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Art. VIII.—Mahuan's Account of Cochin, Calicut, and Aden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Geo. Phillips
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Extract

In the July, 1895, number of this Journal I gave a description of the kingdom of Bengala (Bengal) from the pen of a Muhammadan Chinaman named Mahuan, who on account of his knowledge of Arabic was attached as Interpreter to the suite of Chêng Ho, when he made his voyages to India and other places in the Eastern seas at the beginning of the fifteenth century.

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , April 1896 , pp. 341 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1896

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References

page 342 note 1 Mahuan's text has Wang-so-li-jen-shih and the Ming history has Wang-su-li-jen So-li and Su-li=Suri are, I venture to suggest, intended to represent Surya, or Surya Vansa, or Race of the Sun.

page 342 note 2 Our traveller makes no distinction between Buddhism and Hinduism. The Chinese text, which I give at the side from Mahuan's text and the Ming history, is clear as to Buddhism being meant.

page 342 note 3 The characters which I have interpreted as representing the Nairs, the ruling class of Malabar, are written Nan-k'uên in Mahuan's text. A Chinese scholar suggested to me that the characters in question might probably be an error in transcription for Nan-li . The Ming history, as quoted in the Hai-kuo-t'u-chih, Keuen 17, when speaking of the castes of Ko-chih (Cochin), also writes Nan-k'uên, and states that the ruler of that country belongs to that class. Another work, the Huang-ming-szû-i-k'ao when speaking of the ruler of Calicut, calls him a Nan-p'i-jen but his brother of Cochin is styled of the Nan-k'uên class. Here is great confusion, and it is difficult to say which reading is the right one.

Dr. F. Hirth has in his paper, “Das Reich Malabar,” which appeared in the T'oung-pao in May, 1895, treated of a kingdom called Nan-p'i Dr. Hirth seems to think that this kingdom stands for the country of the Namburi Brahmans of Malabar. There is nothing unlikely in this, but whether their country has any connection with the Nan-k'ue”n of Mahuan and the Nan-p'i of the Huang-ming-szû-i-k'ao I am not prepared to say.

It is well known that the rulers of Cochin and Calicut were Nairs, and such being the case I have ventured to assume that Mahuan intended to speak of them when he uses the characters Nan-k'uên. I would also suggest that by Nan-k'uê;n, Mahuan may possibly have intended to represent the title Naik. Vide Yule's Glossary under Naik, p. 470.

page 343 note 1 Most probably the Brahmins. “The Zennār, or sacred string” (worn by Brahmins), says Craufurd, is hung round the body from the left shoulder (Marsden's, “Marco Polo,” p. 666Google Scholar). , Muhammadans. Chih-ti, Chittis; Ko-ling, Kling; Mu-kua (vide Yule's Glossary).

page 344 note 1 P'o-ho. Bahar. A commercial weight which differs greatly in many places. Pepper at Cochin apparently sold, reckoning the tael at 6s. 8d., at £1 13s. 4d. for 534 lhs., or less than a penny a pound.

page 344 note 2 Fa-nan. The Fanam is a small piece of gold worth fifteen Tārīs. Ta-urh. The Tārī is a small coin worth a halfpenny. (Extract from Dr. Dillon in Elliott's “Coins of Southern India,” p. 57.)—I am indebted to Dr. Codrington for the above note, and also for other valuable help.

page 345 note 1 K'an-pa-mei read also K'an-pa-i and in the Amoy dialect K'am-pa-i, may possibly be a Chinese rendering of Koyampadi, a former name of Coimbatore, a town and district in the Madras Presidency, a great centre of weaving and cotton manufacture.

Ibn Batuta informs us that at Shalyet, a town a little to the south of Calicut, they make the stuffs that bear its name (Yule's Glossary, p. 139). This stuff made at Shālyēt must be, I think, the Chih-li cloth of our Chinese traveller, but he says it was made at Kampamei and its district; he may possibly include Shālyēt in the term district.

page 346 note 1 Chitti Weinaki. Chittis are merchants who are called in when anything is to be sold, and who are retained by the king to conduct his trading transactions ashore and afloat. These Chittis are divided into four classes, each dealing in their own particular wares. The Waligi Chitti (doubtless the Chinese Weinaki Chitti) trades in corals, rubies, and bangles made of glass, earth, lead, tin, copper, or any kind of metals. (Valentyn, , “Description of Ceylon,” vol. v, p. 8Google Scholar.)

page 347 note 1 This is still the order of succession in Travancore.

page 347 note 2 Fan-la-sek. An error in transcription, moat probably for Fan-sek-la. The Arab Farsala, a weight formerly much used in trade in the Indian seas; it seems to have run from 20 to 30 lbs. (Yule's Glossary, p. 273). Tang-ko-li. This may possibly represent the Curia of Varthema, p. 170. In a note on the same page Curia is said to stand undoubtedly for Kôraja.

page 349 note 1 “Ear-rings. ‘Tankîsa’ exactly resembles the Khusfa, but is one inch in diameter, and is frequently bound with gold wire half its circumference. Six of these rings are worn in the upper membrane of each ear.” (Hunter's, “Statistical Account of Aden,” pp. 58, 59Google Scholar.)

I am indebted to Professor de Goeje, of Leiden, for the following explanation of the above names of the Aden coins, which he has kindly given me through Professor G. Schlegel, also of Leiden.

The syllable Poo, says the Professor, represents the Arabic Abu, Father. It occurs in many vulgar names of coins, as in Abu Madfu, Gun Father, or rather Father Gun, the name of the Pillar Dollar, which the Arabs compare to two guns.

Poo-lo-li is Abu Loo-loo, Pearl Father, possibly so called on account of there being a circle on the coin resembling beads or pearls.

Poo-kio-szû is Abu Kaus or Kos, Father Arch or Bow, on account of the coin having the figure of an arch or bow on it.

page 350 note 1 Les Mahometans comptent leur mois selon le cours de la lune; le premier soir où ils voient la nouvelle lune, est le premier jour du mois. Quand le soir oi elle doit paraitre, le temps est couvert, ils ne sembarassent pas de commencer le mois un jour plus tard. (Niebuhr, , “Description de l'Arabie,” p. 96. Amsterdam, 1774.)Google Scholar

page 350 note 2 Badan. Persian Bādām (Bretschneider).