Antiq. II. 360), which
shows that the city was called in Sanskrit Kolamba. May not the real
etymology be Sansk. Kolam, "Black Pepper"?
On the suggestion ventured in this note Dr. Caldwell writes:
"I fancy Kola, a name for pepper in Sanskrit, may be derived from
the name of the country Kolam, North Malabar, which is much more
celebrated for its pepper than the country around Quilon. This
Kolam, though resembling Kollam, is really a separate word, and
never confounded with the latter by the natives. The prince of Kolam
(North Malabar) is called Kolastri or Kolattiri[A]. Compare also
Kolagiri, the name of a hill in the Sanskrit dictionaries, called
also the Kolla giri. The only possible derivations for the Tamil and
Malayalim name of Quilon that I am acquainted with are these: (1)
From Kolu, the 'Royal Presence' or presence-chamber, or hall of
audience. Kollam might naturally be a derivation of this word; and
in confirmation I find that other residences of Malabar kings were
also called Kollam, e.g. Kodungalur or Cranganore. (2) From Kolu,
the same word, but with the meaning 'a height' or 'high-ground'. Hence
Kollei, a very common word in Tamil for a 'dry grain field, a
back-yard'. Kolli is also, in the Tamil poets, said to be the name of
a hill in the Chera country, i.e. the Malabar coast. Kolam in
Tamil has not the meaning of pepper; it means 'beauty', and it is said
also to mean the fruit of the jujuba. (3) It might possibly be derived
from Kol, to slay; - Kollam, slaughter, or a place where some
slaughter happened ... in the absence, however, of any tradition to
this effect, this derivation seems improbable."
[A] see II. 387.
[3] Burnell.
[4] The translated passage about 'Apuhota is a little obscure. The
name looks like Kapukada, which was the site of a palace north
of Calicut (not in Kaulam), the Capucate of the
Portuguese.
[5] Dr. Caldwell.
[6] Indeed, Humboldt speaks of Brazil Isle as appearing to the west of
Ireland in a modern English map-Purdy's; but I do not know its
date. (See Examen, etc., II. 244-245)
CHAPTER XXIII.
OF THE COUNTRY CALLED COMARI
Comari is a country belonging to India, and there you can see something of
the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java
thus far. In order to see it you must go some 30 miles out to sea, and
then you see it about a cubit above the water.[NOTE 1]
This is a very wild country, and there are beasts of all kinds there,
especially monkeys of such peculiar fashion that you would take them for
men! There are also gatpauls[NOTE 2] in wonderful diversity, with
bears, lions, and leopards, in abundance.
NOTE 1. - Kumari is in some versions of the Hindu cosmography the most
southerly of the nine divisions of Jambodvipa, the Indian world.
