INDIAN SHIPPING
also of the same opinion, and remarks[1]: "There is good reason to believe that considerable colonies of Roman subjects engaged in trade were settled in Southern India during the first two centuries of our era, and that European soldiers, described as powerful Yavanas, and dumb Mlecchas (barbarians) clad in complete armour, acted as bodyguards to Tamil kings, while the beautiful large ships of the Yavanas lay off Muziris (Cranganore) to receive the cargoes of pepper paid for by Roman gold." More interesting and conclusive is the evidence derived from the Tamil literature which may be adduced here in the words of Mr. Pillay again[2]: "Roman soldiers were enlisted in the service of the Pandyas and other Tamil kings." "During the reign of the Pandya Aryappadai-Kadantha-Nedunj-Cheliyan, Roman soldiers were employed to guard the gates of the fort of Madura."[3] A poet of this period describes a Tamil king's tent on a battlefield as follows: "A tent with double walls of canvas firmly held by iron chains, guarded by powerful Yavanas, whose stern looks strike terror into every beholder, and whose long and loose coats are fastened at the waist by means of belts, while dumb Mlecchas, clad in complete armour, who could express themselves only by
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