Male: It was my maiden visit to the Maldives. Looking down from the flight, together they seemed like a multitude of flying saucers floating on the pearly blue waters of the Indian Ocean spewing frothy waves around them, as if they were getting ready to take off to some alien land.

The Republic of Maldives is a group of around 1,200 small, small flat islands. The climate is hot and humid. The country's economy thrives on two major activities - tourism and fishing, and their complementary service sectors. In this and in its natural beauty and culture of the people, the Maldives, to me, is more like Kerala split into a thousand islands.

A conglomeration of different ethnic groups, having their roots in South India, Sri Lanka, East Africa and the Arab world, settled in these lovely islands at different intervals of time well before and after Christ. The earliest settlers were, however, believed to be Indians, followed by the Sri Lankans around two and half millennia ago, bringing with them Hinduism and Buddhism and languages of the Indo-Sinhalese origin.

Nevertheless, there are different schools of thought. One believes that the history of human settlement in these islands should date back to at least 15^th century BC. There is yet another anthropological theory of controversy, propounded by the archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, according to which the archaeological finds exhumed from some of the ancient mounds in Maldivian atolls suggest that there must have been some link between the Maldives and the Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.

These are links that must have been lost by the tectonic separations and the oceanic currents flowing between two different time zones. The ancient stone figures and carvings discovered by Hyerdahl are the priced exhibits in the National Museum in Male, the capital of the Maldives in the centre of the islands.

Given the string of islands being strewn far and wide along the ancient marine trade routes from the West to the East, it was but natural that mariners from different parts of the world bumped on its shores during their navigational course - willingly or unwittingly. According to Heyerdahl, the Maldives dates further back to 20^th century BC, when Egyptians, Mesopotamian and Indus Valley civilisations touched upon these islands as they lay on their maritime route.

Embedded in history
No wonder, then, that we find mention of the Maldives in many writings including that of the legendary Ma Huan, the Chinese historian, Ibn Batuta, the renowned Arab traveller, and Pliny, yet another famous historian. Hyerdahl's research hypothesises that the first settlers of the Maldives were called Redin (Red Indians?), the early sun-worshipping seafarers. One might see some substance in this theory since many mosques in the Maldives face the sun and not Mecca.

However, a Maldivian legend has it that Koimale, a Sinhalese prince, got stranded in one of the lagoons with his consort, the daughter of the king of Sri Lanka, where he established his suzerainty. The story goes on to state that the place of Koimale's princedom came to be known as Male and the surrounding dweeps became the Maldives. But some scholars see an etymological link for the name Maldives in the Sanskrit phrase maladvipa, which means a garland of islands. Yes, indeed, a picture of these islands captured by a satellite would show the Maldives in a shape of a finely strung garland made of coral reef.

The 12^th century AD saw the arrival of sailors from East Africa and Arab countries, converting the predominant Buddhist identity of the Maldivians into Islamic origin of Sunni faith. History reveals that the development of these islands came about by the visitors from Arabia, Africa and Europe.

There is a chapter in the Maldivian history that tells us that the Malabar pirates were of constant trouble to the islanders. For about 15 years in the mid-16^th century, the Portuguese subjugated and ruled the islands before they were thrown out of power by a warrior patriot of the Maldives named Muhammad Thakurufar al-Azam. The Maldives also saw a brief spell of Dutch rule.

However, for about eight centuries, the Maldives was governed as an independent Islamic sultanate from 1153 to 1968 although in between from 1887 till 1965 it was a British protectorate. In 1965 it became an independent sultanate only to turn as a republic in 1968. The revenue garnered up by allowing the British to use the airfield in Gan and the radio installation facility in Hitaddu is said to have been largely used for developmental work in the republic.

The British military presence did indeed shape up the political history of the country to a large extent. India, too, played a major role in the republic's recent history by its timely intervention on behalf of the Maldevian government during the1988 coup attempt. Thus India proved once again that she is always a friendly big sister to her neighbouring countries - a fact that is hardly recognised by some of our neighbours.

Lingua franca
Islam is the official religion of the Maldives and the official language is Dhivehi, an admixture of Indo-European and Sinhala semantics. It is stated that Dhivehi is an offshoot of Elu, an archaic form of Sinhalese with a lot of agglutinations from Arabic, Hindi and even Tamil for that matter. It is so surprising to note that in Dhivehi, the numbers from one to 12 are of Sinhalese origin, and after 12 it is Hindi.

The linguistic peculiarity of Dhivehi is striking from the fact that, its traditional script Thaana follows the Arabic style of right to left flow of writing, although the alphabets are different from Arabic. A typical Dhivehi conversation from a distance may sound with a lot of similarity to Sinhalese (if you have watched Rupavahini) and Malayalam with a typical Dravidian accent.

The Maldives is famous for its shiny little shells called cowrie (known to us as chozhi, the play coins of the game pallaankuzhi or pakidapanthrandu), which was once the currency of the islands and many parts of Asia and the East African coast. Cowrie was bartered for rice, spices and luxury items.

The Maldives is famous for one more thing - the fish, a priced delicacy of Maldivian cuisine. Fishing is one of the major industries in the Maldives today, which employs over 20 per cent workforce of the country and contributes around 12 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The industry has an extensive fishing fleet of boats built domestically of coconut wood, a very similar craft like our Indian catamarans.

As a nature lover, I was very much delighted by the beautiful unpolluted white beaches, breathtaking underwater scenery, coral reefs and sand bars of the Maldivian atolls, numbering about 26 in all and comprising about five-10 inhabited islands and around 20-60 uninhabited islands, surrounded by deep blue waters abundant with fishes. The stretches and stretches of coconut palms, bananas, taro, orange orchards and pineapple shrubs make a Malayalee feel at home in Fuamulaku Island.

A fine treat to your eyes
A visit to Kudahuvadhoo Island in the South Nilandhoo Atoll is a must to see the mysterious mounds known as Hawittas - a treasure mound for historians. If you are interested in bringing back home some of the handicrafts of the Maldives, then take a trip to Baa Atoll, if not for buying, at least for feasting your eyes on the marvellous craftsmanship of the Maldivians. It would take a whole long year to fully explore and enjoy the bounties of these islands that are said to be 'the last paradise.'

The Maldives' underwater tourism is one of the main attractions of the islands and it is one of the best diving destinations in the world. Tourism brings in about Rs 900 crore a year to the republic and is said to have contributes around 20 per cent of the GDP. About three decades ago, the first resort on the islands was established, following which tourism gained impetus and brought about hectic development in around a hundred islands.

The number of tourist influx to the Maldives, especially from Europe and other western countries, is on the increase, thanks to the hospitality industry in the Maldives, which keeps expanding the republic's horizon for luxurious graciousness in welcoming and comforting its elite tourists.

The Maldives attracts tourists with its beautiful island resorts in the form of aesthetically crafted thatched cottages and bungalows. These island resorts offer over 9,000 hotel beds. The Taj Coral Reef, where this writer stayed, is just 30 kms from the Hulule International Ariport on the North Male Atoll at the fascinating teardrop shaped island Hembadhoo. It is a world-class resort of five-star status with its lavishly furnished 65 air-conditioned villa rooms, typed as lagoon villas and garden villas.

The former would make you feel that you are floating on the sea and the latter would give you a sense that you are in the Garden of Eden. The Taj offers innumerable tourists attractions like night fishing, glass bottom boat trips, diving schools and water sports centre in addition to all international facilities that you can't imagine.

The islands are located away from seismic activity and from typhoon or cyclone areas. A sojourn in the Maldives, I think, is the best hideaway paradise.