MARCO POLOS DESCRIPTION OF THE PANDIAN KINGDOM - THE RICHEST KINGDOM ON EARTH

Marco Polo , a Venician Explorer was one of the earliest foreign traveler to visit South India. Towards the Close of the 13th Century he came to Coramandel coastal and Malabar Coastal districts and had given an account of the Pandian Kingdom in his book Travels of Marco Polo [1271 - 1295] 

THE RICHEST AND THE MOST SPLENDID KINGDOM IN THE WORLD IS THE PANDIAN KINGDOM - THE KINGODM OF TAMILS                - MARCO POLO

Marco Polo - The Venetian Traveller who first described the Gloious Sights of the Pandian Kingdom

The map of Pandian Kingdom when Marco Polo visited it is shown below

The Pandian Kingdom during the visit of Marco Pola (Pandias were Tamil Kings who ruled the whole of South India)

1.     On returning home from China in 1292 CE , He reached Kayal Harbor of Kayalpattinam (Thoothukudi Harbor) which is a Municipality in today’s Thoothukudi , Tamil Nadu

2.      Sundara Pandian and Kulasekara Pandian are the Kings who were ruling south india at that time of his visit.

3.     Marco Polo saw the Kings usually sit only on ground which they consider more honorable.

4.     The Climate is so hot , that all men and women wear nothing but a loin cloth including the king , except he is studded with Rubies , Sapphires , Emeralds and other gems as mentioned by him.

5.     Merchant and Traders abound, the king takes the pride in not holding himself above the law of the land , and people travel the highways safely with their valuables in the cool of the night.

6.     Marco Polo calls the Pandyan Kingdom as “The Richest and most splendid province in the World” , one that , together with Ceylon , Produces most of the gems and pearls that are found in the world.

7.     Nobody is permitted to take the pearl that weighs more than half a saggio out of the country , as such pearls are considered as country’s property and it belong to king. Heir of the kings too did not spend from the treasury instead they add more pearls and gems to their treasury during their reign. Kings here used to have 500 Wives.

8.     Many of the woman place themselves on the pile and burn themselves along with their body of their husband , and such woman will have great praise from all (Practice of Sati).

9.     It is their practice that both Male and female do wash their whole body twice everyday.

10. Rice is the sole grain , People use right hand for eating , Saved left hand for unclean tasks.

11. Most of them do not consume alcohol , Everyone uses their own pot vessels for their drinks and avoids others vessels , they hold the vessels above their mouth and pour the drink in to their mouth without vessel touching their lips.

12. People are addicted to chewing Betel Leaves along with spices and lime and spit them freely. Spitting is also considered as insult and a serious offense , that sometimes intentional spit on others provoke serious fights among people.

13. Dark skin is considered as highly esteemed among these people , and every child is anoint with sesame oil every week and that makes them grow much darker.

14.  People pay more attention to augury who are skilled to distinguish btw good and bad omens. They rely on Astrologers and have enchanters called Brahmans who are considered as expert in incantations against all sorts of beasts and birds , they protect Oyster divers from predatory fishes by means of incantations , and for this service they receive one in twenty pearls. (5% of their earning)

15.  The People are Idolaters and they worship Ox , do not eat beef (Except for a group with low social status)

16.  They Daub their houses with Cow Dung.

17.  In Battle they use Lance and Shield , According to Marco Polo they are “Men of Valor”

18.  Man who goes to sea is considered as Man of Despair.

19.  People do not consider any form of Sexual indulgence as sin.

20.  Their temple monasteries have both male and female deities , prone of being cross with each other , they offer tasty food and Meat to their Deity and sing and dance in front of them which is considered a merry sport of them. After the spirits of the idol had eaten the substance of the food , they all eat together the food which they offered to their deity.

21.  No Wonder their gods are all black and their devils are white as snow.

22.  A group of their holy men, the Yogis, eat frugally and live longer than most, some as much as 200 years.

23.  In one religious order, men even go stark naked and ‘lead a harsh and austere life ‘ , these men believe that all living beings have a soul and take pains to avoid hurting even the tiniest creatures. They say only those who conquer sexual desires can become an monk , he calls the idolaters are so strict and stubborn in their misbelief according to Marco Polo.

24.  Whenever there was a quarrel between brothers , as in this case there were 5 brothers in the pandya kingdom , the mother usually persuades them , and he says during the absence or death of their mother , the brothers quarrel and destroy each other.

25.  The region does not breed horses but imports them from Aden and beyond. Over 2000 steeds arrive on ships each year , but within a year all but 100 die due to ill usage and due to lack of horse handling knowledge. They provide horses with their cooked food that made them die soon. The foreign merchants do not send veterinaries purposely for they are too glad for many horses die in the king’s charge.They also deny any farrier smith to aid the horses with horse shoes so that they die quickly and their demand for horses increases every year. Kings loose most of their wealth in buying horses , as each may cost up to 500 saggi of gold

26.  They have experts in the art of physiognomy by which they discern a man’s character and qualities at once. They are superstitious on sneezing like sound , they sometimes consider it as good omen and sometimes as bad omen.

27.  All parents dismiss their Male children from the home at 13 , and do not allow them further maintenance in the family , they say that was the age for them to stand on their own.

28.  Except Kuyil he sees all the birds and animals are different from what he had seen in his place.

29.  There is practice that some parents present their girl child to idol which they entertain a great devotion.[ Devaradiyar practice]

30.  As soon as every child is born they note down nativity , hour , Month , and the Moon’s age , the custom they observe for every single thing they do with reference to Astrology and go by the advice of the divine skilled in sorcery , magic and geomancy.

31.  They are very strict on executing justice upon criminals. There is a custom practiced when a man is doomed to die for any crime , the govt. grants permission to put himself to death in front of idol if he wishes to do so. they provide them with 12 knives. [ Marco Polo here mean to say the tradition called Arikandam and Navakandam , in which the person sacrifices his life by cutting the vital nerves within seconds and if he dies by cutting 9 nerve points then that is called as Navakandam and cutting ones own head is called as Arikandam, there is ancient belief that people who die either of this method will satisfy their deity and will be considered as out of their sin]

32. They are strict on debts and have followed a rule to get back their debts , The lender will draw a circle around the absconding debtor and as per rule the debtor cannot cross the circle until he settles his debts , crossing the circle will be punished with death , marco had seen an incident for himself in which the king who crossed by had noticed this and had paid all the debts to the lender on behalf of the debted one and released him off the circle.

33.  He says rain falls only for three months in June , July and in August.

34.  Marco Polo had recorded and have said that both People of China and India use burning black stones to heat objects. [he mentions coal as burning stone]

35.  People eat a fruit from a tree that is big enough to occupy both the hands. [ Coconuts]

36.  Men uses cots made of light canework and arrange it before they sleep , the raised structure with fixed height keeps them away from vermin bites, at the same time they get much air circulation in those cots (Kattil) , other poor people used to sleep on the streets.

37.  Further north, in a little town near modern Chennai, is the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle, a place of pilgrimage for both the Christians and Muslims of the region.

38.  After the eastern Coromandel Coast, Marco sails up the western Malabar Coast, but his observations are sparse, partly because most of the same customs practiced along the Malabar Coast.

These were some of the observations of Marco Polo on Pandyan Kingdom of South India.