Burmese Sketches - Khamkoo

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13URMESE SKETCHES.
on the site of its ancient bed. If the tradition is true, the old
channel of the river would pass through Th^byu to the north
of Prome, and would join its present channel near the neighbourhood
of Tarokmaw, where the breadth of the river and the
existence of numerous islands indicate that there was, in that
locality, at some remote period, a commingling of waters,
whose increased volume and neutralised force produced a
considerable stagnation of the current of the river and facilitated
the deposit of silt, which was turned into islands. As in
the vicinity of Pagan and Mount Popa, the Irrawaddy appears
to have changed its bed from east to vvest near Prome. On
being addressed on the above points, Mr. T. H. D. La
Touche, Officiating Director, Geological Survey of India, was
kind enough to furnish me with the following reply :
" Mount Popa was active in Pliocene times, and may have
continued so into Pleistocene times, but we have no definite
information on this point. The most recent marine beds in
Yenangyaung and Prome are of Miocene age, though Mr.
Theobald thought that the older alluvium of both the Ganges
and Irrawaddy valleys was of marine origin. We have no
information about changes in the course of the Irrawaddy
within recent times, but I should think it very unlikely that the
Irrawaddy flowed down the Sittang valley, to the east of Pegu
Yoma, so recently as the beginning of the Christian era.''
The statements in the Burmese Chronicles regarding the date
of founding Yathemyo are not corroborated by geological
evidence.
CONNECTION BETWEEN SOUTHERN INDIA AND ANCIENT PKOME
The appellation Kadaram or Kidaram occurs on page 420 of
Vincent Smith's ^^zr/y History of India aLud on page 88 of
Rice's Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions. In the latter
work, Kidaram is mentioned twice, apart from Kulaittakolam
and Madamalingam. Kulaittakolam is a combination of
Kulataik and Taikkula, the name of one and the same locality,
which may be identified with the *^ Kalah *' of the Arabian
geographers, the " Takola '' of Ptolemy, the '' Takala " of the
Chinese Annals, and the " Golamattikanagaram " of the
Kaly^nl Inscription of Pegu (1476 A. D.). MSdamalingam is
no other than Martaban. Taikkula and Martaban were occupied
by the Talaings, and the former preceded Pegu as a seat
of power. Should KidSram be identified with ancient Prome,
Pegu, or Taikkula ? The question was referred to Mr.
V. Venkayya. M. A., Rai Bahadur, the learned Epigraphist to
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