One Of The Titles Of The Pandyan Kings Is 'Ruler Of Korkai.'
Korkai Is Situated Two Or Three Miles Inland From Kayal, Higher Up The
River.
It is not marked in the Ordnance Map of India, but a village in the
immediate neighbourhood of it, called Maramangalam, 'the Good-fortune of
the Pandyas,' will be found in the map.
This place, together with several
others in the neighbourhood, on both sides of the river, is proved by
inscriptions and relics to have been formerly included in Korkai, and the
whole intervening space between Korkai and Kayal exhibits traces of
ancient dwellings. The people of Kayal maintain that their city was
originally so large as to include Korkai, but there is much more
probability in the tradition of the people of Korkai, which is to the
effect that Korkai itself was originally a sea-port; that as the sea
retired it became less and less suitable for trade, that Kayal rose as
Korkai fell, and that at length, as the sea continued to retire, Kayal
also was abandoned. They add that the trade for which the place was famous
in ancient times was the trade in pearls." In an article in the Madras
Journal (VII. 379) it is stated that at the great Siva Pagoda at
Tinnevelly the earth used ceremonially at the annual festival is brought
from Korkai, but no position is indicated.
NOTE 2. - Dr. Caldwell again brings his invaluable aid: -
"Marco Polo represents Kayal as being governed by a king whom he calls
Asciar (a name which you suppose to be intended to be pronounced
Ashar), and says that this king of Kayal was the elder brother of
Sonderbandi, the king of that part of the district of Maabar where he
landed.
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