MariTamil: Insights into a Maritime World

Understanding Indian Ocean Trade through an Old Tamil Littoral Narrative

2024–2027

This project seeks to unravel the historical significance of the Old Tamil literary sources composed in the ancient South Indian kingdoms that actively engaged in the Indo-Roman trade between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. This epoch marked a pivotal juncture in the region’s history, as evidenced by the rich literary heritage of the Old Tamil Caṅkam corpus, since the economic opportunities inherent in Indo-Roman relations led to the emergence of ‘early kingdoms’ and triggered their economic rise. The Old Tamil literary texts provide invaluable insights into the vibrant coastal landscapes abounding with bustling trade activities, where, according to the Tamil sources, “Greek” (yavaṉa) ships also arrive laden with precious gold and depart carrying the coveted cargo of pepper.

Among these Caṅkam literary compositions, the text known as Paṭṭiṉappālai, written by Uruttiraṉ Kaṇṇaṉār (probably around the 2nd–5th centuries AD), holds special significance. This “song” serves as the basis of the research, since it provides a glimpse into the life of a coastal town of the Cōḻa kingdom named Pukār or Kāvirippūmpaṭṭiṉam, situated on the Coromandel Coast. This town occupies a paramount place in our study, for it functioned as one of the primary South Indian ports, serving as a nexus between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal trade routes. Among other things, the text of the Paṭṭiṉappālai mentions the multilingual population of the town, the houses of the local merchant community, the tax collectors and the warehouses, the sailing-ships in the harbour, the well-established oversea trade in horses, pepper, gold, sandalwood, as well as trade with Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, etc. 

Printed editions of the Paṭṭiṉappālai, the ninth work within the anthology of the Pattuppāṭṭu (“Ten Songs”) exist, but to date there is no critical edition available which properly examines the manuscripts and utilises the tools of modern philology. Translation attempts often mix the suggestions of medieval commentators with their own interpretations, neglecting the necessary philological work to reconstruct the original meaning of the text. Thus, the objective of the MariTamil research project is to produce a critical edition of the Paṭṭiṉappālai together with its medieval commentary, based on the original palm-leaf and paper manuscripts (C1 palm-leaf ms. UVSL [184-F(2)], C2 palm-leaf ms. UVSL [579-F], G1 paper ms. GOML [D.232]), systematically collating them and reconstructing the basic text along with the variant readings. The aim is to reintroduce this often-quoted yet frequently misunderstood text to the international research community involved in 'Indo-Roman' trade on a more stable basis. Furthermore, this effort seeks to establish it as a crucial source text for analysing the Monsoon Asia region in antiquity. The precise reconstruction of the Paṭṭiṉappālai makes it suitable for further analysis in light of other Tamil, Indo-Aryan, and Mediterranean sources related to Pukār, as well as the results of archaeological excavations conducted in the vicinity of the ancient town.