Muziris

From Jatland Wiki
Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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.[1][2][3][4] 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

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.[6] It was generally speculated to be situated around present day Kodungallur, a town near Cochin.[7] Kodungallur in central Kerala figures prominently in the ancient history of southern India as a vibrant urban hub of the Chera rulers.[8] 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.[9][10][11]

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.[12] 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.[13][14] 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.

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.[15] 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[16] 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). [17]...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).[18]....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.

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Artefacts from the lost Port of Muziris." The Hindu. 3 December 2014.
  2. ↑ Muziris, at last?" R. Krishnakumar, www.frontline.in Frontline, 10-23 April 2010.
  3. ↑ "Pattanam richest Indo-Roman site on Indian Ocean rim." The Hindu. 3 May 2009
  4. ↑ CRANGANORE: PAST AND PRESENT, THE GLORY THAT WAS CRANGANORE, K.P. Padmanabha Menon
  5. ↑ A. Sreedhara Menon (1967). "Muchiri - A Survey of Kerala History".
  6. ↑ "Expert nails false propaganda on Muziris". newindianexpress.com.
  7. ↑ Romila Thapar. The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. pp 46, Penguin Books India, 2003
  8. ↑ Krishnakumar, P. "Muziris, at last?". www.frontline.in Frontline, 10-23 April 2010.
  9. ↑ "Pattanam richest Indo-Roman site on Indian Ocean rim." The Hindu. 3 May 2009.
  10. ↑ Basheer, K. P. M. "Pattanam finds throw more light on trade". The Hindu [Madras]. 12 June 2011.
  11. ↑ Smitha, Ajayan. "Traces of controversies". Deccan Chronicle. 20 Feb. 2013
  12. ↑ Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia. Ed. by Edward Balfour (1871), Second Edition. Volume 2. p. 584.
  13. ↑ Steven E. Sidebotham. Berenike and the Ancient Maritime Spice Route, pp 191. University of California Press 2011
  14. ↑ George Gheverghese Joseph (2009). A Passage to Infinity. New Delhi: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd. p. 13. ISBN 978-81-321-0168-0.
  15. ↑ A Sreedhara Menon (1 January 2007). A Survey Of Kerala History. DC Books. p. 126. ISBN 978-81-264-1578-6.
  16. ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.246
  17. ↑ वेलातल निवेष्टेषु पर्वतेषु वनेषु च। मुरची पत्तनम् चैव रम्यम् चैव जटा पुरम् ॥४-४२-१३॥
  18. ↑ ये च कालमुखा नाम नरा राक्षसयॊनयः, कृत्स्नं कॊल्ल गिरिं चैव मुरची पत्तनं तदा (II.28.45)
Retrieved from "https://www.jatland.com/w/index.php?title=Muziris&oldid=501469"