A press relase of an article suggesting an early diffusion of the bottle gourd from Asia to America is posted below.
The full text article can be found free at:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0509279102v1.pdf
It has a map showing the distribution in the Americas. From this map it is evident that the further north it occurs is Cloudsplitter Cave in Kentucky.
It also appears from the dates to have been introduced first in Mexico
and then brought north:
Guila Naquitz, Mexico -- 9920 BP
Querada Jaguay, Peru -- 8415 BP
Windover, Florida -- 8105 BP
Mammoth Cave, Kentucky -- 2750 BP
Cloudsplitter Cave, Kentucky -- 2735 BP
One then has to question how a pan-tropical plant like the bottle gourd would have been diffused across the Bering Sea. A more southern disperal is a better argument.
---
Public release date: 13-Dec-2005
Contact: Steve Bradt
steve_bradt@harvard.edu
617-496-8070
Harvard University
Ancient humans brought bottle gourds to the Americas from Asia
Plants widely used as containers arrived, already domesticated, some 10,000 years ago
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 13, 2005 -- Thick-skinned bottle gourds widely used as containers by prehistoric peoples were likely brought to the Americas some 10,000 years ago by individuals who arrived from Asia, according to a new genetic comparison of modern bottle gourds with gourds found at archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere. The finding solves a longstanding archaeological enigma by explaining how a domesticated variant of a species native to Africa ended up millennia ago in places as far removed as modern-day Florida, Kentucky, Mexico and Peru.
The work, by a team of anthropologists and biologists from Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, Massey University in New Zealand and the University of Maine, appears this week on the web site of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Integrating genetics and archaeology, the researchers assembled a collection of ancient remnants of bottle gourds from across the Americas. They then identified key genetic markers from the DNA of both the ancient gourds and their modern counterparts in Asia and Africa before comparing the plants' genetic make-up to determine the origins of the New World gourds.
"For 150 years, the dominant theory has been that bottle gourds, which are quite buoyant and have no known wild progenitors in the Americas, floated across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa and were picked up and used as containers by people here," says Noreen Tuross, the Landon T. Clay Professor of Scientific Archaeology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "Much to our surprise, we found that in every case the gourds found in the Americas were a genetic match with modern gourds found in Asia, not Africa. This suggests quite strongly that the gourds that were used as containers in the Americas for thousands of years before the advent of pottery were brought over from Asia."
The researchers say it's possible the domesticated gourds -- differentiated from wild bottle gourds by a much thicker rind -- were conveyed to North America by people who arrived from Asia in boats or who walked across an ancient land bridge between the continents, or that the gourds floated across the Bering Strait after being transported by humans from their native Africa to far northeastern Asia.
"This finding paints a new picture of the founding of the Americas," says co-author Bruce Smith of the Smithsonian Institution. "These people did not arrive here empty-handed; they brought a domesticated plant and dogs with them. They arrived with important tools necessary to survive and thrive on a new continent, including some knowledge of and experience with plant domestication."
Thought to have originated in Africa, bottle gourds (Lagenaria sicereria) have been grown worldwide for thousands of years. The gourds have little food value but their strong, hard-shelled fruits were long prized as containers, musical instruments and fishing floats. This lightweight "container crop" would have been particularly useful to human societies before the advent of pottery and settled village life, and was apparently domesticated thousands of years before any plant was domesticated for food purposes.
Radiocarbon dating indicates that bottle gourds were present in the Americas by 10,000 years ago and widespread by 8,000 years ago. Some of the specimens studied by the team were not only the oldest bottle gourds ever found but also quite possibly the oldest plant DNA ever analyzed. The newest of their archaeological samples, a specimen found in Kentucky, was just 1,000 years old -- suggesting the gourds were used in the New World as containers for at least 9,000 years.
###
Tuross and Smith's co-authors on the PNAS paper are David L. Erickson of the National Museum of Natural History, Andrew C. Clarke of Massey University and Daniel H. Sandweiss of the University of Maine. Their work was supported by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of Natural History and by Harvard's Department of Anthropology and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Public release date: 13-Dec-2005
---
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
http://sambali.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Article: Social hierarchy in Pampanga
The following reconstruction of social hierarchy in Pampanga based on Bergano and various other sources should be helpful in understanding the political situation in pre-contact Lusung.
Pagbansag
The Pagbansag were hereditary titles, the "pag-" prefix indicating those titles that are passively obtained i.e. by birth. Many of the pagbansag are related to the clan or village that first settled an area or mountain. Pagbansag connected with the land cannot be given away or taken away in native thought as they belong to the ancestors. This caused quite a bit of friction over the concept of land "ownership" during colonial times.
Bansag
These were appointed offices. Some like the title of Ucum could also be granted as hereditary titles.
Pagbansag
The Pagbansag were hereditary titles, the "pag-" prefix indicating those titles that are passively obtained i.e. by birth. Many of the pagbansag are related to the clan or village that first settled an area or mountain. Pagbansag connected with the land cannot be given away or taken away in native thought as they belong to the ancestors. This caused quite a bit of friction over the concept of land "ownership" during colonial times.
Pagbansagan -- The highest title in the land meaning "the one who bestows hereditary titles (pagbansag)". In the common practice, the Pagbansangan is the lawgiver and the supreme judge in matters of law. Also, in most cases the person is also an heriditary priest or shaman and grants priesthoods to others. The Pagbansagan of Pinatubo would grant titles for the sulip (banua) of Pinatubo, or those districts (danay) primarly fed by the rivers and streams of that volcano. When a tipon is called between these districts the Pagbansagan naturally officiates and carries "veto" power. In a national crisis, the Pagbansagan appoints commanders and deputies, while the danay provide their own troops and supplies.
Calili -- Hereditary priest/priestess.
Ari -- This title means literally "king" or "queen." An Ari is an hereditary ruler as the word Ariyan means "of royal blood, prince, princess." The Ari generally rule over geographical districts. The Pagbansagan is the Ari of the sulip/banua. None of the Ari, including the Pagbansagan, had autocratic power but ruled through a combination of political, legal and spiritual portfolios. When clans were able to attain rulership over lands outside the traditional danay, the clan leaders known as Dapu or Nunu became rulers in a thalassocracy.
Dapu -- Also known as Nunu or "grandparents" these were the leaders of clans who could hold power across danay or establish their own kingdoms in other lands. These titles were hereditary but also had elective qualities and did not involve the Pagbansagan. The Dapu or Nunu of major clans were very powerful. The genealogy of the clan could also be called nunu. It was generally traced back to the Talampacan or great-great-grandparents and reckoned bilaterally. However, clans could unite through blood pacts usually involving a marriage, or the ritual drinking by the Dapu of a bit of each other's blood mixed with native wine (alac or sasa).
Dayang -- A "Lady" or "Dona." May be related to the word daya "blood" indicating bilineal or matrilineal inheritance of certain titles.
Laquin -- A "great man," probably a contraction of lalaqui-an. These titles often connoted some kind of spiritual lordship over some element, activity, object, etc.
Gat -- Possibly a foreign title as Bergano lists neither gat or pamagat. Also, some of the words compounded with "Gat-" look foreign i.e., maitam in Gatmaitam may come from the Moro languages in the South. These surnames may represent the ancient marriages with nobility from Brunei and Sulu. Gat has a connotation similar to "Don" in Spanish.
Basal -- A governor, apparently related to the blacksmith caste.
Punsalang -- A captain, probably hereditary, related to the old noble clan of Pinatubo and Apung Mallari.
Hereditary offices. These were all honorable positions although some may be difficult to understand as such today. For example the pagbansag Manalang means "the one who propagates the Talang tree," which alone does not sound very noble until one understands that the Talang was very sacred in this region.
Bansag
These were appointed offices. Some like the title of Ucum could also be granted as hereditary titles.
Alili -- Appointed priest/priestess.
Ucum -- Also probably Nucum. A judge, a "mayor" of a large population center or ucuman.
Bansagan -- General or Captain-General.
Bansag -- Captain or Maestro-de-Campo.
Guinu -- A chief or lord. The equivalent of "datu" in other areas. Usually the ruler of at least a barangay. The Guinu were established mostly by merit although a good genealogy was always helpful.
Datu -- The title of Datu also existed in some areas. Originally this meant the captain of a ship known as a barangay, and also the settlement of the same name. As with the Guinu, the power of the Datu could vary widely. One barangay might be dozens of times larger than another. Some datus might command a "fleet" of barangays. The position of Datu was generally earned.
Una -- A captain, especially of a land force.
Biuisan -- Anyone who receives taxes or tribute (buis) for any reason. Some of the pagbansag were also Biuisan.
Other appointed offices similar to those of the pagbansag in most cases, but not hereditary.
Glossary: Sapa
Words related to sapa and saba occur widely throughout insular Southeast Asia as placenames were they are derived from a root having meanings such as "estuary, river-mouth, creek, brook, canal, place where fish enter."
The words sapa and saba may be the origin of the Arabic Zabag. Michael Jan de Goeje and Gabriel Ferrand, followed by Paul Wheatley, Roger Blench, Waruno Mahdi and others, believe that Zabag was derived from an earlier Sabag.
Sabag, in turn, was an Arabization of the word Savaka the Tamil name for the people of Zabag. The suffix "-ka" here would be a common one in Sanskrit and Prakrit used to describe a people from a certain locality, thus Yona-ka means "people or person from Yona (Greece)."
Savaka would then mean "people from Sapa/Saba" or "the people who dwell in estuaries or at river-mouths."
De Goeje and Ferrand suggested that a group mentioned in early Islamic texts known as the Sayabidja or Sayabiga, were pre-Islamic settlers in the Sind and Persian Gulf from Zabag. Sayabiga was stated to be the plural form of Saibagi which in one text is said to be pronounced sometimes as Sabag.
The Sayabiga were described as leaders of "marines" in warships, soldiers, prison and treasury guards and mercenaries. They were noted as faithful to those they served.
Apparently they had come from southern India and settled in the Sind where they became closely associated with another group known as the Zutt or Zott. Others were found at various locations along the Persian Gulf coast during the time of Caliph Abu Bakr.
Eventually the Zutt and Sayabiga, both apparently known as buffalo herders, are found at various locations serving mostly in military or police capacity including Bahrain and Basra. Both groups were devout Shi'as.
Sayabiga and the Assassins
Earlier in this blog, it was noted that Nusantao influence in Europe during medieval times may have flowed significantly through the Templars. The Templar connection in the Middle East might have been through the group famously known as the Assassins, a "fanatical" Shi'ite sect holed up in the mountains of Syria.
The Caliph Muawiya settled groups of Zutt and Sayabiga in Antioch after he had deposed the Shah of Iran. These folk acted mainly as buffalo herders and were again forced to move when the Greeks conquered the area.
Some were said to have ended up in Syria. The Zutt of Syria became the Dom Gypsies.
The possible link between the Zutt and Sayabiga with the Assassins has been suggested by Ivanow who noticed the infusion of "Tantric" elements into certain sects of Islam:
Ivanow suggested that this influence might be connected with the migrations from the Sind discussed above although he mentions only the Zutt. "Persian darwishes show remarkably strong ties with similar organisations in India, chiefly in Sind, and it is quite possible that certain ideas could have been imported through such channels. It appears, however, that such importations would have been made at an early date."
When the Assassin holdouts in Syria were destroyed by the Mongols, the vast majority of the group went to India where they placed themselves eventually in the service of the Aga Khan.
If some Sayabiga found their way into the Assassin group it could easily explain the Templar link with Zabag. Although admittedly there is no way to know whether these Shi'ite Sayabiga maintained any ties or loyalty to their old homeland.
However, such a relationship would not be any stranger than that which existed between the Templars and the Assassins. The former were consistently accused of conspiring with the latter even though both groups represented what are generally considered as the most fanatic defenders of their respective religions.
Even the Templar founder Hugh de Payens was accused of responsibility in forging the pact between Baldwin II of Jerusalem and the Assassins. When Christian fortunes waned in the Holy Land many in Europe cast a suspicious eye on the Templars.
The historian M. Von Hammer has even suggested that the Templars modeled themselves after the Assassin order. He cites similar organization, dress, and practices. Godfrey Higgins later noted that both groups had certain gnostic and tantric beliefs in common. Both seemed to have deistic and pantheistic leanings.
The two groups had similar colors which had great significance to the heraldry-conscious medieval Europeans. They both wore white garments, the Assassins with a red girdle and the Templars with a red cross. Both orders were divided into three classes: the Assassins into the Fedavee, Dais and Refeek, and the Templars into the knights, chaplains and servers. The Templar master and priors would conform to the Assassin sheik and Dais al-Kebir.
Most controversial was the so-called "tribute" payed by the Assassins to the Templars. Although the latter claimed to have forced the hand of the Assassins in this matter, the question of the payment never failed to raise suspicion.
Whatever the ultimate reason for the destruction of the Templars in France, no doubt their curious relationship with the Assassins had helped in the final decision against them.
If we take it then that the Sayabiga and Zutt were among the members of the Assassins and responsible for Tantric elements in their doctrine, the passing of Nusantao knowledge would have survived mainly in Portugul. It was here that the Templar order was able to persist through nothing more than a subtle name change.
Like the heathen Flegtanis of Toledo who acted as informant of Kyot and, through the latter, Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Sayabiga acted as informants of the Templars.
The Templars of Portugal, or Knights of Christ as they became known after the holocaust in France, constituted the driving force behind the country's advances in maritime navigation.
The Sayabiga hypothesis thus lies on the similarity of the name with Savaka and Zabag, their marine and mercenary nature which closely resembles the behavior of the Luções centuries later in Southeast Asia, their settlements along coastal areas, and their Tantric linkages (Suvarnadvipa/Zabag). The relationship between the Sayabiga and the Assassins and the latter's links with the Templars are fuzzy but this explanation would solve the riddle of Templar and Assassin tantric/Indic influence.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Barber, Malcolm. The Trial of the Templars, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
William and Robert Chambers, "Secret societies of the Middle Ages," Chambers Papers for the People, Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers, 1850.
de Goeje, Michael Jan. Memoires d'histoire et de geographie orientales, No. 3, Leiden, 1903.
Ferrand, Gabriel. E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam s.v. "Sayabidja" (p. 200-1), The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1927, 1993.
Ivanow, W. "Satpanth," Collectanea Vol. 1. 1948, Published for the Ismaili Society by E. I. BRILL, Onde Rijn, 33a, Leiden, Holland.
Wasserman, James. The Templars and the Assassins, Muze Inc., 2005.
For Sayabiga, see also: Wheatley, Paul The Places Where Men Pray Together: Cities in Islamic Lands, Seventh Through the Tenth Centuries, The University of Chicago Press, 2001, p. 44; Blench, Robert and Matthew Spriggs. Archaeology and Language III: Artefacts, Language and Texts, London: Routledge, 1999, p. 271.
The words sapa and saba may be the origin of the Arabic Zabag. Michael Jan de Goeje and Gabriel Ferrand, followed by Paul Wheatley, Roger Blench, Waruno Mahdi and others, believe that Zabag was derived from an earlier Sabag.
Sabag, in turn, was an Arabization of the word Savaka the Tamil name for the people of Zabag. The suffix "-ka" here would be a common one in Sanskrit and Prakrit used to describe a people from a certain locality, thus Yona-ka means "people or person from Yona (Greece)."
Savaka would then mean "people from Sapa/Saba" or "the people who dwell in estuaries or at river-mouths."
De Goeje and Ferrand suggested that a group mentioned in early Islamic texts known as the Sayabidja or Sayabiga, were pre-Islamic settlers in the Sind and Persian Gulf from Zabag. Sayabiga was stated to be the plural form of Saibagi which in one text is said to be pronounced sometimes as Sabag.
The Sayabiga were described as leaders of "marines" in warships, soldiers, prison and treasury guards and mercenaries. They were noted as faithful to those they served.
Apparently they had come from southern India and settled in the Sind where they became closely associated with another group known as the Zutt or Zott. Others were found at various locations along the Persian Gulf coast during the time of Caliph Abu Bakr.
Eventually the Zutt and Sayabiga, both apparently known as buffalo herders, are found at various locations serving mostly in military or police capacity including Bahrain and Basra. Both groups were devout Shi'as.
Sayabiga and the Assassins
Earlier in this blog, it was noted that Nusantao influence in Europe during medieval times may have flowed significantly through the Templars. The Templar connection in the Middle East might have been through the group famously known as the Assassins, a "fanatical" Shi'ite sect holed up in the mountains of Syria.
The Caliph Muawiya settled groups of Zutt and Sayabiga in Antioch after he had deposed the Shah of Iran. These folk acted mainly as buffalo herders and were again forced to move when the Greeks conquered the area.
Some were said to have ended up in Syria. The Zutt of Syria became the Dom Gypsies.
The possible link between the Zutt and Sayabiga with the Assassins has been suggested by Ivanow who noticed the infusion of "Tantric" elements into certain sects of Islam:
"We find numerous parallels in such widely differing ethnic, linguistic and social groups as the sects of Ali-Ilahi of Kurdistan, Nusayris of Syria, and Tantric cults, more particularly those of the worshippers of Shakti in India, in addition to avowedly mobile and wandering darwish organizations. It looks as if there is, after all, a mysterious connection between all these. The Tantric cults are believed to be the remnants of the ancient, pre-Aryan religion of India, gradually submerged, modified and partly re-modeled by orthodox Hinduism, the religion of the invaders."
Ivanow suggested that this influence might be connected with the migrations from the Sind discussed above although he mentions only the Zutt. "Persian darwishes show remarkably strong ties with similar organisations in India, chiefly in Sind, and it is quite possible that certain ideas could have been imported through such channels. It appears, however, that such importations would have been made at an early date."
When the Assassin holdouts in Syria were destroyed by the Mongols, the vast majority of the group went to India where they placed themselves eventually in the service of the Aga Khan.
If some Sayabiga found their way into the Assassin group it could easily explain the Templar link with Zabag. Although admittedly there is no way to know whether these Shi'ite Sayabiga maintained any ties or loyalty to their old homeland.
However, such a relationship would not be any stranger than that which existed between the Templars and the Assassins. The former were consistently accused of conspiring with the latter even though both groups represented what are generally considered as the most fanatic defenders of their respective religions.
Even the Templar founder Hugh de Payens was accused of responsibility in forging the pact between Baldwin II of Jerusalem and the Assassins. When Christian fortunes waned in the Holy Land many in Europe cast a suspicious eye on the Templars.
The historian M. Von Hammer has even suggested that the Templars modeled themselves after the Assassin order. He cites similar organization, dress, and practices. Godfrey Higgins later noted that both groups had certain gnostic and tantric beliefs in common. Both seemed to have deistic and pantheistic leanings.
The two groups had similar colors which had great significance to the heraldry-conscious medieval Europeans. They both wore white garments, the Assassins with a red girdle and the Templars with a red cross. Both orders were divided into three classes: the Assassins into the Fedavee, Dais and Refeek, and the Templars into the knights, chaplains and servers. The Templar master and priors would conform to the Assassin sheik and Dais al-Kebir.
Most controversial was the so-called "tribute" payed by the Assassins to the Templars. Although the latter claimed to have forced the hand of the Assassins in this matter, the question of the payment never failed to raise suspicion.
Whatever the ultimate reason for the destruction of the Templars in France, no doubt their curious relationship with the Assassins had helped in the final decision against them.
If we take it then that the Sayabiga and Zutt were among the members of the Assassins and responsible for Tantric elements in their doctrine, the passing of Nusantao knowledge would have survived mainly in Portugul. It was here that the Templar order was able to persist through nothing more than a subtle name change.
Like the heathen Flegtanis of Toledo who acted as informant of Kyot and, through the latter, Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Sayabiga acted as informants of the Templars.
The Templars of Portugal, or Knights of Christ as they became known after the holocaust in France, constituted the driving force behind the country's advances in maritime navigation.
The Sayabiga hypothesis thus lies on the similarity of the name with Savaka and Zabag, their marine and mercenary nature which closely resembles the behavior of the Luções centuries later in Southeast Asia, their settlements along coastal areas, and their Tantric linkages (Suvarnadvipa/Zabag). The relationship between the Sayabiga and the Assassins and the latter's links with the Templars are fuzzy but this explanation would solve the riddle of Templar and Assassin tantric/Indic influence.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Barber, Malcolm. The Trial of the Templars, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
William and Robert Chambers, "Secret societies of the Middle Ages," Chambers Papers for the People, Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers, 1850.
de Goeje, Michael Jan. Memoires d'histoire et de geographie orientales, No. 3, Leiden, 1903.
Ferrand, Gabriel. E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam s.v. "Sayabidja" (p. 200-1), The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1927, 1993.
Ivanow, W. "Satpanth," Collectanea Vol. 1. 1948, Published for the Ismaili Society by E. I. BRILL, Onde Rijn, 33a, Leiden, Holland.
Wasserman, James. The Templars and the Assassins, Muze Inc., 2005.
For Sayabiga, see also: Wheatley, Paul The Places Where Men Pray Together: Cities in Islamic Lands, Seventh Through the Tenth Centuries, The University of Chicago Press, 2001, p. 44; Blench, Robert and Matthew Spriggs. Archaeology and Language III: Artefacts, Language and Texts, London: Routledge, 1999, p. 271.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Glossary: Letters of Prester John
When analyzing the letters of Prester John, we should distinguish between those said to have been received by the Popes or kings of Europe, and those circulated for general public consumption.
Obviously some of the latter were designed more for entertainment purposes than anything else.
However, when we learn that the Pope sent his personal physician, Magister Philippus, on a mission to Prester John, the completely fictional character of the king becomes a more difficult proposition.
Although many copies of the original letters exist, there are numerous variations in the manuscripts.
Actual specimens of letters addressed to the "Emperor of Rome" and the "King of France" are stated to be preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris (Beazely, p. 278).
Pope Alexander III in Indorum regi sacerdotum santissimo (1177) told of Philippus' encounters with the emissaries of Prester John in the East, and the eastern king's desire to learn about the Roman Catholic Church.
Interestingly, while traveler's reports claiming to have found Prester John's kingdom in Central Asia or Ethiopia are seen as authentic, the accounts of this kingdom in "further India" are viewed as completely fictional and/or fraudulent. This includes the original letter attributed to Prester John, the story of John Mandeville and even the account of Nicolo de Conti given centuries after the first letter.
However, as we have noted, two geographically vast trade empires existed in further India at the time that are certainly deserving of consideration. All the more so when we consider that evidence exists that at least one of these empires appears to have had a long-term strategic policy of courting new allies.
Requests for assistance from the Sung emperor by the king of Sanfotsi against his enemies to the south began in the late 10th century. During the same general period over several centuries, Suvarnadvipa engaged in what apparently was an effort to strengthen political ties with eastern and southern India and Tibet. The Srikalacakra Tantra, having links with Suvarnadvipa gurus, contains not only interesting hopeful prophecies of Buddhist victories against invading hordes, but even a manual of the "art of war" as part of its contents. The presence of Suvarnadvipa influence (Sanfotsi/Zabag) in South India and Sri Lanka is also confirmed by independent Chinese and Muslim sources during this period including Ma Tuan-lin and Chau Ju-Kua.
We know that prior to the initial Prester John letters there had been visits by an "archbishop of India" to Constantinople, and by a "Patriarch John" from the same country to Rome in 1122. These visits are confirmed by two apparently independent sources, one anonymous and the other from Odo of Reims who was in Rome during the event.
These accounts confirm that people at least claiming to be authorities from India were able to venture to the West some 50 years before the first Prester John letter. As we know that merchants and even kings from Suvarnadvipa were journeying to India during this period, the necessary linkage existed.
Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, published only about 35 years after the first letter, was the first in a series of Grail epics that sought to give European roots to the eastern king and to link him with a sacred relic known as the Holy Grail. In this literature, the Grail almost invariably returns to a mountain in far India.
If the letters had some hints of being penned by a Nestorian, this would not automatically effect its authenticity. Cosmas Indicopleustes refers to Nestorians from Siam as early as the 6th century CE. The Persian writer Abu Saliah mentions during the 7th century, a Nestorian church at Fansur (Sumatra or Borneo).
John of Marignolli says that he encounters "Christians" at Sabah during the 14th century, when travelling from China to India.
Even the letters themselves tend to imply they were written by someone in Prester John's service, which according to the king included 'Frankish' knights. We might relate this to Nicolo de Conti's claim much later of having served in the the court of Prester John during his 15th century travels to Asia.
After the Mongol conquests, as Europeans began traveling again to India, and particularly to South India, two advocates of the establishment of a Christian navy in the Indian Ocean arise in Europe. They were Jordanus of Columbum and Marino Sanuto, both of whom located Regnum Joannis Prebyteri in the far Indies. Their world maps though were still Ptolemaic in fashion showing the easternmost islands as part of the Asian continent.
Sanuto wrote an appeal to the Pope for a new crusade known as Secreta fidelium crucis "The Secrets of the Faithful of the Cross."
In this work, Sanuto included many maps, apparently the work of Pietro Vesconte, that were the first to show significant advances over earlier Christian maps. They were known as portolanos, discussed previously in this blog in relation to Austronesian wind compasses, and were valuable new additions to the navigational repetoire of European seafarers.
A pattern of contact, of which I have endeavored to lay out in this blog, continues up to the arrival of Portuguese fleets in the 1500s. The flow of knowledge from the East may be coded in von Eschenbach's account of the visitors Feirfez, Cundrie and Malcreatiure from the kingdom of Tribalibot "near the Ganges." The author even credits the tale of Parzival to a mysterious "pagan" from Toledo. The Grail itself may also allude partly to this new knowledge from the Far East.
It is impossible to say whether Luções "helpfulness" to the Portuguese had strategic rather than purely mercantile or mercenary motivations. However, the situation in Lusung certainly paints a picture of a kingdom in flux.
The land granted to Chinese migrants on the Pasig River, the first major foreign Chinese settlement in history, may have been a conscious policy to curry protectorate sentiments with Ming emperors.
Lusung at the arrival of the Spanish was divided between Islam and the indigenous religions. While the king in Tondo, Lakandula, appeared indigenous by his name, his close neighbor Soliman of Manila was a "Moro."
In the end, one can say that according to the thesis of this blog the lords of the dragon and bird clan succeeded in halting the Muslim juggernaut and the threat from the South, but only at great costs. The letters of "Prester John" worked. However, the land ended up colonized anyway and at one point the Lusung lords could not even conduct trade from village to village with each other under Spanish rule.
However, from the standpoint of the old trading clan the situation could be seen as profound according to their own worldview that I have attempted to reconstruct. Two conflicting exclusive ideologies, from the same root, meeting full circle back at the place where it all started, after nearly a millenium of intense warfare.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Beazely, C. Raymond (Editor). The Texts and Versions of John de Plano Carpini and William de Rubruquis, London: The Hakluyt Society, 1903.
Coedes, G. The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, University of Hawaii Press, 1975-06.
Manansala, Paul. The Kingdom of Prester John, http://asiapacificuniverse.com/pkm/presterjohn.htm, 2003.
Obviously some of the latter were designed more for entertainment purposes than anything else.
However, when we learn that the Pope sent his personal physician, Magister Philippus, on a mission to Prester John, the completely fictional character of the king becomes a more difficult proposition.
Although many copies of the original letters exist, there are numerous variations in the manuscripts.
Actual specimens of letters addressed to the "Emperor of Rome" and the "King of France" are stated to be preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris (Beazely, p. 278).
Pope Alexander III in Indorum regi sacerdotum santissimo (1177) told of Philippus' encounters with the emissaries of Prester John in the East, and the eastern king's desire to learn about the Roman Catholic Church.
Interestingly, while traveler's reports claiming to have found Prester John's kingdom in Central Asia or Ethiopia are seen as authentic, the accounts of this kingdom in "further India" are viewed as completely fictional and/or fraudulent. This includes the original letter attributed to Prester John, the story of John Mandeville and even the account of Nicolo de Conti given centuries after the first letter.
However, as we have noted, two geographically vast trade empires existed in further India at the time that are certainly deserving of consideration. All the more so when we consider that evidence exists that at least one of these empires appears to have had a long-term strategic policy of courting new allies.
Requests for assistance from the Sung emperor by the king of Sanfotsi against his enemies to the south began in the late 10th century. During the same general period over several centuries, Suvarnadvipa engaged in what apparently was an effort to strengthen political ties with eastern and southern India and Tibet. The Srikalacakra Tantra, having links with Suvarnadvipa gurus, contains not only interesting hopeful prophecies of Buddhist victories against invading hordes, but even a manual of the "art of war" as part of its contents. The presence of Suvarnadvipa influence (Sanfotsi/Zabag) in South India and Sri Lanka is also confirmed by independent Chinese and Muslim sources during this period including Ma Tuan-lin and Chau Ju-Kua.
We know that prior to the initial Prester John letters there had been visits by an "archbishop of India" to Constantinople, and by a "Patriarch John" from the same country to Rome in 1122. These visits are confirmed by two apparently independent sources, one anonymous and the other from Odo of Reims who was in Rome during the event.
These accounts confirm that people at least claiming to be authorities from India were able to venture to the West some 50 years before the first Prester John letter. As we know that merchants and even kings from Suvarnadvipa were journeying to India during this period, the necessary linkage existed.
Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, published only about 35 years after the first letter, was the first in a series of Grail epics that sought to give European roots to the eastern king and to link him with a sacred relic known as the Holy Grail. In this literature, the Grail almost invariably returns to a mountain in far India.
If the letters had some hints of being penned by a Nestorian, this would not automatically effect its authenticity. Cosmas Indicopleustes refers to Nestorians from Siam as early as the 6th century CE. The Persian writer Abu Saliah mentions during the 7th century, a Nestorian church at Fansur (Sumatra or Borneo).
John of Marignolli says that he encounters "Christians" at Sabah during the 14th century, when travelling from China to India.
Even the letters themselves tend to imply they were written by someone in Prester John's service, which according to the king included 'Frankish' knights. We might relate this to Nicolo de Conti's claim much later of having served in the the court of Prester John during his 15th century travels to Asia.
After the Mongol conquests, as Europeans began traveling again to India, and particularly to South India, two advocates of the establishment of a Christian navy in the Indian Ocean arise in Europe. They were Jordanus of Columbum and Marino Sanuto, both of whom located Regnum Joannis Prebyteri in the far Indies. Their world maps though were still Ptolemaic in fashion showing the easternmost islands as part of the Asian continent.
Sanuto wrote an appeal to the Pope for a new crusade known as Secreta fidelium crucis "The Secrets of the Faithful of the Cross."
In this work, Sanuto included many maps, apparently the work of Pietro Vesconte, that were the first to show significant advances over earlier Christian maps. They were known as portolanos, discussed previously in this blog in relation to Austronesian wind compasses, and were valuable new additions to the navigational repetoire of European seafarers.
A pattern of contact, of which I have endeavored to lay out in this blog, continues up to the arrival of Portuguese fleets in the 1500s. The flow of knowledge from the East may be coded in von Eschenbach's account of the visitors Feirfez, Cundrie and Malcreatiure from the kingdom of Tribalibot "near the Ganges." The author even credits the tale of Parzival to a mysterious "pagan" from Toledo. The Grail itself may also allude partly to this new knowledge from the Far East.
It is impossible to say whether Luções "helpfulness" to the Portuguese had strategic rather than purely mercantile or mercenary motivations. However, the situation in Lusung certainly paints a picture of a kingdom in flux.
The land granted to Chinese migrants on the Pasig River, the first major foreign Chinese settlement in history, may have been a conscious policy to curry protectorate sentiments with Ming emperors.
Lusung at the arrival of the Spanish was divided between Islam and the indigenous religions. While the king in Tondo, Lakandula, appeared indigenous by his name, his close neighbor Soliman of Manila was a "Moro."
In the end, one can say that according to the thesis of this blog the lords of the dragon and bird clan succeeded in halting the Muslim juggernaut and the threat from the South, but only at great costs. The letters of "Prester John" worked. However, the land ended up colonized anyway and at one point the Lusung lords could not even conduct trade from village to village with each other under Spanish rule.
However, from the standpoint of the old trading clan the situation could be seen as profound according to their own worldview that I have attempted to reconstruct. Two conflicting exclusive ideologies, from the same root, meeting full circle back at the place where it all started, after nearly a millenium of intense warfare.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Beazely, C. Raymond (Editor). The Texts and Versions of John de Plano Carpini and William de Rubruquis, London: The Hakluyt Society, 1903.
Coedes, G. The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, University of Hawaii Press, 1975-06.
Manansala, Paul. The Kingdom of Prester John, http://asiapacificuniverse.com/pkm/presterjohn.htm, 2003.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Glossary: Law, Customary (Adat)
The study of customary or traditional law in the Austronesian region was greatly advanced by the Dutch and is usually classified under the Indonesian term adat.
Among the widespread features found in common through much of insular Southeast Asia was the concept of the "right of disposal" and the function of the "ground guardian" or grondvoogd in Dutch.
The ground guardian represents the village or clan that has rights over a specific territory with regard to cultivation, forest mining or collection or any other exploitation of the land (or water).
In Bali, the area under the jurisdiction of a mountain temple drawing their water from the same source is known as banua. As might be expected, a banua can cover rather extensive territory.
The hydraulic water associations of Bali and the Ifugao (waterschappen) are likely derived from earlier organizations based on the division of lands using rivers.
Some remnants of this dualistic division can still be seen in the region around Pinatubo. Among the Kapampangans (Pampangos), the boundaries created by rivers (and seashores) were known as danay.
For example, two towns are situated next to each other along a river. The parts of the towns on the same bank (sapa) are danay with each other, but not danay with the parts of the same town on the other bank.
Those together in the same danay share a regional relationship as opposed to those on the opposite bank. In some cases, for example, exogamous clans might not marry someone who is danay (living on the same bank) with them, but must marry someone from another danay or the one opposite their own.
Thus, the traditional eight rivers of Pinatubo would divide the region into eight danays.
When regions were banded together across danays, the term sulip was used, which means the land opposite the sky (banua). Banua in Kapampangan means "sky, celestial year" rather than "land" as in Bali.
In ancient times, the peoples speaking Ayta, Kapampangan and Sambal languages were fused into one group that spoke a single proto-language. Most likely this language was spoken near Pinatubo, as these people are all dispersed around that mountain.
They all derive their main water sources from Pinatubo as does a great portion of the entire island of Luzon.
Some aspects of the organization that existed in this region, I believe, are still ascertainable. The sea approach to the area, judging from local legends and other factors, was probably controlled at or near Batung Dalig "Table Rock," indicating a sort of megalithic marker, in Masantol. Any pilgrim wishing to approach the holy mountains, or merchants looking for the deerskins, beeswax, tropical woods, alluvial metals or sacred jars of the Sambal region, would have to pass here first.
In a sense this was "Sapa" the symbolic river-bank at which one has to check in with the gatekeeper (Apung Iru) before crossing over to the "other side."
The guardians of Pinatubo also generally were expected to have mystical powers in the same sense as Frazer's "departmental kings of nature." In the lands further north, for example, this type of priest-chief is known as mambunung or manbunung. The mambunung was expected to control the weather using magical supplication to the ancestral spirits on the district mountain.
In Pampanga there is some evidence of an elemental office similar to the "King of Water" in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The name of the legendary Lacandanum, a titanic hero with a human body and crocodile head, means "Prince (or Lord) of Water."
Today, the related surname "Laquindanum" still exists among people in the province especially connected with the town of Lubao and the neighboring region of Bataan.
In Kapampangan, a nation is signified by the word daya meaning "blood" as opposed to "nation" which refers to where one is born (related to the word "nativity"). "Ing Daya Kapampangan" means the Kapampangan nation, although practically language is as important as blood in determining nationhood.
However, the Kapampangan language did not likely exist more than two thousand years ago if it is that old. Previously these people were one with the people of the Sambal region both in language and blood, so when they split apart they continued to recognize the relationship through intermarriage and through their ethnic names for the Aytas and Sambals -- Balud and Baluga.
The government and customary legal system had two components -- one derived from the meritocracy or datus, and the other based on hereditary offices or pagbansag. The datus were established among those who had proven their leadership ability. Some "honorary" datu titles also existed among the pagbansag that did not require demonstrated ability but also generally carried little executive or military power.
The pagbansag were usually spiritual and legal offices that were responsible for making the law, settling disputes and controlling nature.
Governmental and legal proceedings were conducted at meetings known as tipon. In cases of national emergency, a tipon is arranged by all the danay and one of the pagbansag generally presides and acts as hari "king."
Some elements of the tipon are apparently preserved in the discursyo (public discourses) held in the riverine towns. Although the modern discursyo generally appear to discuss community norms in relation to the Christian Bible, much of the ceremonial trappings including respect gestures known as sikclud and a good bit of customary adat survive. The proceedings resemble in many ways the preserved indigenous councils found further south in Mindanao although they no longer serve a legal purpose.
When the Spanish arrived there is evidence that a tipon took place at least among the Kapampangans if not among all the people around Pinatubo. A fleet led by those from Macabibi (Macabebe), and joined by the son and nephew of the king of Tondo, initially resisted the Spanish at Bancusay, while the other communities in Pampanga fortified themselves.
In the forests of Sambal, the Spanish encountered prolonged resistance and some areas were never pacified. In fact, the Spaniards relied mainly on converted Kapampangan soldiers for forays into the wilderness of which they had little knowledge.
Adat was, and in many cases still is, a fusion of magico-religious and temporal law that was expected to settle everything from land/water rights to the prevailing weather.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Aragon, Lorraine V. Fields of the Lord: Animism, Christianity, and State Development in Indonesia, University of Hawai`i Press, 2000.
Bergano, Diego (1690-1747). Vocabulario de la lengua Pampangan en Romance, Imp. de Ramirez y Giraudier, 1860.
Legazpi's Report to the Viceroy dated Manila, August 11, 1572 (Doc. 44, Vol. 17 Nav) cited in Historical Conservation Society, General History of the Philippines, Manila: Historical Conservation Society, 1984.
Van Vollenhoven, C. "The study of Indonesian customary law," Celebration Legal Essays by Various Authors to Mark the Twenty-Fifth Year of Service of John H. Wigmore", William S. Hein & Company, 1919.
Among the widespread features found in common through much of insular Southeast Asia was the concept of the "right of disposal" and the function of the "ground guardian" or grondvoogd in Dutch.
The ground guardian represents the village or clan that has rights over a specific territory with regard to cultivation, forest mining or collection or any other exploitation of the land (or water).
In Bali, the area under the jurisdiction of a mountain temple drawing their water from the same source is known as banua. As might be expected, a banua can cover rather extensive territory.
The hydraulic water associations of Bali and the Ifugao (waterschappen) are likely derived from earlier organizations based on the division of lands using rivers.
Some remnants of this dualistic division can still be seen in the region around Pinatubo. Among the Kapampangans (Pampangos), the boundaries created by rivers (and seashores) were known as danay.
For example, two towns are situated next to each other along a river. The parts of the towns on the same bank (sapa) are danay with each other, but not danay with the parts of the same town on the other bank.
Those together in the same danay share a regional relationship as opposed to those on the opposite bank. In some cases, for example, exogamous clans might not marry someone who is danay (living on the same bank) with them, but must marry someone from another danay or the one opposite their own.
Thus, the traditional eight rivers of Pinatubo would divide the region into eight danays.
When regions were banded together across danays, the term sulip was used, which means the land opposite the sky (banua). Banua in Kapampangan means "sky, celestial year" rather than "land" as in Bali.
In ancient times, the peoples speaking Ayta, Kapampangan and Sambal languages were fused into one group that spoke a single proto-language. Most likely this language was spoken near Pinatubo, as these people are all dispersed around that mountain.
They all derive their main water sources from Pinatubo as does a great portion of the entire island of Luzon.
Some aspects of the organization that existed in this region, I believe, are still ascertainable. The sea approach to the area, judging from local legends and other factors, was probably controlled at or near Batung Dalig "Table Rock," indicating a sort of megalithic marker, in Masantol. Any pilgrim wishing to approach the holy mountains, or merchants looking for the deerskins, beeswax, tropical woods, alluvial metals or sacred jars of the Sambal region, would have to pass here first.
In a sense this was "Sapa" the symbolic river-bank at which one has to check in with the gatekeeper (Apung Iru) before crossing over to the "other side."
The guardians of Pinatubo also generally were expected to have mystical powers in the same sense as Frazer's "departmental kings of nature." In the lands further north, for example, this type of priest-chief is known as mambunung or manbunung. The mambunung was expected to control the weather using magical supplication to the ancestral spirits on the district mountain.
In Pampanga there is some evidence of an elemental office similar to the "King of Water" in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The name of the legendary Lacandanum, a titanic hero with a human body and crocodile head, means "Prince (or Lord) of Water."
Today, the related surname "Laquindanum" still exists among people in the province especially connected with the town of Lubao and the neighboring region of Bataan.
In Kapampangan, a nation is signified by the word daya meaning "blood" as opposed to "nation" which refers to where one is born (related to the word "nativity"). "Ing Daya Kapampangan" means the Kapampangan nation, although practically language is as important as blood in determining nationhood.
However, the Kapampangan language did not likely exist more than two thousand years ago if it is that old. Previously these people were one with the people of the Sambal region both in language and blood, so when they split apart they continued to recognize the relationship through intermarriage and through their ethnic names for the Aytas and Sambals -- Balud and Baluga.
The government and customary legal system had two components -- one derived from the meritocracy or datus, and the other based on hereditary offices or pagbansag. The datus were established among those who had proven their leadership ability. Some "honorary" datu titles also existed among the pagbansag that did not require demonstrated ability but also generally carried little executive or military power.
The pagbansag were usually spiritual and legal offices that were responsible for making the law, settling disputes and controlling nature.
Governmental and legal proceedings were conducted at meetings known as tipon. In cases of national emergency, a tipon is arranged by all the danay and one of the pagbansag generally presides and acts as hari "king."
Some elements of the tipon are apparently preserved in the discursyo (public discourses) held in the riverine towns. Although the modern discursyo generally appear to discuss community norms in relation to the Christian Bible, much of the ceremonial trappings including respect gestures known as sikclud and a good bit of customary adat survive. The proceedings resemble in many ways the preserved indigenous councils found further south in Mindanao although they no longer serve a legal purpose.
When the Spanish arrived there is evidence that a tipon took place at least among the Kapampangans if not among all the people around Pinatubo. A fleet led by those from Macabibi (Macabebe), and joined by the son and nephew of the king of Tondo, initially resisted the Spanish at Bancusay, while the other communities in Pampanga fortified themselves.
In the forests of Sambal, the Spanish encountered prolonged resistance and some areas were never pacified. In fact, the Spaniards relied mainly on converted Kapampangan soldiers for forays into the wilderness of which they had little knowledge.
Adat was, and in many cases still is, a fusion of magico-religious and temporal law that was expected to settle everything from land/water rights to the prevailing weather.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Aragon, Lorraine V. Fields of the Lord: Animism, Christianity, and State Development in Indonesia, University of Hawai`i Press, 2000.
Bergano, Diego (1690-1747). Vocabulario de la lengua Pampangan en Romance, Imp. de Ramirez y Giraudier, 1860.
Legazpi's Report to the Viceroy dated Manila, August 11, 1572 (Doc. 44, Vol. 17 Nav) cited in Historical Conservation Society, General History of the Philippines, Manila: Historical Conservation Society, 1984.
Van Vollenhoven, C. "The study of Indonesian customary law," Celebration Legal Essays by Various Authors to Mark the Twenty-Fifth Year of Service of John H. Wigmore", William S. Hein & Company, 1919.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Glossary: Sakadwipi
Sakadwipi is the name of a class of brahmin priests who claim to hail from Sakadwipa "the Teak Tree Isle."
Although there is a tendency to equate Sakadwipa with Iran or Central Asia in Western scholarship, Indian textual evidence such as the Mahabharata indicate that this island was to the east of India. Likewise, its shores were washed by the Milky Ocean which is also located by numerous sources in the East.
Both Sakadwipa and the Milky Ocean also are given southern and tropical characteristics. For example, they are associated respectively with the salmali tree and the tropical weather system of three seasons with a rainy summer.
The importance of Sakadwipa and the Milky Ocean lie in the fact that they demonstrate an early knowledge of lands far to the East of India. They are included with other early notices like those of Suvarnadvipa and Yavadvipa in the epic Ramayana.
Myths hinting at migration themes are connected with the Sakadwipa and Milky Ocean locales. Both involve movements from southern India or Sri Lanka northward, but after possible earlier migration from the East.
Manu Vaivasvata, the Hindu Noah, is said to have come from southern India to the Himalayas during the great flood. The Puranas mention that he arrives from Dravida or the banks of the Kritamala, both located in present-day South India.
However, Manu's father Vivasvat, also known as Visvakarma, is linked with Sakadwipa. In one version of the myth, Surya is the father of Manu and Visvakarma acts as the latter's father-in-law. Visvakarma pares the rays of Surya the sun god on his lathe located in Sakadwipa.
The priests of Sakadwipa are said to have originated from these parings.
The Sakadwipi brahmins today have their own tradition in which, although they come ultimately from Sakadwipa, they are brought to Eastern India from Sri Lanka by Rama. This tradition conflicts with a version in the Samba Purana that has Samba, the son of Krisna, importing the priests. The Skanda Puruna states that Rama's father brought them directly from Sakadwipa.
In both the examples of Manu and the Sakadwipi priests, we see that they came from the South to northern India, but originally they came to southern India or Sri Lanka from Sakadwipa in the East. Of course, this would match the route of seafarers traveling the monsoons from Southeast Asia to India.
The Sakadwipi are considered the original brahmins of Kikat, the area corresponding to Sanskrit Kikata and modern eastern India particularly around Bihar. However, probably because of their foreign origin they are classified as Potala or "underworld" brahmins.
According to their own traditions, they were dispersed to various parts of India by a king of Kanoj (Kanauj), but they are still concentrated today in Bihar, Bengal, Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh. Historically, they are linked with the Maga Brahmins of Magadha.
H.H. Risley noted that the Sakadwipi were mostly the priests of lower castes and tribes, but there is evidence that some of these people had once held an exalted position (like the Sakadwipi/Maga priests). The Dosadh caste, for example, have gotras (clan names) that indicate they were once hereditary officers. They also had the function of acting as village heads.
The Dosadhs themselves are priests in some areas where they preside over the pig sacrifice considered unclean in orthodox brahminism.
Indeed the Sakadwipi conform to few practices recognized by the more reputable Panchagauda brahmins who have a more recent origin in this area. They freely marry other members of the same gotra, but avoid marriages between people within geographical districts known as pur. They often take to farming or soldiering.
With reference to the movements from Sakadwipa/Milky Ocean to the southern subcontinent and then towards the north, the first century CE Periplus of the Erythraen Sea offers some interesting clues.
Chryse, the island of gold, probably encompasses the same location as Suvarnadvipa (Sanfotsi/Zabag) of the Indians. That island probably refers to much the same location or rather the gold-producing regions of Sakadwipa.
As early as the 3rd century, the Chinese begin mentioning their frontier to the south as Chin-lin the "Gold Frontier" or the "Gold Neighbor." In 722, Thuc Loan organized a rebellion againt the T'ang empire of China uniting 32 provinces of "Annam" with the countries of Lin-yi (Champa), Chen-la (Cambodia) and Chin-Lin ("Gold Neighbor").
The deployment of Chinese troops at the southernmost border, usually in Annam (northern Vietnam), was also called Chin-Lin in a play of words that might have meant "Golden Unicorn." The empire had faint notions of a distant southern source of gold known as Chin-Chou "Gold Land."
Not until the Sung dynasty did these sources come into better view at, least from what we glean from Chinese writings.
If the Sakadwipi brahmins represented Southeast Asian dealings with Hindus in eastern India, Suvarnadvipa began intensifying relations with a more Buddhist leaning beginning in the 10th century.
As discussed previously, Suvarnadvipa or Sanfotsi as the Chinese knew the area had begun requesting Chinese help against its southern neighbor Toupo, during this period.
The powerful Toupo empire to the south and the expansion of Islam much further West were grave threats to Suvarnadvipa's trade network that extended all the way to Africa. In India, the island kingdom sought to strengthen its relations with the eastern and southern Indian regions and with Tibet, which so far had held out against Muslim advances.
Suvarnadvipa representatives skilled in Tantric Buddhism helped forge closer ties especially with regard to the Kalacakra Tantra. The root text the Srikalacakra-garbalamkarasadhana was said to come from Suvarnadvipa. Interestingly it seems also from here that great importance is given to the kumbhabhiseka "the jar consecration" as a means of initiation into the study and practice of Tantra.
Since one of the kings of Shambhala is also linked with the "Southern Ocean" it must be in Suvarnadvipa where that kingdom so closely associated with the Kalacakra was located.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Martin, Robert Martin. The history, antiquities, topography, and statistics of eastern India ... London, W.H. Allen and Co., 1838.
Risley, H.H. Tribes and Casks of Bengal, 4 vols., Calcutta, 1891.
Vettamani. Puranic Encyclopaedia, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.
Although there is a tendency to equate Sakadwipa with Iran or Central Asia in Western scholarship, Indian textual evidence such as the Mahabharata indicate that this island was to the east of India. Likewise, its shores were washed by the Milky Ocean which is also located by numerous sources in the East.
Both Sakadwipa and the Milky Ocean also are given southern and tropical characteristics. For example, they are associated respectively with the salmali tree and the tropical weather system of three seasons with a rainy summer.
The importance of Sakadwipa and the Milky Ocean lie in the fact that they demonstrate an early knowledge of lands far to the East of India. They are included with other early notices like those of Suvarnadvipa and Yavadvipa in the epic Ramayana.
Myths hinting at migration themes are connected with the Sakadwipa and Milky Ocean locales. Both involve movements from southern India or Sri Lanka northward, but after possible earlier migration from the East.
Manu Vaivasvata, the Hindu Noah, is said to have come from southern India to the Himalayas during the great flood. The Puranas mention that he arrives from Dravida or the banks of the Kritamala, both located in present-day South India.
However, Manu's father Vivasvat, also known as Visvakarma, is linked with Sakadwipa. In one version of the myth, Surya is the father of Manu and Visvakarma acts as the latter's father-in-law. Visvakarma pares the rays of Surya the sun god on his lathe located in Sakadwipa.
The priests of Sakadwipa are said to have originated from these parings.
The Sakadwipi brahmins today have their own tradition in which, although they come ultimately from Sakadwipa, they are brought to Eastern India from Sri Lanka by Rama. This tradition conflicts with a version in the Samba Purana that has Samba, the son of Krisna, importing the priests. The Skanda Puruna states that Rama's father brought them directly from Sakadwipa.
In both the examples of Manu and the Sakadwipi priests, we see that they came from the South to northern India, but originally they came to southern India or Sri Lanka from Sakadwipa in the East. Of course, this would match the route of seafarers traveling the monsoons from Southeast Asia to India.
The Sakadwipi are considered the original brahmins of Kikat, the area corresponding to Sanskrit Kikata and modern eastern India particularly around Bihar. However, probably because of their foreign origin they are classified as Potala or "underworld" brahmins.
According to their own traditions, they were dispersed to various parts of India by a king of Kanoj (Kanauj), but they are still concentrated today in Bihar, Bengal, Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh. Historically, they are linked with the Maga Brahmins of Magadha.
H.H. Risley noted that the Sakadwipi were mostly the priests of lower castes and tribes, but there is evidence that some of these people had once held an exalted position (like the Sakadwipi/Maga priests). The Dosadh caste, for example, have gotras (clan names) that indicate they were once hereditary officers. They also had the function of acting as village heads.
The Dosadhs themselves are priests in some areas where they preside over the pig sacrifice considered unclean in orthodox brahminism.
Indeed the Sakadwipi conform to few practices recognized by the more reputable Panchagauda brahmins who have a more recent origin in this area. They freely marry other members of the same gotra, but avoid marriages between people within geographical districts known as pur. They often take to farming or soldiering.
With reference to the movements from Sakadwipa/Milky Ocean to the southern subcontinent and then towards the north, the first century CE Periplus of the Erythraen Sea offers some interesting clues.
"There is a river near it called the Ganges, and it rises and falls in the same way as the Nile. On its bank is a market-town which has the same name as the river, Ganges. Through this place are brought malabathrum and Gangetic spikenard and pearls, and muslins of the finest sorts, which are called Gangetic. It is said that there are gold-mines near these places, and there is a gold coin which is called caltis. And just opposite this river there is an island in the ocean, the last part of the inhabited world toward the cast, under the rising sun itself; it is called Chryse; and it has the best tortoise-shell of all the places on the Erythraean Sea."
Chryse, the island of gold, probably encompasses the same location as Suvarnadvipa (Sanfotsi/Zabag) of the Indians. That island probably refers to much the same location or rather the gold-producing regions of Sakadwipa.
As early as the 3rd century, the Chinese begin mentioning their frontier to the south as Chin-lin the "Gold Frontier" or the "Gold Neighbor." In 722, Thuc Loan organized a rebellion againt the T'ang empire of China uniting 32 provinces of "Annam" with the countries of Lin-yi (Champa), Chen-la (Cambodia) and Chin-Lin ("Gold Neighbor").
The deployment of Chinese troops at the southernmost border, usually in Annam (northern Vietnam), was also called Chin-Lin in a play of words that might have meant "Golden Unicorn." The empire had faint notions of a distant southern source of gold known as Chin-Chou "Gold Land."
Not until the Sung dynasty did these sources come into better view at, least from what we glean from Chinese writings.
If the Sakadwipi brahmins represented Southeast Asian dealings with Hindus in eastern India, Suvarnadvipa began intensifying relations with a more Buddhist leaning beginning in the 10th century.
As discussed previously, Suvarnadvipa or Sanfotsi as the Chinese knew the area had begun requesting Chinese help against its southern neighbor Toupo, during this period.
The powerful Toupo empire to the south and the expansion of Islam much further West were grave threats to Suvarnadvipa's trade network that extended all the way to Africa. In India, the island kingdom sought to strengthen its relations with the eastern and southern Indian regions and with Tibet, which so far had held out against Muslim advances.
Suvarnadvipa representatives skilled in Tantric Buddhism helped forge closer ties especially with regard to the Kalacakra Tantra. The root text the Srikalacakra-garbalamkarasadhana was said to come from Suvarnadvipa. Interestingly it seems also from here that great importance is given to the kumbhabhiseka "the jar consecration" as a means of initiation into the study and practice of Tantra.
Since one of the kings of Shambhala is also linked with the "Southern Ocean" it must be in Suvarnadvipa where that kingdom so closely associated with the Kalacakra was located.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Martin, Robert Martin. The history, antiquities, topography, and statistics of eastern India ... London, W.H. Allen and Co., 1838.
Risley, H.H. Tribes and Casks of Bengal, 4 vols., Calcutta, 1891.
Vettamani. Puranic Encyclopaedia, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Glossary: Lusung
Although the kingdom of Lusung first becomes prominent in the Ming annals, it is highly likely that the Chinese knew of a related kingdom from the same area as Sanfotsi (the Zabag of the Muslims).
As discussed previously, Sanfotsi/Zabag was explicitly placed in the eastern South China Sea by both the Chinese and Muslim writers. The Chinese located it due south of Quanzhou (Tsu'an-chou) and the Muslims said that the kingdom lay in the eastern part of the Sea of Champa.
Muslim writers state that the capital of Zabag faced Champa, i.e., it was on the western side of the island, and was situated in a delta or estuary region effected by ocean tides.
In Hirth and Rockwell's translation of Chau Ju-Kua they give a contemporary Chinese account of the journey from Toupo, which was likely Toubak (old Cotabato in Mindanao), to China.
Two areas are of importance in locating Sanfotsi -- Lingyamon and Mai.
I have suggested that Lingyamon was Lingayen in northwest Luzon. It is described as the first major port one arrives at after leaving Quanzhou and is said to border Sanfotsi.
While Mai is sometimes equated with Panay in the Bisayas, it is more likely the island of Mindoro, northeast of the important isle of Palawan, where Chinese merchants sought highly-prized aphrodisiac bird's nests.
The directions from Toupo state that ships first headed northwest until reaching Mai, from Mai they continued northwest for a few days until reaching Sanfotsi.
Thus, Sanfotsi is located somewhere on the western coast of Luzon between Mindoro and Lingayen. Without a doubt, this would point to the riverine settlements around the Manila Bay.
At some point, the name Lusung is used to describe the kingdoms of this region.
The first mention of Lusung in the Ming-shi is in 1373. The country still had close relations with Quanzhou in modern Fukien province. By the middle of the 16th century, tens of thousands of Chinese merchants mostly from Fukien had come to trade or settle in Lusung.
The tradition of settling in Lusung continued even after the Spanish colonization. Traditional genealogies known as tsu-p'u tell of different families over many generations during the Ming era migrating to Lusung.
So close was the relation between Lusung and Quanzhou that, according to Tome Pires, Malay and Javanese ships were not allowed to enter Quanzhou, but the Luções could travel freely to the port city.
The Chinese in Lusung mainly lived across the Pasig River from the old fortress of Manila in an area now known as Binondo and the Parian.
The Japanese also maintained a presence in the Philippines before the arrival of the Spanish although apparently smaller than that of the Chinese. When the Spanish conquered Lusung, the lords of Pampanga conspired with Manila and then Tondo, with the help of local resident Japanese. One of their main efforts was to request help from the Taiko of Japan.
Later, the Japanese seem to have made Pampanga as one their main settlement areas. According to local tradition, Japanese merchants even founded the town of Mexico in Pampanga. This is logical as Mexico (Masicu) was an important port along the Abacan River for collecting deerskins and beeswax from the Sambal region-- two products highly valued by the Japanese. The local deer like the crococile of the Pampanga river system were eventually driven to extinction during Spanish times.
We find later that Japanese often served together with Kapampangans in the local armed forces and constabularies formed by the Spanish in the Philippines.
Lusung had very close relations with Brunei, and Pires describes the two as "almost one people."
Rui de Brito Patalim (1514), Alvarez (1515), Jorge de Albuquerque (1515) and da Costa (1518) all describe the inhabitants of Brunei as "Luções."
In Malacca, where a colony of Lusung traders was located at Minjam, a Lusung prince known as Regimo de Raja, was established by the Portuguese as temenggong (armed forces commander) and leader of the Malays until he died in 1513. He was the brother-in-law of pepper trader Surya Diraja. It appears that even before the Portuguese arrived, the Luções were handling all trade between Malacca and China.
Earlier it was mentioned that the Luções were viewed by the Portuguese as great "discoverers" who helped them with their explorations of Asia. The case of Black Henry who accompanied Magellan was also described.
One of the contentions of this blog is that the traditional lords of Lusung were interested very early in providing geographical information about the region to outsiders. Their purpose apparently to help stem the Muslim tide coming toward their own kingdom and swamping their old stomping grounds. By the time the Portuguese arrive on the scene, Lusung itself is already partially Islamicized. However, apparently there was much discord in the kingdom, something noted in European writings. It was this dissension that played a major role in the Spanish decision to attack Luzon.
However, we still continue to see what may be evidence of geographical assitance during this period.
Thomas Suarez in Early Mapping of Southeast Asia mentions that Thomas Cavendish obtained a Chinese-style map in the Philippines in 1588. And as late as the mid-1700s Alexander Dalrymple reported receiving a mysterious but accurate map from his servant of Luzon origin. However, the nature of the map is not known. By the late 1700s, the British had become very active in the region, even sacking Manila for a few years.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
E.J. Brill. Development and Decline of Fukien Province in the 17th and 18th Centuries, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1990.
Ming-shi. (A translation of sections concerning Lusung can be found in: Felix, Alfonso. The Chinese in the Philippines, Manila, New York: Solidaridad Publishing House, 1966-69.
Reid, Anthony. Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese, University of Hawai`i Press, 1996.
As discussed previously, Sanfotsi/Zabag was explicitly placed in the eastern South China Sea by both the Chinese and Muslim writers. The Chinese located it due south of Quanzhou (Tsu'an-chou) and the Muslims said that the kingdom lay in the eastern part of the Sea of Champa.
Muslim writers state that the capital of Zabag faced Champa, i.e., it was on the western side of the island, and was situated in a delta or estuary region effected by ocean tides.
In Hirth and Rockwell's translation of Chau Ju-Kua they give a contemporary Chinese account of the journey from Toupo, which was likely Toubak (old Cotabato in Mindanao), to China.
Two areas are of importance in locating Sanfotsi -- Lingyamon and Mai.
I have suggested that Lingyamon was Lingayen in northwest Luzon. It is described as the first major port one arrives at after leaving Quanzhou and is said to border Sanfotsi.
While Mai is sometimes equated with Panay in the Bisayas, it is more likely the island of Mindoro, northeast of the important isle of Palawan, where Chinese merchants sought highly-prized aphrodisiac bird's nests.
The directions from Toupo state that ships first headed northwest until reaching Mai, from Mai they continued northwest for a few days until reaching Sanfotsi.
Thus, Sanfotsi is located somewhere on the western coast of Luzon between Mindoro and Lingayen. Without a doubt, this would point to the riverine settlements around the Manila Bay.
At some point, the name Lusung is used to describe the kingdoms of this region.
The first mention of Lusung in the Ming-shi is in 1373. The country still had close relations with Quanzhou in modern Fukien province. By the middle of the 16th century, tens of thousands of Chinese merchants mostly from Fukien had come to trade or settle in Lusung.
"Lusung is situated in the southern seas not far from Chang-chou (in Fukien)...In the past, thousands of Fukienese merchants lived there for a long period without returning home, because the land was near and rich. They even had children and grandchildren."
-- Ming-shi (Dynastic annals of the Ming Dynasty)
The tradition of settling in Lusung continued even after the Spanish colonization. Traditional genealogies known as tsu-p'u tell of different families over many generations during the Ming era migrating to Lusung.
So close was the relation between Lusung and Quanzhou that, according to Tome Pires, Malay and Javanese ships were not allowed to enter Quanzhou, but the Luções could travel freely to the port city.
The Chinese in Lusung mainly lived across the Pasig River from the old fortress of Manila in an area now known as Binondo and the Parian.
The Japanese also maintained a presence in the Philippines before the arrival of the Spanish although apparently smaller than that of the Chinese. When the Spanish conquered Lusung, the lords of Pampanga conspired with Manila and then Tondo, with the help of local resident Japanese. One of their main efforts was to request help from the Taiko of Japan.
Later, the Japanese seem to have made Pampanga as one their main settlement areas. According to local tradition, Japanese merchants even founded the town of Mexico in Pampanga. This is logical as Mexico (Masicu) was an important port along the Abacan River for collecting deerskins and beeswax from the Sambal region-- two products highly valued by the Japanese. The local deer like the crococile of the Pampanga river system were eventually driven to extinction during Spanish times.
We find later that Japanese often served together with Kapampangans in the local armed forces and constabularies formed by the Spanish in the Philippines.
Lusung had very close relations with Brunei, and Pires describes the two as "almost one people."
Rui de Brito Patalim (1514), Alvarez (1515), Jorge de Albuquerque (1515) and da Costa (1518) all describe the inhabitants of Brunei as "Luções."
In Malacca, where a colony of Lusung traders was located at Minjam, a Lusung prince known as Regimo de Raja, was established by the Portuguese as temenggong (armed forces commander) and leader of the Malays until he died in 1513. He was the brother-in-law of pepper trader Surya Diraja. It appears that even before the Portuguese arrived, the Luções were handling all trade between Malacca and China.
Earlier it was mentioned that the Luções were viewed by the Portuguese as great "discoverers" who helped them with their explorations of Asia. The case of Black Henry who accompanied Magellan was also described.
One of the contentions of this blog is that the traditional lords of Lusung were interested very early in providing geographical information about the region to outsiders. Their purpose apparently to help stem the Muslim tide coming toward their own kingdom and swamping their old stomping grounds. By the time the Portuguese arrive on the scene, Lusung itself is already partially Islamicized. However, apparently there was much discord in the kingdom, something noted in European writings. It was this dissension that played a major role in the Spanish decision to attack Luzon.
However, we still continue to see what may be evidence of geographical assitance during this period.
Thomas Suarez in Early Mapping of Southeast Asia mentions that Thomas Cavendish obtained a Chinese-style map in the Philippines in 1588. And as late as the mid-1700s Alexander Dalrymple reported receiving a mysterious but accurate map from his servant of Luzon origin. However, the nature of the map is not known. By the late 1700s, the British had become very active in the region, even sacking Manila for a few years.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
E.J. Brill. Development and Decline of Fukien Province in the 17th and 18th Centuries, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1990.
Ming-shi. (A translation of sections concerning Lusung can be found in: Felix, Alfonso. The Chinese in the Philippines, Manila, New York: Solidaridad Publishing House, 1966-69.
Reid, Anthony. Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese, University of Hawai`i Press, 1996.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Glossary: Ritual and clan districts
The wet terrace rice agriculture of Bali offers an interesting study of ibdigenous Austronesian land organization.
The entire island including the areas of the Bali Aga, or indigenous peoples, and the traditional elite, is organized into one vast water management system. At the heart of this organization is the tempek a group of farmers who share the same rituals, rice planting times, etc.
All tempeks that share the same dam form a unit called a subak, which is generally organized around two temples. The subaks that center around a particular mountain as their source of water also cooperate and share rituals between temples on a regular basis. The ritual mountain becomes sacred to them and they consider themselves as the mountain's custodians or guardians.
The rice terraces of the Ifugao in the Philippines offer similar comparison. The Ifugao also divide the land into agricultural districts known as himpuntona'an. These districts tend to all be centered around a particular ritual plot where special ceremonies start the agricultural season. A priest known as the manu'ngaw "rice chief" tends to hold sway in these areas particularly in settling disputes over the indigenous law known as adat.
Among the Ifugao, the adat is the gift of the ancestors, but their cousins the Tinglayen Igorots maintain the tradition of the lawgiver known as a-amma manlilintog "the old man who gives the law." In some cases, the lawgiver also held the position of the priesthood. Either way he was in charge of the religious history of the region.
The position was hereditary but not passed through primogeniture. In other areas such clan-inherited positions were known as bansag. or pagbansag and usually formed a family title that in Spanish times were converted into surnames.
The new lawgiver, who acted as the supreme authority in any cases of dispute, was chosen according to his knowledge of the lintog or law, and also special supernatural signs that the people believed indicated the successor.
According to Miguel de Loarca, the people of the Bisayas to the South believed in an original lawgiver they called Panas. The Spanish sources state that in this area they had their own "Pope" (Papa) who ruled over local "bishops". The babailan or chief priest of Bohol in early times was said to be the most powerful person on the island, richly attired in gold, having possession over all the island's precious mineral mines, and having the sole right to bequeath priesthood and titles to others.
Among the pre-Hispanic Tagalogs, there were "bishops" known as sonat who ruled over large districts.
The Zambales had a chief priest known as Bayoc who ritually dressed in a tapis, or woman's skirt, although he was not described as effeminate as were the bayoguin and asog priests of other regions. In addition to a skirt, he was girded with a special sword.
The Bayoc again had the lone ability to grant priesthood to others, to "baptize" and to save souls. His oracles and prophecies were of great importance to the people. In some cases, the Bayoc was also specifically mentioned to be a datu.
Among the Ifugao, in addition to ritual districts, there were also clan districts based on cognate groups that traced descent bilaterally using both male and female lines. These clans were said to go back four generations and to recognize third cousins laterally.
The Ifugao region has an enormous water canal system used to irrigate the mountain rice terraces that could stretch around the globe if strung together. The management of this system of canals, dams, etc. depends on a widely-recognized system of communal organization and cooperation.
A study of the place and ethnic names around the Pinatubo region offers some interesting insights. Pinatubo itself can mean "that which grows" in reference to the active volcano's building dome. It can also refer to something that vents smoke like a furnace, oven, pipe, chimney or, of course, an erupting volcano.
The name indicates the locals were quite familiar with the mountain's nature despite many centuries of inactivity.
The people living around this area are known as Sambal and this might have also been a district name before. Sambal can mean "intersection or meeting of paths, ways, rivers; a confluence, etc." in reference maybe to the fact that the great rivers of Luzon originate at Pinatubo.
Sambal might also be related to the native word samba meaning "to worship or adore." The passive form simba or simbahan is the native word used in many languages to denote the indigenous "temple."
These temples were often the houses of chiefs, when such were large enough, again indicating the fuzzy line between the ruler and the priest. Or the simbahan was a temporary structure built and decorated for special monthly or annual feasts.
The Bagobo of the southern Philippines build a long house known as dakul bale "great house" for such feasts. They are said to also act as guest homes for visitors from other towns and are said to accomodate "a great number of visitors." The structures were built more solidly than the regular homes because of the belief that they had to keep out malefic spirits. The roof in particular was well-built.
The Abacan River which runs eastward from Pinatubo derives its name from abac "morning," and indeed runs toward the sunrise at Mt. Arayat (Alaya) in the East. The word "paralaya" in the local dialect means "East" or "towards Mt. Arayat."
The word for "West" is paroba meaning "towards the low flooded places (baba)" i.e. probably meaning to follow the swampy river valleys and marshes toward Pinatubo.
The people of this region were the Kapampangan, whose name implies 'those who dwell on the riverbanks.' Southward near Manila Bay, was Macabebe and its former barangay Bebe in the present town of Masantol. The name Bebe probably refers to this town's special position as the last major port for those heading toward the bay. The Datu of Macabebe was described as the "head of the Indians" who inhabited the region around Manila Bay during the Spanish conquest.
North of Macabebe were the towns of Lubao and Betis. Lubao was the trading center for the ancient Aytas of Porac, and the name of Betis might be derived from the native word bitis "feet." In this sense, Betis might have at one time been the last reliable port toward the North, the place where travelers and pilgrims disembarked to continue on foot. This was the largest population center in the Philippines when the Spanish arrived.
All of the readily-traversed regions surrounding Pinatubo were controlled by Kapampangan speakers. The thick, mountainous rain forest of the south, north and west served as domain for the Aytas and Sambals. The Aytas were known to the Kapampangans as Baluga which means "mestizo" or "mixed person" in their language, since the Kapampangan and Ayta nobility intermarried at locations like Porac. The Sambal were known by a similar term -- Balud.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Folkmar, Daniel. Social institutions of the Tinglayan Igorot, Sagada, Philippines : Sagada Social Studies, 1962.
Reuter, Thomas Anton. Custodians of the sacred mountains culture and society in the highlands of Bali, Honolulu : University of Hawai‘i Press, ©2002.
The entire island including the areas of the Bali Aga, or indigenous peoples, and the traditional elite, is organized into one vast water management system. At the heart of this organization is the tempek a group of farmers who share the same rituals, rice planting times, etc.
All tempeks that share the same dam form a unit called a subak, which is generally organized around two temples. The subaks that center around a particular mountain as their source of water also cooperate and share rituals between temples on a regular basis. The ritual mountain becomes sacred to them and they consider themselves as the mountain's custodians or guardians.
The rice terraces of the Ifugao in the Philippines offer similar comparison. The Ifugao also divide the land into agricultural districts known as himpuntona'an. These districts tend to all be centered around a particular ritual plot where special ceremonies start the agricultural season. A priest known as the manu'ngaw "rice chief" tends to hold sway in these areas particularly in settling disputes over the indigenous law known as adat.
Among the Ifugao, the adat is the gift of the ancestors, but their cousins the Tinglayen Igorots maintain the tradition of the lawgiver known as a-amma manlilintog "the old man who gives the law." In some cases, the lawgiver also held the position of the priesthood. Either way he was in charge of the religious history of the region.
The position was hereditary but not passed through primogeniture. In other areas such clan-inherited positions were known as bansag. or pagbansag and usually formed a family title that in Spanish times were converted into surnames.
The new lawgiver, who acted as the supreme authority in any cases of dispute, was chosen according to his knowledge of the lintog or law, and also special supernatural signs that the people believed indicated the successor.
According to Miguel de Loarca, the people of the Bisayas to the South believed in an original lawgiver they called Panas. The Spanish sources state that in this area they had their own "Pope" (Papa) who ruled over local "bishops". The babailan or chief priest of Bohol in early times was said to be the most powerful person on the island, richly attired in gold, having possession over all the island's precious mineral mines, and having the sole right to bequeath priesthood and titles to others.
Among the pre-Hispanic Tagalogs, there were "bishops" known as sonat who ruled over large districts.
The Zambales had a chief priest known as Bayoc who ritually dressed in a tapis, or woman's skirt, although he was not described as effeminate as were the bayoguin and asog priests of other regions. In addition to a skirt, he was girded with a special sword.
The Bayoc again had the lone ability to grant priesthood to others, to "baptize" and to save souls. His oracles and prophecies were of great importance to the people. In some cases, the Bayoc was also specifically mentioned to be a datu.
Among the Ifugao, in addition to ritual districts, there were also clan districts based on cognate groups that traced descent bilaterally using both male and female lines. These clans were said to go back four generations and to recognize third cousins laterally.
The Ifugao region has an enormous water canal system used to irrigate the mountain rice terraces that could stretch around the globe if strung together. The management of this system of canals, dams, etc. depends on a widely-recognized system of communal organization and cooperation.
A study of the place and ethnic names around the Pinatubo region offers some interesting insights. Pinatubo itself can mean "that which grows" in reference to the active volcano's building dome. It can also refer to something that vents smoke like a furnace, oven, pipe, chimney or, of course, an erupting volcano.
The name indicates the locals were quite familiar with the mountain's nature despite many centuries of inactivity.
The people living around this area are known as Sambal and this might have also been a district name before. Sambal can mean "intersection or meeting of paths, ways, rivers; a confluence, etc." in reference maybe to the fact that the great rivers of Luzon originate at Pinatubo.
Sambal might also be related to the native word samba meaning "to worship or adore." The passive form simba or simbahan is the native word used in many languages to denote the indigenous "temple."
These temples were often the houses of chiefs, when such were large enough, again indicating the fuzzy line between the ruler and the priest. Or the simbahan was a temporary structure built and decorated for special monthly or annual feasts.
The Bagobo of the southern Philippines build a long house known as dakul bale "great house" for such feasts. They are said to also act as guest homes for visitors from other towns and are said to accomodate "a great number of visitors." The structures were built more solidly than the regular homes because of the belief that they had to keep out malefic spirits. The roof in particular was well-built.
The Abacan River which runs eastward from Pinatubo derives its name from abac "morning," and indeed runs toward the sunrise at Mt. Arayat (Alaya) in the East. The word "paralaya" in the local dialect means "East" or "towards Mt. Arayat."
The word for "West" is paroba meaning "towards the low flooded places (baba)" i.e. probably meaning to follow the swampy river valleys and marshes toward Pinatubo.
The people of this region were the Kapampangan, whose name implies 'those who dwell on the riverbanks.' Southward near Manila Bay, was Macabebe and its former barangay Bebe in the present town of Masantol. The name Bebe probably refers to this town's special position as the last major port for those heading toward the bay. The Datu of Macabebe was described as the "head of the Indians" who inhabited the region around Manila Bay during the Spanish conquest.
North of Macabebe were the towns of Lubao and Betis. Lubao was the trading center for the ancient Aytas of Porac, and the name of Betis might be derived from the native word bitis "feet." In this sense, Betis might have at one time been the last reliable port toward the North, the place where travelers and pilgrims disembarked to continue on foot. This was the largest population center in the Philippines when the Spanish arrived.
All of the readily-traversed regions surrounding Pinatubo were controlled by Kapampangan speakers. The thick, mountainous rain forest of the south, north and west served as domain for the Aytas and Sambals. The Aytas were known to the Kapampangans as Baluga which means "mestizo" or "mixed person" in their language, since the Kapampangan and Ayta nobility intermarried at locations like Porac. The Sambal were known by a similar term -- Balud.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
References
Folkmar, Daniel. Social institutions of the Tinglayan Igorot, Sagada, Philippines : Sagada Social Studies, 1962.
Reuter, Thomas Anton. Custodians of the sacred mountains culture and society in the highlands of Bali, Honolulu : University of Hawai‘i Press, ©2002.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Glossary: Pandanan Wreck
The Pandanan Wreck was discovered in 1993 by pearl diver Eduardo Gordovilla off the southern coast of Palawan.
The wreck yielded 4,722 artifacts including an exceptional number of very well-preserved ceramic pieces. Other items found included pearls, iron cauldrons, metates, bronze cannons, semi-precious stones, copper coins, lamps, mirrors and weighing scales.
Radiocarbon dating of the ship indicate a date of 1410 CE, but excavator Eusebio Dizon believes the ship dates to Ming emperor Yung Lo's period based on copper coins found in the wreck. Some researchers think the date is not earlier than 1450 based on pottery found with the vessel.
Whatever the exact date, the find gives valuable insight into the level of inter-Southeast Asian trade before the intrusion of European fleets.
The ship seems to have been either headed from Lusung or Sulu to Brunei, or on the opposite journey from Brunei to Lusung/Sulu. If we look at the metates as possible products of Lusung, then the former proposition seems more likely.
About 75 percent of the cargo on the Pandanan wreck was of Central Vietnamese origin, mostly from the kingdom of Champa which had not yet suffered from the Annamese invasion of 1471. There was small amounts of northern Vietnamese and Chinese goods.
Both the Ming dynasty and later the Mac dynasty of Vietnam seem to have viewed foreign trade during this period as not profitable.
Trade in Chinese antiques began to flourish after the Ming dynasty clampdown as did the flow of Thai and Vietnamese pottery. It is somewhat ironic that the dynasty which launched the vaunted treasure fleet of Zheng He at the same time contracted and eventually ended its trade empire. There may well be a link between the attempts by Zheng to reduce Lusung, his treasure ship voyages, the eventual Ming trade ban and the subsequent rise of the Luções in the Chinese antique trade.
Treasures from the Pandanan wreck
Pandanan dishes decorated with the qilin, the Chinese mythical "unicorn." The ship contained a small quantity of Chinese blue-and-white ware of the Interregnum period, and a few Sukothai wares.
Champa's relations with Lusung during this period reminds us that thousands of years earlier the same region seems to have strongly influenced the Philippines through the Sa-Huynh culture. The lingling-o motif of the Philippines is related to Sa-Huynh, and Wilhelm Solheim has suggested the existence of a pottery tradition that he calls Sa-Huynh-Kalanay linking parts of the Philippines with central and southern Vietnam.
The Philippines was naturally positioned to act as Champa's (and China's) gateway to the rest of insular Southeast Asia. During the Sung dynasty, when Sanfotsi/Zabag was at its peak, the Philippines collected an enormous cache of Sung dynasty celadon, possibly the greatest in the world, including many superior pieces. In Yuan dynasty times, the Philippines was one of the only places in the world to have received royal Shu-fu wares of the Mongol court. The Philippines may also have the world's largest concentration of Thai celadon even more than Thailand itself.
Although it had Chinese-style compartments separated by transverse bulkheads, the Pandanan ship was mostly of Southeast Asian type construction. The hull was V-shaped with a keel and the planks were edge-fitted and joined with wooden dowels. No iron nails were used. The compartments were not water-tight as on contemporary Chinese vessels but instead drained bilge water into the lowest part of the hull. The ship was constructed of tropical hardwood, which also happened to be adopted in the building of Zheng He's treasure ships.
About half the artifacts from the wreck are owned by the National Museum of the Philippines with the other half sold to private collectors.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
The wreck yielded 4,722 artifacts including an exceptional number of very well-preserved ceramic pieces. Other items found included pearls, iron cauldrons, metates, bronze cannons, semi-precious stones, copper coins, lamps, mirrors and weighing scales.
Radiocarbon dating of the ship indicate a date of 1410 CE, but excavator Eusebio Dizon believes the ship dates to Ming emperor Yung Lo's period based on copper coins found in the wreck. Some researchers think the date is not earlier than 1450 based on pottery found with the vessel.
Whatever the exact date, the find gives valuable insight into the level of inter-Southeast Asian trade before the intrusion of European fleets.
The ship seems to have been either headed from Lusung or Sulu to Brunei, or on the opposite journey from Brunei to Lusung/Sulu. If we look at the metates as possible products of Lusung, then the former proposition seems more likely.
About 75 percent of the cargo on the Pandanan wreck was of Central Vietnamese origin, mostly from the kingdom of Champa which had not yet suffered from the Annamese invasion of 1471. There was small amounts of northern Vietnamese and Chinese goods.
Both the Ming dynasty and later the Mac dynasty of Vietnam seem to have viewed foreign trade during this period as not profitable.
Trade in Chinese antiques began to flourish after the Ming dynasty clampdown as did the flow of Thai and Vietnamese pottery. It is somewhat ironic that the dynasty which launched the vaunted treasure fleet of Zheng He at the same time contracted and eventually ended its trade empire. There may well be a link between the attempts by Zheng to reduce Lusung, his treasure ship voyages, the eventual Ming trade ban and the subsequent rise of the Luções in the Chinese antique trade.
Treasures from the Pandanan wreck
Pandanan dishes decorated with the qilin, the Chinese mythical "unicorn." The ship contained a small quantity of Chinese blue-and-white ware of the Interregnum period, and a few Sukothai wares.
Champa's relations with Lusung during this period reminds us that thousands of years earlier the same region seems to have strongly influenced the Philippines through the Sa-Huynh culture. The lingling-o motif of the Philippines is related to Sa-Huynh, and Wilhelm Solheim has suggested the existence of a pottery tradition that he calls Sa-Huynh-Kalanay linking parts of the Philippines with central and southern Vietnam.
The Philippines was naturally positioned to act as Champa's (and China's) gateway to the rest of insular Southeast Asia. During the Sung dynasty, when Sanfotsi/Zabag was at its peak, the Philippines collected an enormous cache of Sung dynasty celadon, possibly the greatest in the world, including many superior pieces. In Yuan dynasty times, the Philippines was one of the only places in the world to have received royal Shu-fu wares of the Mongol court. The Philippines may also have the world's largest concentration of Thai celadon even more than Thailand itself.
Although it had Chinese-style compartments separated by transverse bulkheads, the Pandanan ship was mostly of Southeast Asian type construction. The hull was V-shaped with a keel and the planks were edge-fitted and joined with wooden dowels. No iron nails were used. The compartments were not water-tight as on contemporary Chinese vessels but instead drained bilge water into the lowest part of the hull. The ship was constructed of tropical hardwood, which also happened to be adopted in the building of Zheng He's treasure ships.
About half the artifacts from the wreck are owned by the National Museum of the Philippines with the other half sold to private collectors.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Single origin of agriculture?
Copied from: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/42285
From: "tgpedersen"
Date: Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:51 am
Subject: Single origin of agriculture ?
*bar-/*bur- "grain, cereal" Semitic
*barr-/*burr- Semitic
burru "cereal" Akkadian
bar "cereal" Hebrew
ba:r "cereal" Hebrew
burr- "wheat" Arabic
br "wheat" South Arabian
bor "wheat" Soqotri
barr "wheat" Mehri
barr "wheat" S^h.eri
*bVr- Berber
a-Bar-&n "flour" Ghadames
&Br-u:n "sorghum" Awjila
a-bora "sorghum" Ayr
a-bo:ra "sorghum" Ahaggar
a-bo:ra "sorghum" Tawlemmet
bu:ru "bread" Zenaga
*bar-/*bur- West Chadic
biri "kind of flour" Hausa
with assimilation of vowels >
buri "kind of flour" Hausa
redupl.
barbari "gruel" Ngizim
*bar-/bur- East Chadic
bura "flour" Sumray
bar^ "flour" Tumak
derivative with *ku-
ku-b&ra "flour" Kabalay
ku-bra "kind of millet" Lele
*bur- "groats" Agaw
bura "groats" Xamir
*bur- "wheat" Lowland
East Cushitic
bur "wheat" Somali
b.uru "maize" Dahalo
*bar- "grain" Rift
baru "grain" Burunge
Alternation *a ~ *u.
bUrU "millet" Old Bulgarian
borU "millet" Russian
extended with -s-
barizeins "barley" Gothic
b�ros^no "rye flour" Russian
bra:s^Ino "food, fare" Old Bulgarian
farr- "spelt, grits" Latin
#mblut "unhulled rice, sticky rice" Proto-Miao-Yao
*m-lut "glutinous millet" Old Chinese
*Ba:? "rice (general)" Proto-Austro-
Asiatic
*bra:s "husked rice" Proto-Chamic
*beRas "husked rice" Proto-Austronesian
Robert Blench (From the Mountains to the Valleys):
"Once down the A[ustronesia]n family tree as far as
P[roto-]M[alayo-[Polynesian], words associated with rice
become very numerous and reconstruction more certain.
This situation would be best explained by supposing that the
early A[ustronesia]n migrants to Formosa had both upland
rice and millets, but that the millets were central to their
agriculture and indeed their ritual calendar...
There would be nothing very surprising about this; hill-rice
is a minor opportunistic crop among many mountain peoples in
Southeast Asia up to the present. The earliest rice [with
Austronesians! Earliest find in China ca 10,000 to 7,000 BC. TP]
occurs archaeologically at 2,500 BC, first in the Taiwan straits and
then in Taiwan proper, rather late for it to be a key A[ustronesia]n
crop."
(see http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/Opr.html)
Myself:
There is of course no early rice in Europe, but maybe someone once
tried to introduce it and left no trace? Cf.
*pajay, *pag`ey, *paj&i, *p�gey, various reconstructions for "rice
plant", Proto-Austronesian,
cf English (rice) paddy < Malay pa:di:, loaned(?) as pre-PIE *padam,
PIE *pedom?
(see http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/pd.html)
It would be interesting to find ancient rice on the river Padanus
(where there's plenty of it now). It always puzzled me why PIE *pak-
*pag- seemed to have to do with construction in or near water
Pagin >
Peine town in North West Germany
at the confluence of the
Pisser and Fuhse rivers Nordwestblock
Pein farm on the Pinnau river
in Holstein Nordwestblock
Pahin-, Pagindrecht >
Pendrecht deserted village near
Rotterdam Nordwestblock
fakin "weir for catching fish" Old Norse
(see http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/HbHpHg.html)
Torsten
From: "tgpedersen"
Date: Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:51 am
Subject: Single origin of agriculture ?
*bar-/*bur- "grain, cereal" Semitic
*barr-/*burr- Semitic
burru "cereal" Akkadian
bar "cereal" Hebrew
ba:r "cereal" Hebrew
burr- "wheat" Arabic
br "wheat" South Arabian
bor "wheat" Soqotri
barr "wheat" Mehri
barr "wheat" S^h.eri
*bVr- Berber
a-Bar-&n "flour" Ghadames
&Br-u:n "sorghum" Awjila
a-bora "sorghum" Ayr
a-bo:ra "sorghum" Ahaggar
a-bo:ra "sorghum" Tawlemmet
bu:ru "bread" Zenaga
*bar-/*bur- West Chadic
biri "kind of flour" Hausa
with assimilation of vowels >
buri "kind of flour" Hausa
redupl.
barbari "gruel" Ngizim
*bar-/bur- East Chadic
bura "flour" Sumray
bar^ "flour" Tumak
derivative with *ku-
ku-b&ra "flour" Kabalay
ku-bra "kind of millet" Lele
*bur- "groats" Agaw
bura "groats" Xamir
*bur- "wheat" Lowland
East Cushitic
bur "wheat" Somali
b.uru "maize" Dahalo
*bar- "grain" Rift
baru "grain" Burunge
Alternation *a ~ *u.
bUrU "millet" Old Bulgarian
borU "millet" Russian
extended with -s-
barizeins "barley" Gothic
b�ros^no "rye flour" Russian
bra:s^Ino "food, fare" Old Bulgarian
farr- "spelt, grits" Latin
#mblut "unhulled rice, sticky rice" Proto-Miao-Yao
*m-lut "glutinous millet" Old Chinese
*Ba:? "rice (general)" Proto-Austro-
Asiatic
*bra:s "husked rice" Proto-Chamic
*beRas "husked rice" Proto-Austronesian
Robert Blench (From the Mountains to the Valleys):
"Once down the A[ustronesia]n family tree as far as
P[roto-]M[alayo-[Polynesian], words associated with rice
become very numerous and reconstruction more certain.
This situation would be best explained by supposing that the
early A[ustronesia]n migrants to Formosa had both upland
rice and millets, but that the millets were central to their
agriculture and indeed their ritual calendar...
There would be nothing very surprising about this; hill-rice
is a minor opportunistic crop among many mountain peoples in
Southeast Asia up to the present. The earliest rice [with
Austronesians! Earliest find in China ca 10,000 to 7,000 BC. TP]
occurs archaeologically at 2,500 BC, first in the Taiwan straits and
then in Taiwan proper, rather late for it to be a key A[ustronesia]n
crop."
(see http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/Opr.html)
Myself:
There is of course no early rice in Europe, but maybe someone once
tried to introduce it and left no trace? Cf.
*pajay, *pag`ey, *paj&i, *p�gey, various reconstructions for "rice
plant", Proto-Austronesian,
cf English (rice) paddy < Malay pa:di:, loaned(?) as pre-PIE *padam,
PIE *pedom?
(see http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/pd.html)
It would be interesting to find ancient rice on the river Padanus
(where there's plenty of it now). It always puzzled me why PIE *pak-
*pag- seemed to have to do with construction in or near water
Pagin >
Peine town in North West Germany
at the confluence of the
Pisser and Fuhse rivers Nordwestblock
Pein farm on the Pinnau river
in Holstein Nordwestblock
Pahin-, Pagindrecht >
Pendrecht deserted village near
Rotterdam Nordwestblock
fakin "weir for catching fish" Old Norse
(see http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/HbHpHg.html)
Torsten
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Glossary: Luções
Luções was the Portuguese name for the people of the island of Lução, which is still the Portuguese name for Luzon island in the Philippines.
In Latin maps, Luzon was known as Luçonia or Lussonia both derived from Lução.
The word originates from Lusung (呂宋)), the Chinese name during the Ming dynasty for a kingdom in Central Luzon. Present-day Chinese in some areas still use the name Lusung for the city of Manila, the area surrounding Manila Bay, the island of Luzon and more generally for the nation of the Philippines.
Lusung (or Lusong) probably originates from a native word referring to a mortar used to pound rice. This device seems to have made it all the way to Guam along with rice culture from the Philippines.
A Chamorro woman in early Guam with a stone lusong rice mortar
Among the Chamorros, the term can also refer to artificial pools created along rivers. It is postulated these may have provided water for people pounding rice in the stone mortars. The lusong were usually carved out of river rock and may have also acted as bathing pools.
I have suggested that the name Lusung may be derived from a lake that once existed at Pinatubo, the sacred volcano of Central Luzon and different than the current one, that was thought of as a type of baptismal pool similar to the Krater of the early Greek alchemists.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, stone metates were found in the famed Pandanan wreck off the coast of the Philippines. The metates resembled the lusong of the Chamorro. Why were these simple mortars sought as trade items? Could it have been their value was augmented by the perceived sacred nature of the stone used to make them as I have also suggested was the case with earthernware Luzon jars?
Whatever the case, the name of the kingdom seems to have been derived from these rice mortars. Other theories postulate that the island of Luzon or the Manila Bay was perceived as having the shape of a lusung, or that the kingdom was famed as a rice granary.
The importance of the Luções during the Ming dynasty period and the arrival of early European explorers in Southeast Asia is apparent in their role as intermediaries throughout the region.
Luções were everywhere during this period acting as merchants, mercenaries, adminstrators, etc. from India to Japan according to varied sources.
In the 1500s, Portuguese writers mention a colony of Luções in Malacca sponsored by the Sultan of Malacca. They included many important personnel in the government of the sultan and merchants like one Surya Diraja a pepper trader who annually sent 175 tons of the valued spice to China. The sultan also hired a Lusung fleet when he attempted to wrest control of his city from the Portuguese in 1525.
The Sultan of Aceh hired Lusung ships and warriors when he attempted to gain control of the Straits of Malacca in 1529. The Luções also reportedly fought for the Menangkabau kingdom, and for both sides during the war between Burma and Siam in 1547.
In 1550, the Ming dynasty banned overseas trade as part of their overall anti-trade policy. According to Spanish sources during the Philippine invasion of Miguel Lopéz de Legaspi it was the Luções who filled in the gap handling the trade in Chinese goods throughout the region from their ports in Lusung. Apparently some junks still managed to reach Lusung Dao ("Golden Luzon") famed for its gold despite the Ming ban.
In 1545, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fidalgo was driven to Luzon from Brunei by a storm and describes it as lying between nine and 22 degrees north latitude at its most southern and northern tips respectively. According to Fidalgo, the island was so rich in gold that the natives would give two pezoes in gold for one in silver despite the fact that they were acquainted with the relative value of these metals in China.
The gold was an important part of trade with the sultanate of Brunei with which Lusung had special relations. When Magellan arrived in this area, the Sultan of Brunei was highly dependent on a Lusung prince, who was widely feared throughout the region and who acted as "captain-general" of the sultan's fleet. Even across the bay from Brunei, the sultan reportedly had a fearsome "heathen" enemy whose city equaled that of the sultanate's capital.
Lusung ships carrying spices, gold, Chinese goods and other items regularly plied the seas of Southeast Asia and their pilots became important to the Portuguese in making contacts with both China and Japan. Lusung ships including some of Surya Diraja played a vital role in the first official Portuguese visit to China.
Bras Bayão, the Portuguese crown representative in Brunei, recommended Lusung pilots as "discoverers" for missions beyond China to Japan and indeed these seafarers played that role in the first official visit to Japan in 1543.
Lusung was known to the Japanese as Rusun, probably stemming from the native Kapampangan term lusung rather than Tagalog lusong.
According to the historical work the Tokiko, Japanese tea lovers cherished the Rusun no tsubo (Luzon pots) and Rusun no chaire (Luzon tea canisters). Multiple sources confirm that the most valuable of these were simple earthernware containers that the Japanese often gilded and embellished with gems. Like the metates/lusung, the value of these pots as trade items was not readily apparent. One master trader known as Rusun Sukezaemon made a fortune selling Luzon wares including some that he presented to the sengoku daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The record of the Luções in the 16th century indicate that they were very actively involved in the geopolitical events of the region, which was now the focus of the eyes of the "Old World." According to the Ming annals, the kingdom of Lusung was considered important enough for emperor Yung Lo, in the second year of his reign, to send the famed admiral Zheng Ho to attack Lusung and neighboring regions. The Chinese fleet made three attempts to subjugate Luzon prior to the arrival of the first Europeans on the scene about a century later.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
In Latin maps, Luzon was known as Luçonia or Lussonia both derived from Lução.
The word originates from Lusung (呂宋)), the Chinese name during the Ming dynasty for a kingdom in Central Luzon. Present-day Chinese in some areas still use the name Lusung for the city of Manila, the area surrounding Manila Bay, the island of Luzon and more generally for the nation of the Philippines.
Lusung (or Lusong) probably originates from a native word referring to a mortar used to pound rice. This device seems to have made it all the way to Guam along with rice culture from the Philippines.
A Chamorro woman in early Guam with a stone lusong rice mortar
Among the Chamorros, the term can also refer to artificial pools created along rivers. It is postulated these may have provided water for people pounding rice in the stone mortars. The lusong were usually carved out of river rock and may have also acted as bathing pools.
I have suggested that the name Lusung may be derived from a lake that once existed at Pinatubo, the sacred volcano of Central Luzon and different than the current one, that was thought of as a type of baptismal pool similar to the Krater of the early Greek alchemists.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, stone metates were found in the famed Pandanan wreck off the coast of the Philippines. The metates resembled the lusong of the Chamorro. Why were these simple mortars sought as trade items? Could it have been their value was augmented by the perceived sacred nature of the stone used to make them as I have also suggested was the case with earthernware Luzon jars?
Whatever the case, the name of the kingdom seems to have been derived from these rice mortars. Other theories postulate that the island of Luzon or the Manila Bay was perceived as having the shape of a lusung, or that the kingdom was famed as a rice granary.
The importance of the Luções during the Ming dynasty period and the arrival of early European explorers in Southeast Asia is apparent in their role as intermediaries throughout the region.
Luções were everywhere during this period acting as merchants, mercenaries, adminstrators, etc. from India to Japan according to varied sources.
In the 1500s, Portuguese writers mention a colony of Luções in Malacca sponsored by the Sultan of Malacca. They included many important personnel in the government of the sultan and merchants like one Surya Diraja a pepper trader who annually sent 175 tons of the valued spice to China. The sultan also hired a Lusung fleet when he attempted to wrest control of his city from the Portuguese in 1525.
The Sultan of Aceh hired Lusung ships and warriors when he attempted to gain control of the Straits of Malacca in 1529. The Luções also reportedly fought for the Menangkabau kingdom, and for both sides during the war between Burma and Siam in 1547.
In 1550, the Ming dynasty banned overseas trade as part of their overall anti-trade policy. According to Spanish sources during the Philippine invasion of Miguel Lopéz de Legaspi it was the Luções who filled in the gap handling the trade in Chinese goods throughout the region from their ports in Lusung. Apparently some junks still managed to reach Lusung Dao ("Golden Luzon") famed for its gold despite the Ming ban.
In 1545, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fidalgo was driven to Luzon from Brunei by a storm and describes it as lying between nine and 22 degrees north latitude at its most southern and northern tips respectively. According to Fidalgo, the island was so rich in gold that the natives would give two pezoes in gold for one in silver despite the fact that they were acquainted with the relative value of these metals in China.
The gold was an important part of trade with the sultanate of Brunei with which Lusung had special relations. When Magellan arrived in this area, the Sultan of Brunei was highly dependent on a Lusung prince, who was widely feared throughout the region and who acted as "captain-general" of the sultan's fleet. Even across the bay from Brunei, the sultan reportedly had a fearsome "heathen" enemy whose city equaled that of the sultanate's capital.
Lusung ships carrying spices, gold, Chinese goods and other items regularly plied the seas of Southeast Asia and their pilots became important to the Portuguese in making contacts with both China and Japan. Lusung ships including some of Surya Diraja played a vital role in the first official Portuguese visit to China.
Bras Bayão, the Portuguese crown representative in Brunei, recommended Lusung pilots as "discoverers" for missions beyond China to Japan and indeed these seafarers played that role in the first official visit to Japan in 1543.
Lusung was known to the Japanese as Rusun, probably stemming from the native Kapampangan term lusung rather than Tagalog lusong.
According to the historical work the Tokiko, Japanese tea lovers cherished the Rusun no tsubo (Luzon pots) and Rusun no chaire (Luzon tea canisters). Multiple sources confirm that the most valuable of these were simple earthernware containers that the Japanese often gilded and embellished with gems. Like the metates/lusung, the value of these pots as trade items was not readily apparent. One master trader known as Rusun Sukezaemon made a fortune selling Luzon wares including some that he presented to the sengoku daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The record of the Luções in the 16th century indicate that they were very actively involved in the geopolitical events of the region, which was now the focus of the eyes of the "Old World." According to the Ming annals, the kingdom of Lusung was considered important enough for emperor Yung Lo, in the second year of his reign, to send the famed admiral Zheng Ho to attack Lusung and neighboring regions. The Chinese fleet made three attempts to subjugate Luzon prior to the arrival of the first Europeans on the scene about a century later.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Friday, November 11, 2005
Glossary: Crocodile
Sea crocodiles from the Philippines
The crocodile has long been an object of human fear and veneration. The ancient Egyptians worshipped the crocodile, for example.
The dragon of China may have originated from ancient crocodile worship. An early Shang image of a dragon has many crocodile-like features. Richard Irving of the University of Hong Kong thinks that crocodile worship came to South China from Southeast Asia, where such beliefs are widespread.
From there, during the Neolithic period, crocodile worship moved into northern China where it merged with local beliefs. Irving studied dragon boat heads in various parts of southern China and found many crocodile features such as the long snout, protruding teeth, nostrils and eyes on the top of the head. After time, the crocodile contributed to the composite dragon image which included other features such as hawk claws and deer horns.
Crocodile worship from Southeast Asia tends to focus on the saltwater crocodile and it is worth noting that the dragon of China is strongly aquatic in character. The dragon, for instance, is said to rest coiled at the bottom of the sea. The four Dragon Kings (??; pinyin: Lóng Wáng) of Chinese mythology are portrayed as regents of the sea with special powers to create rain and storms. When angered they often brought about devastating floods.
In the early Philippines, crocodile worship was widely described by Spanish colonizers. The people left offerings to crocodiles on the banks of rivers and indigenous priests were quite fond of tamed crocodiles which they raised. The two great oaths by which the people in this region swore were "May the Sun cleave me in two, if..." and "May the crocodile devour me, if..."
If a crocodile devoured someone who had not made an oath though, it was often seen as a sign that the person's soul directly entered the highest heaven.
Diego Bergano records that into the late 18th century offerings were still made to crocodiles by the river communities of Pampanga. Father Zuniga describes early Pampangan settlements "along the river bank inhabited by a far greater and denser population than the region around Manila Bay and its environs in Central Luzon, Bulacan and Bataan."
In the Pampangan town of Apalit, named after a great sacred narra (Pterocarpus indicus) tree that resided there, offerings along the river continued even after the crocodile had disappeared in the 20th century. These sacrifices of chickens, ducks, goats and pigs were made to Apung Iru the adopted name of St. Peter during the Bayung Danum (New Water) festival.
Originally Apung Iru was the name of a great cosmic crocodile. The theory that Apung Iru is a pet name for St. Peter does not hold water. First it's highly unlikely the Kapampangan converts known for their reverential faith would use anything but the saint's regular name in the vernacular, Pedru.
Iru although easier to pronounce is not even shorter than Pedru with both consisting of two syllables. Iru is more likely derived from ilug the Kapampangan word for river. Examples of similar transformations in which the liquid "r" becomes "l" when coupled with a final or penultimate stop still exist in the language. Some examples are:
dulut -- offering, gift
duru -- dowry
dumalaga - young chicken
dumara -- wild duck
dilig -- to water
dulung - go into the water
dura -- saliva, spit
dalaga -- young woman, virgin
dara -- aunt, stepmother
bulug -- flavor a dish
buluk -- rotten smell
buru -- condiment made of fermented rice and fish
balut -- wrap
baru -- clothing
bulag -- blind
bura -- erase
kulul -- color
kuru-kuru -- opinion
Apung Iru means then Lord River or Lord of the River. The origin of the Apung Iru water festival like water processions all over Southeast Asia is connected with local indigenous royalty. Similar royal aquatic parades are found in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. In Java, a royal water procession takes place along the seashore in honor of the goddess of the South Seas. The title of Apung Iru, linking the sovereign, with the great underworld cosmic crocodile, was, after Christianization, transferred by the residents of Apalit to St. Peter, the captain of the Roman church.
In Eden in the East, Stephen Oppenheimer notes that the dragon found in numerous mythologies was very frequently linked with sea, or secondarily aquatic, flooding.
In the Old Testament, we hear the tales of the great dragons Leviathan and Rahab, who are compared to crocodiles that live in the sea.
On that day the Lord will punish
With his sword, that is hard great and strong,
Leviathan, the fleeing serpent,
And he will slay the crocodile (tannin) that is in the sea.
(Isaiah 27:1)
Thou didst divide the sea by thy power;
Thou didst crush the heads of the crocodiles (tanninim) by the waters.
Thou didst shatter the head of Leviathan...
(Psalms 74:13-14)
Oppenheimer notes however that saltwater crocodiles did not exist in any ocean regions around ancient Israel. He believes the ideas of sea crocodiles and dragons may be associated with the great sea floods of Sundaland that brought with them increased dangers from marine crocodiles. Because of the great danger posed by these reptiles to villagers with rising sea levels, they became the personification of catastrophic flooding. Saltwater crocodiles (C. palustris and C. porusus) range from India throughout Southeast Asia to the western Pacific sometimes spotted as far as Fiji.
Dragons also sometimes find favorable image in Near Eastern myth. While the Babylonian Tiamat, a dragon associated with salt water, symbolized negative forces, Apsu, the dragon of the underground sweet waters was altogether favorable.
The Sumerian goddess Nammu the first being and known as "the mother who gave birth to heaven and earth" is also portrayed as a great dragon.
A report of crocodile worship still practiced among Muslims in the southern Philippines
The crocodile contributes to the idea of a composite creature also in India. The mythological creature known as makara appears originally to have been a crocodile or crocodile-like creature.
In modern vernaculars, the words for crocodile are often derived from makara like magar in Hindi. According to art historian, Ananda Coomaraswamy, the earliest images of makara in India had crocodile-like heads.
With time though, the makara became a very composite beast. The long snout of the crocodile apparently became linked with the elephant's trunk. It wasn't long before the makara had such a trunk added to a shortened snout.
The body also became more goat or bovine-like and the monkey eyes were added. The makara though never loses its strong associations with the sea and water.
It may be the crocodile's amphibious nature living both on land and in the water were helpful in developing its hybrid qualities. The makara was grouped with the fishes in Hindu thought and was said to stand out among the fishes as the Ganga stands out among rivers i.e., it held the highest place in the group hierarchy.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Saipan has oldest Pacific site?
An interesting if inaccurate article. There are of course much older Hss sites in Australia, Papua and Melanesia.
Maybe they are referring only to the smaller, remote islands.
---
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=52101
'Saipan may be Pacific's oldest archaeological site'
By Marconi Calindas
Reporter
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Sediment cores taken from Saipan's Lake Susupe in 2002 have yielded a continual record of plant pollen and other materials for the past 8,000 years that could make the island one of the oldest archaeological site in the Pacific, according to the Historic Preservation Office.
HPO director Epiphanio E. Cabrera said that scientists who have been working with the CNMI recently announced new evidence that could push the date for the earliest human settlement in Micronesia back to nearly 5,000 years ago.
Cabrera said researchers J. Stephen Athens and Jerome Ward from the International Archaeological Research Institute Inc. noted a series of abrupt shifts in Saipan's ancient environment, some of which appeared to have been caused by humans.
Charcoal particles and an abundance of grass pollen and pollens from betel nut palm and coconut trees that appeared around 6,860 B.C. were analyzed. Cabrera said the discovery predates the earliest archaeological sites on Saipan by more than a thousand years.
"This is some of the earliest evidence for human settlement ever found in Micronesia," he said, adding that his office is very excited to have sponsored the study.
Dr. Richard Knecht, acting staff archaeologist, said the recent findings suggest that sites 5,000 years or older existed on Saipan.
"The challenge now is to use what we know about ancient shorelines, which will likely reveal more early sites and possibly the first movement of early humans into the Pacific from Asia," Knecht said.
Cabrera said that future studies and coring of lakes and sinkholes in the CNMI are required to refine the "very promising, though still preliminary" findings. He said his office would continue to seek funding for research and plans to publish the report in its publication series.
Other studies of ancient sites also revealed early occupation of the CNMI. The HPO director said a core from Lake Hagoi on Tinian revealed coconut pollen and charcoal particles dating back to 5,444 B.C. There were also similar finds at Tipalao Marsh in Guam and a sinkhole in the Kagman Peninsula on Saipan's east side also shows major changes in vegetation by about 6,520 B.C.
Similar but slightly later dates were found in core studies in Palau and Yap, Knecht said.
"It probably took years for humans to alter the environment to the point where it leaves a signature in the sediment cores. Therefore, the actual dates of initial human settlement could be decades or centuries before those taken from the cores," he said.
The earliest sites in the CNMI are Saipan's Unai Achugao site from 1,800 B.C. and Tinian's Unai Chulu site dating to 1,500 B.C. Cabrera said HPO's search to find the earliest site in the CNMI will continue as long as funding is available.
"Our staff and our partners in the scientific community will be working to learn more, but for now it seems safe to assume that our ancestors were here on these islands 5,000 years ago," Cabrera said.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Maybe they are referring only to the smaller, remote islands.
---
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=52101
'Saipan may be Pacific's oldest archaeological site'
By Marconi Calindas
Reporter
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Sediment cores taken from Saipan's Lake Susupe in 2002 have yielded a continual record of plant pollen and other materials for the past 8,000 years that could make the island one of the oldest archaeological site in the Pacific, according to the Historic Preservation Office.
HPO director Epiphanio E. Cabrera said that scientists who have been working with the CNMI recently announced new evidence that could push the date for the earliest human settlement in Micronesia back to nearly 5,000 years ago.
Cabrera said researchers J. Stephen Athens and Jerome Ward from the International Archaeological Research Institute Inc. noted a series of abrupt shifts in Saipan's ancient environment, some of which appeared to have been caused by humans.
Charcoal particles and an abundance of grass pollen and pollens from betel nut palm and coconut trees that appeared around 6,860 B.C. were analyzed. Cabrera said the discovery predates the earliest archaeological sites on Saipan by more than a thousand years.
"This is some of the earliest evidence for human settlement ever found in Micronesia," he said, adding that his office is very excited to have sponsored the study.
Dr. Richard Knecht, acting staff archaeologist, said the recent findings suggest that sites 5,000 years or older existed on Saipan.
"The challenge now is to use what we know about ancient shorelines, which will likely reveal more early sites and possibly the first movement of early humans into the Pacific from Asia," Knecht said.
Cabrera said that future studies and coring of lakes and sinkholes in the CNMI are required to refine the "very promising, though still preliminary" findings. He said his office would continue to seek funding for research and plans to publish the report in its publication series.
Other studies of ancient sites also revealed early occupation of the CNMI. The HPO director said a core from Lake Hagoi on Tinian revealed coconut pollen and charcoal particles dating back to 5,444 B.C. There were also similar finds at Tipalao Marsh in Guam and a sinkhole in the Kagman Peninsula on Saipan's east side also shows major changes in vegetation by about 6,520 B.C.
Similar but slightly later dates were found in core studies in Palau and Yap, Knecht said.
"It probably took years for humans to alter the environment to the point where it leaves a signature in the sediment cores. Therefore, the actual dates of initial human settlement could be decades or centuries before those taken from the cores," he said.
The earliest sites in the CNMI are Saipan's Unai Achugao site from 1,800 B.C. and Tinian's Unai Chulu site dating to 1,500 B.C. Cabrera said HPO's search to find the earliest site in the CNMI will continue as long as funding is available.
"Our staff and our partners in the scientific community will be working to learn more, but for now it seems safe to assume that our ancestors were here on these islands 5,000 years ago," Cabrera said.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Monday, October 31, 2005
Glossary: Aloeswood
Of all the spices and aromatics, aloeswood has commanded the highest price consistently since ancient times. Today, it remains more expensive than gold. An Internet site specializing in aloeswood sells one gram of pure raw Kyara green aloeswood for US$333.00.
Other well-known names for aloeswood include lign-aloes, eaglewood, agarwood, jinko, gaharu, oud and agilawood. The taxonomic name is Aquilara ssp.
It is native from northern India to Indochina.
In medieval times, the most valuable aloeswood was actually a different species -- Aloexylon agallochum - produced in Champa, or modern South Vietnam, and Cambodia.
The Muslims knew Champa aloeswood as Sanfi from Sanf, the Arabic word for Champa. The Cambodian aloes were called Kumari from Arabic Komr(Khmer). The fragrance of the wood is actually produced by a fungus that grows on the tree.
In Champa myth, the goddess Po Nagar created the earth, aloeswood and rice. The best varieties were actually found in the mountains of the Central Highlands among the people now known as Montagnards.
The king of Champa had a special arrangement with the mountain people's King of Fire and King of Water. An official from Champa known as the "Lord of Aloeswood" would oversee Montagnards skilled at harvesting the valuable wood.
So precious is aloeswood that in Japan the most beautiful type of woman is known as a "Kyara Woman" comparing her to the most expensive type of this aromatic (usually from Indochina).
Aloeswood is the most important ingredient used in high quality incense throughout Asia and the Muslim world today.
The Imperial Ranjatai Aloeswood of the Japanese Royal Family believed to come from Vietnam or Laos is displayed by the National Museum every 10 or 15 years.
Aloeswood trees from Kalimantan, Borneo.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Other well-known names for aloeswood include lign-aloes, eaglewood, agarwood, jinko, gaharu, oud and agilawood. The taxonomic name is Aquilara ssp.
It is native from northern India to Indochina.
In medieval times, the most valuable aloeswood was actually a different species -- Aloexylon agallochum - produced in Champa, or modern South Vietnam, and Cambodia.
The Muslims knew Champa aloeswood as Sanfi from Sanf, the Arabic word for Champa. The Cambodian aloes were called Kumari from Arabic Komr(Khmer). The fragrance of the wood is actually produced by a fungus that grows on the tree.
In Champa myth, the goddess Po Nagar created the earth, aloeswood and rice. The best varieties were actually found in the mountains of the Central Highlands among the people now known as Montagnards.
The king of Champa had a special arrangement with the mountain people's King of Fire and King of Water. An official from Champa known as the "Lord of Aloeswood" would oversee Montagnards skilled at harvesting the valuable wood.
So precious is aloeswood that in Japan the most beautiful type of woman is known as a "Kyara Woman" comparing her to the most expensive type of this aromatic (usually from Indochina).
Aloeswood is the most important ingredient used in high quality incense throughout Asia and the Muslim world today.
The Imperial Ranjatai Aloeswood of the Japanese Royal Family believed to come from Vietnam or Laos is displayed by the National Museum every 10 or 15 years.
Aloeswood trees from Kalimantan, Borneo.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Glossary: The Inner Volcano
In yoga and tantra tradition, the kundalini represents a form of energy often likened to a fiery serpent that resides in the sacrum region of the body. The kundalini is mentioned as early as the Upanishadic period in ancient India. The goal of the practitioner is to arouse or awaken the kundalini sparking what is often described as a volcano-like eruption of fiery bodily energy.
The kundalini fire is said to quickly rise up the spinal cord flooding all the intermediate channels before reaching the Sahasranacakra, an energy center at the crown of the head.
Chinese Taoists describe a spiritual alchemy in which the human breath and reproductive seed form the base elements for internal transmutation of an energy likened to liquid or molten gold. The molten, purified gold also moves upward through the body toward the crown of the head.
As with the Indian kundalini, the furnace for the Taoist alchemical process is located in the region around the groin and base of the spine, the "lower" parts of the body. Yogic tradition describes the first cakra, one of seven spiraling energy centers in the body, as the root or earth cakra. It is located right at the base of the spine.
The kundalini has been described as residing in the earth chakra with the brilliance of "ten million suns." The idea of the Sun within the Earth is one we have discussed here before with reference to volcanic imagery. The kundalini has also been linked with the Vedic Agni, the divine personification of fire, who is often described in the early hymns as "deeply hidden," or as a "thief lurking in a dark cave" or as "seated in a secret place."
Vedic hymns also say that Agni lives in the midst of the sea or within the waters. This may be a reference to the submarine fire of Indian belief, later called the Vadavamukha, and visualized as an undersea volcano shaped like a mare's head. The Vadavamukha was located in the far south, at times placed right at the South Pole, and was said to consume the waters of the ocean.
In Rgveda 2.35.3, we read that the rivers collect water for the propitiation of the ocean-fire.
According to Hindu eschatology, at the twilight of the ages, the Vadavamukha explodes or erupts in a cataclysm that destroys the world.
A good paper studying the relationship of Agni with the kundalini can be found at the following URL:
http://www.al-qiyamah.org/pdf_files/god_agni_as_kundalini_(yrec.org).pdf
In the Yogakundalini Upanishad and Hathayogapradipika, the method of arousing the kundali is referred to as manthana or "churning." In a similar sense the Vedic hymns use the phrase "churning up" in reference to kindling a fire.
You may recall the churning of the Milky Ocean motif in which giant Mt. Mandara sitting on the back of a great turtle is used to churn the sea. The great heat created by the churning action eventually sets the top of the mountain ablaze. From the resulting storm, rivers of ash created from the incinerated forest and mountaintop flow down into the sea. This milky-looking ash flow is described as "amrita" or "elixir."
In a similar sense, the Taoists also used the term "elixir of immortality" to describe the "molten gold" of internal alchemy. The meditation cycle consists of inhaling and mixing the breath with the vital (sexual) seed. The heat created removes the "dross" from the reaction which is expelled from the body during exhalation. The energy elixir created flows up through the body's central channel and out of the crown of the head. In the same, way the kundalini fire erupts out of the Sahasranacakra.
In Southeast Asia and into the farthest reaches of the Pacific, there exists numerous beliefs in the existence of three selfs or bodies -- the lower body, the middle body and the upper body. The upper body is often said to be detached from the physical body and to exist in heaven.
All three bodies are connected via a "cord," the spinal cord with reference to the physical self, and an invisible cord for the heavenly body that extends toward heaven through the anterior fontanelle. The latter is basically the equivalent of the Crown Cakra.
Again, this reminds us of the holy mountain as the axis that links the three worlds -- lower, middle and upper. This mountain most often has a hole or opening, usually placed at the top in the same sense as a volcano.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
The kundalini fire is said to quickly rise up the spinal cord flooding all the intermediate channels before reaching the Sahasranacakra, an energy center at the crown of the head.
Chinese Taoists describe a spiritual alchemy in which the human breath and reproductive seed form the base elements for internal transmutation of an energy likened to liquid or molten gold. The molten, purified gold also moves upward through the body toward the crown of the head.
As with the Indian kundalini, the furnace for the Taoist alchemical process is located in the region around the groin and base of the spine, the "lower" parts of the body. Yogic tradition describes the first cakra, one of seven spiraling energy centers in the body, as the root or earth cakra. It is located right at the base of the spine.
The kundalini has been described as residing in the earth chakra with the brilliance of "ten million suns." The idea of the Sun within the Earth is one we have discussed here before with reference to volcanic imagery. The kundalini has also been linked with the Vedic Agni, the divine personification of fire, who is often described in the early hymns as "deeply hidden," or as a "thief lurking in a dark cave" or as "seated in a secret place."
Vedic hymns also say that Agni lives in the midst of the sea or within the waters. This may be a reference to the submarine fire of Indian belief, later called the Vadavamukha, and visualized as an undersea volcano shaped like a mare's head. The Vadavamukha was located in the far south, at times placed right at the South Pole, and was said to consume the waters of the ocean.
In Rgveda 2.35.3, we read that the rivers collect water for the propitiation of the ocean-fire.
According to Hindu eschatology, at the twilight of the ages, the Vadavamukha explodes or erupts in a cataclysm that destroys the world.
A good paper studying the relationship of Agni with the kundalini can be found at the following URL:
http://www.al-qiyamah.org/pdf_files/god_agni_as_kundalini_(yrec.org).pdf
In the Yogakundalini Upanishad and Hathayogapradipika, the method of arousing the kundali is referred to as manthana or "churning." In a similar sense the Vedic hymns use the phrase "churning up" in reference to kindling a fire.
You may recall the churning of the Milky Ocean motif in which giant Mt. Mandara sitting on the back of a great turtle is used to churn the sea. The great heat created by the churning action eventually sets the top of the mountain ablaze. From the resulting storm, rivers of ash created from the incinerated forest and mountaintop flow down into the sea. This milky-looking ash flow is described as "amrita" or "elixir."
In a similar sense, the Taoists also used the term "elixir of immortality" to describe the "molten gold" of internal alchemy. The meditation cycle consists of inhaling and mixing the breath with the vital (sexual) seed. The heat created removes the "dross" from the reaction which is expelled from the body during exhalation. The energy elixir created flows up through the body's central channel and out of the crown of the head. In the same, way the kundalini fire erupts out of the Sahasranacakra.
In Southeast Asia and into the farthest reaches of the Pacific, there exists numerous beliefs in the existence of three selfs or bodies -- the lower body, the middle body and the upper body. The upper body is often said to be detached from the physical body and to exist in heaven.
All three bodies are connected via a "cord," the spinal cord with reference to the physical self, and an invisible cord for the heavenly body that extends toward heaven through the anterior fontanelle. The latter is basically the equivalent of the Crown Cakra.
Again, this reminds us of the holy mountain as the axis that links the three worlds -- lower, middle and upper. This mountain most often has a hole or opening, usually placed at the top in the same sense as a volcano.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Evidence suggests japonica rice moved from tropical south to north
Also, in keeping with Solheim's theory is a recent study that suggests the temperate japonica rice of East Asia split off from earlier tropical japonica rice in a movement from south to north
http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/169/3/1631
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/169/3/1631
"In addition, the two japonica groups represent an adaptive spectrum of an ancient subpopulation from tropical origins to temperate latitudes, with the necessary adaptations to environmental signals such as day length and temperature. As the only pairwise comparison that embodies such obvious adaptation to a new environment, the temperate and tropical japonica groups offer a valuable tool for studying the genetic basis of adaptation. The statistical significance of the larger allele size in the temperate relative to the tropical japonica group supports the hypothesis that temperate japonica were derived from the tropical japonica group. One explanation for the differences in average allele lengths is a higher mutation rate in the temperate population. Previous observations of enhanced transposable element activity in temperate compared to tropical japonica groups (JIANG et al. 2002) suggest that this hypothesis may be worthy of further investigation."
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Southern genes in Korean population
The following abstract is interesting from the standpoint of Solheim's Nusantao theory as it suggests a 45% "southern" contribution to the present Korean population. This would agree with Solheim's proposal that Nusantao were involved in the Yayoi migration to Japan from Shandong and southern Korea. I'll try to get the article to see if they postulate how this situation came about.
Int J Legal Med. 2005 Jul;119(4):195-201. Epub 2005 Apr 27.
Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes and their applications to forensic and population studies in east Asia.
Kwak KD, Jin HJ, Shin DJ, Kim JM, Roewer L, Krawczak M, Tyler-Smith C, Kim W.
Department of Biological Sciences, Dankook University, Cheonan, 330-714, South Korea.
We have analyzed 11 Y-STR loci (DYS19, the two DYS385 loci, DYS388, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DXYS156Y) in 700 males from ten ethnic groups in east Asia in order to evaluate their usefulness for forensic and population genetic studies. A total of 644 different haplotypes were identified, among which 603 (86.14%) were individual-specific. The haplotype diversity averaged over all populations was 0.9997; using only the nine Y-STRs comprising the "minimal haplotype" (excluding DYS388 and DXYS156Y) it was 0.9996, a value similar to that found in 1924 samples from other Asian populations (0.9996; Lessig et al. Legal Medicine 5(2003) 160-163), and slightly higher than in European populations (0.9976; n=11,610; Roewer et al. For Sci International (2001) 118:103-111). All of the individual east Asian populations examined here had high haplotype diversity (> or =0.997), except for the Mongolians (0.992) and Manchurians (0.960). The most frequent haplotype identi! fied by the nine markers was present at only 1% (7/700). Population comparisons based on Phi(ST) or rho genetic distance measures revealed clustering according to the traditional northeast-southeast distinction, but with exceptions. For example, the Yunnan population from southern China lay among the northern populations, possibly reflecting recent migration, while the Korean population, traditionally considered northern, lay at the boundary between northern and southern populations. An admixture estimate suggested 55(51-59)% northern, 45(41-49)% southern contribution to the Koreans, illustrating the complexity of the genetic history of this region.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
Int J Legal Med. 2005 Jul;119(4):195-201. Epub 2005 Apr 27.
Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes and their applications to forensic and population studies in east Asia.
Kwak KD, Jin HJ, Shin DJ, Kim JM, Roewer L, Krawczak M, Tyler-Smith C, Kim W.
Department of Biological Sciences, Dankook University, Cheonan, 330-714, South Korea.
We have analyzed 11 Y-STR loci (DYS19, the two DYS385 loci, DYS388, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DXYS156Y) in 700 males from ten ethnic groups in east Asia in order to evaluate their usefulness for forensic and population genetic studies. A total of 644 different haplotypes were identified, among which 603 (86.14%) were individual-specific. The haplotype diversity averaged over all populations was 0.9997; using only the nine Y-STRs comprising the "minimal haplotype" (excluding DYS388 and DXYS156Y) it was 0.9996, a value similar to that found in 1924 samples from other Asian populations (0.9996; Lessig et al. Legal Medicine 5(2003) 160-163), and slightly higher than in European populations (0.9976; n=11,610; Roewer et al. For Sci International (2001) 118:103-111). All of the individual east Asian populations examined here had high haplotype diversity (> or =0.997), except for the Mongolians (0.992) and Manchurians (0.960). The most frequent haplotype identi! fied by the nine markers was present at only 1% (7/700). Population comparisons based on Phi(ST) or rho genetic distance measures revealed clustering according to the traditional northeast-southeast distinction, but with exceptions. For example, the Yunnan population from southern China lay among the northern populations, possibly reflecting recent migration, while the Korean population, traditionally considered northern, lay at the boundary between northern and southern populations. An admixture estimate suggested 55(51-59)% northern, 45(41-49)% southern contribution to the Koreans, illustrating the complexity of the genetic history of this region.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
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