The Myth of Muziris

In our little town of Kodungallur in Kerala, there is no dearth of legends and fables.

Thiruvanchikulam Mahadeva Temple with its unique Tamil link, Keezthali Siva Temple with its ruins from Tipu’s military assault, Cheraman Juma Masjid being the first mosque in India, Azhikode Church through which St.Thomas brought us Christianity, Sringapuram Siva Temple and the adjacent Thampuram Palace with the legend of Kunji Kuttan Thampuran all have their own unique stories for us.  Above all, in the middle of the town is the sprawling Kodungallur Bagavathi Kavu which itself has a series of unsolved mysteries emanating from it.  It was as if, every street around us has a scintillating story for us.

Yet, Muziris was beyond all these legends and stories – It was in fact a surreal myth for us. An intriguing myth which our parents and grandparents quite often used to tell us in our childhood –

“Long ago, may be since the time of Rama, Kerala was ruled by Chera Kings. They were very just Kings loved by all the people like the King Mahabali. At that time there was a very Ancient port. A sea port where hundreds of ships flocked during monsoon. Those ships came from Rome, Greece and even from Persia with gold and wine and carried back pepper, ivory and cardamom.”

And with a sense of pride they would continue – “And you know, it was somewhere around our little town of Kodungallur where that ancient port of Muziris was!”

This colourful legend used to stir up our childhood imagination – “Is it that our little home town was a sea port?! – with brave Romans and handsome Greeks, horse carts carrying gold and streets with sweet aroma of pepper and spices?!”

We would wonder how it would be if that all still existed! –  “But the Muziris port got completely destroyed in the flood of 1341 AD” is how our parents would end the story stranding us among our vivid images.

As time passed, those legends slowly started to drain out from our thoughts. We came to know that there were excavations in Kodungallur long back but the historians could find nothing beyond the era of the great flood of 1341 A.D. We believed the ancient port city of Muziris and its related legends have vanished without any trace.

It was then in the year 2006, one day Ram called us with that stunning news.

“Muziris is unearthed!” – “A team of archaeologists have found the debris of an ancient town near Pattanam (which is around 9 km from our home town) - It could be the remains of Muziris.”

– It was the news of a lifetime for us. All the legends and fables of our childhood are going to come alive!

The very next possible day, we were on our way to our Muziris! Driving along the Kodungallur-N.Parur, NH-17, crossing the twin bridges, a 7 km ride took us to Pattanam Junction. We took the turn and then through the pothole-riddled narrow roads, we reached an unassuming backyard of a house where the excavation was going on. The archaeologists had already left for that day and what we found there was a set of trenches and a huge pile of stones and sand. Yes. That was our first sight of Muziris! Though it was just sand and stones what we saw, for us, everything there seemed to behold the secrets of our mysterious history.

We talked to the local people there and they told us how they used to get odd pebbles and curious stones from their surroundings. Unfortunately none knew how significant those are! There was a stout middle-aged local man who was following the excavation more closely. Through him we came to know what we saw are not just stones. Those are pieces of amphora (jars used to store wine) and pottery of a civilization which existed in Muziris almost 2000 years back! The person took us to show the glass beads and semi-precious stones which were unearthed in excavation – probably of the Roman era.

It was just the beginning. What followed was a series of excavations in the following years. Dr. K P Shajan of KCHR (Kerala Council for Historical Research) who came up with Muziris hypothesis became our unsung hero. We waited anxiously to know the findings of each excavation. And every possible time, we went to Pattanam to see the trenches. In our following visits over the past 5 years, we saw more of the pottery and amphora, a trench where a small boat was excavated (Carbon dating sets it period as 1300 BC to 100 BC) and a series of brick structures of a probable urban settlement. 

Print media especially ‘The Hindu’ came up with a lot of coverage on Pattanam excavations.

Regarding the excavated articles in Pattanam, Frontline writes –

"Major findings from Pattanam have regularly been published in detail by the KCHR. The excavations revealed brick architectural remains, Roman amphora (large storage jars used to transport wine, olive oil, fish products, and so on throughout the Roman empire), terra sigillata (tableware, mostly plates and cups, distinguished by their red surface), Indian roulette ware (which were made in the northern parts of India and which indicated ancient trade links with the rest of the country), West Asian and Arabian pottery (turquoise glazed ware and torpedo storage jars lined with bitumen, from the time of the last pre-Islamic Persian, or Sassanian, empire (A.D. 224 to A.D. 651) to the early Islamic period, and cameo blanks (a kind of locally made jewellery known to have been very popular in ancient Rome and presumably meant for export).

A huge collection of beads made of glass and semi-precious stones, waste material from bead manufacturing, fragments of Roman glass bowls (first century B.C./A.D.), terracotta lamps (tentatively dated from B.C. 100 to A.D. 100), iron objects including knives and nails, and hooks and slags (with those made locally having a higher carbon content than the Roman ones), copper objects, including square or circular Chera coins (obtained for the first time in Kerala, from a stratographic context), gold ornaments (right from the Early Historic Period), sherds of coarse ware with Tamil Brahmi letters and graffiti on them (some found this season have pre-firing marks) and modern-day blue-and-white Chinese ceramics have also been found."

K.N. Panikkar, former Professor of History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Chairman of the KCHR, in an interview with Frontline tells us –

"I was initially uncertain about even using the word – “Muziris” – but now, of course!" and he explains - "The way people talked about it, Muziris had assumed a legendary dimension. But this is the first time that an archaeological excavation has brought out evidence of the Roman presence and, compared with other places, the evidence is much more in quantity. It actually proves the scale of the trade."

Prof. Steven E. Sidebotham, University of Delaware in an interview with Frontline says –

"Our ceramic specialist (Dr Roberta Tomber, now at the British Museum) indicates that well over 1,000 sherds of Mediterranean-made amphoras (storage and shipment jars) have been documented from the excavations at Pattanam. This makes Pattanam the most prolific site in terms of the numbers of Mediterranean-made (that is, Roman-era-manufactured) sherds of any site in India thus far."

With these insights it is now just a matter of time to know if what KCHR uncovered is the key urban centre of the Chera Empire (B.C. 300 to A.D. 1200) which along with the trade relations was the gateway to India for three major religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 

As of 2012, Muziris has come a long way. From just a myth in debris Muziris has transformed into the most sought after name. Historians kicked off debates for and against the Muziris Hypothesis; Politicians used the plot and came up with the Muziris Heritage Project. Soon appeared Muziris Exhibitions, Muziris Hertiage Tours, Muziris Tourism, Muziris Biennale, Muziris Cool Bar, Muziris Fruits Stall and Muziris Beauty Parlour too! Among all, here we are, watching all these distractions with a lot of apprehension – with a prayer that in this commotion our little Muziris doesn't get buried down again!