But Dr. Caldwell Has Pointed Out To Me That The
Pali Form Of Sinhala Was Sihalan, And That This Must Have Been
Colloquially Shortened To Silan, For It Appears In Old Tamul Inscriptions
As Ilam.[1] Hence There Is Nothing Really Strained In The Derivation Of
Sailan From Sinhala.
Tennent (Ceylon, I. 549) and Crawford (Malay
Dict.
P. 171) ascribe the name Selan, Zeilan, to the Portuguese, but this
is quite unfounded, as our author sufficiently testifies. The name
Sailan also occurs in Rashiduddin, in Hayton, and in Jordanus (see next
note). (See Van der Tuuk, work quoted above (p. 287), p. 118; J. As.
ser. IV., tom. viii. 145; J. Ind. Arch. IV. 187; Elliot, I. 70.)
[Sinhala or Sihala, "lions' abode," with the addition of "Island,"
Sihala-dvipa, comes down to us in Cosmas [Greek: Sielediba]
(Hobson-Jobson).]
NOTE 3. - The native king at this time was Pandita Prakrama Bahu III., who
reigned from 1267 to 1301 at Dambadenia, about 40 miles north-north-east
of Columbo. But the Tamuls of the continent had recently been in
possession of the whole northern half of the island. The Singhalese
Chronicle represents Prakrama to have recovered it from them, but they are
so soon again found in full force that the completeness of this recovery
may be doubted. There were also two invasions of Malays (Javaku) during
this reign, under the lead of a chief called Chandra Banu. On the second
occasion this invader was joined by a large Tamul reinforcement. Sir E.
Tennent suggests that this Chandra Banu may be Polo's Sende-main or
Sendernaz, as Ramusio has it. Or he may have been the Tamul chief in the
north; the first part of the name may have been either Chandra or
Sundara.
NOTE 4. - Kazwini names the brazil, or sapan-wood of Ceylon. Ibn Batuta
speaks of its abundance (IV. 166); and Ribeyro does the like (ed. of
Columbo, 1847, p. 16); see also Ritter, VI. 39, 122; and Trans. R.A.S.
I. 539.
Sir E. Tennent has observed that Ibn Batuta is the first to speak of the
Ceylon cinnamon. It is, however, mentioned by Kazwini (circa A.D. 1275),
and in a letter written from Mabar by John of Montecorvino about the very
time that Marco was in these seas. (See Ethe's Kazwini, 229, and
Cathay, 213.)
[Mr. G. Phillips, in the Jour. China B.R.A.Soc., XX. 1885, pp. 209-226;
XXI. 1886, pp. 30-42, has given, under the title of The Seaports of India
and Ceylon, a translation of some parts of the Ying-yai-sheng-lan, a
work of a Chinese Mahomedan, Ma-Huan, who was attached to the suite of
Ch'eng-Ho, an envoy of the Emperor Yong-Lo (A.D. 1403-1425) to foreign
countries. Mr. Phillips's translation is a continuation of the Notes of
Mr. W.P. Groeneveldt, who leaves us at Lambri, on the coast of Sumatra.
Ma-Huan takes us to the Ts'ui-lan Islands (Nicobars) and to Hsi-lan-kuo
(Ceylon), whose "people," he says (p. 214), "are abundantly supplied with
all the necessaries of life. They go about naked, except that they wear a
green handkerchief round their loins, fastened with a waist-band. Their
bodies are clean-shaven, and only the hair of their heads is left.... They
take no meal without butter and milk, if they have none and wish to eat,
they do so unobserved and in private. The betel-nut is never out of their
mouths. They have no wheat, but have rice, sesamum, and peas. The
cocoa-nut, which they have in abundance, supplies them with oil, wine,
sugar, and food." Ma-Huan arrived at Ceylon at Pieh-lo-li, on the 6th of
the 11th moon (seventh year, Suean Teh, end of 1432). Cf. Sylvain Levi,
Ceylan et la Chine, J. As., Mai-juin, 1900, p. 411 seqq.
Odoric and the Adjaib do not mention cinnamon among the products of
Ceylon; this omission was one of the arguments of Dr. Schumann (Ergaenz.
No. 73 zu Petermann's Mitt., 1883, p. 46) against the authenticity of
the Adjaib. These arguments have been refuted in the Livre des Merveilles
de l'Inde, p. 265 seqq.
Nicolo Conti, speaking of the "very noble island called Zeilan," says (p.
7): "Here also cinnamon grows in great abundance. It is a tree which very
much resembles our thick willows, excepting that the branches do not grow
upwards, but are spread out horizontally: the leaves are very like those
of the laurel, but are somewhat larger. The bark of the branches is the
thinnest and best, that of the trunk of the tree is thicker and inferior
in flavour. The fruit resembles the berries of the laurel; an odoriferous
oil is extracted from it adapted for ointments, which are much used by the
Indians. When the bark is stripped off, the wood is used for fuel." - H.C.]
NOTE 5. - There seems to have been always afloat among Indian travellers,
at least from the time of Cosmas (6th century), some wonderful story about
the ruby or rubies of the king of Ceylon. With Cosmas, and with the
Chinese Hiuen Tsang, in the following century, this precious object is
fixed on the top of a pagoda, "a hyacinth, they say, of great size and
brilliant ruddy colour, as big as a great pine-cone; and when 'tis seen
from a distance flashing, especially if the sun's rays strike upon it,
'tis a glorious and incomparable spectacle." Our author's contemporary,
Hayton, had heard of the great ruby: "The king of that Island of Celan
hath the largest and finest ruby in existence. When his coronation takes
place this ruby is placed in his hand, and he goes round the city on
horseback holding it in his hand, and thenceforth all recognise and obey
him as their king." Odoric too speaks of the great ruby and the Kaan's
endeavours to get it, though by some error the circumstance is referred to
Nicoveran instead of Ceylon.
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