Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan

Ancient boat found in Java

2009-07-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

A seafaring ship dating back to the 6th or 7th century has been discovered in Central Java. The boat appears to use the classic lashed-lug construction commonly found in this region. This may have been a fishing boat and lead net connectors/sinkers were found along with the remains. The artifact will be left were it is guarded by a bamboo fence and a model made for museum display.
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Ancient boat reveals shipbuilding skills of Java’s seafarers

Suherdjoko , The Jakarta Post , Rembang, Central Java | Fri, 07/10/2009 11:49 AM | Java Brew

Historians have long wondered just how Indonesians in the 6th and 7th centuries built their boats. A recent archaeological discovery sheds some light on the mystery.

In July last year, an ancient boat, measuring 15.6 meters long and 4 meters wide was discovered in Punjulharjo village, Rembang district, in Rembang regency.

A team from the Yogyakarta Archaeology Center made a detailed study of the site, about 200 meters inland from the Java Sea coastline, from June 17 to 26 this year.

Ancient mariner: A member of the Yogyakarta Archaeology Team works on the site of a 1,200-year-old boat uncovered in Rembang, Central Java. (JP/Suherdjoko)

The boat, approximately 1,200 years old, was found buried near the Central Java northern coastline, with its bow lying to the west and its stern in the east. Head of Punjulharjo village Nursalim said eight local residents had stumbled across the ancient relic while making a pond.

“The land was originally planted with coconuts, followed by secondary crops,” he told The Jakarta Post. “But as the soil was not fertile enough, they decided to make a pond. That’s when they noticed the buried boat, its main part still in its whole form, as they dug deeper.”

According to the chairman of the Yogyakarta archaeology team, Novida Abbas, the ancient boat is the most complete ever found in Indonesia. “So far we have only got wooden planks and other separate pieces. The discovery in Rembang is 50 percent intact,” Novida said. “We can see the actual shape of the boat and its construction technology...

Read the whole article.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Gavin Menzies' "1434: The Year a Magnificent..."

2009-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

I'd like to touch on a few things from Gavin Menzies latest book, 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance published in June, 2008. This is not meant to be a review of the book but mainly to focus on the "Eastern ambassador" and his connection with the voyages of Columbus and Magellan, something I have discussed previously.

While I have some fundamental disagreements with Menzies, again, he has done a service by bringing out things that rankle the herds of Eurocentric scholarship, who use double standards when playing the game of cultural-technological diffusion.

The origins of the Renaissance are complex, and I probably should steer away from this part of his book, but I can't resist making a few comments that will come later on.

On the important point of the Eastern ambassador, on which Menzies whole thesis lies, it is difficult to understand why he does not mention what should be considered the "official" account of this envoy. That is, the account of Poggio Bracciolini, the papal secretary at the time of the visit to Florence.

Now, Menzies claims that this ambassador came from China and was brought by a squadron from Zheng He's great treasure fleet.

Menzies source is a letter from Paolo Toscanelli to Christopher Columbus, a document whose authenticity has been disputed by some scholars. Having read all the arguments, I believe that Toscanelli's letter is authentic, but that still does not excuse Menzies from at least discussing Poggio's account.

The two documents differ in that Poggio describes the envoy as coming from a Nestorian Christian kingdom in "Upper India" located a few weeks journey from "Cathay," the old name for northern China. Toscanelli seems to think that this kingdom is linked with the 'Great Khan,' i.e. the old Mongol ruler of China.

At the time, the Mongols had already been replaced by the Ming Dynasty in China, and Toscanelli's confusion seems to center on the mention of Nestorian Christians. There existed old accounts, related to Prester John, that the Great Khan had become a Nestorian Christian. It seems that upon hearing about a far eastern Nestorian kingdom, Toscanelli connected the envoy's account with these old legends that equated the Great Khan with Prester John.

Now earlier I have mentioned that "Upper India" during this period generally meant Southeast Asia, although it was also used at times for South China. The mention of a Nestorian kingdom this far east is nothing but code for the old Prester John of the Indies.

In an earlier post, I discussed the letter of Ferdinand and Isabella given to Columbus with the space for the addressee left blank. This letter was meant for any Eastern potentate including Prester John and the Great Khan, that Columbus happened to encounter. The letter mentions the Spanish monarchs having heard reports from the East about a desire to learn about the Christian kingdoms of Europe.

Ferdinand and Isabella are certainly referring to the Eastern ambassador in Florence, who was the last envoy mentioned coming from the areas that Columbus was heading toward on his fateful journey. According to Menzies, this ambassador arrived in 1434, although it can also be argued that he came in 1441.

Rather than arriving with a Chinese squadron though it seems that the ambassador arrived with Nicolo di Conti along with the rest of the entourage of papal envoy Alberto de Sarteano.

One could hardly imagine that the Quatracento writers would have missed something as spectacular as the visit of a Chinese naval force composed of ships unlike anything seen in Europe of the time. Yet, the history of the period is silent about any such maritime event.

Prester John's envoy

According to Pero Tafur, Nicolo di Conti stayed under the protection of Prester John of the Indies during most of his time in the East. Di Conti himself mentions Nestorians near Cathay when interviewed by Poggio Bracciolini.

Tafur's account states that Prester John was interested in learning more about Europe -- mirroring the desire of the foreign potentates mentioned in Ferdinand and Isabella's letter. Furthermore, di Conti claimed, according to Tafur, that Prester John had sent envoys to the West, apparently on unsuccessful missions.

Therefore, when di Conti returned to Europe it would make sense that Prester John would send along an envoy with him i.e. Menzies' Eastern ambassador. This would tie in the Nestorians mentioned by di Conti to Poggio, and the Nestorian kingdom that the latter assigns to the Eastern ambassador. That Nestorian kingdom, of course, is the kingdom of Prester John!

Indeed, Pope Eugenius IV actually addresses a letter to this eastern king addressing him though as "Emperor Thomas of the Indians," since the Portuguese had earlier convinced the Vatican to address the Ethiopian emperor as "Emperor Prester John of Ethiopia."

Apparently the Eastern ambassador made enough of a friendly impression that when Columbus set sail on his epochal voyage, he headed directly toward the location he thought the kingdom was located, i.e., the East Indies. That Columbus was headed for the Indies is proven by his ultimate destination during his multiple voyages and by the name by which the new land became to be known.

The Spanish considered the Americas as part of the "Indias," from which the indigenous peoples became known as "Indios" (Indians).

"India" here meant the East Indies, the source of the spices like nutmeg and cloves and also, Columbus thought, the gold of biblical Ophir.

The admiral was heading, thus, to "Upper India," to the friendly Nestorian Christian kingdom of the Eastern ambassador, or so he thought. Magellan also was apparently seeking the same friendly contact for both men navigated toward the same latitudes that would have brought them to the "East Indies" i.e., modern insular Southeast Asia. For it was here apparently that the ambassador, and possibly also di Conti, had located the fabled kingdom in their accounts to Poggio (and the ambassador's account to Toscanelli).

Dawn of the Renaissance

Menzies claims that the Eastern ambassador brought with him "distinguished men of great learning,"and some important Chinese documents including the Nung Shu, an agricultural manual; a Chinese astronomical calendar and Chinese world maps. He asserts that the founders of the Renaissance copied directly from these works sparking a great awakening in art and learning.

Indeed, the explosion of humanism, art and invention that typically is associated with the Renaissance began at about the middle of the 15th century. There were, of course, some 'proto-Renaissance' developments earlier, but nothing that stood out so much from what was happening elsewhere.

So Menzies timing is not off. There may have been many factors that led to the Renaissance including the wealth and slave labor afforded by the Venetian and Genoan maritime trade networks. These factors allowed the elite of northern Italy more leisure time for intellectual and artistic pursuits - something that was supported also by the patronage of the House of Medici.

However, one could still ask why Tuscany and its center of Florence, the birth place of the Renaissance, rather than say Venice or Genoa? And why at that specific period in the mid-15th century?

Menzies suggests the Chinese works, but how likely is it that the Florentines had actual treatises like the Nung Shu? If they did, such a document would be a great artifact for study not only of its technical content, but of the Chinese language itself. We would expect that such documents would be mentioned, and illustrated, in Renaissance works.

One can admit that many new inventions spring up suddenly during this period and some of these are very similar, but usually not exactly similar to earlier Chinese inventions. But not all are related to Chinese technology. For example, one of Menzies' sources, Lynne White, suggests that the concept of the windmill actually derives from the Tibetan prayer wheel.

Both White and Menzies mention the many "Tartar" slaves, mostly young women, that were brought into northern Italy at the time by Genoan and Venetian merchants. One invention that Menzies mentions -- the piston and/or chain pump -- is specifically called a "Tartar" pump by writers of that time. Some scholars suggest that these Tartars came from the region between Tibet and China, and thus would have been exposed to technologies like the Tibetan prayer wheel.

So it appears that there were many streams of information flowing into Florence during the mid-15th century, but that much of these idea were probably flowing through word-of-mouth rather than via exchange of documents.

Could it be that the great foreign host brought to the Council of Florence by Sarteano, including probably di Conti and the Eastern ambassador, contributed in no small way to this influx of ideas?

If the Eastern ambassador was accompanied by "distinguished men of great learning" as suggested by the letter of Toscanelli, it appears that the information was transmitted orally, thus accounting for the inexactness in the relationship of the technologies in the widely-separated areas involved.

While many of these inventions could certainly have been developed in China, where there is much documentation, the ideas did not necessarily have to be transmitted by any particular ethnic group.

Interestingly, many of the new ideas mentioned by Menzies relate quite directly to the problem of maritime navigation. I have argued that the Eastern king, known in the West as "Prester John," had attempted for some time to encourage Europe to become involved in the maritime spice trade in order to counterbalance Muslim expansion. This included the possible transfer of sea charts like the ones mentioned by Marco Polo, who links them with the navigators of the "Sea of Chin" and the "Isles of India." These navigators told Polo of golden Cipango and the 7,000+ islands that existed in that eastern sea.

In a nutshell, I enjoyed Menzies book even if I disagreed with some key points. Great reading to get a new perspective on all the factors that contributed to the European Renaissance. However, one should follow up on any of the more controversial proposals made by the author.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Menzies, Gavin. 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance. New York: William Morrow, 2008.

White, Lynn, Jr. " Tibet, India, and Malaya as Sources of Mediaeval Technology," American Historical Review, 54, 1960.

__. Medieval Technology and Social Change. Oxford. 1962

The Muslim Letters of Prester John

2009-05-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

We have examined how Prester John sent letters to the Papacy and the Christian kingdoms of the West.

Equating Prester John with the historical king of Zabag known as the Mihraj, we have also seen how the latter king reached out to the kingdoms of Tibet, India and China, by sending gifts and supporting building projects abroad. Prester John, likewise, had proposed building projects in his message to Pope Alexander III.

The Mihraj was also in the habit of sending letters to the emperor of China, and the Sung Dynasty annals state that his kingdom used Chinese characters when sending such official correspondence. Two such letters are mentioned explicitely in the annals -- one in 1017 to the emperor and cast in "golden characters," and the other in 1080 from the king's daughter, in Chinese characters, addressed to the superintendent of trade. The latter however would not receive the letter but instead forwarded it to the emperor.

As discussed previously, in this author's opinion these overtures were part of the king's attraction policy that took on a special emphasis when Zabag's trade routes were infringed upon by expanding Muslim influence.

However, there may have been a time when the Mihraj also attempted to reach out to the Sunni Muslim juggernaut at the very beginning of the Umayyad Caliphate. S. Q. Fatimi has analyzed two letters from the "Mihraj" to the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiyah in in 661 CE, and to the caliph Umar ibn abd al-Aziz (717-20). Fatimi marshals evidence to show that this king of "al-Hind" is, in fact, the ruler of Zabag. The very title "Mihraj" or "Mahraj" was used specifically in Muslim texts for the monarch of Zabag.

The first letter is recorded by al-Jahiz (783-869) in Kitab al-Hayawan. According to Jahiz, Abd al-Malik b. Umayr (822-3) saw the letter from the diwan (secretary) of Mu'awiyah and it was passed from him to Abu Ya'qub al-Thaqafi who relayed it to al-Haytham b. Adi, the source of al-Jahiz.

Unfortunately, Jahiz only records the greeting of the letter from the king of al-Hind "in whose stables are a thousand elephants, (and) whose palace is built of bright gold and silver, who is served by a thousand daughters of the kings, and who possesses two rivers, which irrigate aloes plants, to Mu'awiyah..."

The second letter is found in Al-Iqd al-Farid by Abd Rabbih (860-940) who gives as his source Nu'aym b. Hammad.

Nu'aym b. Hammad wrote: "the king of al-Hind sent, a letter to Umar b. Abd al-Aziz, which ran as follows: From the King of kings [Malik al-Amlak], who is the descendant of a thousand kings, in whose stables are a thousand elephants, and in whose territories are two rivers which irrigate plants of aloes, odoriferous herbs, nutmeg, and camphor, whose fragrance spreads the distance of twelve miles -- to the king of the Arabs, who does not associate other gods with God. I have sent to you a gift, which is not much of a gift but a greetings and I wish that you may send to me someone who might teach me Islam and instruct me in its Laws."

Similarities with Prester John's letter

Now we can immediately note some resemblances of these two letters with those sent centuries later by Prester John to the Christian emperors and kings.

First, there is the mention of the gift, which is not unusual in communication between kings. There is also the flowery, somewhat pompous, self-introduction of the king. In particular, the Mihraj uses the title "King of Kings" or Malik al-Amlak just as Prester John refers to himself as Rex Regnum "King of Kings." Both monarchs claim to have many elephants at their command, and there is also the mention from both the Mihraj and Prester John of a palace constructed with precious metals.

In Prester John's communication with Alexander III, he asks for instruction in the Catholic religion, and we see the same request, but this time with reference to Islam, in the second letter of the Mihraj.

Ibn Tighribirdi (1410-1470) gives another version of the second letter, on the authority of Ibn Asakir, in which he adds a sentence near the end: "I have sent you a present of musk, amber, incense and camphor, Please accept it, for I am your brother in Islam." This would suggest that the Mihraj had accepted Islam, and Fatimi suggests that the king may have converted, but that the religion was latter rejected by his descendants. Another possibility, of course, is that Ibn Tighribirdi's late account uses unreliable sources. In either case, there is no evidence that Islam was practiced widely in Zabag at any point in its history.

However, we do see that the Mihraj follows a similar pattern of open patronage of multiple religions that we have suggested earlier was part of a long-standing royal policy of Zabag.

With reference to the "two rivers" mentioned in the Mihraj's letter, we note again the suggestion that one title for the king of the isles dating from ancient times was "Lord of the River." Fatimi, who holds that Zabag should be equated with Srivijaya, thinks that rivers mentioned are the Batanghari in Jambi and the Musi in Palembang.

The two rivers, in my view, would represent the primary drainage courses for the two sacred mountains, Pinatubo and Arayat. The Pampanga River, although it has its source further north, passes very close to Arayat and right through the town called Arayat, and thus was associated with that mountain. The river of Pinatubo could have been the Guagua River, but also the Masantol river which joins the Pampanga River in Masantol, where I have suggested the Zabag emporium was located. Visitors and merchants would have entered into the emporium by sailing up the Pampanga River and registering at the royal palace at Malauli before preceding further upstream.

In the Mihraj's letters, he mentions the spices of his kingdom including nutmeg, which was found only in the islands around and including Maluku (the Moluccas) and Mindanao. Nutmeg along with clove buds, which was found only in Maluku region, were traded mainly along the "Clove Route," which lead to the northwest along what the Chinese called the "Eastern Ship Route." I have suggested that this trade route was controlled primarily by the Mihraj.

The letters of the Mihraj can be viewed as early examples of a tradition of correspondence used by the king of Zabag to accomplish geopolitical goals. The timing of the letter coincided with the accounts of the Sayabiga, the natives of Zabag that I have suggested acted as agents of the Mihraj in latter times. However, the course of history would suggest that a "friendly" outcome was not achieved, and the kingdom of Zabag would later have to pursue other courses of action.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Fatimi, SQ. "Two Letters from Maharaja to the Khalifah", Islamic Studies (Karachi), 2, 1 (1963), 121-40.

Rost, Reinhold. Miscellaneous Papers Relating to Indo-China. London: Trübner & Co, 1886, 188-91.

Apocalypse, Swan Knight and the Crusades

2009-05-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

Turning a bit to more esoteric matters, the legend of the Swan Knight, it has been mentioned, was included in the genealogy of the famous leader of the First Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon.

William of Tyre around the year 1170 was the first to mention this connection:

We pass over, intentionally, the fable of the Swan, although many people regard it as a fact, that from it he (Godfrey de Bouillon) had his origin, because this story seems destitute of truth.

From this quote we can surmise that the story of Godfrey's descent from the Swan Knight was already current and that there were "many people" who took it quite seriously; although William of Tyre was not one of them. The latter, who was archbishop of Tyre, was raised in Jerusalem when that city was co-ruled by Melisende, the daughter of Godfrey de Bouillon's cousin Baldwin II.

The legendary crusader histories, known as the Crusade Cycle, beginning shortly after William of Tyre wrote the statement above, appear to have been composed by those believers in the Swan Knight story.

Whether fictional or, at least party, based in truth, the Swan Knight origin of Godfrey de Bouillon can be shown to have links with the millenial thought that pervaded Europe in the period leading up to the First Crusade.

Apocalypse and the Crusades

There is some evidence that many people in Europe expected the apocalypse around the year 1000. The texts of Adso, Abbo and Glaber seem to indicate an increasing concern in this area in the lead up to the new millenium. Some believed the invasion of the Magyars heralded the beginning of the end-times.

When the year 1000 came and past, these millenarian feelings did not subside. These apprehensions were based as much on extra-biblical prophecies like the Sibylline oracles and Pseudo-Methodius, and their reworkings, as on the canonical works like Daniel or Revelations.

Pope Gregory VII in 1074 might be considered the first to, unsuccessfully, call for a crusade when he mentioned his plans to himself lead an expedition of 50,000 in liberating the Holy Sepulchre. It appears from Gregory VII's statements that he was casting himself as the Last Emperor mentioned in the Tiburtine Sibyl.

In 1086, Benzo, bishop of Alba, called on the emperor Henry IV to conquer Rome, Constantinople and Jerusalem, again mentioning the prophetic liberation of the Holy Sepulchre and reworking passages from the Cuman Sibyl into his message. In describing the Second Crusade, Otto of Freising quoted Sibylline works that mention the "pilgrim God" (peregrini Dei), and he describes the invading crusaders as "pilgrims" to the Holy Land.

H. Hagenmeyer's analysis of the Gesta Francorum, the anonymous chronicle of the First Crusade written by a member of Bohemund I of Antioch's expedition, gives an idea of the importance of the sibyls to crusader thought. Hagenmeyer found that the only written works referred to in the Gesta are the Bible and the "Sibylline prophecies."

Sibylline literature is known for its references to a savior "king from the east," a concept that I believe is important in both Godfrey's Swan Knight link and in the claims made in the letters of Prester John in the following century. Pseudo-Methodius, whose prophecies were also popular during this time, has his own version of the king from the east in Jonitus, the extra-biblical fourth son of Noah who settles in the "region of the Sun" (hiliu chora) to the East where we find the lands of Eden and Nod.

Pseudo-Methodius predicts one or two conquering Christian emperors in the last days. One will come from "the seed of Chuseth, the daughter of Phol, king of Ethiopia" arising as 'King of the Romans.' There is also a conquering king who descends, at least in collateral line, from Jonitus in the East. The prophecies do not clearly separate these two and that may be why latter writers wrote of two prominent Christian kings in the end-times. For example, Jacques de Vitry in the early part of the 13th century, wrote of a King of the West, who he equates with Frederick Barbarossa, and a King of the East, or Prester John, whom de Vitry identifies with the news trickling in of Genghis Khan's conquests.

We know from three prominent Benedictine historians of the period -- Guibert of Nogent, Baldric of Bourgueil and Robert the Monk -- that the crusades were viewed , in certain circles at least, as fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Another indication of the millenarian environment is the case of Count Emicho of Flonheim and leader of the "German Crusade" who claimed he was himself the Last Emperor who would lead his armies to the final battle.

The King of the East concept appears to be directly linked with Godfrey de Bouillon's descent from the Swan Knight in the Crusade Cycle and other medieval literature.

House of Bouillon and the Swan Knight

The three earliest versions of the story linking Godfrey de Bouillon with the Swan Knight are Dolopathos, Elioxe and Beatrix, generally dated between the last quarter of the 12th century and first half of the 13th century.

Dolopathos -- A king meets a fairy woman who claims to be queen of the forest. The two marry and produce seven children with golden chains around their neck. The sons become swans until all except one are changed back to humans. The brother that remains a swan pulls a knight, the Swan Knight, in a boat using his gold chain.

Elioxe -- King Lothair from 'beyond Hungary,' meets the fairy Elioxe who comes from inside a mountain. They have seven swan children including one who is said will become a "king of the orient," (un roi d'Orient). Again one brother remains a swan and pulls the boat of his Swan Knight brother.

King Oriant of Lillefort (Illefort) the "strong island," marries Beatrix and the rest of the story follows the same pattern with swan children, and the Swan Knight drawn in his boat by his swan brother. "Oriant" or "Oryant" is an archaic form of French "Orient," and this name has been linked by some with "un roi d'Orient" of Elioxe.

These early stories mention either a 'king of the east' or indicate a fairy kingdom, which might also be an indication of an eastern location. Elioxe places the scene vaguely "beyond Hungary." The late 13th century Lohengrin places the Swan Knight in India along with the Holy Grail.

From the 15th to 17th centuries, a series of works claiming earlier sources have the Swan Knight born in the terrestrial paradise, and founding the House of Cleves rather than that of Bouillon. In 1478 Gert van der Schuren, secretary of the first Duke of Cleves, says that the Swan Knight "comes from the earthly paradise, which some call the Grail." He claimed to have learned this from a lost 13th century work of Helinandus. Dutch historian John Veldenaer in 1480 also citing earlier sources says: "Some chronicles say that the Knight of the Swan came out of the ' Gral,' as the paradise on earth was earlier called."

In 1609, the tutor of the Duke of Cleves named Stephanus Vinandus Pighius claimed that: "Some ancient chronicles assert that this Helius came from a certain splendid earthly paradise called Grail and that he came in a boat."

The words gral, grail, graele, etc. in these accounts is thought to be the same "graal" first mentioned by Chretien i.e, the Holy Grail; and thus refers to the Grail Realm. In Parzival, Wolfram von Eschenbach writes:

Upon a silken cushion green
She bore the wish of paradise,
Root and branch before their eyes.
A thing it was they called the grail.
Earthly wishes' fullest tale...

The grail's a prize from Eden's shore,
Earthly pleasures' fullest store,
In much 'tis heaven's counterpart

The Swan Knight associated with the House of Cleves was not apparently the same one found in the legend of Godfrey de Bouillon as Pighius says that the knight arrives at Nimegen in 732. According to the legend, the Swan Knight is called forth on his mission by a bell located in the earthly paradise or in some mountain on his unknown home. Therefore, he is sent periodically over the ages to perform his calling, which seems linked with protecting the rights of women. In three cases, he defends the duchesses of Brabant and Cleves; and the countess of Bouillon -- all in the Low Countries that are today known as Benelux -- from marauding dukes intent on forcibly taking their inheritance.

Pighius, Hermann Stangefol (1656) and other later writers tended to dismiss the wondrous tales of an earthly paradise and gave other explanations, for example, that the Swan Knight came from a monastery called Paradise in Thurgau.

However, in the earlier accounts the concept of the terrestrial paradise places it squarely at the furthest East in the Indies. Even Parzival's Wasteland, the realm of the Grail, while appearing to refer to Jerusalem in part, also by analogy, points to the eastern paradise and it was there that Lohengrin, his Swan Knight, was born.

The Ebstorf Map (1234) of Gervase of Tilbury is a traditional "flat earth" type of map showing the world in the form of the Corpus Domini. Notice the head of Christ at the top of the map, which signifies the East, near Paradise; with the feet at the bottom, or West; and the hands in the directions North and South, or right and left respectively. Click on image for full scalable version.

Close-up showing Christ's head signifying the East, to the left of which is the Terrestrial Paradise in an inset with Adam, Eve, the Tree of Knowledge and the Serpent. Notice the word "India" below this depiction of the Garden of Eden near the right-hand corner.

Gervais crammed all the legendary places of the East and the Indies found in the Alexandrine and other romances in his mappa mundi. Click on image for full version detailing certain locations and peoples including Chryse, the Cynocephali, the Kingdom of Women and the Tomb of St. Thomas.

Now the Crusade Cycle generally has the Swan Knight coming in his boat to Nijmegen (Nymegen) or Mainz, drawn by a swan, to rescue the lady of Bouillon from the Duke of Saxony. Their daughter becomes the mother, so they say, of Godfrey of Bouillon.

We find the story of a child, Sceaf, coming on a rudderless boat to Scandea (Scandinavia) in Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle both of the 8th century. Here it appears to be borrowed partly from Pseudo-Methodius as Sceaf is called, like Jonitus, the fourth son of Noah in the Anglo-Saxon genealogies and regnal lists. The European writers further made Sceaf the ark-born son of Noah from which idea apparently was derived the Swan Knight's boat.

Jonitus was closely associated in medieval Europe with Paradise, living himself in Nod to the east of Eden; and credited with having brought the seeds, fruit or branches of the Tree of Paradise from which was planted the tree used to make the cross of Christ.

Again, it was one of the lineage of Jonitus who would come in the end-times to conquer the Saracens and Jerusalem heralding the Second Coming. In Gerbert de Montreuil's continuation of Chretien's Conte du Graal written around 1226-30, Perceval is told in a vision that he will have a son from whose seed will descend the Swan Knight, who will in turn liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre. Here again we find the Tiburtine Sibyl's prophecy of the Last Emperor who regains the tomb of Christ.

Whether fiction or (partly) truth, giving Godfrey the leader of the First Crusade a descent from the Swan Knight was to link him, at least through analogy, with Sibylline prophecies of the "king from the East," and with those of Pseudo-Methodius by suggesting lineage from Jonitus.

Swan Knight tales are centered in the multi-lingual areas of French Walloon, Flemish and Dutch speakers -- now known as Benelux -- and a bit southward into the German-speaking area of Mainz. Across northern France was the locus of fairy-related tales in Brittany and Anjou, also multi-lingual. This whole region between and including Brittany and the Netherlands contributed most of the participants in the First Crusade.

Interesting from an esoteric standpoint were the stories of the marriages of the Swan Knight and the Melusine, the female fairy type, with "humans." In the case of the Melusine, her husband was instructed never to look at her while she bathed. Inevitably the curious husband would succumb to curiosity discovering his wife's serpent form. The Swan Knight had the condition that his wife should never ask his true name or origin. Again, the wife would eventually break the agreement upon which the Swan Knight would take his leave on a swan-pulled boat headed for regions unknown.

In each case, there was a need to keep the real identity, the fairy identity, secret. Interesting also is the swan or bird identity of the male fairy, while the female fairy is serpentine -- a pattern that we have discussed here before.

The case of Prester John

In the century that followed the First Crusade, we find also that Prester John apparently makes claims in his famed letters based on the same concept of the millenarian "king from the east."

There have been attempts to analyze the internal evidence provided by the Prester John letters, one of the best undertaken by Vsevolod Slessarev.

Slessarev surmised, primarily due to the negative comments made against the Byzantine emperor, that the author of the letter to Manuel must have been a forgery by a Western Christian author. However, as noted by Sabine Baring-Gould, the slights against Rome appear even more intense in the same letter. Indeed, the eastern king says that one of his descendents would conquer Rome and all the Western Christian kingdoms!

In the letter addressed to the "Emperor of Rome" (Frederick Barbarossa) and the "King of France," Prester John only mentions his promise to retake the Holy Sepulchre and "all the Promised Land."

Nowhere does Prester John claim to be a member of, or the desire to be a member of, the Byzantine or Roman churches. Indeed, the importance given to St. Thomas and the titles of church officials attached to his kingdom give, as Baring-Gould notes, a solid indication of Nestorian bias. And in the message given by Hugh of Gabala earlier in the century, Prester John is expressely described as a Nestorian king.

The insults to Byzantine and Western Christian kingdoms make it unlikely also that the letters were sent by anyone living in those kingdoms. Yet, the knowledge of the political intrigues of Jerusalem, including those involving the Templars, hint that the letters were at least informed by someone living close to but not in the crusader kingdoms.

One manuscript of the letter to Emperor Manuel contains a note indicating it was translated from Greek into Latin by Archbishop Christian of Mainz. Versions of this letter do contain Greco-Latin forms such as "Romeon" instead of "Romanorum." Another manuscript claims to be translated into Latin from Arabic. Quite probably, the letters mentioned by Albericus in the Chronicon were in different languages -- the one to Emperor Manuel in Greek and that to Emperor Frederick in Latin -- for example.

There would have been little difficulty in obtaining translators for these letters. Many learned Arabs were very familiar with Greek, having helped preserved the ancient Greek corpus, and some were also versed in Latin. Aspects of the Alexandrine romantic literature, which pervade the Prester John letters, would have been widely familiar to scholars in the Muslim world.

As to the claim of forgery, we can note again as earlier in this blog that both letters mentioned here give indications of a previous meeting of envoys, who may also have aided in the composition of the letters between the monarchs.

In the letter to Manuel, we read:

Receive the dignity of our hierarch in our name and use it for they own sake, because we gladly use your vase of oil, in order that we mutually strengthen and corroborate our virtue.

Also according to Albericus:

Our Majesty has been informed that you hold our Excellency in love, and that the report of our greatness has reached you. Moreover we have heard through our treasurer that you have been pleased to send to us some objects of art and interest, that our Exaltedness might be gratified thereby.

Being human, I receive it in good part, and we have ordered our treasurer to send you some of our articles in return.

And in the letter to Frederick and Louie VII, Prester John states:

We beg you to keep in mind the holy pilgrimage, and may it take place soon, and may you be brave and of great courage, and pray, do not forget to put to death those treacherous Templars and pagans and, please, send us an answer with the envoy who brought the presents.

These statements indicate that envoys had been working behind the scenes and also suggest a previous exchange of gifts. Similar contact between envoys in found in Pope Alexander III's letter to Prester John. Obviously had such contact not taken place, the letters would be immediately revealed as fraudulent. Thus, a consistent tradition would indicate that such diplomatic contacts had taken place during the events recorded by Albericus starting in 1165. There must have been reasonable cause for the Pope, emperors and other kings to whom the letters were sent to have believed in their validity and in the integrity of the envoys. In addition, they must have had some reason to believe in the possibility of the self-described "Prester John" to fulfill some of the promises he offered in the correspondence.

However, the reason for mentioning these letters here is that both give indications that Prester John was appealing to the same millenarian yearnings that helped fuel the crusades, and which were likely linked with the Swan Knight legend.

In the letter to Frederick Barbarossa and Louis VII, Prester John promises to liberate the Holy Sepulchre and capture the entire Christian Holy Land -- a link with Sibylline prophecy. Furthermore he states that his own success was prophesied to his father:

Know that I had been blessed before I was born, for God sent an angel to my father who told him to build a palace full of God's grace and a chamber of paradise for the child to come, who was to be the greatest king on earth and to live for a long time.

The letter to Manuel also gives apocalyptic utterances:

These accursed fifteen nations will burst forth from the four quarters of the earth at the end of the world, in the times of Antichrist, and overrun all the abodes of the Saints as well as the great city Rome, which, by the way, we are prepared to give to our son who will be born, along with all Italy, Germany, the two Gauls, Britain and Scotland. We shall also give him Spain and all the land as far as the icy sea. The nations to which I have alluded, according to the words of the prophet, shall not stand in the judgment, on account of their offensive practices, but will be consumed to ashes by a fire which will fall on them from heaven.

Prester John was in effect claiming to be the promised "king from the east" of the pre-crusade prophecies.

As an aside it is worth mentioning that Prester John apparently had also requested Alexander III for permission to build a church in Rome and an altar in Jerusalem. Previously we have noted that the king of Zabag had engaged, as part of his policy of attraction, in building projects in India and China. Edrisi, writing around 1154, states that the king of Zabag was still actively trading along the African coast at that time. However, we hear nothing of the envoy sent by Alexander III to Prester John. Maybe this is not too surprising as Chinese annals record that the last envoys sent from this kingdom came in the year 1178, only a year after Alexander III's envoy was dispatched. The eastern king was named in transliterated Chinese characters Si-li-ma-ha-la-sha.

After the 1178 embassy, no more is heard of the kingdom during the remainder of the Sung dynasty or in the Yuan dynasty that followed.

Swan Knight as sleeping hero

In most versions of the Swan Knight tale, the hero comes sleeping on a boat from his mysterious homeland.

In the Wartburgkrieg written in the first half of the 13th century, we read:

How Arthur lives within the mount and many heroes bold,
Hundreds she to me did name;
With him from Britain's isle they came,
Nor may their names to any churl be told.

And Arthur too has sent forth knights
To Christendom since he departed mortal sight.
Hear how these a tocsin calls

Many thousand miles away,
Wherefrom a noble count hath lost his life in fray;
Hear how pride hath made him false,

Hear too the tale about this bell: all of Arthur's singers
Must leave their art and cease to sing,
For in their ears the bell doth ring,
Whence in the court no trace of pleasure lingers.

The Sibyl's child, Felicia,
With Arthur there both she and Juno are,
That from Saint Brandan's lips I know full well. Nor yet does Klinsor this explain,
Who is the knight whom Arthur has sent out again,
And neither does he say who 'tis who rings the bell. . . .

Canst thou to us in song explain
How Loherangrin by Arthur was sent forth again?"

Here King Arthur lives within a far-off hollow mountain together with Loherangrin, the Swan Knight, and other notables -- the Roman goddess Juno; Felicia, daughter of the Sibyl; and St. Brandon, who sailed east from Ireland to the "Island of Paradise" also called the "Promised Land of the Saints" never to be heard from again. This is the mountain of the "sleeping heroes" that appears so often in later medieval works.

Arthur probably first appears in a subterranean realm in Etienne's Draco Normannicus (1167-9) were he is described as 'King of the Underworld' in the far-off Antipodes. This is Avalon, or as called in Tristan, 'Avelun, the fairy land.'

Gervais of Tilbury and Caesarius of Heisterbach, both writing in the same period as the Wartburgkrieg also mention the underground realm of Arthur. However, rather than place the Arthurian underworld in the Garden of Eden, they rather place it in or on Mt. Aetna in Silicy, the entrance to Hell in some medieval traditions. Caesarius writes:

At the time when Emperor Henry had subjugated Sicily there was in the bishopric of Palermo a certain deacon who was, I think, a German. When one day he lost his best palfrey he sent his servant to look for it in various places. The servant met an old man who said to him: ' Where are you going and what are you looking for?' When the servant replied that he was hunting for his master's horse the old man rejoined that he knew where it was. ' And where?' asked the servant. ' In Mount Gyber [Aetna],' was the reply: ' there my lord King Arthur has it, and this mountain spits forth fire like Vesuvius.' To the astonished servant he said further, ' Tell your master that he come here in forty days to the court of King Arthur. If you neglect to tell him you will be heavily punished.' The servant went back and tremblingly told his master what he had heard. When the deacon heard he had been invited to the court of Arthur he laughed, but on the day set he was stricken and died. These things Godescalcus, canon of Bonn, told us, and said that they happened in recent times.

In this description, the domain of Arthur is described in volcanic terms as it "spits forth fire like Vesuvius."

Joe and the Volcano

The idea that the grail paradise of the Swan Knight was volcanic may also be seen in a latter tradition that equates this mountain home with the Venusberg of Tannhauser fame.

The Saxon Chronicle of Caspar Abel discovered in 1732 but dated to the 15th century says of Lohengrin "that he came from that mountain where Venus is in the grail." This hollow mountain of Venus is likened to hell and the fires of Vesuvius in the Tannhauser literature.

We can venture to the land of Prester John during medieval times for signs of active volcanoes near the area where most medieval geographers placed the Terrestrial Paradise.

In the mid-ninth century, we read in the Akbar al-Sin wa'l Hind: "...near Zabaj is a mountain called the Mountain of Fire, which it is not possible to approach. Smoke escapes from it by day and a flame by night, and from its foot comes forth a spring of cold fresh water and a spring of hot water."

Al-Mas'udi, writing about a century later, says:

There is no volcano on earth which makes a greater noise, nor any the smoke of which is more black, or the flames more copious, than that which is in the kingdom of the Maharaj [Zabag].

He further describes this volcano:

From these mountains issues fire, by day and night. By day it has a dark appearance, and at night it shines red. It rises to such a height, that it reaches the regions of the heaven (i.e. it ascends above the atmosphere). The explosion is accompanied with a noise like the loudest thunder. Sometimes a strange sound proceeds from these volcanos, which is indicative that their king will die; and, if the sound is lower, it foretells the death of one of their chiefs. They know the meaning of these sounds, by long habit and experience. This is one of the great chimneys (craters) of the earth. At no great distance is another island, from which, constantly, the sound of drums, lutes, fifes, and other musical instruments, and the noise of dancing, and various amusements, are heard. Sailors, who have passed this place, believe that the Dajjal (Antichrist) occupies this island.

Prester John's letters mention a river of stones and sea of sand that can also be interpreted as representing volcanic activity:

"Three days' journey from this sea are mountains from which rolls down a stony, waterless river, which opens into the sandy sea. As soon as the stream reaches the sea, its stones vanish in it, and are never seen again....In our territory is a certain waterless sea consisting of tumbling billows of sand never at rest. None have crossed this sea -- it lacks water all together, yet fish of various kinds are cast up upon the beach, very tasty, and the like are nowhere else to be seen."

The river of stones is part of a quite unusual reference to the Sambatyon River that sequestered the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. The references to the Sambatyon in Jewish literature appear to describe volcanic events. We also find in Prester John's letter to Emperor Manuel, mention of the salamander and the fire-proof cloth that it was supposed to spin:

In one of our lands, hight Zone, are worms called in our tongue Salamanders. These worms can only live in fire, and they build cocoons like silkworms, which are unwound by the ladies of our palace, and spun into cloth and dresses, which are worn by our Exaltedness. These dresses in order to be cleaned and washed are cast into flames.

Similar tales are told in Chinese works at least by 520 CE in the Liang Si Gong Zhi where we hear of the "Island of Fire" and "Burning Mountain" located near Fusang, the Cynocephali and the Kingdom of Women. These latter kingdoms are linked to very much the same region that is later known as Sanfotsi and Toupo i.e, the lands of Zabag and Wakwak, although the Liang Si Gong Zhi gives exaggerated distances between these lands.

Upon the summit of the mountain Yen- kuen [Burning Mountain] there live fire rats (ho-shu), the hair of which serves also for the fabrication of an incombustible stuff, which is cleansed by fire instead of by water.

Berthold Laufer thought the material described was not asbestos, as sometimes suggested, but instead a type of barkcloth made of "a certain wood, which, laid in the fire, burns, sparkles, and flames, yet consumes not, and yet a man may rub it to powder betwixt his fingers."

He quotes the Liang annals contemporary with the previous source: "On Volcano Island there are trees which grow in the fire. The people in the vicinity of the island peel off the bark, and spin and weave it into cloth hardly a few feet in length. This they work into kerchiefs, which do not differ in appearance from textiles made of palm and hemp fibres...".

Curiously, Sung Dynasty writings do not mention the volcanic eruptions given for the 100-year period between the 9th and 10th centuries found in Muslim works. Ma Tuan-lin does mention volcanic islands in the region concerned, but he appears to be copying much earlier works.

If we take that this volcano mentioned is Pinatubo, the documented eruptions are either too early or too late to match the related time period. However, J.C. Gaillard has noted that wood samples dating from 1670-1802 bp related to the filling of the paleo-shoreline of the Pampanga Bay may indicate an undocumented eruption phase. A vast area of the Pampanga Bay was filled with sediment, and Gaillard rightly notes that this likely did not happen after the last pre-Pinatubo eruption known as the Buag phase (800-500 bp), since Spanish chronicles make no mention of the phenomenon.

The wood sample dated at 1670 bp (WW-4685) would put the event very close to the eruptive activity indicated in the Liang Dynasty records. And there is evidence that the sedimentation mostly ended by 1000 bp when sea levels reached their present state. We could then postulate that instead of one massive explosive eruption, there was a long eruptive phase likely consisting of periodic eruptions that gradually filled in the Pampanga Bay between 1800 bp and 1000 bp.

Such eruptive activity and filling in of the Pampanga Bay could account for the river of stones and the sea of sand mentioned in Prester John's letter that would have been written about a century after the shoreline stabilized. However, either some minor activity may have continued or else the long history of volcanic eruption had worked its way into local tradition.

Additionally we find that both Prester John's letter and the Chinese notices of Sanfotsi (Zabag) contain references to subterranean regions.

From Prester John:

Near the wilderness trickles between barren mountains a subterranean rill, which can only by chance be reached, for only occasionally the earth gapes, and he who would descend must do it with precipitation, ere the earth closes again.

And from Zhao Rugua's description of Sanfotsi:

There is an old tradition that the ground in this country once suddenly gaped open and out of the cavern came many myriads of cattle, which rushed off in herds into the mountains, though the people all tried to get them for food. Afterwards the crevice got stopped up with bamboo and trees and disappeared.

We can see then a good match between the volcanic, underworld paradise of the Swan Knight and Arthur, and the historical eastern kingdoms of Zabag-Sanfotsi; and I would also suggest the kingdom of Prester John.

Here we have the same region where Iranian legend places Kangdez the hollow mountain fortress of sleeping heroes waiting for the apocalypse, and the Sea of Milk where Visnu's sleeping avatars await the end of the old era before awakening.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Baring-Gould, S. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. London: Rivingtons, 1867.

Collins, John Joseph. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature. The biblical resource series. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans, 1998.

Frassetto, Michael. The Year 1000: Religious and Social Response to the Turning of the First Millennium. New York: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2002.

Gaillard, J.C. "Mt Pinatubo and the Kapampangan region before 1991," IN: K-list: Kapampangan List, 2005, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/k-list/message/11263.

Gaillard, J.C., F.G. Delfin, Jr., E.Z. Dizon, J.A. Larkin, V.J. Paz, E.G. Ramos, C.T. Remotigue, K.S. Rodolfo, F.P. Siringan, J.L.A. Soria, J.V. Umbal. "Anthropogenic dimension of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, between 800 and 500 years BP," L’anthropologie. 102(2), 2005: 249-266.

Laufer, Berthold. "Asbestos and Salamander: An Essay in Chinese and Hellenistic Folklore," T'oung-pao XVI, 1915, 299-373.

Myers, Geoffrey M., Emanuel J. Mickel, and Jan Nelson. La Naissance Du Chevalier Au Cygne. The Old French Crusade cycle, v. 1. University: University of Alabama Press, 1977.

Schein, Sylvia. Gateway to the Heavenly City: Crusader Jerusalem and the Catholic West (1099-1187). Church, faith, and culture in the medieval West. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate, 2005.

Schwartz, Hillel. Century's End: A Cultural History of the Fin De Siècle--from the 990s Through the 1990s. New York: Doubleday, 1990.

Slessarev, Vsevolod. Prester John; The Letter and the Legend. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1959.

Soria, J., Siringan, F., Parreno, P. "Compaction rates and paleo-sea levels along the delta complex north of Manila Bay, Luzon Island, Philippines," Science Diliman, North America, 17, jun. 2007. Available at: http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/sciencediliman/article/view/63/14. Date accessed: 09 May. 2009.

Rice types in Europe

2009-04-23T13:12:00.001-07:00

In relation to the last posting, I'm still doing research on this topic but would like to introduce it at this time.

The type of rice grown in Europe since medieval times -- like the paella of Valencia and the arborio of the Po Valley in Italy -- are of the Japonica variety. Rice agriculture in Spain as previously mentioned began possibly as early as the 8th century and definitely existed already by the 10th century. Rice was introduced into Italy probably in the 15th century or earlier, possibly from Spain.

Although I know of no studies yet that have investigated the types of rice used in medieval Europe, the general type can be ascertained by rice dishes traditional in the areas involved. Paella, which comes from the Moorish word for "leftover" was a dish made by mixing rice with other leftover foods, and thus dates from Muslim times. It always involved sticky, short to medium grain rice i.e., Japonica types. In the same sense, risotto also involves a short to medium grain sticky rice that has the ability to absorb liquid and release starch into the dish, a quality not found with long grain varieties.

Risotto (via Wikipedia)

In Egypt, while both Indica and Japonica varieties are now raised, the evidence points to Japonica as the older type.

Also, we can surmise by the practices used from the Shatt al-Arab to Valencia since medieval times that the rice varieties had to be planted entirely in wet fields -- something that is a requirement for Japonica but not Indica.

Regards.
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Introduction of rice and tropical crops into Moorish Spain

2009-04-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

Rice may have been introduced into Moorish Spain as early as the late 8th century. By the time of Hakam II in the mid-10th century, we learn from his secretary Arib bin Sa'id that tropical crops like rice (Ar. al-ruz, Sp. arroz), sugar cane (Ar. al-sukkar, Sp. azucar), ginger, banana, watermelon, oranges (Ar., Sp. naranja), lemon (Ar. laimun, Sp. limon) and other citrus were grown in Spain. This general type of agriculture involving these crops was known as filaha hindiyya or "Indian agriculture."

While I'm not aware of any detailed exposition of the transfer of rice agriculture across North Africa to Spain, the general spread of rice in the western Muslim regions during this period is linked with the Zutt and Sayabiga as discussed before. In the early 8th century, these groups were relocated from Mesopotamia to Antioch in Syria where up to 8,000 water buffalo were transported. As mentioned in the previous blog, at the ascension of Hakam II, there is some evidence of domestic water buffalo in Muslim Spain. The 9th century ruler of Egypt and Syria, Tulun, was said to have died from dysentery after drinking too much buffalo milk while in Antioch, so at least by this time we could expect the buffalo to have reached North Africa.

The rice agriculture of Spain like that of the Shatt al-Arab was of the wet paddy type in which the plant was raised entirely in submerged fields. These fields were built in areas that normally flooded, like the Albufera lake region in Valencia, using dikes, canals and in some cases terraces. Most of the rice and sugar cane fields were located on the eastern coast in areas like Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia. Also interesting is the apparent introduction of the use of verbascum as a fish poison during the Moorish periods. The use of verbascum fish poison appears in Arab literature in the medieval period known by the name mahi zahraj or mahi zahre.

Irrigated fields in the Albufera region, Valencia, Spain. Abundant rice and sugar cane fields can still be seen in some areas of Valencia and Murcia. Click image for full view.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Dymock, William, Charles James Hislop Warden, and David Hooper. Pharmacographia Indica. A History of the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin, Met with in British India. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., ld; [etc.], 1890.

Imamuddin, S. M. Some Aspects of the Socio-Economic and Cultural History of Muslim Spain, 711-1492 A.D. Medieval Iberian Peninsula. Texts and studies, v. 2. Leiden: Brill, 1965.

Mez, Adam, S. Khuda Bukhsh, and D. S. Margoliouth. The Renaissance of Islam. 1973.

O'Callaghan, Joseph F. A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.

More on the Fee of Europe

2009-04-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Not long after the time of Serlingpa, we read in Europe about Prester John of the Indies -- of his exploits or of his visit to Rome, or of the arrival of his envoys.

During the same period, rather peculiar stories crop up that link up certain noble houses with the Fee -- the Fairies or Fay -- of Brittany; and at the same time with far-off India, or more correctly, the Indies.

Generally the trend has been to dismiss these suggestions as fantastic elements added to legendary history -- a literature though that was taken quite seriously in many circles from commoner to royalty. However, as I have discussed before there is evidence that the medieval epic literature was used, at least in some cases, as a form of political commentary, or as a means of conveying non-politically correct historical events. It's a good time given the previous posts to expand on this whole thesis.

Previously I have suggested that Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival actually alludes to the Angevin and Plantagenet history (House of Anjou). The first person to suggest this connection, I believe, was Jessie Laidlay Weston. Let's look at some of the parallels:

Wolfram's Angevins
Historical Angevins
Son of Angevin count gains throne by marrying widowed empress, a queen of two countries Geoffrey V, son of the Count of Anjou, marries widowed Empress Matilda, queen of England and Normandy
The son of the empress and Angevin is deposed by a knight and two brothers Henry Fitz-Empress, son of Matilda and Geoffrey V, is usurped by the brothers Theobald and Stephen of Blois.
The Angevin husband of the empress descends from the king Mazadan, who is said to marry the fairy Terre-de-la-schoie, this latter name possibly a reference to Morgan la Fay. Mazadan is also Arthur's ancestor according to Wolfram.
Angevin tradition recorded by Gerald of Wales and others states that one of the early Angevin ancestors married a woman of "demon blood." This tradition was passed on among the Plantagenets themselves.
The Angevin's first heroic deed is to defeat in single combat Heuteger, the Scotchman, who appeared every morning before the gates of Patelamunt, to challenge the besieged knights. This appears to throw back to the Angevin count Geoffrey I who, during the siege of Paris by the Danes, is said to have defeated Ethelwulf who had daily offered challenges simiilar to those of Heuteger.
Nantes is made Arthur's chief city and both the Round Table and his capital are located there Brittany and Anjou had a long conflict over possession of Nantes, which lied within the borders of Brittany.
The bard Kiot claimed to have searched the records of France, Britain, Ireland and Anjou to find the story of the Grail. Henry Fitz-Empress was King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Anjou and Lord of Ireland.

Now previously I have claimed that many of the Grail and Arthurian romances had used older Celtic legends to cast the Norman invasion of England as liberation of Celts from their Anglo-Saxon oppressors. Also the fairy descent ascribed repeatedly to both the rulers of Anjou and Brittany (Arthur) is directly related to repeated appearance of the Indies and its inhabitants in the same literature.

However, before I continue let me first give some background on the historical sources leading up to this period.

Dissolution of the Carolingian empire

During the Carolingian empire, strangers were protected by the empire through reciprocal treaties like that with the Danes in 873. The poet Theodulf, for example, mentions Arab traders at Arles in 812.

As the empire crumbled, a black hole of literature and historical records ensues particularly throughout the 10th century. Brittany had allied with the Vikings against the Franks in the 8th century, and eventually also Anjou finds itself in the Norman orbit.

The Vikings were a motley lot who readily accepted strangers into their fold. In the east, they carried on a brisk trade with Muslims and the Byzantine empire. People of all backgrounds could be found among them both slave and free. There is also some evidence that they may have traded with Moorish Spain. In 845, Abd al-Rahman II sent an embassy to the King of the Vikings for reasons that are not spelled out. Mas'udi claimed that the Rus, a term thought by many to refer to Varangians and Northmen, carried their trade as far "as Spain, Rome, Constantinople, and the Khazar." This period would have been a prime opportunity for foreigners, even from very distant lands, to settle in the areas of Brittany and Anjou.

As the Frankish empire broke up, the comital families that had acted as regional military governors under imperial appointment began to make sovereign claims on their territories. The counts of Anjou were one such family. Before Count Fulk IV in the 11th century, nothing was known of the Angevin family.

Fulk IV himself wrote a family history and encouraged the monks of St Aubin in the capital of Angers to create genealogies for the house of Anjou. He is also believed to have encouraged archdeacon Renaud to write a history of the family for the annals of St. Aubin. Like most genealogies and histories of other counts, those of Fulk IV were drawn from memory.

For example, although Fulk IV claims not to have known about the earliest Angevin counts, the chroniclers expand his genealogy back to the Carolingians and following the Merovingian dynasty back to the ancient Trojans. Many details and family members are added, by different writers, and these vary widely from one version to another. Relationships between noble families suddenly appear out of nowhere. In other words, there is little to vouch for much that is recorded before Fulk IV.

Many of the genealogies and histories including the legendary histories were designed to help the comital families gain recognition and acceptance of their sovereign claims. In such an environment, it would make little sense to link one's lineage and family history with fairies, demons and far-off India and the Indies. There are other good reasons to look at these connections as reality rather than fable.

First, the Grail and Arthurian literature appears at the same period that we begin to hear of actual visitors from "India" in Europe. Geoffrey of Monmouth was probably the first of the pro-Norman-Angevin-Briton writers. He was a subject of Henry II (Henry Fitz-Empress Plantagenet) and thus could be expected to be favorable to the House of Anjou. His key works, Prophecies of Merlin and History of the Kings of Britain came out around 1135 and 1136 respectively.

Earlier in 1122, we hear that a certain 'John, Patriarch of the Indies' had visited Calixtus I at Rome. The audience is preserved in two different sources -- the Chronicon of Albericus Trium Fontium and in a letter by St. Remy abbot Oddo to a Count Thomas, --this letter forming part of Mabillon's collection Vetera Analecta. Oddo actually witnessed the meeting between Patriach John and Calixtus I, with the former describing the 'communion of St. Thomas.'

Patriarch John is first combined with Prester John as early as the end of the 12th century in the Narrative of Eliseus, and in the 15th century the earliest publication of Prester John's letter includes the account of Patriarch John in a Latin chapbook.

About a decade after Geoffrey's works, Hugh of Gabala reports of Prester John's military exploits in Persia recorded by both Albericus and Otto of Freising. Then in 1165, Albericus reports that Prester John had sent envoys with letters to many Christian kingdoms and particularly to Emperors Manuel I and Frederick Barbarossa. In 1177, Pope Alexander III's physician Philippus meets envoys of Prester John while traveling in the east and carries a message, possibly in the form of a letter, to the Pope.

We can consider that some if not all these envoys of Prester John were from the "Indies," and that possibly even the king himself had visited Rome if we accept the account of 1122 and its identification of Patriarch John with Prester John!

The next reason to believe in the reality of the foreign elements in the literature is that we see therein a host of "Orientalisms" especially with reference to the Holy Grail beliefs. One could assign these to the random flow of eastern influence that occurred after the start of the Crusades and the fall of Toledo. However, I have attempted to show that these elements surrounding the Grail legend have a specificity that links very well the suggestions made in this blog.

Lastly, the linkage with Prester John, although not found in the very earliest works, very readily gives a motive for such long-range contacts that agree with the campaign of the King of the Isles in the furthest Indies. The kingdom of Zabag, I have suggested, started intensely increasing its normal policy of attraction starting at least in the 10th century if not a few centuries earlier. This intensification came as a response to new competition along the martime spice routes caused by Sunni Islamic expansion. Prester John offered the hope of an ally who could supposedly usher all the forces of the East and India to aid the West in defeating a common foe.

East meets West

Epic literature of the 12th and 13th centuries abounds with references to India, which again defines the general geographical region of the Indies, the region furthest east in the known world of medieval Europe. Princes, princesses, messengers and others from India are an integral part of the literature, and they are not found so much in the East as in the European setting.

If India and its inhabitants are not mentioned, then one can be assured that fairies and the fairy kingdom will be found. And in no small number of these works, the Indies and the fairy kingdom are equated either explicitly or implicitly.

Let's take, for example, the possibly first pro-Angevin writer of this genre, Geoffrey of Monmouth. He has the wounded Arthur taken to the island of Avalon where he is healed by Morgen.

At this time, Avalon was an unknown element, so Geoffrey is taking the Celtic hero and placing him in a foreign land or otherworld location. There has been a great deal of speculation as to what Geoffrey meant by Avalon ranging from the Fortunate Isles (Canaries) to India and the Americas. The best information is that gleaned nearest to Geoffrey's own time or as near to it as possible.

The chanson de geste Huon of Bordeaux is generally dated either to the final third of the 12th century or the first half of the 13th. According to the earlier dating the author could have been a contemporary of Geoffrey. His hero ventures to India in the farthest East to a fairy kingdom known as Momur and ruled by the dwarf king Oberon. That this Momur is the same as Geoffrey's Avalon is evident in that both Arthur and Morgan la Fay are found living there.

However, we can get even closer to Geoffrey's time and milieu. Gerald of Wales, who wrote during the late 12th and early 13th century was actually a royal chaplain of Henry II Plantagenet. He wrote that Avalon was actually found at Glastonbury, not far away at all.

Gerald though, despite his Norman and Welsh descent, was a known anti-Angevin. In works that were composed through much of his career but published only later in life, Gerald harshly criticized the Angevins, much preferring the Capet family of France. In 1216, about seven years before his death, he supported a plan during the First Baron's War to put Louis VIII of France on the English throne in place of the Plantagenets.

He was also the one who characterized the strange blood of the Angevins as coming from the Devil in contrast, say, to von Eschenbach's positive account of descent from the fairies Mazadan and Terdelaschoye. And it was Gerald of Wales who attempted to extinguish the strongly-held Celtic belief in the returning Arthur, the once and future king, by reporting that the coffins and bones of King Arthur along with Guinevere had been found at Glastonbury, in what may be the world's earliest known case of fake archaeology. And finally, Gerald had strongly attacked Geoffrey's works on the history of Britain.

Now, there is an even better source, in this case pro-Angevin, in Etienne de Rouen who wrote Draco Normannicus between 1167 and 1169.

Etienne's work is a purported letter from Arthur to Henry II during the latter's campaign in Brittany during 1167. Arthur, who is ruling in Avalon together with his sister Morgan, warns Henry II against invading Brittany threatening to return with his own army from Avalon. Henry responds by defending his right to Brittany and promising out of reverence for Arthur that he would rule Brittany under Arthur's law. That law is the fatorum lege, which might be translated as "fairy law" from fata "fairy" marking the first connection of Avalon with the Fee.

What is interesting about Etienne's account is that he repeatedly refers to Avalon as the Antipodes, a region known from ancient Greek sources. In the older conception of a flat earth, the Antipodes was thought of as the southernmost quarter of the world. However, Etienne describes the Antipodes as the "other side of the earth" and the "lower hemisphere," suggesting something quite different -- a world divided into halves rather than quarters. He also equates the Antipodes with the Underworld. Mildred Leake Day says about the term "lower hemisphere":

This does not mean Africa or the other continents not yet discovered by Europeans. Etienne is specific that the Antipodes are living on the other side of the world, not below the equator but in the far east. The reality of a spherical earth had been known since ancient times from the simple observations of the disappearing horizon at sea and the shadow of the earth in the eclipse of the moon. The circumference of the earth was assumed in most cases India and the Spice Islands were considered in educated views to be on the opposite side of the earth.

Day may be alluding here to the Celtic belief that the Sun enters the sea at night with the sea often closely linked with the Underworld in the same mythology.

Chretien de Troyes in Eric and Enide tells of a noble king of the dwarfs called Bilis who rules in the Antipodes in the lower hemisphere and visits the court of Arthur. Recall that the fairy king Oberon who, according to Huon of Bordeaux rules in India, and the Indian Cundrie's brother Malcreatiure along with herself at times, are also described as dwarfs.

The idea of the Antipodes lying in the far east (or west) is found in latter times, for example, Dante in the early 14th century placed Mt. Purgatory in the Antipodes 180 degrees East or West of Jerusalem. It was on Mt. Purgatory that the Terrestrial Paradise was found. The text of John of Mandeville supports the idea that Judea lies midway between Paradise and the Antipodes of Paradise stating that, according to John's own reckoning while traveling in the East, Judea sits 96 degrees to the west of Paradise.

More relevant though, as it was published before Geoffrey of Monmouth's time, is the Liber Floridus of Lambertus Audomarensis written in 1120. Lambertus places the Terrestrial Paradise in the extreme East with the Antipodes of Paradise in the extreme West stating: "Here live our antipodes, but they have a different night, and days which are contrary to ours, and so for the setting of the stars." Obviously this gives a spherical view of the earth with the hemispheres divided into east and west. Etienne appears to place Britain at the center when referring to the lower hemisphere as the 'other side of the world,' and thus the lower hemisphere would begin at 90 degrees to both the east and west.

Analyzing the literature from Geoffrey of Monmouth to Wolfram von Eschenbach we can suggest an attempt to use legendary history, which was taken very seriously at the time, as a backdrop to legitimize the Norman invasion and resulting Angevin ascendancy in terms of a Celtic liberation from Anglo-Saxon dominance. There is also a quite obvious attempt to legitimize and even to romanticize some strange or foreign element in the Angevin lineage that is linked with "India" and/or the fairy race -- a connection that also extends to the legendary Arthur.

No shortage of Indians

In the Welsh epic, Peredur seeks his promised love in the Indies. In Tandareis und Flordibel (mid-13th c.), Flordibel, who visits the Knights of the Round Table reveals that she is an Indian princess.

Wolfram's Willehalm has the Indian King Gorhant fighting in the battle of Alischanz. In Der Jüngere Titurel, the Holy Grail is transported to India, the land from which the Grail Maiden also hails, and in Lohengrin, the Swan Knight himself declares that he has come from the Indies. Both of these works are from the late 13th century.

In the Dutch Walewain (1350), the hero embarks on a distant journey to fetch the fair Ysabel, daughter of Assentijn, King of the Indies. And these are just a few examples.

While Indian characters like Secundille and Flordibel are portrayed as beautiful, some of the Indians in the poems are described in stark contrast. Thus, while Peredur's amour of fairy descent s described as the fairest damsel, the sorceress Cundrie, the loathly damsel, is portrayed in much different terms:

...they saw a girl coming on a tawny mule, clutching a whip in her right hand. Her hair hung in two tresses, black and twisted: and if the words of my source are true, there was no creature so utterly ugly even in Hell. You have never seen iron as black as her neck and hands, but that was little compared to the rest of her ugliness: her eyes were just two holes, tiny as the eyes of a rat; her nose was like a cat's or monkey's, her lips like an ass's or a cow's; her teeth were so discoloured that they looked like egg-yolk; and she had a beard like a billy-goat. She had a hump in the middle of her chest and her back was like a crook ... She greeted the king and his barons all together...

-- Chrétien, Le Roman de Perceval ou le Conte du Graal

And thereupon they saw a black curly-headed maiden enter, riding upon a yellow mule, with jagged thongs in her hand to urge it on; and having a rough and hideous aspect. Blacker were her face and her two hands than the blackest iron covered with pitch; and her hue was not more frightful than her form. High cheeks had she, and a face lengthened downwards, and a short nose with distended nostrils. And one eye was of a piercing mottled grey, and the other was as black as jet, deep-sunk in her head. And her teeth were long and yellow, more yellow were they than the flower of the broom. And her stomach rose from the breast bone, higher than her chin. And her back was in the shape of a crook, and her legs were large and bony. And her figure was very thin and spare, except her feet and her legs, which were of huge size. And she greeted Arthur and all his household except Peredur.

-- Peredur

The fairy folk also are alternately described as beautiful and ugly. Some are short and even dwarfs, while others are described as tall. They can be either fair or dark-skinned. Morgan la Fay, for example, is herself sometimes described as beautiful, and ugly at other times.

Melusine is a typical beautiful fairy found in folktales and made popular in the 14th century by the writer Jean d'Arras. Said to have been a descendant of the kings of Brittany, Melusine may have been claimed as an ancestress by the counts of Lusignan, Luxembourg, Forez and Lorraine.

The equation or linkage of fairies with Indians, or fairy land with the Indies is found repeatedly in the epic literature. Again, Huon of Bordeaux finds fairy land and its king Oberon in India, something Spenser recreates much later in The Faerie Queene. The sister of Flordibel's father, King of India, is said to be a fairy. Jean d'Arras places fairy land in the Indies as does Boiardo and Ariosto. Roman d'Ogier le Danois and Le Batard de Bouillon both place Avalon in the Indies near the Terrestrial Paradise.

The way thither

That visitors from afar would come into Europe after the beginning of the Crusades is not that unusual. There is the testimony regarding the Patriarch of the Indies, and John of Wurzburg tells of Christians from India among the inhabitants of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem around 1165. Sicily under Frederick II is also described as a very diverse society.

However, if we take seriously Wolfram's genealogy explaining the fairy/demon descent of Parzival, i.e., Henry Fitz-Empress, then he would descend in five generations from Mazadan and Terdelaschoye. That would be two generations back from Fulk IV who is said to have been born in 1043 before the First Crusade, and before the Crusader route to Jerusalem was open.

Probably the easiest way to Europe before that time would be along the North African trade routes to Moorish Spain. Wolfram seems to suggest this journey for Feirefiz, for example, and he has Cundrie listing what some identify as Hispano-Arabic star names.

A wide range of products flowed into Andalus from the Indies including aloeswood, musk and camphor. Aloeswood is used in Parzival to fumigate the festering wound of Anfortas, the Fisher King. Indian traders in Islamic Spain, or at least the Jewish ones, often used the nisba surname al-dajaji or al-dajjaj meaning "chicken dealer." The ports of Seville and Almeria were designated as refuge for foreigners "to which people come from all regions" according to the 11th century geographer al-Udhri.

Water buffalo may also have been brought from the East to turn irrigation wheels like the saqiya. Twenty buffalo horns were presented to al-Hakam II on his enthronement that were not included on a list of foreign gifts suggesting that they were domestic. The movement of water buffalo, at least in early times, was linked with the Zutt and Sayabiga as I have described previously in this blog.

The geographer Al-Mas'udi gives an interesting account with reference to Spain during his time that is worth investigating -- a similar story had been given earlier in the 9th century by the traveler Sulaiman.

In the Mediterranean, not far from Crete, planks of vessels of Indian plantain wood have been found, which were well cut and joined with fibres of the cocoa nut tree. It was evident that they were of wrecked vessels, and had been a long time in water; vessels of this description are only found in the Abyssinian sea, for the vessels of the Mediterranean and of the West are all joined with nails. In the Abyssinian sea, iron nails would not be applicable for ship building, for the water of that sea corrodes the iron, and the nails become thinner and weaker in the water; hence the planks are joined with fibres and besmeared with grease and quicklime. This is a proof that the seas have a communication. The sea towards China and the country of es-Sila goes all round the country of the Turks, and has a communication with the sea of the West (the Atlantic), through some straits of the great ocean.

Now if we take the fairy kingdom of Mazadan as the land of Prester John -- identified as the same as Suvarnadvipa, Sanfotsi, etc. -- we know from the last posting that Serlingpa ruled there in the early part of the 11th century. His successor was on the throne by 1028, so going back two generations from Fulk IV who was born in 1043, we have the possibility of a descent through Serlingpa!

So if we look at the background of the First Crusade from the "Prester John" standpoint of origin, many of the families involved in that campaign had at least legendary links with the fairy folk. They include Godfrey de Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade, who supposedly descends from the Swan Knight, the son of King Orient. The connections of the Swan Knight with the fairy lineage have been discussed earlier. Godfrey's brother Baldwin I, was the first king of Jerusalem, and his cousin Baldwin II, the second Jerusalem monarch. The Angevin link has already been discussed, and then there were the Lusignans who were closely linked in legend with the Melusine, and provided the last king, Guy de Lusignan.

The families involved in the early crusades tended to come more from northern France and many had close blood relationship with each other. Pope Urban II who called for the First Crusade hailed from Champagne in the same region of northern France. Champagne was ruled by the House of Blois, one of the leading families involved in the First Crusade.

In the east, the king who would become "Prester John," according to this analysis had already been working diplomatically forging relations with the Sung Dynasty, the Palas and Cholas of India, and the kingdoms of Tibet in an effort to protect his part in the spice trade routes. He may already have had sealed a similar relationship with the Nizaris who had organized into the Assassin brotherhood in 1090. If so, the Crusaders would have had an "ally" waiting for them in the East when they arrived later in the decade through the work of Prester John, who would have been distantly related to some of the leading comital families involved.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Constable, Olivia R. Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: The Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula, 900-1500. Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought, Ser. 4, 24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Day, Mildred Leake, and Etienne. Latin Arthurian literature. Arthurian archives, 11. Cambridge, UK: D.S. Brewer, 2005, 50-2.

Echard, Siân. Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition. Cambridge studies in medieval literature, 36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 85-8.

Higgins, Iain Macleod. Writing East: The "Travels" of Sir John Mandeville. The Middle Ages series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997, 142.

Imamuddin, S. M. Muslim Spain 711-1492 A.D.: A Sociological Study. Medieval Iberian Peninsula, v. 2. Leiden: Brill, 1981, 97-8.

Lichtblau, Karin, and Christa Tuczay. Matière de Bretagne. Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 2005.

Owen, Henry. Gerald the Welshman. London: D. Nutt, 1904, 135-141.

Remy, Arthur Frank Joseph. The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany. New York: AMS Press, 1966.

Verhulst, Adriaan E. The Carolingian Economy. Cambridge medieval textbooks. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002, 105.

Vernon, William Warren, Benvenutus, and Dante Alighieri. Readings on the Purgatorio of Dante. Macmillan Co, 1897.

Wolfram, and Jessie Laidlay Weston. Parzival, A Knightly Epic. New York: G.E. Stechert & Co, 1912, 291-4.

Serlingpa: King of Suvarnadvipa

2009-03-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

I have written previously about the introduction of the Kalacakra, the highest Tantric practice in Tibetan, Mongolian and Nepali Buddhism, into India from Shambhala.

Shambhala is equated with the kingdom known in Indian texts as Suvarnadvipa, and the agent who introduced the Kalacakra was none other than the Shamhbala king known as Kalki Sripala.

The mysterious kingdom of Shambhala gave rise to the fabled land known as Shangri-la from the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton, and Shambhala has become focal point in many modern Western esoteric traditions. Madame Blavatsky and Nicholas Roerich, for example, emphasized the importance of Shambhala.

Shambhala became an important part of the "Great Game," the political intrigues particularly of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Russian imperial family including the Tsar had befriended the Lama Agvan Dorzhiev, who claimed that the Romanovs were the kings of Shambhala. Dorzhiev raised the suspicions of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, who thought that Russia might be conspiring with Central Asian nations to undermine British interests in India.

Baron von Ungern-Sternberg an anti-Bolshevik rallied Mongolians to fight the Soviet armies with the promise that they would be reborn in Shambhala. And during World War II, the Japanese after taking Inner Mongolia in 1937 attempted to gain Mongolian allegiance by claiming that Japan was Shambhala.

Serlingpa and the Kalacakra

Geshe Sopa, John Newman and others have suggested that Sripala is the same person known in Tibetan texts variously as Pindo (Pito), Dharmakirti, Dharmapala and Suvarnadvipi ("one from Suvarnadvipa.) The latter name is rendered in Tibetan as Serlingpa or Gserlingpa.

Serlingpa is described as a prince of Suvarnadvipa, while Sripala is listed in Kalacakra texts as the 17th king of the Kalki or Kulika (Tib: Rigden) lineage. Of all the kings of the ancient kingdom of Suvarnadvipa and its predecessors and successors, he is the best documented, and by a number of different traditions.

That Shambhala should be identified with Suvarnadvipa can be posited on a single argument as Tibetan texts describe the existence of the Kalacakra as only in Shambhala before it was introduced into India. The same tradition in some cases clearly suggests the existence of the Kalacakra in Suvarnadvipa without any explanation as to how it got there. And there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the Kalacakra was introduced to India from Suvarnadvipa, which would suggest that the latter is simply another name for Shambhala. Note these points:

In his history of Buddhism, Taranatha says that the Kalacakra was introduced into India by Pindo. Different sources claim that Pindo is one of the names of Serlingpa, the prince of Suvarnadvipa.

Atisha, the teacher who helped establish Buddhism in Tibet, says that he learned of the Paramadibuddha, the basic Kalacakra text, from the oral teachings of Serlingpa, who he also refers to as Pindo.

One of the oldest documents of the Tanjur, the second part of the Tibetan canon that consists of translations of older texts, is known as the Sri Kalacakra-garbhalankara. In the notes to a Peking manuscript of this text, authorship is ascribed to Pindo, "who was born in the land of the Southern Ocean." This ocean is generally associated with the world of Southeast Asia including Suvarnadvipa.

A prayer, from one of the two major lineages that have transmitted Tibetan Buddhism, and recorded by Bu ston calls on the blessings of "Kalki Sripala from the end of the Southern Ocean." According to this same lineage, it was Kalki Sripala who brought the Kalacakra to India.

According to both major transmission lineages, the Kalacakra came to India together with three major tantric commentaries. All three of these works cite the Paramadibuddha, the work taught to Atisha by Pindo , and two of them are called by names that Newman thinks can be translated as "a commentary according to the thought of Pindo."

From this evidence we can clearly see that: Serlingpa, who is also called Pindo and Kalki Sripala, is responsible for introducing the Kalacakra to India, and that he hails from Suvarnadvipa.

Some aspects of the Kalacakra philosophy may have begun filtering in during 966 or 967 CE, but the main texts and traditions, which did not exist in India previously, were likely brought to that country by Serlingpa in 1012, the date on which the main Kalacakra astronomical calculations used in Tibet are based. It may be that this two-stage transmission accounts for some differences that exist between the two major transmission lineages.

However, both lineages converge upon a person called Kalacakrapada the Elder, who according to the Rwa lineage inherits the Kalacakra doctrine from Pindo, while the 'Bro lineage has him receiving the knowledge from Kalki Sripala.

Archaeological evidence

Two sets of inscriptions from the Chola empire of South India may offer direct evidence of the existence of Serlingpa himself.

Known as the Larger and Smaller Leiden Grants, these inscriptions tell of a king of Suvarnadvipa who builds a Buddhist shrine at Nagapattana in South India in the name of his father Culamanivarman. The Chola king Rajaraja grants a village for the upkeep of this shrine in the 21st year of his reign, or about 1005 CE. Centuries earlier, a Suvarnadvipa king had erected a Buddhist sanctuary at Nalanda in eastern India in the time of the Pala king Devapala.

Now a work in the Tangur ascribed to Serlingpa states that it was written "on the request of king Sri Cudamanivarman, during the tenth year of the reign of Cudamanivarman, in Vijayanagara of Suvarnadvipa."

The Sanskrit name Cudamanivarman is written in Tamil, as in the Leiden Grant, as Culamanivarman. Now given that Serlingpa was alive in 1005, these two references must be referring to the same king of Suvarnadvipa. And as Serlingpa is a prince of Suvarnadvipa who later becomes king, Culamanivarman should have been his paternal ancestor.

Another manuscript of the Tangur found in Cordier's Catalogue calls the king Cudamanimandapa, while the Leiden Grant refers to the son who builds the Chola shrine as Sri Mara-Vivayottungavarman. So here again we see a variety of names as in the case of Serlingpa. The large number of names though is not unusual for royal personages who often have personal, throne, dynastic and other names usually as titles.

Now the names Cudamanivarman and Cudamanimandapa might both be titles derived from the old kingdom known as Cudamani probably referring to Coda or Chola territory. Varman means "protector" and is often appended to the names of rulers, while "mandapa" would probably mean a temple or similar structure. It may be that these names or titles refer to the political relations between Suvarnadvipa and the Cholas that are mentioned in Sung Dynasty annals and in the work of Chinese geographer Ma Tuan-lin and referring to this period. In those works, Suvarnadvipa is known as Sanfotsi (Sanfoqi).

The Sung annals state that the Sanfotsi king in 1003 sent envoys to China telling of a Buddhist temple that was built and said to be in honor of the Chinese emperor. This was very close to the time of the shrine built in South India, and the king at the time would have been Culamanivarman.

Previously we have mentioned that the king of Suvarnadvipa-Sanfotsi was during this period using a policy of attraction to help in protecting his kingdom's age-old control of the Clove Route. We also hear from a temple inscription in Canton dated 1079 that the "Lord of Sanfotsi" had contributed funds toward the upkeep of not only Buddhist, but also Taoist temples in South China.

According to Chinese records the throne would have passed from Culamanivarman to his son sometime befween 1003 and 1005 CE. Now when the teacher Atisha went to study under Serlingpa in 1012 or 1013, some sources call the latter "Lord of Suvarnadvipa," which could mean that he was the sovereign at the time. Thus, Serlingpa would have been the son of Mara-Vivayottungavarman, who was the son of Culamanivarman and the person who built the Buddhist shrine in Chola country.

Taranatha mentions that Pindo brought the Kalacakra to India during the second half of Mahipala's lifetime. Newman thinks this Mahipala must be the Pala king with that name who reigned between 988-1038, but it's not impossible that Taranatha is referring to Kalki Mahipala, the father of Kalki Sripala (Serlingpa) according to Kalacakra tradition.

Suvarnadvipa as learning center

As early as the T'ang Dynasty, Chinese texts tell of a renowned Buddhist learning center somewhere in Insular Southeast Asia.

The traveler I-Tsing (Yijing) describes this center in a place called Fo-hsi. The location of Fo-shi is important and he says that one travels there from Canton sailing toward the asterisms Yi and Tchen, which in the Chinese sidereal compass represent the directions between south-southeast and southeast. The explorer Kie Tan gives a detailed itinerary for the journey to Fo-hsi, which also locates it southeast of Canton. I-Tsing also calls Fo-Shi by the name Chin-chou "Gold Country," which is probably a translation of Sanskrit Suvarnadvipa.

Al-Biruni tells us that Suvarnadvipa was known among the Muslims as Zabag -- a location widely seen by geographers as referring to what the Sung Chinese called Sanfotsi. We can verifym using the works closest to the date of Serlingpa, that these locations agree with the directions given for sailing to Fo-hsi during the T'ang Dynasty.

For example, Mas'udi writing in 947 tells us that Zabag was located in the Sea of Champa, i.e. in the ocean adjacent to what is now known as Central Vietnam, and that beyond Zabag was a great ocean of unknown limits i.e., the Pacific Ocean. The same author tells us that Zabag was oriented toward the land of the Khmer, i.e., what is now Cambodia and southern Vietnam, in the same way that Sri Lanka is oriented toward Madurai in South India. That is to say that Zabag was to the east of the land of the Khmers across the sea.

Sung Dynasty works like those of Zhao Rugua and Zhou Qufei clearly place Sanfotsi along the Eastern Ship Route. Because of the dangers posed by the coral islands and outcroppings now known as the Spratly and Paracel islands, Chinese mariners avoided crossing the middle of the South China Sea. Instead they either hugged the coast from Quanzhou in Fujian to Vietnam to the markets of Zhangcheng (Tonkin) and Zhenla (Cambodia) -- a course known as the Western Ship Route. Or they sailed due south from Quanzhou stopping at Taiwan and the Philippines before going further south toward Maluku.

When Atisha came to study with Serlingpa, Suvarnadvipa was the center of a great trade empire. Earlier, near the end of the 7th century, Dharmapala, abbot of Nalanda university, is said to have ventured to Suvarnadvipa to study alchemy near the end of his life. In the 8th century, the South Indian monk Vajrabodhi studied for five months in Fo-hsi before traveling to China where he is said to have introduced Tantric Buddhism.

However, we should note that despite its popularity with Buddhists there is evidence of a great deal of religious plurality in Suvarnadvipa. Already mentioned was the contribution made by the Suvarnadvipa king toward maintenance of both Taoist and Buddhist temples in 1079. In 983, we hear from Chinese records that "the priest Fa-yu, returning from lndia where he had been seeking sacred texts, arrived at Sanfotsi where he met the Hindu priest Mi-mo-lo-shih-li, who after a short conversation gave him a petition expressing his desire to visit the Middle Kingdom and translate sacred books there."

Islamic writers, who elsewhere show much interest in religious practices, make no mention of the religion practiced in Zabag to this author's knowledge. Islamic terms for Buddhism like samani, budd, buddah, budhah, bahar, etc. are not used in describing Zabag, nor is any other specific term giving of the local religion with the exception that the inhabitants are sometimes called majus, which could be interpreted as "fire-worshipper."

Again I would assign this to the king's policy of attraction and the general pluralistic society that existed at the time. We know, for example, that while Atisha studied in Suvarnadvipa, there were prophecies of his eventual journey to Tibet. And when his studies were completed, Serlingpa himself is said to have advised Atisha to "go to the north. In the north is the Land of Snows [Tibet]."

Those who have followed this blog will know that I have suggested that the Suvarnadvipa king was interested in rallying Tibet and India behind his cause in stopping the Muslim juggernaut. Not because of any anti-Muslim viewpoint, indeed texts like the Arabian Nights and Buzurg ibn Shahriyar's Wonders of India indicate that Muslims found Zabag as a very friendly place. Also, I have suggested that the Suvarnadvipa king, under the identity of "Prester John," had actually conspired with Shi'ite Muslims to undermine the threat posed by Sunni expansion along the maritime trade routes.

Works of Serlingpa and impact

Besides his part in transmitting the Kalacakra doctrine, Serlingpa is credited with six original works that appear in the Tangur. The most impressive both in length of its title and content, and the scope of its exposition on Mahayana Buddhist philosopy is the Abhisamaya-alamkara-nama-prajnaparamita-upadesa-sastra-vritti-durbodha-aloka-nama-tika.

Some of Serlingpa's sayings that have been preserved might give us some insight on this thinking and teachings. On suffering, Serlingpa taught:

Adverse conditions are one's spiritual teacher,
Ghosts and possessor spirits, the Buddha's emanations.
Sickness is a broom clearing away negativity and obstructions,
The sufferings are ornamentation of ultimate reality's expanse.
These are the four thoroughly unenlightened factors,
They are essential to tame places that are far from dharma [law],
They are essential too in times of degeneration
To help bear negative samsara [repetition] and its misguided ways.

On the self and self-interest, Serlingpa teaches that one should instead focus on the other:

Self is the root of [all] negative actions;
It is the one thing to be discarded with decisiveness.
The other is a source of enlightenment;
It is the one thing to be embraced with enthusiasm.
These two teachings condense those to be relinquished and their antidotes,
They are vital in places afar from dharma
They are essential too in times of degeneration,
To help bear negative samsara and its misguided ways.

Serlingpa's pupil Kamala was the author of nine works in the Tangur, but Atisha must be considered Serlingpa's most important student. Not only does it appear that Serlingpa had the greatest impact on the training of Atisha, but it was in his kingdom and under his advice that Atisha brought the Sarma lineages to Tibet when Buddhism was under repression by King Langdarma. In his biography, it is said that Atisa upon hearing the name of Serlingpa immediately clasped his palms together at his crown and tears would fall in remembering his teacher's kindness. He credited Serlingpa with leading him to bodhicitta, the desire for enlightenment to help other beings.

Through his influence on Atisha and by introducing the Kalacakra philosophy, Serlingpa had a great impact on the development of the culture of modern Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Nepal and parts of India; and indirectly on modern Western esoteric traditions.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Chattopadhyaya, Alaka, Atīśa, and Chimpa. Atīśa and Tibet; Life and Works of Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna in Relation to the History and Religion of Tibet, [Calcutta]: distributors: Indian Studies: Past & Present, 1967.

Newman, John. "A Brief History of the Kalachakra," in: Geshe Lhundup Sopa, et al.

The Wheel of Time: The Kalachakra in Context, Deer Park Books, 1985, 51-90.

Rost, Reinhold. Miscellaneous Papers Relating to Indo-China. London: Trübner & Co, 1886, 189-90.

Tan Yeok Seong, "The Srivijaya inscription of Canton (A.D. 1079)", Journal of Southeast Asian History 5,2 (1964): 21.

Search for Gold Mountain

2009-03-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

In China Men, Maxine Hong Kingston tells of Chinese fortune-seekers who ventured to the Philippines in 1603 looking for Kinshan the "Gold Mountain."

Travelers had told China's Emperor that such a Gold Mountain existed in Cavite near Manila rich in both gold and silver. In latter times, the name "Gold Mountain" was also extended to locations like Hawai'i, Mexico, California and other parts of the "New World" where migrant Chinese went searching for their pot of gold, or to escape difficulties in their homeland.

History records that in the year 1603 two Chinese Mandarins came to Manila as Ambassadors from their Emperor to the Gov.-General of the Philippines. They represented that a countryman of theirs had informed His Celestial Majesty of the existence of a mountain of gold in the environs of Cavite, and they desired to see it. The Gov.-General welcomed them, and they were carried ashore by their own people in ivory and gilded sedan-chairs. They wore the insignia of High Mandarins, and the Governor accorded them the reception due to their exalted station. He assured them that they were entirely misinformed respecting the mountain of gold, which could only be imaginary, but, to further convince them, he accompanied them to Cavite. The Mandarins shortly afterwards returned to their country.

-- John Foreman, The Philippine Islands, 114.

Areas of the Philippines have been described in this blog as Suvarnadvipa, Wakwak and other historical regions noted for their wealth in gold. When the Spanish colonized the area, even the local servants and laborers had nice hoards of gold in their possession.

And there was already a flourishing trade going on including the trade in gold. Merchants from Luzon, Maguindanao, Sulu and other areas of the Philippines were well-established at ports like Malacca and most of mainland and insular Southeast Asia, and appeared to have handled most of the trade between Malacca and China.

In 1572, during the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, Juan Pacheco Maldonado describes the existing incoming trade in the Philippine region:

So also the rich country of Japan, whence is brought great quantities of silver, is three hundred leagues, more or less, distant from the island of Luzon. Every year Japanese ships come to these islands laden with merchandise. Their principal trade is the exchange of gold for silver, two to two and a half marcos of silver for one of gold. Two hundred leagues south of Luzon is the island of Mindanao, whence is brought cinnamon. Likewise about one hundred leagues north of Luzon, and very near the mainland of China, is an island that they call Cauchi, which has a great abundance of pepper. The king of China maintains trade with this island, and so there are many Chinese there. They have their own agency for the collection of the pepper. Twelve or fifteen ships from the mainland of China come each year to the city of Manila, laden with merchandise: figured silks of all sorts; wheat, flour, and sugar; many kinds of fruit; iron, steel, tin, brass, copper, lead, and other kinds of metals; and everything in the same abundance as in España and the Indies, so that they lack for nothing. The prices of everything are so moderate, that they are to be had almost for nothing. They also bring a great deal of bronze artillery, very well wrought, and all sorts of military supplies. This island of Luzon is very suitable and convenient for trade with China; men can reach the mainland from this island, because it is so near.

Colonies of both Japanese and Chinese were found on Luzon and in other areas just as Filipino colonies existed in locations as far as Myanmar. And the settlements in Luzon expanded rapidly after the Spanish conquest.

The gold trade also expanded particularly with Japan. Between 1596 and 1609, at least 43 goshuinsen or "red seal ships" came to Manila for gold and other products. The Spanish imposed a duty on all gold traded that for a short period stood at 10 percent but mostly was set at 20 percent. However, they exempted all gold that preexisted and was handed down as inheritance. This greatly limited Spanish revenues due to the massive quantities of heirloom gold. Legazpi, the commander of Spain's invading forces writes in relation to the gold found in the southern Philippines:

In spite of all this, we see that the land possesses much gold; for all men, whether they be chiefs or not, whether freemen or slaves, extract and sell gold, although in small quantities. Then, too, many ships come every year to these islands, from Bornei and Luzon, laden with cloth and Chinese goods, carrying back gold with them; yet, with all this regular withdrawal of gold, the natives have always gold enough with which to trade. All these things permit us to infer that, if the mines were worked steadily and carefully by Spaniards, they would yield a great quantity of gold all the time. Nevertheless, in some places where we know that mines exist, the natives do not care to work them; but, on the arrival of the foreign vessels for purposes of barter, they strike a bargain with those foreigners and allow them to work in the mines for a period agreed upon. From this it is clearly evident how slothful these people are.

Because Filipinos sold mostly inherited gold and were lackadaisical at best at working mines or panning for new gold, the gold trade revenues averaged only about 10,000 pesos a year.

By 1589, almost half of the Chinese junks obtaining licenses for Nanyang (South Seas) trade were headed for Manila, and by 1603 the Chinese population of the Parian district of Manila had reached about 20,000.

In comparison, the Chinese population of Batavia in 1619 was only 400, and in Malacca only 400 in 1649.

The first verifiable Chinese to settle in the New World came as crew members aboard Manila Galleons in the mid-17th century. They settled in Mexico, and in 1838 it was likely the descendants of these settlers along with other merchant families that came directly from southeastern China who migrated to Yerba Buena, the Spanish name for what was to become San Francisco. Both Mexico and California were also known by the name "Gold Mountain," or Gum Shan to the mostly Cantonese settlers. The region in those times was considered an extension of Southeast Asia. Even the Japanese called the Europeans by the name Namban "Southern Barbarians," i.e., the ancient name for Southeast Asians.

Gold was not the only reason the Chinese migrated to the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia and the New World. Many were fleeing the turbulence caused by resistance to the Qing Dynasty in South China. There were many millenarian groups involved. Some resented the foreign Manchu descent of the rulers and looked for a lost heir of the Ming Dynasty to return as savior. Others looked to the Great Eternal Mother, a Buddhist goddess, or some other messiah. The world of Southeast Asia had a special allure for the millenarian groups including the Triads, which spread throughout the region and even into the Western hemisphere.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Blair, Emma Helen and James Alexander Robertson. The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 - Volume 03 of 55 1569-1576 Explorations by Early Navigators, http://www.wattpad.com/16503.

Foreman, John. The Philippine Islands; A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule, with an Account of the Succeeding American Insular Government, New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1906.

Hom, Marlon K. Songs of Gold Mountain: Cantonese Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987, 4-5.

Kingston, Maxine Hong. China Men. London: Pan Books, 1981, 308.

Junker, Laura Lee. Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms, Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2000, 192-8.

Souza, George Bryan. The Survival of Empire: Portuguese Trade and Society in China and the South China Sea 1630-1754, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004, 54.

Takekoshi, Yosaburō . The economic aspects of the history of the civilization of Japan, Taylor & Francis, 2004, 402-3.

More on Tea Ceremony and Luzon Jars

2009-03-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

In order to further investigate the uniquely high value of Luzon Jars in Japan, we can explore deeper into the philosophy of Chanoyu or Tea Ceremony, which is known as the Way of Tea (Chado).

As noted earlier, there are to my knowledge only brief notes that explain the value of Luzon Jars in terms of their unique properties in preserving tea -- properties that are sometimes described in magical terms. However, I have also explored the possible spiritual and philosophical background that could have added to the great price tags placed on these wares.

Tea was used by Ch'an Buddhists in China to help them stay awake during meditation practice. Tradition states that Eisai, a Zen master, first brought tea from China to Japan in the 12th century. However it was not until 15th century that we see something similar to the modern tea ceremony when it was introduced by Zen monk Murata Shuko.

Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) developed much of the basis of Chado, the philosophy behind the tea ceremony. Chado combines elements of Zen, Taoism and Shintoism.

The tea ceremony is a spiritual practice that encourages social interaction together with appreciation and contemplation of the simple and austere aesthetic. The ritual restored and renewed the spirit bringing inner peace and intimacy with other participants.

In Taoism, renewal takes place during the jiao ritual during the opening of temples or at regular 12 year intervals. Renewal, both spiritual and physical, is also a goal of Taoist alchemy.

Shinto belief in renewal is seen in the process of periodic rebuilding of structures. The Ise Temple, for example, is rebuilt from scratch every 20 years. A similar rebuilding practice is used with ancestral origin houses in Southeast Asia and New Guinea -- a process made easily possible by the use of wood architecture.

The tea-room or Sukiya was designed to be simple and clean -- an Abode of Vacancy. "The tea-room (the Sukiya) does not pretend to be other than a mere cottage — a straw hut, as we call it," wrote Kazuko Okakura in "The Book of Tea." And it was also ephemeral and individualistic. The Sukiya is rebuilt again and again.

Between the portico, where guests arrive, and the tea-room is a tea garden. Of special interest is the "paradise garden" known as shima "island" after the three Taoist isles of the blest. In Chinese these were known as Penglai, Fangchang and Yingchou, while in Japan they were called respectively Horai, Hojo and Eishu. Sometimes a third island known as Koryo was added. In Chinese, these islands were known as Sandao 三島 "Three Islands."

Taoism's utopia provided the right milieu for those entering into the tea-room. The isles were known for their natural beauty and harmony and for the happy, long lives of its inhabitants -- a good recipe for contemplation and socialization. Paradise was also linked with renewal and restoration as tea-lovers made a New Year's Day decoration called "Horai," after the mountain of the immortals consisting of a pile of seafood, fruit and vegetables. According to the daimyo Kiyomasa, the ideal New Year's beverage known as toso should be made from a waterfall in Horai.

Period of Luzon Jar trade

Arai Hakuseki's narrative on the captivity of Pere Sidotti written in 1710 suggests that Luzon Jars were imported into Japan as early as the Sung and Yuan dynasties. Definitely it appears that these wares were in use during the early Muromachi period (1334—1467) and sometime between between 1385 and 1440 such pots were imported into Okinawa and the pottery-making techniques were copied to produce them locally.

During the Yuan dynasty, the traveler Wang Dayuan mentions a location south of Taiwan and north of Mindoro and Butuan known as Sandao 三島 "Three Islands." The old empire of Sanfotsi mysteriously vanishes during Yuan times, but was in the same general location.

Y. Tanaka in Tokiko (1854) states that Luzon was part of a geographical region known as Mishima 三島由 "Three Islands." Notice that the first two characters of Sandao and Mishima are the same, with the last character added to Mishima to provide the last syllable of shima "island." Mishima is thus a Japanese translation of Sandao. While I do not know whether this Sandao or Mishima were ever explicitly equated with the Taoist paradise isles, there is an interesting earlier notice that has some bearing.

In 1067, Ssuma Kuang (Sima Guang) locates the kingdom of Fusang west of the Weilu Current i.e., the southeastern origin of the Kuroshio Current, a location that largely agrees with that of Sandao and Mishima. As I have noted before, many Chinese texts basically equate Fusang with Penglai, the paradise island known in Japanese as Horai. Also, Japanese texts may do the same as suggested by ethnographer Yanagita Kunio.

As discussed earlier in this blog, the Chinese linked Sandao, the isles of the immortals, with a special type of jar known as hu 壺 that were used in sacred wine rituals during the Shang Dynasty. Wine became less popular after the Shang, but the rituals continued on in some circles and they were also preserved in the Taoist literature. The immortals who lived in Sandao were themselves known as avid drinkers. The islse were so connected with the hu jar that they were often visualized as resembling the jar in shape and possessed alternate names with "-hu" added as a suffix.

Japan also had its own Shinto tradition of sacred jars. These were used in the ancient ritual of tasting the new rice during the harvest festival. Interestingly a somewhat similar ritual was used by the Shogun during the season of new tea. Jars were also used for the Shinto rice wine ritual known as naorai.

So, we can surmise that if Mishima did indeed represent the three isles of the immortals with Luzon as Horai, then the ancient jars from that land would have indeed made appropriate vessels for the sacred tea ceremony. They would have brought great prestige to the owners as they possessed all the classic linkages. Luzon Jars could be viewed then as a type of "Holy Grail" of the tea ceremony connected, as it would have been thought, with the historical paradise lands found in both Shinto and Taoist belief. So it comes as no surprise that during the time of the Spanish governor Antonio de Morga in the 17th century, that Japanese merchants were willing to pay fantastic sums for old pots that seemingly had no worth to the European.

Apparently though they had lost their worth in Luzon itself. They must have at one time been handed down as heirlooms as they were preserved by the people mostly as relics. In Pampanga, they were known by the name of the local sand, balas, that was used as temper during the firing process. These balasini were very rare but apparently still in existence during Bergano's time in the 18th century, so it could be that some people still valued them enough to preserve them as part of their inheritance.

Wang Dayuan writes that merchants from Santao frequently visited the ports of South China during the Yuan Dynasty, and in the early years of the Ming Dynasty we hear that the kingdom of Luzon sent an envoy to Okinawa. I have argued that earlier kings from this region followed a policy of attraction in their quest to guard the trade routes. Could the hyping and selling of the once-sacred balasini constitute a new twist in that age-old game?

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Kōdansha. Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, Tokyo: Kodansha, 1983, 111.

Okakura, Kakuzō, and Sōshitsu Sen. The Book of Tea, Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005.

Sasaki, Sanmi, Shaun McCabe, and Iwasaki Satoko. Chado: the way of tea : a Japanese tea master's almanac / Sasaki Sanmi ; translated from the Japanese by Shaun McCabe and Iwasaki Satoko ; foreword by Sen Sôshitsu XV, Boston: Tuttle, 2005.

On the titles Ari and Apu

2009-03-17T08:44:00.001-07:00

Earlier I suggested that the "surnames" given as "Li" and "Pu" mentioned for envoys to China in the 10th through 12th centuries CE were actually the titles "Ari" and "Apu" respectively.

There were 11 such envoys that came from Sanfotsi (San-fo-ts'i, San-fo-qi, etc.), and 22 from Champa. There were also other envoys from other countries with the same "surnames."

As I wrote before: "In the case of Champa, "Pu" seems to be a rendering of the Cham title 'Po" meaning 'lord, master." The Cham word for 'king" is 'Po Tao."

In the Philippines, "Apo" or "Apu" are often prepositioned as titles or honorifics before personal names with the approximate meaning "lord" or "sir." In the 14th century Javanese court, "Pu" was also used in a similar manner as in "Pu Nala" or "Pu Tanding," although this may have been a borrowed practice.

In Old Javanese and Old Malay, the cognate to ari "king, monarch, royal person," from the suggested Proto-Austronesian or Ur-Austronesian proto-form *qa(n)dih or *ha(n)dih was haji or hadji.

Chau Ju-Kua (Zhao Rugua) wrote that in Sanfotsi many people had the surname "Pu." This would not make sense if we consider the theory that "Pu" is actually the Arabic kunya name "Abu" meaning "father of." Firstly, where ever one places Sanfotsi there is no evidence of extensive Islamization during this period. And of course, there is even less evidence in this direction for Champa. Even after areas in this region became Muslim, we do not find in the textual, epigraphic or tombstone evidence that "Abu," or for that matter "Ali," was commonly used.

However, the title or honorific "Apu" would have been used for every older person or any other person deemed worthy of special respect such as an official. In modern times, we would most commonly find the honorific used with case marker "ng" as in Apung Iru (Apu ng Iru) but the forms "Apu Iru" or "Apo Iro" are also correct.

The first name, which is the position of the "surname" or family name in Chinese, of "Pu" was also mentioned for two envoys from the Chola empire; one from Po-ni, which I identify as Panay; one from Toupo (Cotabato); and 13 from Ta-shi. The latter location sometimes refers to the Muslim lands of the West, while at other times it suggests a Persian or Arab colony in Southeast Asia.

In the case of Ta-shi, it would be tempting to think that the kunya "Abu" is actually meant, but it occurs so frequently that it is probable that these envoys also adopted the regional Southeast Asian title "Apu." Also, "Abu" is used only for males, while "Umm" is the kunya for females, so this would mitigate against its identification as a surname.

One reason to think that Muslim envoys took Southeast Asian titles is that of the 15 or 16 envoys from Ta-Shi between the 10th-12th centuries CE, only one does not have one of the "surnames" of "Li" or "Pu." That would not make sense given what we know of Muslim names of the time. The kunya name was sometimes used but others preferred the the laqab (descriptive) , nisba (origin), nasab (patronymic) or other names. However, such frequent usage of "Pu" (14 times) makes sense if a general title of respect is involved.

Champa rather peculiarly sent some 14 envoys with the "Li" or "Ari" title. In comparison, Sanfotsi sent five or six; two came from Butuan; and one or two from Ta-Shi. One of these envoys, Li Nou, is called a "deputy king" of Champa. If the Chams were indeed using the title "Ari," I have not yet found an explanation for this practice. Possibly this was a period of much intermarriage between the royal families of Champa and Sanfotsi, with royals from the latter kingdom keeping their titles when marrying into Cham families.

As to the suggestion that "Li" might be the Muslim surname "Ali" again we have the same chronology problems that occur with the theory on "Abu." In Arabic names, the closest thing to a surname is the nisba, which occurs at the end and not at the beginning of the name, and which is always preceded by the definite article "al-".

There have been suggestions that a few Sanfotsi kings have the form "Haji" (Ha-chi) prefixed to their names, but there does not appear to be any consistent practice of including titles in the names of Sanfotsi kings.

Chau Ju-Kua states that the title of the Sanfotsi king is Lung-ts'ing (龙精), which I have suggested is probably derived from Ari Lusung or Aring Lusung meaning "King of Luzon."

Here again "Ari" might have been mistaken for a surname, while the kingdom name of Lusung is taken as the title. In Chinese practice, the title is placed at the end of the name as in the case of the early use of "Di (帝)," which I have suggested might also originate from *qa(n)dih. The title "Di" as in "Jun Di" the Shang ancestor from Fusang is sometimes translated "emperor" or "thearch." In latter times, it was replaced with "huangdi" 皇帝 to denote the sovereign.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Carrol, John S. "Trans-Pacific distribution of the honorific 'apu'" Philippine Studies, Manila, 23(1-2), 1975, pp. 66-75.

Geoff, Wade. An Earlier Age of Commerce in Southeast Asia 900-1300 CE, August, 2006, http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2702632/A-Introduction-to-the-Issue.

Groeneveldt, W. P. "Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca," Miscellaneous Papers relating to Indo-China: Reprinted for the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. From Dalrymple's "Oriental Repertory", and the "Asiatic Researches" and "Journal" of Asiatic Society of Bengal I,1. London: Trübner, 1886, 187-192.

On the title Dayang

2009-03-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

Previously I have suggested the word "dayang" has survived as a remnant of the medieval empire of Zabag and/or its predecessors.

Dayang has the meaning of "Lady" in Kapampangan denoting a woman of noble standing. I derive it from the word daya "blood." In his dictionary of the Kapampangan language, Bergano gives the phrases matas a raya and maluto raya "es de sangre noble (one of noble blood)." The "d" in daya becomes "r" when preceded by a vowel sound. Literally matas a raya translates to "high of blood," while maluto raya probably means either "cooked, i.e. cultivated blood," or "dark-red-blooded."

The word dayi is almost certainly derived from or comes from the same root as daya. Dayi means "lineage." Bergano mentions the phrases dayiyan arian "es de linage real (of royal lineage)" and dayiyan mapia "es de linage noble (of noble lineage)."

A variant of these terms would be dayang arian or dayang mapia meaning respectively "of royal blood," or "of noble blood." And these could further be shortened to simply dayang.

Terms related to dayang are widely found across the region: dayang "lady," Tagalog; deyah "young woman of high rank," Old Javanese; dayang "lady, mistress" Tausug; dayang-dayang "princess," Tausug; dayang "court maid of honor, lady-in-waiting," Sundanese; dayang "daughter of a noble state dignitary (Datuk)," Sarawak Malay, Brunei Malay.

Spanish writers tell us little of the term except that it was basically the equivalent to "Dona," while the title Gat was equivalent to "Don."

However, from the situation that remains in places like Brunei and Sarawak, we might enable us to dig deeper. In those areas, a Dayang is a female descendant of a noble state dignitary known as an Awang or Abang, while a Megat is the title of the son of a royal female with a non-royal male.

Now, the term Gat as used in Kapampangan is a shortened form of Magat, which is still used as a surname and also sometimes as a personal name. Magat in turn is a shortened form of pamagat "title of honor, special name." Now, magat here obviously seems related to Malay megat.

One could suggest that in early Kapampangan society, a Dayang conveyed not the title of her father but a special title to her male descendants when she married a non-royal or a non-noble. The son would prefix "Gat-" to his surname to signify his half-noble birth. The female descendants would again have the title Dayang, and thus nobility of blood would also pass through the female line.

Since this nobility did not seem to carry the entitlements of land, etc. involved with the title of her father, the Dayang transmitted purely a nobility of descent or blood and thus the suitability of the term rooted in daya "blood." It is often suggested that "dayang" is derived from Sanskrit jaya "wife." However, the sound transformations suggested are too convoluted, and dayang or its cognates no where means "wife," but refers specifically to the "daughter" instead. Also, jaya conveys no meaning of nobility or royalty, while dayang as related to daya "blood," and dayi "lineage," appears to suggest precisely the role of the royal and/or noble female in passing on titles even when marrying non-royals or non-nobles.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Bergano, Diego (1690-1747). Vocabulario de la lengua Pampangan en Romance, Imp. de Ramirez y Giraudier, 1860.

Hawaiian-like petroglyphs discovered in Tonga

2009-03-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Petroglyphs very similar to those from Hawai'i in the period from the 13th to 16th centuries have been found in Tonga, 3000 miles away.

The petroglyphs were found near two archaeological sites -- a village and a chiefly pigeon-snaring mound -- both of which have been dated to the same period as the Hawaiian petroglyphs.

Because this rock art was located in an inter-tidal zone, the patina or lichens usually used to directly date petroglyphs was absent.

We do know from the testimony and map of the Tahitian navigator Tupaia that there was regular contact between the central and even western Pacific with the eastern Pacific at least in the region of French Polynesia. Since recent discoveries of stone tools also suggest contact between the former area and Hawai'i, the possibility of transmission between the two areas is not that remote.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Tonga petroglyphs hint at Isle link

Carvings uncovered by erosion are similar to those found in Hawaii
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser staff writer

Beach erosion on a remote island in Tonga has revealed a trove of petroglyphs that archaeologists say are similar to those found in Hawai'i, hinting at the possibility of early travel between the two archipelagos.

More than 50 petroglyphs were found late last year on several slabs of beach rock at the northern end of Foa Island, in Ha'apai. The rocks apparently were buried for centuries under several feet of sand until heavy seas exposed them.

Photos by Chas and Shane Egan

This figure from the Tonga carvings is similar to those found in Hawai'i, archaeologist David Burley said.

Read whole story.

More on Prester John

2009-02-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

A few decades after the exchange of letters between Pope Alexander III and Prester John, the Mongols began to erupt from their homeland on conquests across Asia.

The Mongols destroyed both the Seljuk empire and the Assassin strongholds in Iran and Syria.

Not surprisingly, there were many in Europe who wondered if the Mongols might be linked with the earlier overtures of Prester John. The confused accounts of Jacques de Vitry and others helped to fuel this speculation. From this point onward, two developments occurred with reference to the perception of Prester John.

Firstly was that the Christian king was based somewhere in "Tartary" i.e. in the region around the Altai mountains and the Mongol homeland. The other line of thought, that developed more in latter times, was that Prester John was the same as the Negus, the emperor of Ethiopia.

When first approached about Prester John, the Mongols ridiculed the ambassador of Pope Innocent IV. However in 1248, a Persian khan who had converted to Christianity sent an embassy to Louis IX at Cyrpus. They reported that the present Great Khan of the Mongols had married the daughter of Prester John. Interestingly, the work attributed to John Mandeville published more than a century later claimed that it was traditional for the Great Khan and Prester John to exchange their daughters in marriage. Both the king of the Naimans and the king of the Keraites evidentally claimed to be Prester John during this period. However, the rise of Timur (Tamerlane) and the Islamization of the Mongols turned European hopes in Prester John toward Ethiopia. The idea of an Ethiopian Prester John dates at least to Friar Jordanus in 1328 and maybe goes back, in part, to Jacques de Vitry.

However, the first papal embassy occurs in 1441 in which the Negus apparently accepts his identification as Prester John. During the great explorations of the 15th and 16th centuries, the Portuguese equated Prester John with the Emperor of Ethiopia.

Despite the rise of the Mongol and Ethiopian versions of Prester John, the original idea of a Prester John of the Indies never totally died out. Marino Sanuto, for example, an early 14th century Venetian statesman advocated the establishment of a papal fleet in the Indian Ocean and located Prester John in the far East Indies. The text of John Mandeville has the same opinion in the middle of the 14th century. The location of this Christian king in the Indies of the extreme East was also nearly the exclusive interpretation of the medieval romance literature including the Grail cycle.

We have to wait though until the middle of the 15th century to find what appears to be another major embassy from a Prester John of the Indies.

Di Conti and the Eastern Ambassador

Fra Alberto de Sarteano, a papal envoy to Ethiopia, returned to the Council of Florence in 1441 with a great foreign contigent consisting of Copts, Ethiopians from Jerusalem and two important individuals -- the Venetian traveler Nicolo di Conti and an unnamed ambassador from an unnamed Nestorian kingdom in "Upper India."

As discussed previously, Nicolo di Conti had, as told by Pero Tafur, spent many years in the service of Prester John who lived in somewhere in the Indies of the East. According to Tafur, this Prester John had a great interest in Christian Europe and had attempted to send embassies to the West during di Conti's sojourn.

Quite naturally, one could expect that when di Conti decided to return to Europe that Prester John would have seen an excellent opportunity to send an emissary along with the Venetian traveler. The envoy that came with di Conti in de Sarteano's group though is never identified, nor is his kingdom. The papal secretary Poggio Bracciolini describes the ambassador's kingdom as located in "Upper India to the north" about 20 days from Cathay (northern China).

"Upper India" during this period meant the Indies beyond the Ganges sometimes including South China. Vespucci and Magellan, for example, considered Maluku, the Spice Islands, as belonging to the region of Upper India.

The very mention of a Nestorian kingdom in Upper India should have conjured up images of Prester John in the minds of at least some informed persons of the time. Conti also mentions Nestorians near Cathay but without further specifics on location. However, it was during this period that the Pope was actively seeking relations with the Negus of Ethiopia who had the formal title of "Prester John." So the silence in Poggio's account of 1447 is understandable.

Also, the Prester John of the Indies during this time becomes more generally known as "Emperor Thomas of the Indians" after St. Thomas, the supposed evangelizer of the East, as opposed to "Emperor Prester John of the Ethiopians." Pope Eugenius IV in 1439 addressed identical letters to these two emperors.

Di Conti's testimony is widely believed to have created the idea that the East Indies and Cathay could be reached by sailing west from Europe. And Paolo Toscanelli, who directly influenced Columbus, also claimed to have spoken with the mysterious ambassador who came with De Sarteano's retinue. Columbus himself copied one of Toscanelli's letters that mentions the testimony of di Conti.

Indeed when Columbus set out on his fateful first journey, he carried a credential letter from Ferdinand and Isabella to be delivered to Prester John, the Great Khan and any other Eastern monarchs he encountered. Here is a translation of the letter:

Ferdinand and Isabella, to the King ____________

The Spanish Sovereigns have heard that You and Your Subjects have a great affection for them and for Spain. They are further aware that you and your subjects are very desirous of information concerning Spain ; they accordingly send their Admiral, Christopher Columbus, who will tell you that they are in good health and perfect prosperity.
Granada, April 30, 1520.

Both Columbus, and Magellan after him, intended on sailing to the East Indies off the coast of South China. The difference was that Columbus was not aware of the great distance and continents that lie between him and his destination. On his second voyage, Columbus had heard from his men of Taino Indians dressed in white cloaks. The navigator concluded that he must have reached the land of Prester John!

Now it makes sense that Columbus like Magellan would seek a friendly king on the other side of the earth, particularly a Christian one, so we are taken back to the Nestorian ambassador who came along with di Conti to the Council of Florence and whose testimony was published some 45 years earlier. Toscanelli had written to Columbus about the Christians in the East, and we know that Columbus himself had notions of a grand alliance between these Christians, or those to be converted to Christianity, in his desire for a reconquest of Jerusalem. The gold of Ophir that Columbus assigned to the same region, would finance this great project -- in fulfillment, Columbus thought, of biblical prophecy.

So it is from the Eastern ambassador and di Conti that we have the last record of these friendly Christians in the East before Columbus' first journey. Di Conti, described by Tafur as a once-subject of Prester John and the ambassador who very likely came from the same kingdom.

The "Christian" conquest of Jerusalem though did not occur until 1917 when the British captured the city from the Ottomans after the Battle of Jerusalem. The British eventually though surrendered the city to Israel and Jordan in 1949, and the rest of course is history.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Hastings, James, John A. Selbie, and Louis H. Gray. Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1908, see entry for "Prester John."

Heat Moon, William Least. Columbus in the Americas. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley, 2002, 118.

Rogers, Francis Millet. The Quest for Eastern Christians, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1962, 39-40, 44.

Tarducci, Francesco, and Henry F. Brownson. The Life of Christopher Columbus, Detroit: H.F. Brownson, 1891, 114.

Prester John and the Assassins

2009-02-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

In 1145, Otto of Freising wrote that in the previous year Hugh, bishop of Jabala in Syria, came as an emissary of Prince Raymond of Antioch to the court of Pope Eugene III in Viterbo to call for the Second Crusade.

He told Otto, in the pope's presence, that Prester John had routed the brother monarchs of the "Medes and Persia" and captured the city of Ecbatana "not many years ago."

Scholars have generally attributed Hugh's news to the victory of the Karakhitai empire over the Great Seljuk Sultan Sanjar near Samarkand.

However, this interpretation has also been rightly criticized on various grounds. First, the Karakhitai victory occurred a good thousand miles away, as the crow flies, from Ectabana, which is identified as the modern Hamadan in northwest Iran. Hamadan was never in any danger from the Karakhitai. Also, Hugh's account does not mention the victories in the areas where the fighting actually took place between Sultan Sanjar and the Karakhitai.

Sultan Sanjar's brothers were dead by 1141 when the battle with the Karakhitai occurred, so there was no question of any brother monarchs. P. Bruun has rightly suggested that the brother monarchs mentioned by Hugh must have been the Hamadan Seljuk Sultan Mas'ud and his brother Sultan Da'ud.

Mas'ud became sultan in Hamadan and ruled most of the territory of the ancient Medes.

In 1143, the Assassins killed Sultan Da'ud and defeated Mas'ud's army at Lamasar and other areas in the Rudbar. They also assassinated the qadis of Hamadan, Tiflis and Quhistan.

Bishop Hugh may have been referring to these victories, although they would have occured just the year before his visit. Possibly Sultan Mas'ud after his defeat may have even temporarily withdraw from Hamadan allowing the Assassins to claim a brief hold over the city. Certainly the Assassin victories come much closer geographically to Bishop Hugh's relation even if the event occurred more recently than suggested by Otto's account.

Assassins and Sayabiga

Now previously in this blog it was suggested that there was a link between the Assassins and the Sayabiga, who would have originated from Zabag. This latter kingdom, according again to the theory laid out here, was the actual realm of "Prester John" as known during this period.

The Assassins belonged to the Nizari sect of the Isma'ili branch of Shi'a Islam. The Isma'ilis had apparently adopted many "dervish" elements that are thought to have come from the East and have been linked by some with the Zutt and Sayabiga peoples who were present in the region when Muslims overthrew the Sassanian empire.

Interestingly, one etymology for the word "assassin" comes from "al-sasani." Farhad Daftary mentions a saying in Tripoli, not far from former Assassin strongholds, that suggests such an origin. However, "sasani" here refers not to the Sassanian rulers but to the Banu Sasan, the Islamic underworld.

The Sasan here is the ancient one, the son of Bahman, who was forced to raise sheep after his father bequeathed his kingdom to his sister. From that point onward, sasan became a word denoting beggars, street entertainers, con-artists and the like.

As noted earlier in this blog, the Banu Sasan had their own jargon that contained words believed to be of "dervish" origin and which have also been linked to the Zutt and Sayabiga. Thus, the same types of spiritual and cultural undercurrents can be found in both among the Isma'ilis, and thus the Nizari Assassins, and the Banu Sasan.

In the One Thousand and One Nights, we hear that one of the main characters, Shariyar, is called "King of Kings of the Banu Sasan, the Isles of India and of China." The term "king of the isles of India" was often used to describe the Mihraj, the ruler of Zabag, who was not of course also the ruler of China. However, if we look at the latter dominion as literary exaggeration, the link of the "King of the Banu Sasan" with the "King of the Isles of India" could be explained by the presence of the Sayabiga as an important element of the Banu Sasan.

In this regard we can also take the text of John Mandeville, whether such a person existed or not, as evidence of a confirming tradition. Mandeville states that the "Old Man of the Mountain," the European term for the ruler of the Assassins was under the "lordship of Prester John." Bruun notes that a German text of this period, latter than that of Otto, calls Prester John the "King of Armenia and India" with Armenia located in the ancient region of the Medes.

Silence of texts

Besides the possible origin of the word "assassin" and the curious account of the Arabian Nights, one might wonder why no Isma'ili or Sunni texts mention a relationship between the Nizaris and the Mihraj.

However, according to the position taken in this blog, the silence is not that problematic. The King of Zabag (Mihraj), known in Europe as Prester John, became involved in the region to protect his interests on the old sea trade routes from Sunni Muslim expansion.

The Shi'ite Nizari Assassins were natural enemies of the Sunnis as were the Christians. The Mihraj then would have naturally desired to acquire these two as allies to help curb Sunni expansion.

As this included bringing on another crusade, it was natural that any such conspiracy be kept secret by the Nizaris. Even though there was no love loss between Sunni and Shi'a, it still may have been viewed as unacceptable to openly cooperate with "infidels" against fellow Muslims.

Previously in this blog it was also suggested that Prester John attempted to work partly through the Knights Templar in reaching Christian Europe. The Templars likewise would wisely have to conceal any relationship that would have involved cooperating with the Assassins, for which they were in fact often under suspicion.

Prester John, the Isma'ilis and Templars all stood to benefit by curbing Sunni expansionism, but the latter two also needed to work secretly.

Islamic merchant ships headed eastward normally sailed from Basra stopping at the port of Daybul in the Sind (modern coastal Pakistan) before venturing on to other parts of India, Southeast Asia and China. The Sind is an important area because of its connection with both the Zutt and Sayabiga. The Fatimid had established an Isma'ili presence in the Sind in 883, which has lasted to this day.

Bernard Lewis has suggested that the Fatimid Isma'ili intended on monopolizing the eastern sea trade by diverting shipping from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. He states that the Fatimids had sent agents to attempt gaining control of the coasts of Baluchistan and Sind for this purpose. Although they did not appear to win over the actual coastlines, a Fatimid Isma'ili principality was established in Upper Sind with its capital at Multan. Ibn Hawqal mentions that Baluchis of Kirman and Sijistan also had accepted the Isma'ili faith. Prester John may have offered the Isma'ili an opportunity to realize their dream of trade dominance at a time when the Fatimid empire had been reduced to the confines of Egypt and when the Nizaris were under heavy persecution.

Now as suggested earlier in this blog, Prester John would have been a patron of Nestorian Christianity along with other religions, and he had no qualms in representing himself as a "Christian king" especially as this also suited his mundane ambitions. A Metropolian of Dabag, the Nestorian name for Zabag, had been established since at least 410 CE.

Possibly Prester John's Christian overtures through Sayabiga-Assassin agents may account for the curious testimony of both William, Archbishop of Tyre (c. 1130 – 1185) and Jacques de Vitry, Bishop of Acre. (c. 1160/70 – 1240 or 1244). Both had claimed that the chief of the Assassins had converted to Christianity. Daftary believes this confusion may have arose from the authors' misunderstanding of the doctrine of qiyama, which relieved believers from the tenets of shari'a law. However, another explanation is that the two clergymen were aware of Templar dealings with the Assassins and had assumed or been led to believe in the latter's conversion.

Now it is worth noting that Raymond of Antioch, who sent Bishop Hugh as his emissary to the Pope, had granted the Amanus Mountains in his territory to the Knights Templar, and John Kinnamos records Templars fighting for Raymond when he was attacked by Byzantine emperor John Comnenus. Raymond apparently was not much liked by his enemies as Nur ed-din had his skull, after the prince was killed in battle, covered with silver and sent as a present to Baghdad's Sunni caliph. Sayabiga families had been previously specifically relocated to Antioch with their water buffaloes to help curb the lion population problem.

Wolfram von Eschenbach directly connects Prester John and the Templars in his historical romance possibly obtaining his information at the Angevin archives, which he claimed to have researched. The Angevins, of course, were heavily-involved both in Jerusalem and directly with the Templars. Albericus of Tres-Fontaines records that in 1165 envoys of Prester John brought letters to the courts of both the Byzantine and Holy Roman emperors. In 1177, Pope Alexander III writes in Indorum regi sacerdotum santissimo of a letter brought to him by his physician Philippus who had encountered emissaries of Prester John while traveling somewhere in the "East." In these letters, Prester John actually claims to have Templars in his service, although he criticizes them or those unfaithful among them who have allied themselves with the Muslims.

There are Frenchmen among you, of your lineage and from our retinue, who hold with the Saracens. You confide in them and trust in them that they should and will help you, but they are false and treacherous...may you be brave and of great courage and, pray, do not forget to put to death those treacherous Templars.

We might view Prester John's disclaimer of the Templars "who hold with the Saracens" as a strategic deception to avoid any appearance of his own connection with the Nizaris.

So to sum up, the Sayabiga had established themselves on the coasts of the Persian Gulf in pre-Islamic times and after the Muslim conquest converted to Shi'a Islam. Many found work as mercenaries while some others drifted into the underworld groups known as the Banu Sasan. Still others later became associated with the Nizaris. These Sayabiga likely still communicated with their former homeland of Zabag via the maritime spice routes.

As the fortunes of the Fatimid Isma'ili empire waned seriously in the late 11th century, the Sayabiga may have helped initiate contact with the Zabag empire and its king. The latter kingdom had already been involved in making alliances with China and India-Tibet as sea changes were occurring along the old maritime trade corridors.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Daftary, Farhad. The Ismāʻı̄lı̄s: Their History and Doctrines, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Howarth, Stephen. The Knights Templar, New York: Dorset Press, 1991.

Maclean, Derryl N. Religion and Society in Arab Sind, Monographs and theoretical studies in sociology and anthropology in honour of Nels Anderson, publication 25. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1989.

Millenarian aspects of some Philippine Christianized rituals and beliefs

2009-02-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

Francisco Demetrio wrote a study back in 1968 linking the great flood myth in the Philippines with the motif of the egg or something similar as a symbol of the rebirth of humanity and nature.

Concepts of rebirth and return are frequently found in Philippine myth and folklore.

At one basic level was the idea that the spirits of the dead, often known as nono or anito, would return as divine guests at a prescribed time. During the tibao festivals, special water jars and tables were prepared for the visit of these nonos.

Often small portable images of the nonos were made. When the Spanish came and Christianized the lowland people, these images became the santos especially the one known as Santo Niño "Holy Child."

The first Santo Niño was given as a gift by Magellan to Hara Amihan, the wife of Rajah Humabon, king of Cebu, to replace her idols or anitos. The Cebuanos eventually disavowed any allegiance with Spain and Christianity and killed Magellan. However, when the Spaniards returned 30 years later they found that the Santo Niño had been converted into an indigenous anito. Historian Zeus Salazar describes "the Christian image in Cebu (1521-1565) as the representation (likha) of an anito (divinity) connected with the sun, the sea and agriculture."

Patianak

According to the Filipino folklorist Isabelo de los Reyes, the Tagalogs once believed that dead fetuses were reborn as the "Lord Child" or Patianak.

The patianak is mostly described in modern literature as a type of goblin that often is said to devour children. However, the original idea seems to be related more to the concept of children or fetuses that have died prematurely, or to a type of wee folk that inhabits mounds. In many areas, the patianak is still looked upon with a type of reverence. When one approaches an ant-hill, for example, it is a custom in many areas to ask permission of the patianak to pass by. It is also worth noting that in some areas the patianak is known as nono, the name for the deified ancestral spirit! Apparently, afer religious conversion, the patianak was demonized to various extents in different areas of the country.

Another name for the patianak is the muntianak, which means simply "small child." The muntianak, and also sometimes the patianak, are associated also with rice fields and the soil. In Mindanao, for example, offerings were made in rice fields to the muntianak during planting and harvesting seasons.

In other regional millenarian belief systems, we find the idea of a special child as a savior or precursor to the savior. In Papua New Guinea there is the konor, a miraculous child who heralds the coming of Mansren, the messiah of the Golden Age. In medieval China, Qingtong "Azure Lad" was the intermediary of the Daoist savior Li Hong, and actually does most of the salvation work during the final tribulation period.

Aspects of millenarian beliefs also appear linked with the Santo Niño iconography and beliefs. Although orthodox Christianity prevented Santo Niño from becoming the Christ of the second coming, he nonetheless possesses all the necessary significations. For example, Santo Niño images are traditionally garbed with a royal crown and red clothing as a symbol of royal descent. In the left hand is placed a golden orb or globe that symbolizes the world, and thus the Santo Niño is a type of "rex mundi." When clothed in green, Santo Niño represents prosperity and abundance and this can be seen as a link with the golden age or the millenial kingdom.

The Santo Niño's connection with the wee folk might also be indicated by the presence of the Aeta or Ati costume and dance in many Santo Niño festivals, with the Aeta as the possible real model for the mystical "little people."

Other Santos

In Apalit, Pampanga, the fluvial Apung Iru festival features a santo of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. The statue is dressed in the regalia of the Pope, the sovereign of Vatican City, even though the Vatican did not exist in the time assigned to St. Peter.

The festival has all the markings of a royal fluvial procession as found in other parts of Southeast Asia.

Early in the last century, Luther Parker collected local legends of Pampanga that indicated the idea of recurring cosmic battles between the mountain gods. Some of these, of shorter duration, were linked with the courtship of the daughter of god of the Sambal mountains and the son of the god of Mt. Arayat. Others, that occured over periods of centuries and that were said to be signaled by special cloud formations , involved the chief deities themselves.

Apung Sinukuan, the god of Mt. Arayat, and Apung Mallari, the god of Mt. Pinatubo, were viewed respectively as the Sun and Moon, and thus as the rulers of the heavens. In Pampanga, the banua, a term that in other regional hydraulic societies refers to the kingdom associated with a central mountain, means here the sky or heavens, the kingdom of the Sun and Moon.

Pinatubo and Arayat as the mountains homes of the Moon and Sun respectively thus represent the central axis, the link between Heaven and Earth.

The terrestrial "king of the mountain" is thus the lord of all under heaven -- the terrestrial copy of the heavenly banua -- a concept commonly found in other Southeast Asian royal systems.

Batalla Festival

Robby Tantingco of Holy Angel University has investigated the festivals of southern Pampanga were he found the little-known Batalla celebration still practiced.

A santo is involved in these festivities although it can vary from place to place. The timing is also linked to the local annual floods, which varies depending on location in Lower Pampanga. The event that Tantingco witnessed took place when the area was covered with flood water during high tide.

In Masantol, the Batalla fest takes place in honor of San Miguel, the patron saint of the town. San Miguel, or St. Michael, is the Prince of the Heavenly Host who leads the angels in the final battle of Heaven.

Now, "batalla" is the Spanish word for "battle." According to one analysis, the festival commemorates the battle between local Moros and the Spanish Christians. However, it could also represent the battle in Heaven involving San Miguel and the angels, or for that matter, the indigenous battle of Apung Mallari and Apung Sinukuan.

As a fiesta that takes place in the remote rural areas, it is not surprising that the Batalla fest is apparently not documented. However, Tantingco reports that the oldest people in the area report that the Batalla was practiced by the oldest people that they knew while growing up. The festival is recorded as taking place in most of the districts of Macabebe and also in the towns of Masantol and San Simon.

Celebration of the Batalla involves rowdy men transporting a palaquin carrying a santo along a specific path to the local church. Noteworthy is the fact that young children follow in the train of the procession.

During the march, the santo is rocked back and forth often violently while everyone begins dancing and the men shove and push each other, while yelling "Oy! Oy! Oy! Oy!"

Upon reaching the church, the men begin to run around wildly and a ritual tug-of-war ensues at the conclusion of which everyone calms down and the santo is brought into the church.

Santo before it is carried into church from Karlo Samson.

Japanese echoes

The Batalla festival resembles quite closely the matsuri festivals of Japan in a number of ways.

During the masturi, a kami -- a deity or spirit -- is carried in a palaquin known as mikoshi. The mikoshi is taken along a zigzag path and pushed up and down -- a practice said to amuse the kami. There is no actual idol present in this case, the kami is present in spirit only.

In many cases, upon reaching the destination the mikoshi is then taken on a procession at sea. Again, in many areas a ritual tug-of-war takes place. Generally the teams involved in the tug-of-war represent polar opposites. For example, at the Agata Matsuri, one team represents the sea, while the other represents land. At Lake Hiruga, the tug-of-war takes place in waist-deep water. When Tantingco witnessed the Batalla fest, the water was said to be "knee-deep." Indeed in many areas of Japan the mikoshi procession involves the men either plunging into the sea or getting splashed with water. In Japan too, the event is characterized by much yelling and shouting.

Matsuri festivals are also linked with the "divine visitors" known as Marebito who are said to come in spirit from across the sea. The Marebito would be the Japanese type resembling the anito or nono of the Philippines. In this sense, we can note that the santos in the Philippines are also often immersed in water or the sea during festival time.

Millenarian aspects of the matsuri are also found in the Miroko dances honoring the savior deity who shall come one day with a ship of cargo to usher in the Golden Age.

Now, one could possible explain all these similarities by coincidence but that probably would not be the best choice. Most likely there is a connection but it would be difficult to say more on how the link occurred at this time.

"Battle" aspects of matsuri are found in the kenka-matsuri or "fighting matsuri." These involve not only the tug-of-war but also sumo matches and other competition. The sumo wrestling might link up with the pushing and shoving that accompanies the Batalla in southern Pampanga. In some areas, mikoshi teams engage in duels by smashing the palanquins together.

Kenka-mikoshi (www.quirkyjapan.or.tv/jzinefestivals.htm)

Without much reservation, it can be suggested here that the "battle" represented in both the Japanese and Kapampangan rituals would likely represent the conflict and decay that almost invariably precedes the start of a new age of prosperity and abundance.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Demetrio, Francisco. "The Flood Motif and the Symbolism of Rebirth in Filipino Mythology", in Dundes, Alan (ed.) The Flood Myth, University of California Press, Berkeley and London, 1988.

Heiter, Celeste. Hadaka Matsuri: Getting Naked...In Japan...In January, http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2119.

Plutschow, Herbert E. and Patrick Geoffrey O'Neill. Matsuri: The Festivals of Japan, Routledge, 1996.

Tantingco, Robby. Tantingco: The batalla of Macabebe, http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2007/04/24/oped/robby.tantingco.peanut.gallery.html.

More on Clove and Cinnamon Routes

2009-02-02T06:25:00.000-08:00

I want to expand a bit more on the Clove and Cinnamon Routes as these were known on their eastern leg by the Chinese starting in the Sung Dynasty.

Click here for full image.

From the Sung period onwards, the Chinese wrote of two sea routes used for trade towards the South. There was a western route and an eastern route.

The western route, known as xi hanglu 西航路 (western ship route), hugged the coast from Quanzhou in Fujian to Vietnam to the markets of Zhangcheng (Tonkin) and Zhenla (Cambodia). From there, goods went onward to the Malayan penisula, all the time staying west of the Jiaozhi Sea (central South China Sea).

Ships taking the eastern route, known as dong hanglu 東航路 (eastern ship route), sailed due south from Quanzhou, staying to the east of the Jiaozhi Sea toward Luzon. On Luzon was found the kingdoms of Lingyamon (Lingayen) and toward the southeast, Sanfotsi (Sanfoqi, Sambali).

From San-fo-qi, ships went southeast to Toupo (Toubak or Cotabato in Mindanao) where they could access the sources of clove buds and nutmeg in the Moluccas Islands (Maluku).

The central part of the South China Sea was avoided because of the coral islands that were known in early times as Shan Hu Zhou, the modern Paracel and Spratley islands. These islands and reefs were considered dangerous and were skirted by taking either the coastal western ship route or the eastern ship route with the winter monsoon.

Elsewhere I have demonstrated that this East / West segmentation can be related to the existence of two major trade arteries between China to Southeast Asia: the so-called xi hanglu 西航路 (western route) and the dong hanglu 東航路 (eastern route). Ships sailing along the first route went from Fujian and Guangdong to Hainan and Vietnam, passing the Paracel Islands on their western side; from Vietnam they proceeded to the Malayan east coast and finally around the peninsula’s southern tip to Melaka and the Indian Ocean; a further link connected the southern tip of Vietnam to Cape Datu; from there vessels could follow the Kalimantan coast down towards Java. The second route ran from Fujian – via the southern tip of Taiwan – to Luzon; from Luzon one would then go through the Sulu Sea to Brunei or, via the Sulu Islands and Celebes Sea, to Sulawesi, Maluku, Ceram, Timor, and so forth. The existence of this double route system is related to a very special geographical feature: the central part of the South China Sea was considered dangerous due to its many shoals and reefs.

Roderich Ptak, The Sino-European Map (“Shanhai yudi quantu”) in theEncyclopedia Sancai tuhui.

Cloves and nutmeg were taken from the Moluccas, then part of Toupo, to the northwest until they reached Sanfotsi, when the journey then went due north to Quanzhou. From that Fujian port, the spices went westward along the xi hanglu or western ship route.

Cinnamon and cassia, however, sourced from South China and Vietnam, apparently mostly went south along the dong hanglu or eastern ship route. More cinnamon was also available in Mindanao and parts of Indonesia. All this cinnamon eventually went west through Indonesia all the way to Rhapta on the southeast coast of Africa.

One cannot rule out that mainland cinnamon and cassia were traded, at least partly, for the southern insular clove buds and nutmeg.

During Ming times, Lingyamon on the dong hanglu apparently becomes known as the kingdom of Feng-jia-shi-lan 馮家施蘭 (Pangasinan), while I would suggest that Sanfotsi or Sanfoqi becomes Lu-sung 呂宋 (Luzon kingdom). Toupo or the Cotabato empire becomes overshadowed by Su-lu 蘇祿 (Sulu sultanate).

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Nordquist, Myron H and John Norton Moore. Security flashpoints : oil, islands, sea access, and military confrontation, M. Nijhoff Publishers, 1998, 155-9, 168-9.

Ptak, Roderich. The Sino-European Map (“Shanhai yudi quantu”) in theEncyclopedia Sancai tuhui, http://www.humanismolatino.online.pt/v1/pdf/C003-022.pdf.

Reid, Anthony. Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese, University of Hawai`i Press, 1996, 34-5.

On Undersea Realms

2009-01-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

A reader of this blog has suggested that the hydraulic system of Luzon that I have written about might link up well with the Greek tales of Atlantis with its system of dikes and canals.

I have avoided Atlantis because it comes to us only from a single source. Plato heard the story of Atlantis from Critias the Younger, who heard it from his grandfather Critias the Elder who heard it from Solon, who heard it from an Egyptian priest. So it was passed four times orally before being committed to writing. All other Greek writers depend on Plato's account, thus there is only one primary source for the legend. That's rather strange given the amount of cultural interaction between Egypt and Greece. Furthermore the story told by the Egyptian priest to Solon reportedly took place 9000 years earlier!

Still it certainly is possible that Atlantis was inspired by some Egyptian records. Probably the best suggestion connects the story with the Egyptian "Isle of Flame" known as Ta-Neserser.
There are a few general similarities between the two accounts and some think that the story may conflate the tradition with other material adding in original stories to convey a political message.

Like Atlantis, the Isle of Flame was noted for its dikes and canals used both for irrigation and navigation. The geography of Atlantis given by Plato is rather stylized. For example, he describes a kingdom located on a perfectly rectangular plain, a river delta, surrounded on three sides by mountains -- something that does not occur in nature. The vastness of the canal system is also certainly a product of the imagination.

Plato describes three concentric canals surrounding the royal capital of Atlantis, the outermost ring spanning nearly 2000 kilometers. These rings were cut by transverse canals forming a grid-like system and small islands, and a canal from the outermost ring led to the open ocean.

On the Island of Flame, canals intersected the watery paradise creating islands or fields, i.e., the Sekhet-Aaru "Fields of Reeds" (Elysian Fields). The plan here is also often given in the form of a rectangle with the canals more linear than circular.

Located across the Sunrise Sea to the East (Atlantis presumably is in the West) in the Sea of Two Knives, the Isle of Flame rises and sinks into the ocean in cataclysmic cycles that last millions of years.

Atlantis also represents probably an allegory of a civilization that declines and finally is destroyed in the end also by a cataclysm of fire and water.

Both the Isle of Flame and Atlantis are also linked with sacred peaks. In Atlantis the central mountain is holy to Poseidon, while on the Isle of Flame we find the Primeval Hill.

A ship is often shown on the peak of the Primordial Hill in depictions of the Elysian Fields.

There appears to be a connection between the Island of Flame and the eastern island source of the spices traded at the emporium of Punt. This island is sometimes also called "Punt," but is different than the kingdom located in southeastern Africa that likely later became known to the Greeks as Rhapta. Christopher J. Eyre notes: "There is a direct comparison here with the island in the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor: a place which stands at the edge of the cosmos; where the god survives after cataclysmic fire from the sky; where food and spirit (k3) are found to perfection; where the sailor burns his offerings, and is threatened with destruction by fire; but where he receives assurance of post-cataclysmic order, and a renewal of his life, restoration to the created world following his passage through this place of danger."

Another ancient land noted for its dikes and also a destination for long-distance trade was the island of Dilmun, located somewhere to the east of Sumer, and noted as a land of marshes.

Pure are the cities -- and you are the ones to whom they are allotted. Pure is Dilmun land. Pure is Sumer -- and you are the ones to whom it is allotted. Pure is Dilmun land. Pure is Dilmun land. Virginal is Dilmun land. Virginal is Dilmun land. Pristine is Dilmun land...In Dilmun the raven was not yet cawing, the partridge not cackling. The lion did not slay, the wolf was not carrying off lambs, the dog had not been taught to make kids curl up, the pig had not learned that grain was to be eaten...When he [Enki] was filling with water a second time, he filled the dykes with water, he filled the canals with water, he filled the fallows with water. The gardener in his joy rose from the dust and embraced him: "Who are you who ...... the garden?"

-- Enki and Ninhursag

Indeed Sumerian myth states that humans were created to relieve the gods of the work associated with building dikes and canals.

The ancient Persians and Indians also knew of a land of dikes known as Haetumant "rich in dikes" to the Persians. The same river or region has been identified with the Haraxvaiti of the Persians and the Sarasvati of India, both names meaning "full of ponds."

Haetumant and Sarasvati are generally located by scholars somewhere in the region from Afghanistan to and including the Punjab of India.

However, I have noted that there was a medieval or late ancient Iranian tradition that the Ardvi Sura Anahita, the earlier name for the Haraxvaiti, was located much further east along with other sacred locations like Kangdez and the region of the White Haoma Tree. Indeed these areas were placed in the Sea of China at the very extremity of the known world. In the Indian Rgveda text, the Sarasvati is located in a region known as Sapta Sindhu "Seven Rivers," which in classical works is placed on Sakadvipa island east of India in the Milky Ocean.

Because the related Iranian and Indian manuscripts are not that old, it is difficult to determine the earliest dates for these beliefs. However, as we have noted earlier in this blog by the beginning of the common era even the Greeks knew of this far eastern region as demonstrated in the geography of Marinus of Tyre. Hebrew texts like the Old Testament and Enoch push knowledge of these eastern lands, where cinnamon and aloeswood originate, back at least a few centuries if not several. And, of course, if we date the trade of these spices to ancient Egypt such knowledge may go back at least to the Middle Kingdom period.

Another noteworthy item in reference to the sinking and rising Isle of Flame (and the sinking Atlantis) is the many accounts of undersea kingdoms in ancient writings and myths. The island source of spices in Punt, again sometimes called Punt itself, was said to move around in the ocean and to sometimes disappear -- possibly an allusion to the cataclysmic Isle of Flame.

Chinese legend has the three floating islands of paradise including Penglai, which are often also said to disappear sometimes submerging beneath the waves. Indeed, the Dragon King of the East, who is said to live under the sea, is also said to reside on Penglai. In Japanese folklore, Penglai (Horaisan) is equated with Tokoyonokuni, which again is often placed under the ocean as in the tale of Urashima.

In Dilmun, Gilgamesh dived to the bottom of the sea at a location known as the "mouth of the waters" to an underwater domain known as the Apsu to retrieve the plant of immortality. Iranian myth places this plant -- known as the White Haoma Tree -- in the "middle" of the ocean although not necessarily underwater. Southeast Asian myth tells of the undersea Pauh Janggi, Campanganghi and similar trees at the "navel of the ocean."

These Atlantean kingdoms may owe their origin to traditions of actual sea flooding, volcanic eruptions, etc. in historical contexts and/or to the watery nature of estuarine kingdoms and settlements.

View Larger Map
Notice that the dike and canal region around the northern part of Manila Bay has a similar shading as the shallow waters of Olongapo Bay (left side). This is partly because the area consists of reclaimed mangrove and freshwater marshland, but also because much of the area would be underwater during high tide, and some areas even during low tide, if not for the presence of the dikes.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Eyre, Christopher J. Cannibal Hymn: a cultural and literary study, Liverpool University Press, 2002, pp. 82-3.

Lee, Sir Henry Desmond Pritchard. Timaeus and Critias. by Plato, Penguin Books, 1971.

Nunes dos Santos, Arysio. Atlantis The Lost Continent Finally Found, Atlantis Publications, 2005

Two new studies on Austronesian expansion, peopling of Pacific

2009-01-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

There are a couple of linked articles appearing in the latest edition of Science bearing on the peopling of the Pacific including the Austronesian expansion. I have not read the full articles yet, but have posted the abstracts below.

The first traces the a gut pathogen known as Helicobacter pylori suggesting that different Austronesian language branches are linked with related clades of this bacteria. The second study basically agrees with the first using this time linguistic phylogeny to trace the route of Austronesian speakers. Both studies claim that the Austronesian expansion began in Taiwan.

Opposing claims include an Austronesian expansion beginning in South China; and the two that I find most compatible with the evidence: an expansion from Indochina as espoused by Wilhelm Solheim; or from Sundaland or Insular Southeast Asia as brought forth by Stephen Oppenheimer. The datings also of the new study seem to recent when compared to the archaeological, genetic, and in my view also the linguistic evidence.

From other press releases, it appears that the authors are suggesting an initial expansion from Taiwan and then a secondary one from the Philippines. The second demographic movement might be linked with the divergence of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, which if true I would find agreeable at least in terms of geography (but not chronology).

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Science. 2009 Jan 23;323(5913):527-530.

The Peopling of the Pacific from a Bacterial Perspective.

Moodley Y, Linz B, Yamaoka Y, Windsor HM, Breurec S, Wu JY, Maady A, Bernhöft S, Thiberge JM, Phuanukoonnon S, Jobb G, Siba P, Graham DY, Marshall BJ, Achtman M.

Max-Planck-Institut für Infektionsbiologie, Department of Molecular Biology, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.

Two prehistoric migrations peopled the Pacific. One reached New Guinea and Australia, and a second, more recent, migration extended through Melanesia and from there to the Polynesian islands. These migrations were accompanied by two distinct populations of the specific human pathogen Helicobacter pylori, called hpSahul and hspMaori, respectively. hpSahul split from Asian populations of H. pylori 31,000 to 37,000 years ago, in concordance with archaeological history. The hpSahul populations in New Guinea and Australia have diverged sufficiently to indicate that they have remained isolated for the past 23,000 to 32,000 years. The second human expansion from Taiwan 5000 years ago dispersed one of several subgroups of the Austronesian language family along with one of several hspMaori clades into Melanesia and Polynesia, where both language and parasite have continued to diverge.

Science. 2009 Jan 23;323(5913):479-483.

Language Phylogenies Reveal Expansion Pulses and Pauses in Pacific Settlement.

Gray RD, Drummond AJ, Greenhill SJ.

Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.

Debates about human prehistory often center on the role that population expansions play in shaping biological and cultural diversity. Hypotheses on the origin of the Austronesian settlers of the Pacific are divided between a recent "pulse-pause" expansion from Taiwan and an older "slow-boat" diffusion from Wallacea. We used lexical data and Bayesian phylogenetic methods to construct a phylogeny of 400 languages. In agreement with the pulse-pause scenario, the language trees place the Austronesian origin in Taiwan approximately 5230 years ago and reveal a series of settlement pauses and expansion pulses linked to technological and social innovations. These results are robust to assumptions about the rooting and calibration of the trees and demonstrate the combined power of linguistic scholarship, database technologies, and computational phylogenetic methods for resolving questions about human prehistory.

Sayabiga and Rice Agriculture in the Middle East

2009-01-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

The recent posts on irrigation provide an opportunity for a segue to the question of the Sayabiga that has been discussed earlier in this blog.

M. J. de Goeje in 1894 first suggested that the Sayabiga, mentioned in medieval Muslim texts, came from the kingdom of Zabag in Insular Southeast Asia. De Goeje was later followed by and expanded upon by G. Ferrand in 1934. I have located the kingdom of Zabag in the same pampang area discussed in some recent postings.

Now, the medieval records state that the Sayabiga were living along the Persian Gulf coast during the reign of the Sassanian king Bahram V (420-38). After the Muslim conquest, the Sayabiga along with a group known as the Zutt, who were probably related to the modern Jats of Sindh, were relocated by the Caliph to the marshlands around the present-day Shatt-al-Arab. The Zutt and Sayabiga, along with the Zanj from coastal southern Africa, worked on draining the swamps in this area.

The two groups, the Zutt and Sayabiga, were said to raise water buffalo that put the "lion to flight," and to have introduced rice farming into the area. Rice became popular in the area at the time and came to form the staple in the Shatt-al-Arab and nearby areas from that period until the present day. Later on, because of the problems with lions in Antioch, the Zutt and Sayabiga along with their water buffalo herds were moved to that region to rid the area of lions.

What is interesting is the rice agriculture system present today along the Shatt-al-Arab.

View Larger Map

The area around Basra and the Shatt-al-Arab in southern Iraq where the Zutt and Sayabiga were settled.

The irrigation system here is controlled by a system of mud dikes. The areas furthest from the river remained relatively dry and is planted with wheat and barley. The middle area, which was irrigated by the tides, is cropped with millet and maize. The area closest to the Shatt-al-Arab remains wet all the time and is planted with rice i.e. wet rice agriculture.

View Larger Map

Close-up of diked fields, some in disuse, along the Shatt-al-Arab. This area has been famous for its canals since medieval times.

Another interesting area of research here would be to compare tidal fishing methods to see if there is any sign of Sayabiga influence. Some of the fish traps like the valve room trap, the mud dam trap and the milan trap (see: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/MarinaMesopotamica/2006/pdf/2006OL_0101pp001037.pdf), look quite similar to methods used far to the east in Pampanga.

There has also been a suggestion that oculi or boat's eyes painted on the bow as amulets and found on medieval Arab dhows were brought to the region by the Sayabiga (see Peabody Museum of Salem, The American Neptune, p. 42; also Waruno Mahdi "The dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean," IN: Roger Blech, Matthew Spriggs, Archaeology and Language: Artifacts, Language and Texts, Routledge, 1999, 162.)

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Rice Terrace images on Google Earth

2009-01-08T17:26:00.001-08:00

Google Earth has new images of the rice terraces region in Northern Luzon, or least this is the first I have noticed them.

Some of the Kiangan region rice terraces, a UNESCO world heritage site, are visible. But even more spectacular are the rice and vegetable terraces along the Halsema Highway through Benguet.

The ride up this highway from Baguio to Bontoc or Sagada is one of the most spectacular that I have experienced. The Halsema Highway is the highest elevated major highway in the Philippines. While the mountain range here does not come close to comparing in elevation with the highest mountains in the world, it is still very rugged with many steep and at times sheer cliffs appearing as endless drop-offs to vehicle passengers. The vegetation is a beautiful blending of tropical and alpine types and the mountains are often covered in a surreal mist that shrouds the well-constructed terraces.

The Halsema Highway in Benguet. Click image to enlarge.

The area near Apunan. Click image to enlarge.

Unfortunately, Google still does not have high resolution photos of the most noteworthy rice terraces like those at Banaue. The native Igorot peoples have modified the landscape in this region to a scale unequaled prior to modern times. The terrace walls of Banaue alone would stretch half way around the world if strung together according to one estimate, and the combined terrace walls of the Igorots would extend around the whole globe.

Source: WOCAT http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/wocat/.

Some researchers have speculated that the terraces were filled using canals that brought sediment downstream from higher elevations. However, some early researchers found that the terraces they examined were mostly filled with gravel that was sourced from locations at lower elevations than the terraces. Gravel does not move that easily in flowing water and especially when going uphill, so there still remains some mystery as to how they moved so much earth into these vast structures.

Muyong, indigenous forestry

Source: http://www.unu.edu/hq/Japanese/gs-j/gs2005j/shimane-yamaguchi1/yap.pdf

The rice terraces of the Ifugao group among the Igorots are divided into water districts (himpuntonā’an) led by a district head known as tomona.

Each district has a woodlot known as a muyong -- an example of indigenous forestry practice. The muyong are usually not wild forest, but old swidden land converted into specialty forest. While some harvesting of the muyong occurs, it is generally protected as it constitutes the main perennial source of water for the irrigation system used with the rice terraces. The trees of the muyong hold moisture from running off too rapidly, and natural organic compost that collects in the forest is washed down the canals replenishing the fertility of the terraced rice ponds. The people were divided into work groups with a women's

ubbu assigned to planting, harvesting, and weeding terrace walls and with swidden farm (uma) maintenance. The men’s ubbu is charged with constructing and maintaining terrace walls. A third male work group, the baddang, was responsible for maintaining the canal system.

Yale anthropologist Harold Conklin had described these rice terraces as "one of the soundest soil and water conservation structures ever built by humans."

The dike and pond system of Pampanga is similar in many respects to the terrace system.

However, in the case of Pampanga the Pinatubo watershed and the mountain source of the Pampanga River act as the "muyong" of the system. During the flood season, the muddy waters flow down the rivers and streams depositing rich sediment into the rice fields.

At one time, most of the region of Upper Pampanga was covered mostly with forest. Very large herds of usa, the Philippine Sambar Deer, roamed the region.

In contrast, Lower Pampanga had little swidden land or forest. Nearly the entire surface is covered with rice or fish ponds. Some mangrove forestry was undertaken on the dikes, but mostly the people living here had to trade to get swidden or forest products. In the estuarine areas, only fish ponds and mangroves could be raised, so they also had to get their rice from elsewhere.

The combination of modern development in Upper Pampanga and the Pinatubo eruption negatively impacted the fertilty of the pampang system, but things have recovered lately as the slopes of Pinatubo are gradually greening once again.

In Pampanga also, there were still indications as late as the early 18th century of a system of social structure similar to that used in the rice terraces region with irrigation districts demarked by borders known as danay. The "king of the mountain" here would be the equivalent of the a-amma manlilintog of the Tinglayen Igorots of Sagada "the elder who gives the law" i.e., in Kapampangan the payugali. In addition there were other elements of the social structure related to trade and foreign relations, and long-distance kinship relations.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Yap, David Leonides T. “Conservation and Progress: Bridging the Gap,the Case of the Ifugao Rice Terraces," http://www.unu.edu/hq/Japanese/gs-j/gs2005j/shimane-yamaguchi1/yap.pdf.

Ancient Land Reclamation in Manila Bay?

2009-01-05T12:10:00.001-08:00

Check out these images from Google maps (maps.google.com). Click on the images to enlarge them.

The first is a satellite photo image of the northern Manila Bay:

Click image to enlarge

Now here is the same area but using a terrain rather than a photographic image:

Click image to enlarge

Notice the lakes in the image above that are missing in the first image, and also that the Pampanga Bay in the northwest corner extends much further northward than in the photographic image.

These are areas of reclaimed land that still show up in multi-spectral imagery because what is known as the spectral reflectance value is different than the surrounding land. When the lakes and bay were filled they retain a higher moisture content deeper than in the surrounding areas. So to imaging satellites, these still appear to be bodies of water.

So far, I have not been able to find any information on modern land reclamation projects in this region. There have been some further south in Metro Manila where the Cultural Center of the Philippines, for example, stands on reclaimed land. Most land reclamation projects involve modern construction, while the reclaimed land here is covered with old-style dike-pond (pampang) structures.

Since waterways are generally public, I doubt that these projects could have been completed without permission. The Pampanga Bay, for example, in the following overlay of the two images above is about twice as large in the terrain image.

Click image to enlarge

Indeed some old maps agree with the photographic image.

Click image to enlarge

(From: The Philippine journal of science. [Vol. 3, no. B], 1908)

Click image to enlarge

(From: Hannaford, Ebenezer, History and description of our Philippine wonderland, and photographic panorama of Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, Samoa, Guam, and Wake island, with entertaining accounts of their peoples and modes of living, customs, industries, climate and present conditions, The Crowell & Kirkpatrick Co., 1899.)

So it appears that these bodies of water were not filled in in modern times, although this still needs some research I admit.

If they were filled in ancient times, the question is to whether it was an artificial process or whether it was due to natural siltation or possibly caused by volcanic lahar deposits.

Either way these areas can be useful in dating the building of this irrigation system. Since sediment would mostly have been used to fill these bodies of water in both the artificial and natural process, the organic material in the sediment can be carbon-dated. If there is evidence of dikes existing at one time on the former water's edge, it would mean that dike-building predated the land reclamation. It can also be said that at least the dikes and ponds built over these former estuarine bodies were not built before the land was reclaimed.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Notes on place names in Zambales and Pampanga

2008-12-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

In various parts of the world, we come across a type of sacred geography that views geographical locations as corresponding to the body parts of a deity or deities.

Among Hindus, for example, the Sakta-pithas are considered sacred pilgrimage sites that each correspond with a specific body part of the goddess Sakti. The Buddhists have a similar system.

In the regions of Zambales and Pampanga in the Philippines that have been of major focus in this blog, there are some indications of a similar type of sacred geography. The town known as Betis, once the largest population center in Luzon but now absorbed into the municipality of Lubao, was originally known as Bitis, for example by Gov. Francisco de Sande in 1576. The latter word means "foot" in the local Kapampangan language.

Bitis is in fact located at the foothills of Mt. Pinatubo where the elevation begins to rise from the flat plains of Pampanga. Therefore, the name might indicate the foot or bottom of the mountain. Another nearby district of Lubao is known as Pasbul, which means "gate" possibly indicating this area was a thoroughfare to the mountain area.

Taking into account the common Austronesian practice of quadripartite division, there are some indications that this general area may have been conceived of as consisting of four "bodies." From Bitis toward the South, there are two placenames indicating parts near the top of the body. At the southern end of the Zambales range, of which Mt. Pinatubo is a part, sits Olongapo, the name derived from the Ulo ng Apo "Head of the Lord/Elder." To the southeast, across the Manila Bay and at the southern end of pampang-style agricultural system that runs from Lower Pampanga and through Bulacan is the ancient city of Tondo.

Tondo is believed to be derived from the Kapampangan word tundun which means "nape" or "back of the neck."

So from Bitis at the feet of the mountains of Pinatubo and Arayat going southwest, you have Olongapo "Head of the Lord," along the coast of Subic Bay, and to the southeast Tondo "Back of the Neck" along the Manila Bay.

Now in the opposite direction from Bitis are again the mountains of Pinatubo to the northwest and Arayat to the northeast. This area around the mountains is generally considered "central" as the directional word paralaya "toward Arayat" for "East" indicates. The Kapampangan word for "North" is ulu or pang-ulu. The ulu in this name is related to the ulo in "Ulo ng Apo" above with both words derived from Proto-Austronesian *ulu "head."

In Kapampangan the meaning of "head" for ulu and pangulu has been lost and the words now mean either "North" or "headwater," i.e. the origin of a river or stream. However, when the words were originally derived to indicate "North," ulu and pangulu still may have retained at least a secondary meaning of "head." Thus, the northern direction would have been associated with some place to the north that was thought of again in terms of the "head" body part.

So, there were four bodies in this hypothesis, all with their feet coming together in Bitis. The two bodies extending to the north had their central parts located apart at the east and west in Mts. Arayat and Pinatubo respectively with the heads again coming together in the north i.e. ulu or pangulu. The top parts of the two bodies extending to the South were Olongapo and Tondo both locations offering access to the open sea through the Subic and Manila bays respectively.

Now, the midsection of the southern bodies is also possibly indicated by a secondary directional system associated with the winds and used by fishermen. In this system, "South" is indicated by the word malaut "on the sea," while "North" is balas or "sand" meaning the type of sand common in the estuarine areas of Lower Pampanga. The south wind is also known as kalautan indicating the wind blowing off the ocean. This would indicate that this southern "center" was located along the northern beach line of the Pampanga Bay, probably at the mouth of the Pampanga River. The names for the directions "southwest" or abagat, the wind that blows in the high tide, and for south-by-southeast or ikat-aldo panlaut "sunrise by the sea" also strengthen this location of the southern center.

Click image for larger version

If this suggested sacred geography is correct, we can only guess at what bodies may have been suggested by the ancients. Possibly the two northern bodies could have been those of the deities Apung Mallari and Apung Sinukuan, associated with Mts. Pinatubo and Arayat respectively, but sufficient clues are lacking.

That the ancient peoples in this region may have seen their country as a type of the world in microcosm may be seen in their making Pinatubo and Arayat as the homes of the Moon and Sun respectively. As skilled mariners, they knew that the perceptions of the rising and setting luminaries was relative and could be expanded to all locations. Therefore the four bodies of the country could represent a smaller version of the four corners of the world in Austronesian quadripartite thinking.

Land of sacred earth and pottery

The region of Zambales (Sambali) and Pampanga were linked with the sacred earth of the volcanoes, and the pottery made from this earth I have suggested in this blog.

Many place names link up with these two themes. Joel Pabustan Mallari has noted that the capitals of Zambales and of Bataan to the south (where Olongapo is located) both have names that denote ancient types of pots i.e., Iba and Balanga respectively. Iba is also the former name of a village in Mabalacat near the Pampanga-Zambales border.

Pottery-making continues to this day in locations like Apalit in Pampanga, Calumpit in Bulacan, Victoria in Tarlac and San Leonardo in Nueva Ecija. However, older testimony indicates that pottery-making was once more widespread.

Many geographical names or terms indicate features or resources connected with the earth and soil. For example, as already mentioned, one term for the northern direction is balas, which means simply "sand" with a secondary connotation of sand specifically associated with estuarine areas. Diego Bergaño in the 18th century mentions a type of ancient earthenware known as balasini which he describes as:

"Loza antigua, que parece está hendida, no lo estando: hay poco, ya." ('Ancient earthenware, it appears to crack, no longer made: very few are left.')

-- Diego Bergaño (1732), Vocabulario de la lengua Pampangan en romance.

The word balasini may be derived from balas, and indeed modern potters still use balas-type sand as a temper in making certain types of pots. These antique wares that were still present in Bergaño's time may be related to the valuable earthenware Ruson-tsubo that were traded to Japan in earlier times.

Mallari mentions a number of places that appear to indicate some link with ancient quarrying:

Balas (sand) common name for barangays in Bacolor, Mexico and Concepcion; Sapangbato (lake of stones) in Angeles; Mabatu-batu (rocky) in [S]an Francisco, Magalang; Banlic (sand or mud after a flood) in Cabalantian, Bacolor; Planas (coral stones) in Porac.

The name Porac itself has a difficult etymology. It could be related to purac "pandan tree," burak "mud/lahar," or other similar words. I would not be surprised if it is a corruption of the word pila or pilac "clay." The archaeologist Robert Fox had reported that he saw what he thought were ancient quarries in Porac. Today, Porac is a major quarrying site, which may be one reason that archaeological finds are rather frequent in this area. Possibly in ancient times, Porac was a source of clay used for pottery and other uses.

In concluding, one last indication of the link with pottery and geography comes from ancient Kapampangan cosmology. The words suclub and sicluban are drawn from the same root meaning lid or cover and particularly referring to the lid of an earthenware pot. Suclub also means "horizon," and the phrase meto sicluban banua means vault or mantle of the sky. The ancients apparently viewed the world as a great pot with the sky as the lid or cover, which reminds us of the Penglai pot (hu) heaven in Chinese mythology.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Mallari, Joel Pabustan. "Adobe and Pumice: Upon these rocks," Singsing vol. 3, no. 1, 17-19.

__, "Ancient quarrying in Pampanga," Singsing vol. 3, no. 1, 18.

__, "Tracing the early Kapampangan boat people," Singsing vol. 3, no. 2, 58-9.

__, "The dying kuran technology of Capalangan," Singsing vol. 5, no. 1, 45-50.

Tantingco, Robby. "Time and space according to ancient Kapampangans," Singsing vol. 2, no. 4, 19-21.

The Pampang Water Control System

2008-12-20T12:12:00.000-08:00

To describe the irrigation and hydraulic engineering system, I will use information gleaned from my father, who along with his family during World War II relocated to relatives' farms in the boondocks of Masantol. Many of the graphics are taken from the following article:

Adams, Wallace, Heraclio R. Montalban and Claro Martin. "Cultivation of bangos in the Philippines," The Philippine journal of science Vol. 47, no. 1, Manila, 1-38.

The pampang or dikes that divert water are made of piled up earth or mud. These dikes are generally low except near the more powerful rivers.

Pampang near the river are usually planted with mangroves or Sonneratia trees to help them withstand the force of the tides and floods. These dikes are usually very wide and roads were constructed on them. Both the Spanish and Americans improved upon these pampang roads. Juan de Medina writing in 1630 states:

All Pampanga is like streets, for the houses of one town are continued by those of another. One may go to all its towns without getting in the sun, for now the bamboos, and now the palms furnish very pleasant shade.

The mangroves not only protect the dikes, but also act as environments for talangka crabs and other species,which are harvested by farmers. The small dikes that demark the rice fields and fish ponds are generally kept free of vegetation and contain foot paths.

Tidal and sluice gates are known as saplad in the Masantol area. These days the main gates along the river are generally build of concrete. In former times, they were made of stones or bricks cemented together or of thick, sturdy hardwood. The saplad are sliding gates with handles on top. Farmers pull up the gate and then place stops into slots in the gate door to hold it into position. Drainage is afforded by ditches known as bangbang.

Water is allowed into the ricefields by smaller gates which are actually tiny dams known as tambun or tambunan made of mud and straw. The farmer simply cuts a little channel into the dam to let water in, and reconstructs the dam to keep water from draining out.

Fish ponds or kaluangan

The fish ponds are a bit more complicated in construction as they hold more water and require a certain directed flow of water. These fish ponds are based on pisiculture of bangus (milkfish) or related species like the Pacific tarpon. The exact origins of milkfish culture is unknown but it was practiced when the Spanish first came to these islands.

These fish are saltwater species but migrate as fry to brackish water estuaries and mangrove swamps were they mature, and then return as adults to the sea. Fish ponds are best made in areas of clay soil or the ponds are lined with clay, which retains water and also is the best soil to produce vegetation that bangus like to feed on.

The dike is built above high tide and flood level with a puddle trench (mecha) below in an appropriate tidal estuary. The main gate or saplad allows water in from the river.

Gate system of a pampang fish pond for raising bangus and related salt/brackish water species.

The ponds used to grow the fish from fingerling to adult size are generally divided into sections known as kulungan (catching pont), impitan or bansutan (containment pond) and kaluangan (rearing pond). A series of smaller gates directs the flow of water in a circular fashion.

The fish pond system with subdivisions.

A separate type of pond is used for raising bangus fry known as pabiayan. The pabiayan also have a kulungan catching pond that is fed by a canal known as sangka. Pipes known as pansol usually made of anahaw wood circulate water into the rearing ponds.

k' - kulungan; p' - pansol; sg - small wooden gate; qp - quadrangular pipe.

Water in both fish and rice ponds is usually freshened at least twice a month during the lunar high tides that occur around the New and Full Moons. Both fish and rice culture in the pampang system involve initial raising in one location, and then transplanting to another location for maturation.

The saplad gates are left open during the high tides and are closed during ebb tides to prevent water from draining back in the estuary. Knowledge of the ebb tide is important and probably many today simply use modern tide predictions, but in ancient times an indigenous system was employed, which in itself would be an interesting area of research. Antonio de Morga writing in 1609 describes the difficulty of predicting tides in some of the southern areas of the Philippines.

The flow- and ebb-tides, and the high and low tides among these islands are so diverse in them that they have no fixed rule, either because of the powerful currents among these islands, or by some other natural secret of the flux and reflux which the moon causes. No definite knowledge has been arrived at in this regard, for although the tides are highest during the opposition of the moon, and are higher in the month of March than throughout the rest of the year, there is so great variation in the daily tides that it causes surprise. Some days there are two equal tides between day and night, while other days there is but one. At other times the flow during the day is low, and that of the night greater. They usually have no fixed hour, for it may happen to be high-tide one day at noon, while next day high-tide may be anticipated or postponed many hours. Or the tide of one day may be low, and when a smaller one is expected for next day, it may be much greater.

The Bugis of Sulawesi possess a sophisticated algorithm for predicting tides and it would be interesting to see if the Pampangan system is similar.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Ritual drinking in eastern Asia and the Pacific

2008-12-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

Ritualized drinking was once very widespread in the areas of eastern Asia and the Pacific and still survives in many areas as evidenced by the existence of the kava bowl, rice wine jar, chanoyu tea pot and similar ritual drinking implements.

In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, in particular, ceremonial drinking is often the most important social activity were even informal gatherings often involve at least some ritual. Drinking plays a part in many of the most sacred events and sometimes the ceremonies revolve specifically around the ritual drinking itself.

Communal drinking of rice wine from jars with bamboo straws in the Central Highlands of Vietnam (Janowski et al., Kinship and Food in South East Asia, 262).

Vessels that appear linked with drinking, and thus possibly ritual drinking, are found in Neolithic sites of Asia. The first written evidence from this region comes from the Shang dynasty of China in which drinking rituals were of great importance. Shang ritual drinking vessels like the hu, lei and jue appear to have been modeled on earlier prototypes with the same shapes and characteristics from the Lungshanoid culture, the apparent ancestor of Shang dynasty culture.

Following some of the suggestions of Solheim, I have argued that Lungshanoid culture ultimately was influenced by the red-slipped ware from Southeast Asia. The red-slipped ware was often marked with cords and/or baskets, and decorated with impressed circles often filled with lime; and dentate/triangle patterns.

The establishment of trade routes by the Nusantao allowed for a sudden rapid expansion of trade during the Middle Neolithic that gave rise to Lunghanoid type wares. This was a bidirectional movement of people and culture through trade more than a major demographic migration event like the Austronesian expansion, as suggested by some.

Lungshanoid or Lungshanoid-like wares are characterized by tripods, usually with tapering, hollow legs; and ring-feet bases often decorated and perforated. Shang wine vessels also are dominated by tripods and ring-feet. In Taiwan and Southeast Asia, the Lungshanoid type wares tended to be red-slipped, plain or polished black. In mainland China, these types were polished black or plain. In all these areas, Lungshanoid wares were often cord-marked.

Perforated ring-foot vessels from left to right: Neolithic pottery dou-like vessel with ya-shaped perforation in foot from Zhengzhou (Sarah Allan, The shape of the turtle, 89); Iron age vessel similar to the pan water basin, from Novaliches, Philippines; perforated ring-foot vessel from South India (last two images from: Waruno Mahdi, Archaeology and Language IV: Language Change and Cultural Transformation).

Origins

Interestingly, Chinese myth links the wine culture of the Shang dynasty with Emperor Shun Di, who is also known as Jun Di, a Shang ancestor from Tanggu "Hot Water Valley," the country of the Fusang Tree located beyond the 'Southeastern Sea.'

Emperor Shun was a potter before becoming king, and he was considered a patron of pottery-making and was especially linked with wine vessels and earthenware. His daughter is often credited with the invention of wine. This "wine" known as jiu and chang was not made from fruit but from rice or millet and was not distilled, so it was technically a beer. Grape wine also came to be known but was much less common and was mostly associated with Turkic peoples in the far West.

Judging from latter practices, rice wine would have been made mostly from glutinous rice although normal rice and other grains were also used. This is noteworthy as some research indicates that glutinous rice, also known as sticky or sweet rice, was domesticated only once and in Southeast Asia.

When the Zhou succeeded the Shang, the wine ritual became much less important and the hu wine vessel took a backseat to the ding food cauldron. Indeed, one text in the Book of Documents known as the "Admonition on Wine," castigates the Shang people for excessive drinking of liquor and that opinion held sway in latter Confucian China.

The Shang drank wine that had been offered in sacred ceremonies to gods, ancestors and spirits. In Southeast Asia, ritual drinking is also commonly associated with and offered to departed ancestors, and used in mortuary rituals. Ceremonial drinking was also an important part of many types of initiation such as that of warriors or priests.

However, the hu wine vessel as noted in this blog took on a different role in the practice of alchemy that was to develop in latter times.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Bushell, Stephen W. Chinese Art, H. M. Stationery Off. by Wyman and Sons, 1904, 52.

Chang, Kwang-chih . The Archaeology of Ancient China,Yale University Press, 1963.

Janowski, Monica and Fiona Kerlogue. Kinship and Food in South East Asia, NIAS Press, 2007.

Mahdi, Waruno. "Linguisitc and philogical data towards a chronology of Austronesian activity in India and Sri Lanka," IN: Roger Blench, Matthew Spriggs. Archaeology and Language IV: Language Change and Cultural Transformation, Routledge (UK), 1999

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