Those strange sea creatures around Taproband
View(s):With much interest in the jellyfish floating around the coast of Sri Lanka, Consultant Paediatrician Dr. Ajith Amarasinghe who is also dabbling in history has sent the following excerpt from a book he is editing.
Here Megathanes who was the first foreign Ambassador to be mentioned in Indian history describes the poisonous sea creatures which lived in the seas off Sri Lanka, way back in the 4th century BC, 2400 years ago. Megasthenes (350–290 BCE) was an Ambassador of Seleucus to the court of Chandragupta Maurya (the grandfather of Emperor Dharmasoka who sent the mission headed by Arhant Mahinda who brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka), whom he calls Sandrakotta. It was during this time that he wrote ‘Indika’ an early western account of India.
Incidentally, General Seleucus who had served under Alexander the Great of Macedonia in the 4th century BC got part of Alexander’s empire when he died and established the Seleucid Empire based in Babylon in 312 BC. He too waged war against the Magadha Empire, which was being ruled by Chandragupta Maurya, but failed to conquer and then reached an agreement with the latter.
Although the original work of Megasthenes is lost, the writings of various ancient authors, both Greek and Roman, were based on it and these have been collected and edited by Dr. Schwanbeck of Bonn, Germany in 1837 and later translated into English in a book titled, ‘Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian’ by J.W. Mccindle.
This is the description of Sri Lanka by Megasthenes that has been edited and reproduced here:
“In the sea which has been mentioned they say there is a very large island, of which, as I hear, the name is Taproband…….In the sea which surrounds the island tortoises are bred so vast that their shells are used to make roofs for the houses. A shell being fifteen cubits in length can hold many people under it screening them from the scorching heat of the sun and providing them a welcome shade.
……..The inhabitants of the coast have no practical acquaintance with elephant-catching and know of it only by report. All their energy is devoted to catching fish and the monsters of the deep sea. The sea encircling the island is reported to breed an incredible number of fish both of the smaller size and of the monstrous type. Among the monsters some have the heads of lions, panthers, sheep and other wild beasts. What is still a greater marvel is that there are monsters which in all points of their shape resemble horse-like features. Others are in appearance like women but instead of having locks of hair they have needle like structures.
It is said that this sea contains many strangely formed creatures and to represent them in a picture would baffle the skills of the artists of the country. However with a view to make a profound sensation they attempt to paint monsters which consist of different parts of different animals pieced together. These have their tails and the parts which are rounded to a great length and have for feet either claws or fins.
I learn that these monsters are amphibious and by night feed on the green fields as they eat grass like cattle and pick up seeds like birds. They also have a great liking for the nuts when ripe enough to drop from the palms. They twist their coils around these trees which are flexible and large enough and shake them so violently that the nuts fall down and this gives them good meal. When the night begins to wane before there is yet clear daylight they disappear by plunging into the sea as the first flush of morning faintly illuminates the surface.
The sky whales also frequent this sea, though it is not true that they come near the shore lying in wait for fish. The dolphins are reported to be of two sorts — one fierce and armed with sharp-teeth. They give endless trouble to the fisherman and are of a remorselessly cruel disposition. The other kind is naturally mild and tame, swims about in the friskiest way, and is quite like a fawning dog. It does not run away when any one tries to stroke it, and it takes with pleasure any food it is offered.
The sea-hare found in the great sea (of the kind found in the other sea I have already spoken), resembles in every particular the land hare except only the fur, which in the case of the land animal is soft and lies smoothly down, and does not resist the touch, whereas its brother of the sea has bristling hair which is prickly, and inflicts a wound on any one who touches it. It is said to swim atop the sea ripple without ever diving below, and to be very rapid in its movements. To catch it alive is no easy matter. It never falls into a net, nor goes near the line and bait of the fishing-rod. When it suffers from disease and unable to swim it casts out on shore and if anyone touches it with his hand death ensues.
If he is not attended to only with a soft touch of this deadly hare he is affected in the same way those who have touched a basilisk (poisonous serpent). But a root that grows along the coast of the island well known to everyone is a remedy for the unconsciousness which ensues. It is brought close to the nostrils of the person who has fainted, who thereupon recovers consciousness. But should the remedy not be applied the injury proves fatal. So noxious is the vigor of this hare.
Questioning what sea hares are, Dr. Amarasinghe explains that they are Aplysia depilans, the “depilatory sea hare” which is a species of sea hare or sea slug, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Aplysiidae. When threatened they emit a white or purple ink and the Greeks and Romans believed that it was a poison.
Consisting of nine genera, sea hares range in size from less than 2 cm to over 70 cm in length. They usually have a head bearing a pair of enrolled rhinophores and large flattened, enrolled oral tentacles on each side of the mouth. They have been called ‘sea hares’ since classical times because of their resemblance, at least in European species, to a sitting hare.