A 2,000-year-old Tamil-Brahmi inscription has been discovered in Egypt, providing important evidence of trade between India and the ancient west. The text also has the name of a Tamil trader who visited the rock-cut tombs of Egyptian pharaohs.
According to a report by The Times of India, the trader, whose name was not known to anyone until it was discovered recently by Swiss scholar Ingo Strauch, reportedly inscribed his name at eight places in five tombs out of the six in the Valley of Kings in Egypt, dated back to 1600 BCE.
The inscriptions, including the name “Cikai Korran” (with “Cikai” meaning tuft or crown and “Korran” understood as leader or king) — along with several other names — provide fresh evidence of bilateral trade between India and the West. These instances also highlight the journeys of Tamil merchants along ancient trade routes.
ALSO READ: Egypt Leads Mideast Stock Losses As Israel-Iran Conflict Worsens
Strauch, along with Charlotte Schmid from École Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), who is also known as the French School of Asian Studies, deciphered the inscriptions and presented their findings at the Tamil Epigraphy Conference in Chennai on February 11.
"Through other inscriptions discovered in ancient port cities, we had information about traders from Tamil Nadu visiting Egypt," said Ingo Strauch, from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Strauch also pointed out that the traders not only arrived in ships and left but also stayed in the region for a prolonged period. He also claimed that they took time to even visit sites that were located far away.
“The name ‘Korran' is linked with the king or leader," said Charlotte Schmid.
Pointing out that the trader might have read Greek inscriptions and took inspiration from them, Charlotte added, "In one place the name was also written as ‘Cikai Korran - vara kanta', meaning he came and saw. It appears they tried to follow the formula of Greek inscriptions found at the Valley of Kings."
Furthermore, Charlotte revealed that another inscription at Tomb 1 read “Kopan varata kantan”, which meant “Kopan came and saw.”
Simultaneously, Tomb 8 contains Catan, a common South Indian name found in several early Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions. Some of these names have also been documented in excavations at Berenike, a Red Sea port.
Among the 30 inscriptions discovered by Strauch and Schmid in the valley of the kings, 20 are in Tamil script, while the other ten are in different Indian languages, like Sanskrit, Prakrit and Gandhari-Kharoshthi, suggesting that traders from northwestern India and western India, including regions of Gujarat and Maharashtra also visited Egypt during the roman period (753 BCE-476 CE).
“While there are more than 2,000 graffiti marks and inscriptions in the Greek language found at the tombs in the Valley of Kings, they came from all parts of the Mediterranean world. However, no one of them came from Indian traders,” Charlotte added.
A scholar named Jules Baillet, who recorded these inscriptions, described these Tamil Brahmi inscriptions as graffiti from the Asiatic region.
“While the writings of scholars Ptolemy and Pliny reveal Romans' arrival to India for trade, it was not clear if it was a two-way trade. This new evidence gives proof that two-way trade happened,” senior epigraphist Y Subbarayalum, was quoted as saying by TOI.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
