In those days, traders from European countries reached the harbor towns like Muziri, Thondi and Naravu on the western seashores of the Chera kingdom and bought large quantities of pepper, ivory and blue beryl in exchange for gold and silver coins.
Coimbatore: Though there was no coastal town in the Kongu region, ancient history and literature have recorded that its people, indeed, carried on trade through sea routes with countries including Greece and Rome several centuries ago.
In those days, traders from European countries reached theharbor towns like Muziri, Thondi and Naravu on the western seashores of the Chera kingdom and bought large quantities of pepper, ivory and blue beryl in exchange for gold and silver coins.
Standing witness to the region’s business with western countries, the 149th song by Erukattur Thayankannanar in Agananuru, a Sangam period work, mentions that the Yavanar (Ancient Tamils called the Greeks and Romans so) came by their beautifully made wooden ships to the harbour town Muziri and bought large bags of pepper in exchange for gold and silver.
A person, who loves to have a hot omelette or half-boiled egg of broiler hens, feels pleased to eat it with a little pepper powder strewn on it. In the present trend, only the eater knows what special taste he/she feels by having even slices of watermelon or papaya, applying pepper on them at the roadside pushcart stalls in the city. Though pepper has been one of the edible common commodities, its role in the ancient trade history of Kongunadu is greatly surprising.
As ancient Greeks and Romans were fond of having pepper in their food, the spice, interestingly, came to be called as Yavanapriya in Sanskrit.
With the Kongu region being rich in the semi-precious stone Neelakkal, which the Romans called Aqua marina, it finds mention in the Roman historian Pliny the Elder’s Natural history, as he writes in it that Punnadu, a part of ancient Kongu region, had even a beryl mine. Pointing out his country’s wealth reaching the east, Pliny condemns the lavish spending of the Roman royals in buying cosmetics and ornaments from the east. He also estimates that his countrymen spent around 11,00,000 sovereigns of gold and silver for their purchase every year.
Cladius Ptolemy, a Greco- Roman author of Alexandria, who lived in the 2nd century A.D, refers to the beryl-rich village Padiyur of the Kongu region as Pounatta. Providing evidence to Kongu’s ancient trade relation with Greece and Rome, treasures of gold and silver coins were also unearthed at Pollachi, Vellalore, Karur and Kalayamuthur in different periods starting from 1800.
A chapter in Mayilai. Seeni Venkatasamy’s Kongunattu Varalaru, informs “At Pollachi, in three different periods (1800, 1809 and 1888), pots full of Roman coins were unearthed. In Vellalore, the numbers of Roman coins unearthed were 378, 135, 180 and 121 in the years 1842, 1850, 1891 and 1931 respectively. The coins portrayed the figures of the Roman emperors - Druses the Elder, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrean and Commodus. The other regions, where similar Roman coins were found, are Karur and Kalayamuthurâ€
Periplus Maris Erythraei, an early Greek manual of sailing directions, written in the first century A.D, calls Kannur (Cannanore) as Naura, Thondi as Tyndis, Korkai as Colchi and Thamizhagam as Damrica or Limyrike.
Despite the Kongu region being not on the coast, its people had trade with Greece and Rome through sea routes at the harbour town Thondi, when it was under the rule of Chera kings.
Thondi, which the Greeks and Romans called Tyndis was indeed a harbour of Kongunadu until the region came under the Chola rule.
In those days, traders from European countries reached theharbor towns like Muziri, Thondi and Naravu on the western seashores of the Chera kingdom and bought large quantities of pepper, ivory and blue beryl in exchange for gold and silver coins.
Standing witness to the region’s business with western countries, the 149th song by Erukattur Thayankannanar in Agananuru, a Sangam period work, mentions that the Yavanar (Ancient Tamils called the Greeks and Romans so) came by their beautifully made wooden ships to the harbour town Muziri and bought large bags of pepper in exchange for gold and silver.
A person, who loves to have a hot omelette or half-boiled egg of broiler hens, feels pleased to eat it with a little pepper powder strewn on it. In the present trend, only the eater knows what special taste he/she feels by having even slices of watermelon or papaya, applying pepper on them at the roadside pushcart stalls in the city. Though pepper has been one of the edible common commodities, its role in the ancient trade history of Kongunadu is greatly surprising.
As ancient Greeks and Romans were fond of having pepper in their food, the spice, interestingly, came to be called as Yavanapriya in Sanskrit.
With the Kongu region being rich in the semi-precious stone Neelakkal, which the Romans called Aqua marina, it finds mention in the Roman historian Pliny the Elder’s Natural history, as he writes in it that Punnadu, a part of ancient Kongu region, had even a beryl mine. Pointing out his country’s wealth reaching the east, Pliny condemns the lavish spending of the Roman royals in buying cosmetics and ornaments from the east. He also estimates that his countrymen spent around 11,00,000 sovereigns of gold and silver for their purchase every year.
Cladius Ptolemy, a Greco- Roman author of Alexandria, who lived in the 2nd century A.D, refers to the beryl-rich village Padiyur of the Kongu region as Pounatta. Providing evidence to Kongu’s ancient trade relation with Greece and Rome, treasures of gold and silver coins were also unearthed at Pollachi, Vellalore, Karur and Kalayamuthur in different periods starting from 1800.
A chapter in Mayilai. Seeni Venkatasamy’s Kongunattu Varalaru, informs “At Pollachi, in three different periods (1800, 1809 and 1888), pots full of Roman coins were unearthed. In Vellalore, the numbers of Roman coins unearthed were 378, 135, 180 and 121 in the years 1842, 1850, 1891 and 1931 respectively. The coins portrayed the figures of the Roman emperors - Druses the Elder, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrean and Commodus. The other regions, where similar Roman coins were found, are Karur and Kalayamuthurâ€
Periplus Maris Erythraei, an early Greek manual of sailing directions, written in the first century A.D, calls Kannur (Cannanore) as Naura, Thondi as Tyndis, Korkai as Colchi and Thamizhagam as Damrica or Limyrike.
Despite the Kongu region being not on the coast, its people had trade with Greece and Rome through sea routes at the harbour town Thondi, when it was under the rule of Chera kings.
Thondi, which the Greeks and Romans called Tyndis was indeed a harbour of Kongunadu until the region came under the Chola rule.