Chapter CHALIA to CHANK of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

CHALIA to CHANK

CHALIA, CHALÉ, n.p. Chalyam, Chaliyam, or Chalayam ; an old port of Malabar, on the south side of the Beypur [see BEYPOOR] R., and opposite Beypur. The terminal station of the Madras Railway is in fact where Chalyam was. A plate is given in the Lendas of Correa, which makes this plain. The place is incorrectly alluded to as Kalyan in Imp. Gazetteer, ii. 49 ; more correctly on next page as Chalium. [See Logan, Malabar, i. 75.]

c. 1330.—See in Abulfeda, “Shaliyat, a city of Malabar.”—Gildemeister, 185.

c. 1344.—“I went then to Shalyat, a very pretty town, where they make the stuffs that bear its name [see SHALEE].…Thence I returned to Kalikut.”—Ibn Batuta, iv. 109.

1516.—“Beyond this city (Calicut) towards the south there is another city called Chalyani, where there are numerous Moors, natives of the country, and much shipping.” —Barbosa, 153.

c. 1570.—“And it was during the reign of this prince that the Franks erected their fort at Shaleeat…it thus commanded the trade between Arabia and Calicut, since between the last city and Shaleeat the distance was scarcely 2 parasangs.”—Tohfut-ul- Mujahideen, p. 129.

1572.—

“A Sampaio feroz succederá
Cunha, que longo tempe tem o leme :
De Chale as torres altas erguerá
Em quanto Dio illustre delle treme.”

Camões, x. 61.]

By Burton :

[c. 1610.—“…crossed the river which separates the Calecut kingdom from that of a king named Chaly.”—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 368.]

1672.—“Passammo Cinacotta situata alla bocca del fiume Ciali, doue li Portughesi hebbero altre volte Fortezza.”—P. Vincenzo Maria, 129.

CHAMPA, n.p. The name of a kingdom at one time of great power and importance in Indo-China, occupying the extreme S.E. of that region. A limited portion of its soil is still known by that name, but otherwise as the Binh-Thuan province of Cochin China. The race inhabiting this portion, Chams or Tsiams, are traditionally said to have occupied the whole breadth of that peninsula to the Gulf of Siam, before the arrival of the Khmer or Kambojan people. It is not clear whether the people in question took their name from Champa, or Champa from the people ; but in any case the form of Champa is Sanskrit, and probably it was adopted from India like Kamboja itself and so many other Indo-Chinese names. The original Champa was a city and kingdom on the Ganges, near the modern Bhagalpur. And we find the Indo-Chinese Champa in the 7th century called Maha-champa, as if to distinguish it. It is probable that the [Greek Text] Zaba or [Greek Text] Zabai of Ptolemy represents the name of this ancient kingdom ; and it is certainly the Sanf or Chanf of the Arab navigators 600 years later ; this form representing Champ as nearly as is possible to the Arabic alphabet.

c. A.D. 640.—“…plus loin à l’est, le royaume de Mo-ho-tchen-po” (Mahachampa). —Hiouen Thsang, in Pèlerins Bouddh. iii. 83.

851.—“Ships then proceed to the place called Sanf (or Chanf)…there fresh water is procured ; from this place is exported the aloes-wood called Chanfi. This is a kingdom.”—Relation des Voyages, &c., i. 18.

1298.—“You come to a country called Chamba, a very rich region, having a King of its own. The people are idolaters, and pay a yearly tribute to the Great Kaan …there are a very great number of Elephants in this Kingdom, and they have lign-aloes in great abundance.”—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 5.

c. 1300.—“Passing on from this, you come to a continent called Jampa, also subject to the Kaan.…”—Rashiduddin, in Elliot, i. 71.

c. 1328.—“There is also a certain part of India called Champa ; There, in place of horses, mules, asses, and camels, they make use of elephants for all their work.”—Friar Jordanus, 37.

1516.—“Having passed this island (Borney)…towards the country of Ansiam and China, there is another great island of Gentiles called Champa ; which has a King and language of its own, and many elephants.…There also grows in it aloes-wood.”—Barbosa, 204.

1552.—“Concorriam todolos navegantes dos mares Occidentaes da India, e dos Orientaes a ella, que são as regiões di Sião, China, Choampa, Cambòja.…”— Barros, ii. vi. 1.

1572—

“Ves, corre a costa, que Champa se chama
Cuja mata he do pao cheiroso ornada.”