Citation link:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/taprobanian1887/0069
June, 1887.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
69
the Koya of Rajamahendri. These were probably
otherwise represented in the original Puranam, the
nse of the prophetic form showing’ the former pas-
sage to be interpolated as an addition. I would
regard the Gopala Kachcha or Gopala Kaksha as
one race, represented by the Northern Guhas, and
the Goparashtras as the Guhas of Mahishaka.
The Gopas of the Gokula of the Krishna legends
were also a branch of this race, from which descend
the Ko Vaisyas of South India, and the Goyi caste
of Ceylon.
The Sinhalese has another word, goya, the iguana,
showing us this same derivation from guha, &c., a
cave, the goya acquiring that name, because it lives
in burrows.
One of the most singular survivals of an heredi-
tary custom known to me, is the use by Sinhalese of
the Goyiya caste, of the pingo or shoulder-stick, on
either end of which is carried a burden, exactly as
we see it in ancient Egyptian paintings. This stick
is called katliya, and the word kat is evidently the
same as Arabic kataf, shoulder. Other Sinhalese
do use this now, but its use is typical of the Goyiya
caste, where purest and most isolated.
About B.C. 1463 Thothmes III. conquered the
Kufa, and took from them rich tribute of gold and
silver vases. It has been supposed that these Kufa
were the people of Cyprus, but when we refer to
their costume, as shown in the records of his con-
quests, we find they were a well-shaped effeminate
race, remarkably like a high-caste Sinhalese Goyiya
of to-day, with long flowing hair, and no dress
beyond a sort of buskin, and a loin cloth, richly
embroidered like those of the Goyiyas of Ceylon.
This denotes a people living in a hotter climate than
Cyprus, and it is probable that the conquest by
Thothmes III. of these people of Kufa, took place
while they were still in Petra of Arabia, and was
followed by wholesale deportation to colonies on the
frontier of his empire, in Cyprus, and in the mining
or trading stations in India. These would be the
Kephenian State of Eastern Beluchistan, for lead ;
Kabul for precious stones and gold; Western
India for precious stones, gold, and sandalwood;
Ceylon for pearls, gems, ebony, spice; Kalinga for
diamonds.
With the Kufa then, I would identify the Kopts
of Egypt, the Cypriotes, the Gopas and Guhas of
India, and the Goyi race of Ceylon. These were
evidently highly civilised when they were conquered
by Thothmes.
The Thamudites of South Arabia it is probable
are the Pount, a race also conquered by Thothmes
III., and of very similar physique to that of the Kufa.
They wore, however, a simple striped loin cloth, a
loose kerchief thrown over the head and secured by
a fillet, and a necklet of beads, but no buskins.
Their tribute was ebony, ivory, and precious metals.
They seem from Arabian traditions to have migrated
or been deported.
The deportation of the two great races, which held
the eastern trade in their hands, the one command-
ing the overland route from the Persian Gulf while
the other monopolised the ocean route of the Red
Sea, would be a certain consequence of their con-
quest by Thothmes, whose object evidently was to
concentrate in his own hands the trade that passed
by the Persian Gulf to the land of the Kufa and
Naharayn, or by the Red Sea to Pount.
Editor.
The Modarites in India.
These Arabs are called Mudariyat in Arabic,
which name I take to be derived from muda, or
munda, a sea, still found in Sinhalese as muhude,
mude, the sea, modara, an estuary, Vaedda munde,
the sea. Mediaeval Arabic has corrupted this word
to bahr, which seems equivalent to madr, softened
through badr.
These Mudariyat Arabs are apparently the race
spoken of in Sinhalese as mude-aetto, or sea-farers,
the Modutti of Ptolemy. I believe their original
settlement was about Yamama, and on the shore of
the Persian Gulf; the capital of Yamama was
anciently called Jaw, which certainly is connected
with the Arabic word jawaf, cavity, amplitude, and
thence with a Vaedda word “ sawu, ” the sea. The
connection between jawaf, and bahr, or muhuda,
mude, is very distant, but probably existed through
jawaf, dsawfa, dsawu-fa, dsawu-ha, sawuha (whence
sawu), and dsamuha (whence samudra), and damu-
ha (whence muhuda and munde). Further, in
classical India, this Empire of the Sea-farers became
the kingdom of Sagara. It will be seen, Arabic
jawaf, cavity, amplitude, &c., which belongs to the
same stock as Arabic jamm, a multitude, jawk, a
troop, jawf, the womb or abdomen, thence connects
on through various Indian words allied to sarv, sam,
“ all,” with Sinhalese (for example) ja, covering,
concealing, an infant or embryo, jana man, janaka
father, jani a mother or birth, janita born, jata born,
&c. We thus see that the root had two senses, that
which produced, and that which covered, and thence
was developed as the sea, cavity, amplitude, &c.
Hence nations which used sawu, or jawu for “ the
sea,” would use a name equivalent to Sinhalese jana
men, janita born, which we actually find in Sinhalese
Jawa, a Malay, a mere translation of Mudariyat. The
Malays (S. Jawa), call the sea, hlawut or lawut, in
which jawu, being really dsawu, has become dhawu,
and thence lawu-t. This well-known tendency of
the d or dh which replaces ds or j, to become a hard
guttural 1 or hl will appear at once to the reader, if
he repeats to himself aloud, “ loud, a dowd,” or if
he say “doubt, lout.” We here mark the difference,
NOTES AND QUERIES.
69
the Koya of Rajamahendri. These were probably
otherwise represented in the original Puranam, the
nse of the prophetic form showing’ the former pas-
sage to be interpolated as an addition. I would
regard the Gopala Kachcha or Gopala Kaksha as
one race, represented by the Northern Guhas, and
the Goparashtras as the Guhas of Mahishaka.
The Gopas of the Gokula of the Krishna legends
were also a branch of this race, from which descend
the Ko Vaisyas of South India, and the Goyi caste
of Ceylon.
The Sinhalese has another word, goya, the iguana,
showing us this same derivation from guha, &c., a
cave, the goya acquiring that name, because it lives
in burrows.
One of the most singular survivals of an heredi-
tary custom known to me, is the use by Sinhalese of
the Goyiya caste, of the pingo or shoulder-stick, on
either end of which is carried a burden, exactly as
we see it in ancient Egyptian paintings. This stick
is called katliya, and the word kat is evidently the
same as Arabic kataf, shoulder. Other Sinhalese
do use this now, but its use is typical of the Goyiya
caste, where purest and most isolated.
About B.C. 1463 Thothmes III. conquered the
Kufa, and took from them rich tribute of gold and
silver vases. It has been supposed that these Kufa
were the people of Cyprus, but when we refer to
their costume, as shown in the records of his con-
quests, we find they were a well-shaped effeminate
race, remarkably like a high-caste Sinhalese Goyiya
of to-day, with long flowing hair, and no dress
beyond a sort of buskin, and a loin cloth, richly
embroidered like those of the Goyiyas of Ceylon.
This denotes a people living in a hotter climate than
Cyprus, and it is probable that the conquest by
Thothmes III. of these people of Kufa, took place
while they were still in Petra of Arabia, and was
followed by wholesale deportation to colonies on the
frontier of his empire, in Cyprus, and in the mining
or trading stations in India. These would be the
Kephenian State of Eastern Beluchistan, for lead ;
Kabul for precious stones and gold; Western
India for precious stones, gold, and sandalwood;
Ceylon for pearls, gems, ebony, spice; Kalinga for
diamonds.
With the Kufa then, I would identify the Kopts
of Egypt, the Cypriotes, the Gopas and Guhas of
India, and the Goyi race of Ceylon. These were
evidently highly civilised when they were conquered
by Thothmes.
The Thamudites of South Arabia it is probable
are the Pount, a race also conquered by Thothmes
III., and of very similar physique to that of the Kufa.
They wore, however, a simple striped loin cloth, a
loose kerchief thrown over the head and secured by
a fillet, and a necklet of beads, but no buskins.
Their tribute was ebony, ivory, and precious metals.
They seem from Arabian traditions to have migrated
or been deported.
The deportation of the two great races, which held
the eastern trade in their hands, the one command-
ing the overland route from the Persian Gulf while
the other monopolised the ocean route of the Red
Sea, would be a certain consequence of their con-
quest by Thothmes, whose object evidently was to
concentrate in his own hands the trade that passed
by the Persian Gulf to the land of the Kufa and
Naharayn, or by the Red Sea to Pount.
Editor.
The Modarites in India.
These Arabs are called Mudariyat in Arabic,
which name I take to be derived from muda, or
munda, a sea, still found in Sinhalese as muhude,
mude, the sea, modara, an estuary, Vaedda munde,
the sea. Mediaeval Arabic has corrupted this word
to bahr, which seems equivalent to madr, softened
through badr.
These Mudariyat Arabs are apparently the race
spoken of in Sinhalese as mude-aetto, or sea-farers,
the Modutti of Ptolemy. I believe their original
settlement was about Yamama, and on the shore of
the Persian Gulf; the capital of Yamama was
anciently called Jaw, which certainly is connected
with the Arabic word jawaf, cavity, amplitude, and
thence with a Vaedda word “ sawu, ” the sea. The
connection between jawaf, and bahr, or muhuda,
mude, is very distant, but probably existed through
jawaf, dsawfa, dsawu-fa, dsawu-ha, sawuha (whence
sawu), and dsamuha (whence samudra), and damu-
ha (whence muhuda and munde). Further, in
classical India, this Empire of the Sea-farers became
the kingdom of Sagara. It will be seen, Arabic
jawaf, cavity, amplitude, &c., which belongs to the
same stock as Arabic jamm, a multitude, jawk, a
troop, jawf, the womb or abdomen, thence connects
on through various Indian words allied to sarv, sam,
“ all,” with Sinhalese (for example) ja, covering,
concealing, an infant or embryo, jana man, janaka
father, jani a mother or birth, janita born, jata born,
&c. We thus see that the root had two senses, that
which produced, and that which covered, and thence
was developed as the sea, cavity, amplitude, &c.
Hence nations which used sawu, or jawu for “ the
sea,” would use a name equivalent to Sinhalese jana
men, janita born, which we actually find in Sinhalese
Jawa, a Malay, a mere translation of Mudariyat. The
Malays (S. Jawa), call the sea, hlawut or lawut, in
which jawu, being really dsawu, has become dhawu,
and thence lawu-t. This well-known tendency of
the d or dh which replaces ds or j, to become a hard
guttural 1 or hl will appear at once to the reader, if
he repeats to himself aloud, “ loud, a dowd,” or if
he say “doubt, lout.” We here mark the difference,