SHINKALI, SHIGALA, n.p. A name by which the City and Port of [Cranganore] (q.v.) seems to have been known in the early Middle Ages. The name was probably formed from Tiruvan-jiculam, mentioned by Dr. Gundert below. It is perhaps the Gingaleh of Rabbi Benjamin in our first quotation; but the data are too vague to determine this, though the position of that place seems to be in the vicinity of Malabar.
c. 1167.—"Gingaleh is but three days distant by land, whereas it requires a journey of fifteen days to reach it by the sea; this place contains about 1,000 Israelites."—Benjamin of Tudela, in Wright's Early Travels, p. 117.
c. 1300.—"Of the cities on the shore (of Malībār) the first is [Sindábúr] (Goa), then Faknúr (see [BACANORE]), then the country of Manjarúr (see [MANGALORE]) ... then Chinkalī (or Jinkalī), then Kúlam (see [QUILON])."—Rashīduddīn, see J. R. As. Soc., N.S., iv. pp. 342, 345.
c. 1320.—"Le pays de Manîbâr, appelè pays du Poivre, comprend les villes suivantes.
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"La ville de Shinkli, dont la majeure partie de la population est composée de Juifs.
"Kaulam est la dernière ville de la côte de Poivre."—Shemseddin Dimishqui, by Mehren (Cosmographie du Moyen Age), p. 234.
c. 1328.—"... there is one very powerful King in the country where the pepper grows, and his kingdom is called Molebar. There is also the King of Singuyli...."—Fr. Jordanus, p. 40.
1330.—"And the forest in which the pepper groweth extendeth for a good 18 days' journey, and in that forest there be two cities, the one whereof is called Flandrina (see [PANDARANI]), and the other Cyngilin...."—Fr. Odoric, in Cathay, &c., 75-76.
c. 1330.—"Etiam Shâliyât (see [CHALIA]) et Shinkala urbes Malabaricae sunt, quarum alteram Judaei incolunt...."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 185.