Maldives, you know her. But why Maldives as a name?

My home country, I call "Dhivehi Rajje", what do you call her? Most in the modern time know it by Maldives. Why Maldives?

"In ancient South Indian Pallava Dynasty inscriptions of the 7th century AD, Maldives were called Dvipa Laksham (a hundred thousand islands)", obviously now we know that it is an exaggeration to the number.

"Hsuan Tsang, a Buddhist monk who travelled in India for religious studies in the years 629 to 645 AD, was the first Chinese writer to mention Maldives. He called the islands Na-lo-ki-lo-chou (coconut islands)", this must be too long a name for us, right?

How about this one? "Munnir Palantivu Pannirayiram (twelve thousand islands and the ocean where three waters meet)". Too difficult to understand the concept, right?

In Arabia it is known by Mahaldib but why not "Dyvah Kouzah (cowrie islands)". This is not too difficult I guess.

But this one sounds far better, " Palpalamtivu (many old islands)". Oh, too difficult to pronounce but I love the fact that it is not that young unlike many media people call her.

Liu Shan Tieh-kan (the countries of the island mountains), never saw any of the mountains except the theoretical belief that the islands are on mountain peaks.

The official name of Al Daulat min al-Mahaldibiyat after another 500 years may be "Male' Dive" since Male' is being so much spent on to develop it and made famous and the country is so famous for its underwater beauty, the two together could be the next modern name for the " old coconut islands".

Thanks to Naseema Mohamed, Special Advisor, NCLHR for her valuable article here.

http://www.nclhr.gov.mv/docs/whitepapers/history/Names%20of%20Maldives.pdf