8 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN [VOL. XVI, 



The town of Sosikourai has, I notice, not been identified by any 

 writers with any now-existing place name, but I have little doubt 

 it represents Tuticorin — the present principal town on the coast. 

 The Tamil S is commonly corrupted into Ch, as Sippi into Chippi, 

 and then Chochikourai would readily pass into Totikourai and 

 Tuticourai from which Tuticorin, the present rendering of the name 

 of this town, is readily derivable.* 



Of Kolkhoi, identified by the Graeco-Egyptian writers as the 

 headquarters of the pearl fishery, the localization is rendered 

 easy by reference to the Tamil poems of the period in question. 

 In them is frequent mention of the great city of Korkai. Thus 

 the Maturaik-kanchi describes it as the chief town in the 

 country of the Parathavar and the seat of the pearl fishery, with a 

 population consisting chiefly of pearl-divers and chank-cutters. 

 The great epic Chilappatikaram (XXVII, I27)t further records that 

 on account of the importance of the revenue derived from the pearl 

 fishery, Korkai was a sub-capital of the Pandyan kingdom, and 

 the usual residence of the heir-apparent. In its prime it boasted 

 great magnificence, adorned with temples and palaces befitting its 

 wealth and importance. It was situated at the mouth of the river 

 Tambraparni, a river draining the present district of Tinnevelly 

 and carrying down to the sea immense quantities of sand and mud. 



The harbour of Korkai gradually silted up, and deltaic accumu- 

 lation eventually cut off ready access to the sea. In consequence 

 the old city gradually decayed and the population drifted to the 

 new mouth of the river where a daughter town sprang into being 

 at the expense of the parent. Exactly when this occurred I cannot 

 make out.J Mediaeval travellers make no mention of Korkai or 



* Tuticorin is the European equivalent or corruption of the Tamil name Tuttukkudi. 

 The cerebral d often (usually) becomes r in the mouths of Europeans and the final n 

 was added for the same euphonic reason that turned Kochchi into Cochin and Kumari 

 into Comorin. Tuttukudi then becomes Tutikourai to the European ear and from this 

 to the Sosikourai of the Greeks is no difficult transition. A Greek mariner sailing along 

 the coast of the Kolkhic Gulf could not possibly omit mention of the only sheltered 

 port on the west side, apart from the river port of Korkai (Kolkhoi). 



t &<8vuu tgj&rr u la, one of the five epics written by Tamils who were Buddhists or 

 Jains by religion. It is known in English as "The Lay of the Lost Anklet." Its 

 author was llanko-adikal, brother of King Chenkkuduvan, an early Chera King who 

 reigned probably about the end of the ist or beginning of the 2nd century A.D. 



| Korkai still exists as a name and a village. I visited it in 1912, and on the out. 

 skirts, within 20 yards of a stone partially embedded at the roadside, and bearing a 

 sedant figure of a Jaina Tirthankar, I hit upon a rubbish heap from which I picked out 

 a large quantity of chank bangle workshop refuse, similar to what is produced by Dacca 

 shell-workers at the present day. ( )ld Pandyan coins have been found at the same place. 



