the sea coast is now about five miles inland. After the sea had retired from Korkai, 

 a new emporium arose on the coast. This was Kayal .... which in turn 

 became in time too far from the sea md Kayal was also abandoned." 



The accuracy of this statemen I have no means of judging, except that none of 

 the people of the Tambraparni district whom I have met have any knowledge of the 

 ruins of Korkai, whereas they al enow those of Kayal, and we have ample evidence 

 that the abandonment of KayaJ and the creation of the new ports and daughter towns 

 of Kayalpattanani and Pinnacoil, or more properly Pinnekayal, by the Moor and 

 Tarawa inhabitants respectively of Kayal took place in early Portuguese times as will 

 be noted further on. 



Yvhen the Portuguese rounded Cape Camorin they found the pearl fisheries of 

 the Gulf of Mannar in the hands of the caste of shore-dwelling people, fishermen and 

 divers, already alluded to as Parawas whom tradition shows to have had control of 

 this industry from time immemorial. Of the origin of these people we know extremely 

 little. We know, however, that in the old days, from 600 B. C. and for 1,500 years 

 or more thereafter, the country now comprehended in the districts of Madura and 

 Tinnevellv, formed the great Tamil Kingdom of Pandya, and in the old Tamil work 

 called the : ' Kaheddu^ the position of the pearl-fishing caste to this monarchy is 

 incidentally mentioned in the following extract : — 



" Yidanarayanen Cheddi and the Paravu men who fished pearls by paying 

 u tribute to Alliyarasani, daughter of Pandya, King of Madura, who went on a voyage, 

 " experienced bad weather in the sea, and were driven to the shores of Lanka, where 

 " they founded Karainerkai (Karativo) and Kutiraimalai. Yidanarayanen Cheddi had 

 " the treasures of his ship stored there by the Parawas, and established pearl fisheries 

 " at Kadalihilapam (Chilavaturai) and Kallachihilapam (Chilaw) and introduced the 

 " trees which change iron into gold ", etc., etc. (Herdman, " Report on the pearl oyster 

 " fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar", volume I, page 2). 



In the " Maturaik-kanchi " they are described as being most powerful in the 

 country round Korkai, " well-fed on fish and flesh and armed with bows, their hordes 

 terrified their enemies by their dashing valour.* " It is very probable that they were 

 of Xaga origin and of the same race as the inhabitants of Ceylon at the time of the 

 YVijayan conquest of that island. 



When the Pandyan kingdom was powerful the Parawas had grants of certain 

 rights from the monarchy, paying tribute from the produce of the fisheries and receiv- 

 ing protection and immunity from taxation in return. The fishery in these early days 

 appears to have been extremely prosperous — thus in A.D. 1330 Friar Jordanus, who 

 visited India at this time, tells us that as many as 8,000 boats were employed in the 

 pearl fisheries of Tinnevelly and Ceylon f . 



The organization of the fisheries was also well ordered even prior to the advent 

 of Europeans, as we learn from the following extract written by the Nawab of the 

 Carnatic in 1771 to the Governor-General of Batavia, namely — 



" In the time of the King of Madura, Terniel Nadu Raja and the second king 

 '• Minaatje Ringeja Dalway, in the year 1470 it was decided that in January all things 

 " connected with the fishery should be arranged and that the same arrangement should 

 " hold good so long as the kingdom remained under the Carnatic. % " 



The conditions under which the Parawas lived and the far-reaching changes 

 which at this period — the opening of the 16th century — were beginning to be felt owing 

 to the weakening of the paramount power of Yijayanagar are graphically set forth in 

 a report, dated 19th December 1669, written by Yan Reede and Laurens Pyl, respec- 

 tively Commandant of the Coast of Malabar and Canara and Senior Merchant and 

 Chief of the sea-ports of Madura, in justification of their action in undertaking 

 war with the Nayak or King of Madura. This report addressed to Van Goens, 

 the Governor of Ceylon and Dutch-India, contains the following exposition of the 



• Kanakaeahhai, loc. cit., page 44. 



t Thurston, E. " Pearl and Chank Fisheries ; " Mad , 1894, p. 9. 



t At this period the kingdom had lost its independence and was tributary to the great Hindu state of Vijayanagar, 

 which comprised the region known as the Carnatic. 



