Ramana, this is what I had written elsewhere:
"Then the pearl addressed the emperor: Rajan, endowed with merit I was born as a raindrop, and carried away by the massive clouds to the seas in south, where they began to rain, and a graceful oyster rising from those seas absorbed me in her belly, and in due course I became this, a great pearl that you hold." - From karpura-manjari written by Rajashekhara in around 900 CE.
"When you depart from Seilan (as Sri Lanka was known to the Europeans back then), and go westwards about sixty miles, you come to the extensive province of Maabar, on the mainland called India the Great, and which is indeed the noblest and richest country in the whole world. The largest and finest of pearls, best in the world, are found in this gulf between this continent and the island of Seilan". â From the travelogue of Marco Polo written around 1276 CE.
The waters between Sri Lanka and India have been generously gifted with enormous wealth of nature. The written historical accounts, spanning over several centuries, are full of description about how the unique types of pearls and conch-shells used to be gathered from these waters and distributed far and wide, and how the activity was a large industry supporting the foreign-trade economy of the South India and Sri Lanka. The trade of pearls from here to the Roman Empire has been reported from as early as the first century CE. Catholic evangelist Francis Xavier has also provided extensively detailed accounts of the pearl and conch gathering activities of this region when he lived amidst the fishing community of Sethusamudram in the 16th century.
For many centuries, just like the Saligrama stones coming from the Gandak river-beds of Nepal, Shankha conches coming from these seas have been an integral part of the Indic culture. Even in the excavated finds from the ancient Saraswati civilization sites, the traditional continuity of the importance of Shankha spanning over several millennia is amazingly evident.
Today, pearl fishing is not done here since last four decades. However, the marine biology of the region continues to support a vast industry of fishing and Shankha gathering, and provide livelihood to hundreds of thousands of people, thanks to the waters of Sethusamudram and the unique paradise of nature that it nourishes.
"Then the pearl addressed the emperor: Rajan, endowed with merit I was born as a raindrop, and carried away by the massive clouds to the seas in south, where they began to rain, and a graceful oyster rising from those seas absorbed me in her belly, and in due course I became this, a great pearl that you hold." - From karpura-manjari written by Rajashekhara in around 900 CE.
"When you depart from Seilan (as Sri Lanka was known to the Europeans back then), and go westwards about sixty miles, you come to the extensive province of Maabar, on the mainland called India the Great, and which is indeed the noblest and richest country in the whole world. The largest and finest of pearls, best in the world, are found in this gulf between this continent and the island of Seilan". â From the travelogue of Marco Polo written around 1276 CE.
The waters between Sri Lanka and India have been generously gifted with enormous wealth of nature. The written historical accounts, spanning over several centuries, are full of description about how the unique types of pearls and conch-shells used to be gathered from these waters and distributed far and wide, and how the activity was a large industry supporting the foreign-trade economy of the South India and Sri Lanka. The trade of pearls from here to the Roman Empire has been reported from as early as the first century CE. Catholic evangelist Francis Xavier has also provided extensively detailed accounts of the pearl and conch gathering activities of this region when he lived amidst the fishing community of Sethusamudram in the 16th century.
For many centuries, just like the Saligrama stones coming from the Gandak river-beds of Nepal, Shankha conches coming from these seas have been an integral part of the Indic culture. Even in the excavated finds from the ancient Saraswati civilization sites, the traditional continuity of the importance of Shankha spanning over several millennia is amazingly evident.
Today, pearl fishing is not done here since last four decades. However, the marine biology of the region continues to support a vast industry of fishing and Shankha gathering, and provide livelihood to hundreds of thousands of people, thanks to the waters of Sethusamudram and the unique paradise of nature that it nourishes.