Tel: మచిలీపట్నం macilīpaṭnaṁ
‘Fish(ing) Port’ [Bandar, Maisolia, Masulipatnam] City, Andhra Pradesh
From Skt/Tel: matsaḥ/maccha/machilī, fish’; and Tel: paṭṭaṇam, ‘(port/coastal) town’, ‘city’; or Urd: bandar, ‘port’, ‘harbour’.;
Maisolia/Masulipatnam was an ancient port mentioned by Ptolemy, the 2ndC Alexandrian mathematician and geographer.
From the 1st-18thC it was the most important port on India’s east coast and in the 17thC was the 4th largest city in India after Delhi, Agra and Surat).
In 1864 a huge sea surge/tsunami destroyed the town (it reached 27km inland) and 30,000 people died.
Although, ‘fishing port’ could be a good match it is also said that the city was protected by the eye of a fish which was displayed on its gateway.
There are plans to construct a port to rival the ancient one [Video: Reviving the glory of Machilipatnam port].
Machilipatnam is also famous for its 13.4m statue of Shirdi Sai Baba: [Video: World’s Biggest Sai Baba statue in Machilipatnam].
For related place names see Indian Place names and Andhra Pradesh place names.
