One can commonly observe many communities being vocally passionate about their origins and
their histories. Kayalpatnam is no exception to this.
There are many in Kayalpatnam who believe that the history of Kayalpatnam dates back to
many centuries. Some people in Kayalpatnam trace their lineage to Arabia and the time of
the Caliphs (Abubacker Siddique [ral] in particular).
About the location of the town itself, there are some who believe that the Kayal talked so
highly about in the literatures is very much the Kayalpatnam of today. As evidences,
few documents are quoted and some artefacts are pointed to.
There are two histories here - one of the people (roots in Arabia?) and one of the
place (is Kayal of yesteryears the Kayalpatnam of today?).
One must point out these beliefs are not universally acknowledged to be correct. For any history
to be accepted as true beyond doubt, it has to stand the critical scrutiny of respected historians and the
rational questions they would subject it to.
Through a few links in the right, articles that relate to history of Kayalpatnam are presented.
The first of the articles is a short-piece that appeared in the magazine Current Science (10 August 2006) - under the title -
Reconstruction of the ancient port, Korkai in Tuttukkudi district of Tamil Nadu.
Three articles - all extracts from original sources (Marco Polo, Abdullah Wassaf and Rashiduddin) are also
presented.
At the end of the extracts from Marco Polo's work are notes written by the translator Henry Yule.
Henry Yule quotes Rev. Caldwell (the author of History of Tinnevelly) as dismissing the
assertion that Kayalpatnam is same as Kayal of the past.
There are two other articles - one based on an article that appeared in the souvenir released to mark the centenary of Kayalpatnam
Panchayat Board and the other written
by Dr.R.S.Abdul Latiff.
Finally there is a link to references page - which
gives information on relatively much later references to Kayalpatnam in some historical (European colonial
period) documents.
