
• Murchipattana (मुर्चिपत्तन) = Murachipattana (मुरचीपत्तन) दे. Krangnaur क्रंगनौर, (AS,p.752)
• Murachipattana (मुरचीपत्तन) (Mahabharata) (II.28.45)
• Murachipattana (मुरचीपत्तन) (Ramayana) (4.42.13)
• Muracippattanam (Ramayana)
• Muziris (मुजीरिस) दे. Cranganore (क्रंगनौर) (AS, p.750)
• Muziris (Muchiri)/Muciri (Tamil, முசிறி): roughly identified with medieval Muyirikode or Mahodaya/Makotai Puram
• Muyirikkottu
• Muziris (Pliny.vi.26)
• Musiris

Etymology

The derivation of the name "Muziris" is said to be from the native Tamil name of the port, "Muciri" (Tamil, முசிறி). In the region, Periyar river perhaps branched into two like a cleft lip (an abnormal facial development) and thus gave it the name "Muciri." It is frequently referred to as Muciri in Sangam poems, Muracippattanam in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, and as Muyirikkottu in a copper plate of an 11th-century Chera ruler.

Location

The exact location of Muziris is unknown to historians and archaeologists. It was generally speculated to be situated around present day Kodungallur, a town near Cochin. Kodungallur in central Kerala figures prominently in the ancient history of southern India as a vibrant urban hub of the Chera rulers. A series of excavations were conducted at the village of Pattanam near Cochin by Kerala Council for Historical Research (an autonomous institution outsourced by Kerala State Department of Archaeology) in 2006-07 and it was announced that the lost "port" of Muziris was found.

History

Muziris was a key to the interactions between South India and Persia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the (Greek and Roman) Mediterranean region. The important known commodities "exported" from Muziris were spices (such as black pepper and malabathron), semi-precious stones (such as beryl), pearls, diamonds, sapphires, ivory, Chinese silk, Gangetic spikenard and tortoise shells. The Roman navigators brought gold coins, peridots, thin clothing, figured linens, multicoloured textiles, sulfide of antimony, copper, tin, lead, coral, raw glass, wine, realgar and orpiment. The locations of unearthed coin-hoards suggest an inland trade link from Muziris via the Palghat Gap and along the Kaveri Valley to the east coast of India. Though the Roman trade declined from the 5th century AD, the former Muziris attracted the attention of other nationalities, particularly the Persians, the Chinese and the Arabs, presumably until the devastating floods of Periyar in the 14th century.

Kollam

Kollam: Kollam (Nelcynda) shares fame with Kodungallur (Muziris) as an ancient sea port on the Malabar coast of India from early centuries of the Christian era. Kollam had a sustained commercial reputation from the days of the Phoenicians and the Romans. Pliny (23-79 AD) mentions about Greek ships anchored at Musiris and Nelkanda. Musiris is identified with Kodungallur (then ruled by the Chera kingdom) and Nelkanda (Nelcyndis) with Quilon or Kollam (then under the Pandyan rule). The inland sea port(kore-ke-ni) was also called Tyndis. Kollam was the chief port of the Pandyas on the West Coast and was connected with Korkai (Kayal) port on the East Coast and also through land route over the Western Ghats. Spices, pearls, diamonds and silk were exported to Egypt and Rome from these two ports on the South Western coast of India. Pearls and diamonds came from Ceylon and the South eastern coast of India, then known as the Pandyan kingdom. Yule identifies Nelcynda as Kallada. That would also satisfy the mention "This place also is situated on a river, about one hundred and twenty stadia from the sea...."Yule writes

That Nelkynda cannot have been far from this is clear from the vicinity of the Red Hill of the Periplus. There can be little doubt that this is the bar of red laterite which, a short distance south of Quilon, cuts short the backwater navigation, and is thence called the Warkalle Barrier. It forms abrupt cliffs on the sea, without beach, and these cliffs are still known to seamen as the Red Cliffs. This is the only thing like a sea cliff from Mount D'Elv to Cape Comorin""

— Notes on the Oldest Records of the Sea-route to China from Western Asia

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions....If the wind, called Hippalus³², happens to be blowing, it is possible to arrive in forty days at the nearest mart of India, Muziris³³ by name. This, however, is not a very desirable place for disembarcation, on account of the pirates which frequent its vicinity, where they occupy a place called Nitrias; nor, in fact, is it very rich in articles of merchandize. Besides, the road-stead for shipping is a considerable distance from the shore, and the cargoes have to be conveyed in boats, either for loading or discharging. At the moment that I am writing these pages, the name of the king of this place is Cælobothras.

Another port, and a much more convenient one, is that which lies in the territory of the people called Neacyndi, Barace by name. Here king Pandion used to reign, dwelling at a considerable distance from the mart in the interior, at a city known as Modiera. The district from which pepper is carried down to Barace in boats hollowed out of a single tree,³⁴ is known as Cottonara.³⁵

None of these names of nations, ports, and cities are to be found in any of the former writers, from which circumstance it would appear that the localities have since changed their names. Travellers set sail from India on their return to Europe, at the beginning of the Egyptian month Tybis, which is our December, or at all events before the sixth day of the Egyptian month Mechir, the same as³⁶ our ides of January: if they do this, they can go and return in the same year. They set sail from India with a south-east wind, and upon entering the Red Sea, catch the south-west or south. We will now return to our main subject.

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32 Or Favonius, the west wind, previously mentioned in the present Chapter.

33 The modern Mangalore, according to Du Bocage.

34 Or canoes.

35 The Cottiara of Ptolemy, who makes it the chief city of the Æi, a tribe who occupied the lower part of the peninsula of Hindostan. It has been supposed to be represented by the modern Calicut or Travancore. Cochin, however, appears to be the most likely.

36 Marcus observes that we may conclude that either Pliny or the author from whom he transcribed, wrote this between the years of the Christian era 48 and 51; for that the coincidence of the 6th of the month Mechir with the Ides of January, could not have taken place in any other year than those on which the first day of Thoth or the beginning of the year fell on the 11th of August, which happened in the years 48, 49, 50, and 51 of the Christian era.

Cranganore

Kodungallur (formerly known as Cranganore), is a municipality on the estuary of river Periyar on the Malabar Coast in Thrissur district of Kerala, India. It is situated 29 kms north of Kochi (Cochin) by National Highway 66. Kodungallur, being a port city at the northern end of the Kerala lagoons, was a strategic entry point for the naval fleets to the extensive Kerala backwaters

Etymology: The title Kodungallur seems to have derived from the medieval name "Koti Linga Pura". In the medieval period (from c. 9th century CE), Kondungallur was part of the city of Makothai Vanchi (Sanskrit: Mahodaya Pura, Malayalam: Mahodaya Puram). It was the seat of the Kerala branch of the Chera clan, the Perumals, for about three hundred years. It was also known as Muchiri Pattanam, Muyirikkode, Mahavanchimana Pattanam, and Thrikulasekarapuram.

Kodungallur was also known as Jangli, Gingaleh, Cyngilin, Shinkali, Chinkli, Jinkali, Shenkala, and Cynkali, which are all derived from the name of the River Changala (or the Chain River, i.e., Shrinkhala in Sanskrit), a tributary of Periyar.

क्रंगनौर

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...क्रंगनौर केरल (AS, p.246) परियार नदी के तट पर बसा हुआ प्राचीन बंदरगाह जिसे रोम के लेखकों ने मुजीरिस कहा है. ई. सन के प्रारंभिक काल में यह समुद्र-पत्तन दक्षिण भारत और और रोम साम्राज्य के बीच होने वाले व्यापार का केंद्र था. इसका एक नाम मरीचीपत्तन या मुरचीपत्तन भी था जिसका अर्थ है 'काली मिर्च का बंदरगाह'. मुजिरिस शब्द इसी का रोमीय रूपांतर जान पड़ता है. मुरचीपत्तन का उल्लेख महाभारत 2,31,68 में है. इस बंदरगाह से काली मिर्च का प्रचुर मात्रा में निर्यात होता था. (देखें तिरुवांचीकुलम्)

In Ramayana

Kishkindha Kanda Sarga 42 mentions that Sugreeva sends troops to west side to search for Sita under the leadership of Sushena, the father of lady Tara. Describing the various provinces like Surashtra, Balhika and Chandrachitra (Mathura), Western Ocean, River Sindhu and magnificent mountains that are situated at the northwest of India, cities like Murachipattana, Jatapura, Avanti and Angalepa and also the ocean down south to it, namely the present Arabian Sea and almost up to Persian provinces, he orders monkey troops to return within one month's time.

Murachipattana is mentioned in Ramayana (4.42.13). ...Sita shall be searched along with the residency of Ravana on the mountains that are sitting pretty on the seashore, as well as in the forests on those mountains. Further, the delightful cities available alongshore like Murachipattana, Jatapura, Avanti and Angalepa are to be searched together with the forest of Alakshita, including the nearby provinces and spacious townships. (4.42.12b, 13, 14)

In Mahabharata

Murachipattana (मुरचीपत्तन) in Mahabharata (II.28.45)

Sabha Parva, Mahabharata/Book II Chapter 28 mentions Sahadeva's march towards south: kings and tribes defeated. Murachipattana (मुरचीपत्तन) is mentioned in Mahabharata (II.28.45).....The Kuru warrior (Sahadeva) then vanquished and brought under his subjection numberless kings of the Mlechchha tribe living on the sea coast, and the Nishadas and the cannibals and even the Karnapravarnas, and those tribes also called the Kalamukhas who were a cross between human beings and Rakshasas, and the whole of the Cole mountains (Kolla-giri), and also Murachipattana (मुरचीपत्तन), and the island called the Copper island, and the mountain called Ramaka.