Metallurgy, Southeast Asian (Glossary)

Southeast Asian metallurgy has been a source of controversy since the early dating of metal technology in places like Ban Chiang and Non Nok Tha in Thailand.

Thermoluminescence dating of pottery associated with eight bronze bracelets discovered by N. Suthiragsa revealed dates between 5000 and 4500 BCE. Radiocarbon dating of separately excavated bronzes uncovered by C.F. Gorman and P. Charoenwongsa gave dates of about 3600 BCE.

Such early datings for bronze technology exceeded that found elsewhere in the world and caused much commotion when first revealed. Joyce White who worked on Gorman's sites after the latter's death, found that the early dates were not "archaeologically meaningful." Her "re-analysis" of the radiocarbon findings pushed the date forward to 2100 BCE, based on the explanation that the bronzes may have been 'cut down' to lower levels than their true age.

However, it must be said that prior to the startling early data, the excavators apparently saw no problem with the strata and approved tests. Also, White's reanalysis can only apply to the radiocarbon dates and not to the direct thermoluminescence findings.

Recent discoveries at Balobok Rockshelter in the southern Philippines have unearthed early Neolithic tools dated to 5340 BCE and a bronze adze from a layer at 3190 BCE.

Early finds from Thailand reveal the use of four metals in local bronze work: copper, tin, arsenic and lead. The last three metals, each combined with copper to make bronze, are found naturally together with copper ores at worked sites near Ban Chiang and Non Nok Tha. So it would be rather simple for the blacksmith to accidentally or experimentally combine the metals and realize the superior resulting product.

Linguistic evidence

Probably even more controversial than the archaeological evidence is the suggestion by Robert Blust in 1976 that Proto-Austronesians dating from the period 5000 to 3000 BCE had a "knowledge of iron."

He states "the probability is small that a collection of unrelated bypotheses will provide a more plausible explanation of these facts than the single hypothesis that iron was known and worked at an early date, perhaps as early as Proto-Austronesian times." Although Blust in 1999 notes that words for metal do not necessarily require knowledge of metallurgy, we cannot dismiss the idea simply due to the negative archaeological evidence.

Iron was reconstructed as *bariS and further reconstructions were given for words such as "blacksmithing" and "anvil," the latter two terms restricted to Western Malayo-Polynesian. Using Solheim's chronology at least, this could fit well with the evidence of bronze at Balobok by 3190 BCE.

Admittedly though, no archaeological evidence has yet been found to support such an early iron-working hypothesis.

Fired pottery and the development of metallurgy

Evidence for pottery kilns predates that of metal working and it may be that the latter owes its existence to the former.

Hoabinhian culture in Vietnam began a process of firing clay pottery starting possibly as early as 10,000 BCE. At Shiweishan and Chenqiaocon near present-day Xiamen, clay pots were fired to about 680 degrees C. around 5000 BCE. At Ban Na Di in northern Thailand, pottery was fired to temperatures of 950 degrees C, and high-fired pots are associated with bronze finds near Hong Kong.

Early dates for high-fired pottery present development stages that could have led to experimentation with metal smelting.

Tools of the trade

Clay-lined furnaces were popular in the Southeast Asian region, and in some areas portable chimney furnaces were used.

Moulds were often made using the lost wax method in which a model of the desired object is first made with beeswax. The model is then covered with clay and baked, hardening the clay into a mould and melting the wax.

The magnificent Dong Son drums required a complex alternating clay and wax mould-making procedure that many believe required a trained full-time bronze specialist workforce.

Piston bellows

Although evidence of ancient bellows is lacking, in historical times, piston bellows have been the signature technology in Southeast Asian blacksmithing.

Piston bellows, the fire piston and the blowgun are related Southeast Asian technologies that rely on the principle of compressed air.


A sumpak (right) or fire piston of carabao horn and silver for lighting fires, and a kalikot (left) for grinding betel nuts made of ebony and silver, both from the Philippines and utilizing the principle of air compression. (Source: Conrado Benitez's History of the Philippines)

Possibly the blowgun was the first of these devices. In areas where no metal technology is present, the weapon is constructed from two strips of wood cemented together and wrapped with bark. Where metal is available, a metal rod is commonly used to bore through solid wood.

Frequent use of the blowgun will soon lead to the realization that the compressed air within the tube generates heat.

Piston bellows in Southeast Asia and Madagascar are made of bamboo or wooden tubes usually with feather-covered pistons on the end of a plunger. A "double-action" piston bellows normally involves two tubes worked alternately with each hand. As the plunger is pushed down the cylinder, the air is forced through a tube into the furnace. Upon reaching the end of the cylinder, the feathers collapse allowing the plunger to rise back without effort.

By working one piston at a time, a constant flow of air is introduced into the furnace.


Carving from Candi Sukuh in Java dating from the early to mid-1400s showing a smith forging a kris to the left, and a helper working a two-handed piston bellows to the right. (Sourc: http://www.nikhef.nl/~tonvr/keris/keris1/keris.html)

Development of the cannon

The earliest mention of possible military use of cannons may be that John de Plano Carpini who tells of a battle during the time of Genghis Khan, i.e., before 1227. The Mongol leader sent one of his sons to fight against Prester John, the king of "Greater India," a location which as we discuss in his blog is rather vague.

From thence the Mongol army marched to fight against the Christians dwelling in the greater India, and the king of that country, known by the name of Prester John, came forth with his army against them. This prince caused a number of hollow copper figures to be made, resembling men, which were stuffed with combustibles, and set upon horses, each having a man behind on the horse, with a pair of bellows to stir up the fire. When approaching to give battle, these mounted images were first sent forwards against the enemy, and the men who rode behind set fire by some means to the combustibles, and blew strongly with their bellows: and the Mongol men and horses were burnt with wildfire, and the air was darkened with smoke.


--- The Travels of John de Plano Carpini and other Friars, sent about the year 1246, as ambassadors from Pope Innocent IV, to the great Khan of the Moguls or Tartars

Some scholars have speculated that the hollow figures stuffed with combustibles might refer to small portable swivel guns like the lantaka.

Another possibility is something similar to the modern sumpak made by village smiths in the Philippines. The sumpak has the same name as the earlier fire piston and is similar in design relying on air compression using a plunger to ignite a shotgun-like shell. The age of this design is questionable but it makes sense that early cannons could have been derived from the fire piston. Both fires pistons and piston bellows were found in Madagascar but not the cannon, so the former are probably earlier inventions.

It is known that the Chinese had early knowledge of gunpowder and cannon-like devices. The medieval Arabs knew of saltpeter, the most important ingredient in gunpowder, as "Chinese snow," while the Persians called it "Chinese salt." According to Needham, the oldest cannon artifact is a bronze bombard at the Peking Historical Museum dated by inscription to 1332.

However, there is significant difference in the methods used by the Chinese to obtain saltpeter, as compared with those found in Southeast Asia.

In China, saltpeter is found on certain nitrogen-rich soils where winds from Eurasia helped dry decomposing organic material. In many areas, saltpeter crystallized on the soil surface especially during winter. The Chinese method was to inject urine into such soils to enhance the saltpeter formation.

Such methods were followed by the Arabs and Europeans. In Europe, beds of manure and other decomposing materials, were mixed with soil and ash and charged with urine.

Southeast Asians, on the other hand, appear to have used guano as their main source of saltpeter in contrast to the Chinese methods.

"This island [Mindanao], like the rest, is lacking in saltpetre, but the fault is remedied from the deposits of the giant bats (Murcielagos) which congregate in dark caves where they deposit an abundance of excrement which is made a substitute for saltpetre: and to this end there follows the labor necessary to extract the elements required for the manufacture of gunpowder, which is one of the most important needs of the islands. But although they succeed, the quality is not as quick on account of the moisture nor as powerful as ours. The matter of its manufacture has been brought to the notice of his Majesty as being more expensive and impracticable for the needs of the government."

(Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, by P. Francisco Combes, 1645, abridged translation. Original Spanish: "Falta en esta Isla el salitre, como en las demas deste Archipelago; pero suple su falta el Mindanao con otra mina que dio la naturaleza en unas grutas, y cueuas grandes, guarida de los murciegalos, que los ay mayores que una gallina, y en numero inmenso, que a no ser negras auroras de la noche, pudieran introduzirla en lon mejor del dia, segun assombra los ayres su multitud, ocupando muchas horas su negro exercito en la mancha, que a puestas del Sol ordena en busca del sustento. Estos como enemigos de la luz se acogen de dia al assilo de last tinieblas, que reynan en las grutas, con que les dexan abundancia de exrementos, los quales beneficiados se sustituyen al salitre; y al fin llega a conseguir el trabajo industrioso los ingredientes necessarios para la poluora, que es le mayor necessidad destas islas. Pero aunque salen con ella, ni es tan prompta, por ser naturalmente mas humeda, ni tiene la violencia que la nuestra. Por lo que, aunque muchos han presentado este arbitrio a su Magestad, nunca se ha aceptado, por ser de poco efecto, y de mayor gasto que el ordinario, y practiable para pocas cantidades, y no para la grandeze de los abastos Reales.")

"The process of manufacturing saltpetre and gunpowder will demand a short account. Saltpetre is obtained by boiling the soil of caves frequented by bats and by birds, chiefly swallows. This soil is decomposed dung of these animals, which commonly fills the bottom of the caves to the depth of from four to six feet."

(History of the Indian Archipelago : containing an account of the manners, arts, languages, religions, institutions, and commerce of its inhabitants, by John Crawford, 1820)

Nowhere in his vast work does Needham mention the use of guano, bat or bird dung, in making saltpeter.

Interestingly, guano, sulfur and charcoal, the three ingredients used in manufacturing gunpowder, occur naturally where volcanoes coincide with caves for bats and swallows. Such areas are, in fact, quite common in Southeast Asia.

In Medieval Technology and Social Change Lynn White, suggests that the cannon was developed through the concept of the blowgun imported by Arabs from Southeast Asia.

She states that Tamil sungutan and Malayalam tumbitan, both meaning "blowgun" are derived from the sumpitan "blowgun" of Insular Southeast Asia.

The Arabic zabatana and zabtaniya "blowgun" are traced to the
same source, and these also became names for the Arab arquebus.

From the Arabic derives the Italian name for blowgun, cerbottana, which by 1440 also is the name of a long-barrelled, small-bore cannon.

Lantakas

European explorers found excellent weapons known as lantakas used in Southeast Asia in the late 1400s and early 1500s. Mounted on a swivel yoke, the portable lantaka was most often suspended on stirrups attached to the rail of a ship. The setup allowed for recoil and quick, versatile aiming.

Most lantakas were made of bronze and the earliest ones were breech-loaded. During colonial times, there was a trend toward muzzle-loaded weapons. Europeans hired local smiths and also cast their own lantakas for use on their ships. The most impressive were the large double-barrelled lantakas. Small cannonballs or grape shot were fired from these weapons.


Double-barrelled lantaka from the Museo d'Arte Orientale. (Source: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=137)


Lantaka with swivel mount clearly displayed. (Source: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/printthread.php?t=88)


Larger culverin-like weapons, often made of iron, were also cast like the 17-foot cannon of Manila's Rajah Soliman. An indigenous type of arquebus, sometimes made of copper, is also frequently mentioned.

Despite the high-quality of their weapons, most kingdoms in Southeast Asia at the start of the colonial period had only small inventories. Problems procuring iron, and long rituals involved in producing weapons will be discussed below. Tome Pires was impressed with the artillery and firearms possessed by the Vietnamese empire, and their skill in using these weapons. However, even here Vietnam was forced to import most of its saltpeter and sulfur from places like Solor in eastern Indonesia.

As most of Southeast Asia lacked dry season winds such as those found in India and China, guano tended to be very moist compared to that found in Peru and other locations. The process of extracting saltpeter from guano thus was lengthy and expensive.

Iron technology and the Kris

The oldest dates for iron in Southeast Asia are from Ban Chiang going back to 1600 BCE. Again these are a source of controversy like the bronze datings.

Other early dates for iron can be found at Sa-Huynh sites in Vietnam.

Meteoric iron may have been preferred because of its supposed spiritual qualities as a 'heavenly metal.' The taste for meteoric iron may have even hurt local iron mining efforts. When Europeans came to the Philippines iron was valued higher than gold or silver, although they were well aware of the prices for these metals in other countries.

Kris manufacture throughout Southeast Asia involved the heavy use of meteoric metals. The kris was first and foremost a spiritual and ritual amulet as much as a battlefield weapon. The early high quality armament of the Shang dynasty in China was also made of meteoric metal.

Alternating "soft" and "hard" layers were folded in making the kris, with the hard layers involving iron, nickel and titanium, at least one of which and preferably all of meteoric origin. The soft layers were made of ordinary iron. Many modern kris makers (empu) however, use industrial metals to make their weapons.


The Wonotirto meteorite of 2001 in Java was found to have a high titanium content. X-ray fluoresence testing indicated that the stone was primarily titanium mixed with nickel, manganese and iron. (Source: http://ww.indomedia.com/)

A high quality kris involves hundreds of laminations, and the best quality might involve thousands of layers.

While some kris may be highly-polished, the more characteristic technique is to create a rough finish known as a pamur. The kris is described as a three-edged weapon with the rough pamur side complementing the normal edges. An empu will often make cuttings to expose veins, considered to have special spiritual power.

After a bit of polishing, acidic solutions, including lime and arsenic, are used to pickle the blade to help prevent rusting. The arsenic blackens the iron and steel allowing the nickel and other impurities to shine through and give the pamur appearance. Etchings are also made using arsenic. The kris is then dryed over charcoal and incense and finally lubricated with scented oils.


The pamur of the kris is clearly displayed in this image. (Source: www.aagaines.com/man/kris1.html)


Source: http://www.arco-iris.com/George/indonesia.htm


Sacred smith

The smith has been studied in world cultures and most often the position is either highly-regarded or despised. In some cases, castes and taboos arise with particular reference to the blacksmith.

In India, for example, metal-working is most closely associated with the tribal peoples, particularly those of the Vindhyas. Iron is considered the metal of the sudras, or lowest caste, while copper was assigned to the highest caste brahmins.

Iron tools were forbidden in Ancient Greek temples, and the Roman priests of Jupiter used bronze and avoided iron tools for cutting their hair and nails. This prohibition was passed on to the Frankish kings.

African society is nearly divided between pastoral peoples, particularly those who ride the horse, who hold the blacksmith as a pariah caste, and settled agricultural people who elevate the smith to nobility, priesthood and royalty.

Turko-Mongol peoples generally revered the blacksmith and two of their greatest heroes Temujin (Genghis Khan) and Timur both had names derived from the word for "blacksmith." The Ghuz Turks in particular where considered practically a blacksmithing people en masse at one time.

On the other hand, from Nepal to Tibet the blacksmith generally has the same low position as in India.

"Blacksmith" itself denotes a low status, and in medieval Europe the work was often assigned to semi-nomadic Gypsies.

Southeast Asian cultures generally fall into the category of cultures that revered blacksmiths, and placed iron very high if not at the top of the metal hierarchy. In old Java, the terms empu or kyai "lord, master" referred specifically only to the iron smith or later to the weapons-maker.

A prince who was not in the line of succession could favorably consider becoming a blacksmith in the region from Java to Mindanao in old-time culture.

Blacksmith shops acted also as communal meeting places and even temples, and the blacksmith often held an hereditary chiefly position in the community. Only the high nobility maintained their genealogies as carefully as the blacksmith.

Because the weapons of the smith were often considered also as sacred heirlooms and at times even the domains of one's ancestors, the forging process was particularly painstaking in detail. The master smith awaited special astrological conjunctions and signs to undertake each stage of the weapon-making process.

In some cases, a very precious kris could take many years or even the entire lifetime of the smith to complete.




A Maranao sultan's betel box with silver applique (above). Below is a betel box with silver inlay and strap. The Maranao were skilled silver and goldsmiths and even practiced their own indigenous form of dentistry. Gold teeth were implanted by cutting away the tooth, allowing the pulp to dry, and placing a silver core in the cleaned socket. A gold exterior was welded to the silver nail.(Source: http://www.lasieexotique.com/mag_betel.html)

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Blust, Robert A. "Linguistics versus archaeology : early Austronesian terms for metals," Archaeology and Language, 1999, pp. 127-143.

Combes, Francisco. Historia de Mindanao y Joló: por el p. Francisco Combés ... Obra publicada en Madrid en 1667, y que ahora con la colaboración del p. Pablo Pastells ... sanca nuevamente á luz W. E. Retana, Madrid: Viuda de M. Minuesa de los Ríos, 1897.

Higham, Charles. The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

___. The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Kerr, Robert. General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time, W. Blackwood and T. Cadell, 1824.

Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China Volume V Part 2 Chemistry and Chemical Technology..., Oxford University Press, 1974.

Glossary: Zambales Mountains (Sambal)

Zambales is the name of a mountain range and corresponding biogeographic zone along the eastern edge of Zambales Province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines.

The Philippine islands are located between the northward-moving Philippine Sea Plate and the relatively stationary Asian region. The Zambales Mountains are formed at the subduction of the Asian plate at the Manila Trench. Mt. Pinatubo is the most well-known peak in this range.

An exposed area of ocean crust and mantle known as an ophiolite is found in Zambales. The Zambales Ophiolite boundary can easily be distinguished as the differing rock types of the ocean crust and mantle bring about contrasting vegetation. Two differing blocks within the ophiolite, the Coto and Acoje blocks, and evidence of lava mixing, give the Zambales area a highly heterogeneous geochemistry.

"We suggest that the array of geochemical data from the Zambales ophiolite can be explained in terms of processes observed in present-day convergent plate margins, such as the Marianas or Lau Basin in the western Pacific. Complicated plate boundaries which have existed for long periods of time, including closely opposing and changing subduction systems, the rifting of arcs, and the formation of backarc basins may result in the superposition of one lava type on another or may produce many small domains in the upper mantle sources for subduction-related lavas, some of which become extremely depleted or secondarily enriched. Magmas derived from such a heterogeneous mantle will display ranges in geochemical characteristics, possibly similar to those observed in the Zambales ophiolite." (Evans et al., 1991)

Mt. Pinatubo's 1991 eruption produced dacite lava consisting of a mixing of Zambales ophiolite melt with sub-arc mantle melt.

High variance in the geological makeup might help account for region's rich mineral resources. The area was known in early times for its magnetic iron deposits. More recently the Coto block of the ophiolite has become the world's largest producer of refractory chromite, and also a good source of platinum. Nickel and chromite are found at the Acoje block.

Dizon mine near the border with Pampanga is noted for its copper-gold-silver deposits. Non metallic minerals such as sandstones, Zambales jade, serpentine, pumice, white clay, rock aggregate, salt, stones, cobbles, boulders, and silica quartz are found in abundance.

Non-pumicitic lahar is a component of concrete mixes, while non-magnetic lahar is the primary component of fired "Lahar Porcelain."

Pinatubo's eruption expelled large quantities of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, the most ever recorded and nearly three times that of El Chinchon, its nearest competitor. Pumices in the area often have very high sulfur content. The source of all this sulfur is a matter of dispute. Some believe the sulfur may have been contained in remnants of previous sulfur-rich eruptions.


Source: http://www.environmentalprotectionofasia.com/masterplan/index.htm

Biodiversity

Despite it's relatively small land area, the Zambales Mountains have long been known for their natural beauty and biological diversity.

Although studies in this area are preliminary at best, some 61 endemic plants species have been found, of which 39 are endemic to Mt. Pinatubo alone.

About 50 species of moss thrive in the thick moss forests that were once considered inpenetrable. These forests have long been famed for their valuable tropical hardwoods, and today produce some of the most prized orchids in the international flower trade.

At one time, the area abounded in native deer species but these were wiped out during the colonization period due to deerskin trade with Japan and China. Now, the principal mammal species are monkeys, bats, including the Luzon pygmy fruit bat, and various rodents including a newly-discovered member of the tweezer-beaked Rhynchomys family.

Southern Zambales near Subic is the largest roosting refuge for bats in the world.

The town of Balincaguin in eastern Zambales, now known as Mabini, means "Home of Bats" in the native Sambal language.


The two largest bats in the world, the Golden-crowned Flying Fox (Acerodon jubatus) and the Giant Fruit Bat (Pteropus vampyrus), find their most important roosting ground in southern Zambales near Subic.
Source: http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/mammals/large_flying_fox.htm

As might be expected in a rainforest region, Zambales is home to a dazzling variety of insects including many rare butterflies. At Subic, a tourist spot known as the "Butterfly Garden" showcases an enclosed butterfly farming exhibit.

While some areas of the vast Mt. Pinatubo watershed are still biologically sterile, most regions have recovered since lahar flows stopped in 1997. Aquatic ecosystems including fish, vegetation, insects, algae, crustaceans and the like have returned.


The greening of Mt. Pinatubo

With standing freshwater swamps and pools, Zambales is a paradise for reptiles and amphibians. At one time, frogs and snakes constituted the most important source of protein for some indigneous peoples living here.

Zambales western seacoast is an important marine conservation area with sea turtle nesting areas and mangrove forests. To the east, just south of the sister volcano Mt. Arayat are the Candaba wetlands, a major nesting area for migratory birds in the Philippines.

Indigenous peoples

The two indigenous peoples of the Zambales Mountains are the Ayta and Sambal. The Sambal live mostly in the northern part of the province while the Ayta live around Pinatubo.

Many Ayta were displaced after the 1991 eruption, but slowly some have been returning to the region. While most now practice root agriculture, they still have a fondness for hunting, and gathering honey, fruits and wild plants.

The Sambal, like the Ayta, fiercely resisted the Spanish invaders. Their conversion to Christianity was only accomplished through the rare implementation of the Inquistion in the Philippines. The Sambal priests continued to practice their old ways even after outwardly taking on Catholic practices.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Brown, R. M., J. W. Ferner, R. V. Sison, P. C. Gonzales, and R. S. Kennedy. 1996. Amphibians and reptiles of the Zambales mountains of Luzon Island, Philippines. Herpetological Natural History 4:1-17.

Evans, Cynthia A.; Casteneda, Gerry; Franco, Helen. "Geochemical complexities preserved in the volcanic rocks of the Zambales Ophiolite, Philippines," Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 96, Issue B10, 1991, p. 16251-16262.

The Greening of Mt. Pinatubo, http://www.environmentalprotectionofasia.com/greenpinatubo/.

Yumul, G.P., Jr., 1996. Rare earth element geochemistry of a supra- subduction zone ophiolite: The Zambales Ophiolite Complex. Tectonophysics 262, 243-262.

Glossary: Magnetic Mountain

In the lore of the cosmic mountain and axis mundi we find repeatedly the theme of the "Magnetic Mountain" or the "Magnetic Isles." Other names include "Loadstone Mountain" and the "Great Loadstone."

Myths of the "whirling mountain" like Mount Mandara in the Sea of Milk may be related to the magnetic mountain theme where a whirling motion is also described.

Given the idea of magnetism and a whirling geography, late medieval writers in Europe naturally equated the Magnetic Mountain with the North Pole. However, the early references to this mysterious mountain place it instead in the "Indies."

Pliny mentions a magnetic mountain in this region during the first century. In the second century, Ptolemy identifies the ten magnetic isles of Maniolae in the Gangetic Gulf between Sri Lanka and the Malay Peninsula, where ships built with or carrying iron dare not approach.

Two centuries later we find in the Chinese text Nan Zhou Yi Wu Zhi, the mention of a similar place where only wood joint vessels should venture located in the extreme southern ocean off the coast of Tongking or Cochin-China (Giaochi). Muslim geographers like Kazwini and Idrisi mention the Loadstone Mountain and it is found in the tales of the Arabian Nights. In all cases, the geologic anomaly occurs in the "Far East" rather than in the North.

Roman de Ogier le Danois of the 14th century locates the Great Loadstone in Avalon "not far on this side of the terrestrial paradise, whither were rapt in a flame of fire Enock and Helios." Ogier is shipwrecked there after the iron nails and bolts of his vessel are pulled out by the areas's magnetic forces, and it is there he encounters Morgan le Fay. He also meets the fire-breathing fairy horse Papillon "famed for his skill and wisdom" with whom he returns to France from the Indies.

During the same century, John of Mandeville places the 'Adamant Islands' where ships use wooden pegs rather than iron nails in the eastern kingdom of Prester John.

Esoteric meaning

While the references to magnetic mountains or isles may be only an explanation of the wooden joint ships of the Indian Ocean, the theme often took on deeper meanings.

Arabic literature like the One Thousand and One Nights tell of a brazen/bronze horseman and brazen horse on the black, whirling Magnetic Mountain (The Story of the Third Kalendar). On the chest of the brazen horseman is a tablet of lead with mystical engraved names and talismans. A king is requested to climb the mountain and shoot the rider off the horse with his own lead arrows after which the sea will rise and engulf the mountain. After that the king was told he would be rescued by a man in a boat.

When the king accomplishes the tasks and shoots the brazen rider off his brass horse, the sea rises and swallows the mountain rendering it harmless to passing ships. In the approaching boat is a brazen man with a lead tablet on his chest engraved with names and talismans. The man rescues him and takes him back to his kingdom.

Medieval tales of Virgil the Magician, starting in Norman times, mention both the Magnetic Mountain and the brazen or bronze horse and horseman but in separate legends. Here the brazen horseman points with his brass lance toward the enemies of his kingdom.

Similar legends were told about the brass or bronze horseman mounted on the top of the Palace of the Green Dome of Caliph Mansur, the father of Harun al Rashid. In 1038, Khatib mentions this brass statue magically pointing toward the direction of impending attacks on the Caliphate. A similar brazen horseman was said to be found in Granada, Spain at the Hill of the Albaycin during Moorish rule.

The black mountain of the Arab tales was transferred as the Rupes Nigra in late medieval Europe to the North Pole. Eden also was moved to this location in this school of thinking playing on old legends of northernly or northwesternly journeys to the lush paradisical lands of Hyperborea and Avalon. There, people could frolic au naturel throughout the year. A type of supernatural explanation sometimes based on the magnetism of the Rupes Nigra itself explains the unusual suggested warmth in the polar region.

Taking the concept of the Great Loadstone to new heights, William Gilbert in his 1600 book De Magnete proposed a "magnetic philosophy" that ascribes an animistic spirit in all things to geomagnetism. One of the greatest proponents of this philosophy was Athanasius Kircher. A scientist, orientalist and occultist, Kircher spent years researching subterranean forces including the volcanoes of Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius. He was even lowered into the crater of the latter volcano to study its dimensions. Kircher's two-volume Mundus Subterraneus was exceptionally highly regarded during his time.

Pinatubo and Magnetism

The Zambales (Sambal) range, where Mt. Pinatubo is found, is home to one of the world's major and best preserved ophiolites. An ophiolite is a geological formation that causes magnetic anomalies creating its own magnetic and gravity fields.

Most ophiolites have been broken into many parts by ocean action, but the Zambales ophiolite is a massive intact formation measuring 150 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide. This area has long been known for its remarkably pure magnetic iron ores containing 75 to 80 percent metal.

Aside from the magnetism of the ophiolite and magnetic iron deposits, Zambales also contains large amounts of magnetic lahar deposited after Pinatubo's last eruption. Pinatubo is described, by Imai et al., as an "east-dipping subduction of the Eurasian plate at the Manila Trench." The Zambales Ophiolite acts as its basement rock.

Pinatubo magnetic dacite pumices are divided into strongly magnetic types known as ferromagnetic, and weakly magnetic types known as antiferromagnetic.

Most of the pumice and lithic deposits of Pinatubo have reversed magnetism with respect to the geomagnetic field direction. Some ancient stone deposits, however, have scattered natural remanent magnetization.


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Beard, Charles R. Luck and Talismans: A Chapter of Popular Superstition, Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

Bina, M., J. C. Tanguy, V. Hoffmann, M. Prévot, E. L. Listanco, R. Keller, K. Th. Fehr, A. T. Goguitchaïchvili & R. S. Punongbayan. "A detailed magnetic and mineralogical study of self-reversed dacitic pumices from the 1991 Pinatubo eruption (Philippines)," Geophysical Journal International, Volume 138, July 1999, p. 159.

Dimalanta, C.B., Yumul,G.P.,Jr., De Jesus, J.V. and Faustino, D.V., 1999. Magnetic and gravity fields in southern Zambales: Implications on the evolution of the Zambales Ophiolite Complex, Luzon, Philippines. Geol. Soc. Malaysia Bull. 43, 537-543.

Imai,Akira, Eddie L. Listanco, and Toshitsugu Fujii. "Highly Oxidized and Sulfur-Rich Dacitic Magma of Mount Pinatubo: Implication for Metallogenesis of Porphyry Copper Mineralization in the Western Luzon Arc," FIRE and MUD: Eruptions and Lahars of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, http://pubs.usgs.gov/pinatubo/contents.html, 1999.

Glossary: Urbanization, Southeast Asian

According to research by Anthony Reid, Southeast Asia during the 17th century had 5 percent of its population living in urban areas, a rate higher than that of contemporary Europe. The largest of these cities had populations ranging from 100,000 to 800,000, thus as large or larger than the largest cities of Europe during that time.

Alternately, in States without Cities: Demographic Trends in Early Java, Jan Wisseman Christie notes that the famed Javanese port towns of the 16th century were mostly small with many having less than 2,000 permanent residents. These ports also experienced extreme shifts in population possibly explained by seasonal migration of residents, as in modern fishing towns/villages, and by economic conditions.

The process of Southeast Asian urbanization likely started with the city-less state model based on aquatic/marine culture, hydraulic/maritime engineering and either rural sprawl or ports highly dependent on foreign exports and surrounded by forest. The social organization of these states has likely survived to some extent in the adat or customary law still practiced in some areas to this day.

Insular Southeast Asia throughout its history held more to the city-less state model, perhaps due to the maritime nature of its populations, while mainland Southeast Asia built some of great metropolis of the pre-modern world.

States without cities

Unfortunately, due to the regional environment, little archaeological evidence remains to tell us of the earliest population centers. Only those areas were the ancient culture was preserved as in the mountains of northern Luzon and Bali, do we have living clues of this culture.

Volcanoes, typhoons and monsoons tend to cover or wash away that which was abandoned. Christie notes, for example, regarding the situation in Java: "... in the region between Yogyakarta and Solo, sites of the late first millennium C.E. have been buried under layers of lahar ranging in depth from two to seven meters in some areas, and almost no surface finds of material from the period are found in this area. Similar problems are caused in the east Javanese heartland by volcanic activity in the Malang uplands and adjacent areas, and by flood-borne alluvium in the Brantas delta."

However, from what can be gleaned from the living examples and from reconstruction of linguistic evidence, the earliest cultures in the area organized their societies around natural and artificial waterways. The aquatic culture and hydraulic engineering of later cities like Angkor and Ayutthaya have their model in this ancient practice.

Christie's study suggests that the population of Java during the early colonial period had been severely underestimated by a lack of understanding of regional rural communities. Instead of developing urban centers, growing populations increased the size of their rural settlements: "Not only did villages apparently grow at the expense of larger enclaves, but the data suggest that as villages grew they tended frequently to break down into two or more nucleated hamlets rather than acquire the characteristics of small towns."

By the end of the 17th century, well-known ports like Malacca and Makassar had only 5,000 inhabitants each. Census data show sharp fluctuation in population counts over time indicating that the people were highly mobile.

In many cases it appears that Europeans and locals defined "city" quite differently. For example, Rajah Soliman of Luzon had as his chief title, King of Manila, but it would appear that the walled portion of that city was nothing more than the fortified center of a mostly rural city-state.

When the Spanish landed in the Philippines in the 16th century, the average size of a village was about 500 people, not terribly smaller than most important ports throughout the Malay Archipelago at this time. These villages in certain areas were located within easy walking distance of each other with only agricultural land and no forest in-between.

Such communities were linked by extensive and complex trade networks. Many important ports at this time, for example, were completely dependent on their rice staples from external sources.

In many instances, the village networks resembled those of the port thalassocracies in that geographical proximity was not always the best indicator of trade relationships.

The First Cities

One should not suppose that the Indianization process led to rapid urbanization. It did lead to the adoption of Indian temple culture merged with local religious concepts. However, early "cities" like Vyadhapura of Funan, and Panduranga and Indrapura of Champa appear probably as nothing more than temple complexes.

There is no reason to believe they sustained populations that would be considered truly urban even for the periods involved. Funan and Champa must be considered early states without cities.

Fabulous Borobodur and surrounding temples were located in an environment of agricultural villages, plantations and groves.

One could argue that it was not until the strong emplacement of monastic tradition that the process of true urbanization began, mainly concentrated in mainland Southeast Asia.


Plan of the Khmer city of Angkor, Cambodia. Angkor Wat temple can be seen in the foreground. Note the rectangular reservoirs that feed the city's canal system. (Source: http://www.angkorvat.com/)


Temple of Angkor Wat. Notice the size of the people in the courtyards. (Source: http://gorillatales.com/KhmerTales/)

Khmer kings of the ninth century embarked on the building of the first Southeast Asian "water cities."

Indigenous ideas of the temple-mountain and urban waterways were fused with the monastic sangha and Indian temple architecture. The divine king created the metropolis as a national "heaven on earth."

Interestingly, one of the earlier types of this water plan that has been discovered is Nan Madol located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in Micronesia. Like Angkor, Nan Madol was crisscrossed by a grid of interlocking canals.

Khmer city planning had a strong impact on Southeast Asia as a whole, but especially on the mainland. Homes and buildings were perched near or on the water. City designers strived for an harmonious blending of artifical and natural features.

Siam and Burma in particular followed the Khmer model adding their own innovations.


Ruins of Pagan, Myanmar. (Source: http://www.buddhistnews.tv/)


A 1740 map of Ayutthaya in Thailand. The superimposed triangles show temple locations both within the map region and in nearby areas. (Source: www.gisc.berkeley.edu/projects/ayutthaya.htm)


17th century painting of water parade at Ayutthaya. Source: http://escati.com/)


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Christie, Jan Wisseman. "States without Cities: Demographic Trends in Early Java, Indonesia," Indonesia 52 (October 1991), 23-40.

O'Connor, Richard A . A theory of indigenous Southeast Asian urbanism, Singapore : Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1983.

Reid, A.J.S. "The Structure of Cities in Southeast Asia, Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries," Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 11,2 (1980): 235-50.

Ts'ui-Jung Liu, James et al. Asian Population History, Oxford University Press, 2001.

Wheatley, Paul. Nagara and commandery: Origins of the Southeast Asian urban traditions, Chicago: The University of Chicago, 1983.

Glossary: Horse in Southern Asia

In anthropological and historical literature, the horse is most often viewed as a Central Asian domesticate diffused by "Aryans."

However, research now shows that the horse was likely domesticated independently in different areas of the world. Extensive matrilines older than those of most domesticated animals can be found in today's horses.

For the purpose of this work, the horse of southern Asia is most important.

During the Pleistocene, two types of horses inhabited the tropical Asian region. From the Siwalik range in India came Equus sivalensis, and across the Himalayas to the East Equus yunnanensis was found in Yunnan, Burma and Guangxi.

A study in 1994 showed that even in a small region of Yunnan province there was exceptional diversity of mtDNA lineages (Wang W, Liu AH, Lin SY, Lan H, Su B, Xie DW, Shi LM. "Multiple genotypes of mitochondrial DNA within a horse population from a small region in Yunnan Province of China." Biochem Genet., 1994 Oct;32(9-10):371-8.)

Local adaptation

Such data can be interpreted to suggest that modern domestic horses in the region have some ancestry from ancient Equus yunnanensis that survived until displaced by domesticated breeds. Another factor that would point in the same direction is the existence of Southeast Asian horses with extensive resistance to tropical disease and
parasites.

Feral horses have been present in regions like southeastern Indonesia as far back as history records, once offering profits for traders who supplied them to the Dutch army during colonial times. These horses thrive in conditions in which most well-known breeds would not survive.

Such immunity can take extended periods of time to develop with gradual adaptation to tropical environments by expanding populations. This can best be explained by horses like Equus sivalensis and Equus yunnanensis.

For example, during Muslim times the kings of southern India spent enormous sums attempting to maintain stocks of Arabian horses. The latter types were accustomed to the arid environment of the Arabian desert, and most did not last long in South India's wet humid climate. Merchants from Aden and Oman made huge sums off this trade, and by Marco Polo's time it appeared as one of the main sources of income in these regions.

Likewise attempts at breeding purebred horses and other livestock for tropical environments over the last few centuries have failed. The only effective technique has been to crossbreed with animals that are already tropically-adapted.

E. sivalensis

In the Neolithic strata of Lemery, Batangas in the Philippines dating back to 8000-4000 BCE, horse remains were found that may be related to the present-day Sulu Horse. The latter breed retains traits characteristic of Equus sivalensis including concave facial profile, 17 rib pairs, pre-orbital depression, fine limbs, short-pillared teeth and large first pre-molars of the upper jaw.

The Sulu Horse represents the type found in the southern Philippines, the Moluccas and Borneo and is similar to other Southeast Asian horses in size and build with all more or less of the pony type.

The physical diversity of horses in the Malay Archipelago was commented upon by Charles Darwin in his book The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (v.1, p.33):

Looking only to the native ponies of Great Britain, those of the Shetland Isles, Wales, the New Forest, and Devonshire are distinguishable; and so it is, amongst other instances, with each separate island in the great Malay archipelago. (2/3. Crawfurd 'Descript. Dict. of Indian Islands' 1856 page 153. "There are many different breeds, every island having at least one peculiar to it." Thus in Sumatra there are at least two breeds; in Achin and Batubara one; in Java several breeds; one in Bali, Lomboc, Sumbawa (one of the best breeds), Tambora, Bima, Gunung-api, Celebes, Sumba, and Philippines. Other breeds are specified by Zollinger in the 'Journal of the Indian Archipelago' volume 5 page 343 etc.) Some of the breeds present great differences in size, shape of ears, length of mane, proportions of the body, form of the withers and hind quarters, and especially in the head.

Pleistocene fauna in the Upper Irrawady of Burma largely represents an expansion from the Siwalik fauna, so there may be a direct relationship between E. sivalensis and E. yunnanensis. The latter however might have been derived instead or additionaly from Equus sanmenensis of North China. The Yuanmou fauna of Yunnan and Upper Irrawady fauna of Burma eventually expanded throughout Southeast Asia.

Asvamedha Horse

Vedic literature, including the Rgveda and Yajurveda, mention that the horse used in the royal Asvamedha sacrifice had 34 ribs (17 rib pairs) and six lumbar vertebrae. This matches the fossils of Equus sivalensis. Portrayal of horses in early Indian art also display the concave profile and pre-orbital depression of E. sivalensis. These horses are of the classic pony-like build of southern Asian types.

Bronze drums of Sangeang in Indonesia dating from the Dongson period show horses with a very similar phenotype.

Vedic literature describes the horse as sea-born or as coming from beyond the sea.

The divine horse of Indra arises from the Ocean of Milk during the churning episode. An oceanic origin for the horse also occurs in Greek myth where the sea god Poseidon is said to create the equine race.

A great fiery mare's head is said to be located in the Ramayana in the farthest East underneath the sea, or in latter literature near the South Pole, again beneath the sea.

An Arabic tale in the One Thousand and One Nights tells of the Isle of Mares in the kingdom of the Mihraj, in the very Ocean of Milk. Sindibad hears of the mysterious stallions that come from the sea to mate with mares on that island:

Know that I am one of the several who are, stationed in different parts of this island, and we are of the grooms of King Mihrjan, and under our hand are all his horses. Every month about new-moon tide we bring hither our best mares which have never been covered, and picket them on the seashore and hide ourselves in this place under the ground, so that none may espy us. Presently the stallions of the sea scent the mares and come up out of the water and, seeing no one, leap the mares and do their will of them. When they have covered them, they try to drag them away with them, but cannot, by reason of the leg ropes. So they cry out at them and butt at them and kick them, which we hearing, know that the stallions have dismounted, so we run out and shout at them, whereupon they are startled and return in fear to the sea. Then the mares conceive by them and bear colts and fillies worth a mint of money, nor is their like to be found on earth's face.

--Alf Layla wa-Layla (v. 6, translated by Richard F. Burton)

Possibly the story refers to a practice of attracting stallions from nearby small islands to swim across the water for breeding purposes.

Horses of Yunnan

The emperor Wu Ti of the Han dynasty sent expeditions to Yunnan about a century before the common era. At this time, the region was already known for its high quality horses.

Chinese texts like the Hua Yang Guo Zhi and Hou Han Shu from the Western Han period describe the horses of Yunnan as shenma "divine horses."

During the T'ang dynasty, some southern Yunnan horses were priced at dozens of taels of gold.

By the Sung dynasty, the Dian-Zang Cha-Ma Gudao (Ancient Tea Horse Caravan Road) was opened between Yunnan and Tibet. Here the Chinese traded tea for the valuable Yunnan, Tibetan and Burmese horses.

When Marco Polo visited the region he commented repeatedly on the "excellent horses" of the Lolo and Shan peoples from Yunnan and from a kingdom called Anin, somewhere between Annam in northern Vietnam and far southeastern Yunnan. Horses from these regions were said to be exported to India.

In this province [Shan kingdom of Yunnan] also are bred large and excellent horses which are taken to India for sale. And you must know that the people dock two or three joints of the tail from their horses, to prevent them from flipping their riders, a thing which they consider very unseemly. They ride long like Frenchmen, and wear armour of boiled leather, and carry spears and shields and arblasts, and all their quarrels are poisoned.

-- The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 2, by Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa, et al, Edited by Henry Yule and Henri Cordier

Short horses from Yunnan. Chinese sources tell of the dazzling variety of horses from the region. (Source: Yunnan Photos)


The word "large" (Old French grant) above is better translated as "great" probably referring to the quality rather than size of the horse. Throughout the ages the horses in this region were described as small in size.

Horses from the Sea

Starting in the 14th century, Mongol and Manchu armies in the north continually threatened the Ming dynasty of China prompting them to seek horses from yet newer sources.

Across the sea, the kingdoms of Lusung (Central Luzon), Liukiu (Okinawa/Ryukyu), P'ing-ka-shi-lan (Pangasinan, Luzon) and Sulu became these new sources in the horse trade.

The "excellent" and "small but sturdy" horses from this region were imported repeatedly and also brought as "tribute." Lusung officially brought horses as tribute twice in 1372 and 1408.

These nimble hardy horses were well-suited for patroling treacherous terrain or atop of the Great Wall.


Horses and riders from Taal volcano, Philippines (Source: http://home.gci.net/~cwm/philippine_photos.htm)


Earlier Muslim works tell of the warrior princesses of Wakwak and Tawalisi who were expert "horsemen." The Chinese sources stated that the people of Toupo (Wakwak) were fond of horse meat, while Buzurg ibn Shahriyar said the horse bits in Wakwak were made of gold. However, it was not until Ming times that horses began coming across the sea to China.

When the Portuguese and Dutch landed in this region during the 16th century they relied largely on the feral and domestic horses of eastern Indonesia for their stables. Horses from the island of Timor were important in producing Australian horse breeds with special toughness and endurance.

Not generally known is the importance of the horse in the symbolic and ritual culture of insular Southeast Asia. The horse motif both with and without rider appears frequently on sacred textiles throughout this region.

"Horse blankets" are signs of nobility and royalty in many areas. Sulu and Badjao grave markers are known as "horses" (kurakura). The horse sacrifice is found both here and in mainland Southeast Asia as both a chiefly/royal and mortuary ritual.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Chakravarti, Ranabir. “Horse Trade and Piracy at Tana (Thana, Maharashtra, India): Gleanings from Marco Polo”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient (Leiden) 34, pt.2 (Jun 1991): 159-182.

Fang Qian and Guoxing Zhou (editors). Quaternary Geology and Paleoanthropology of Yuanmou, Yunnan, China, translated by Will Downs, Northern Arizona University, March, 1993.

Maxwell, Robyn. Textiles of Southeast Asia: Tradition, Trade and Transformation, Tuttle Publishing, 2003.

Yang, Bin. "Horses, Silver, and Cowries: Yunnan in Global Perspective," Journal of World History, vol. 15, 3, Sept. 2004.

News: More evidence of Neolithic exchange in S. China

A new study focused on the composition of stone tools in Neolithic Southeast China suggests trade between islands off the coast of Fujian with the mainland and also possibly Taiwan.

As mentioned previously in the blog, evidence of early trade in this region including coastal Vietnam and the Philippines comes first in the apparent trade of shell and stone tools. This trade usually involved coastal people trading shells for the stones of those living further inland. Obsidian was also a part of this trade.

Later, jade and nephrite become important tool and jewelry materials in Neolithic exchange systems.

Tracking Neolithic Interactions in Southeast China: Evidence from
Stone Adze Geochemistry
http://apu.addr.com/a2/neolithic_trade_sechina.pdf

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Glossary: Plantagenet

The word "Plantagenet" arises as a surname for a medieval dynasty originating from the county of Anjou (Angevins) in the 12th century.

The first mention of the surname comes from Archdeacon Ralph de Diceto of Middlesex. In 1150, he refers to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, in Latin as "Gaufridus Plantegenest."

Plantagenet was also used by Geoffrey Plantagenet's son, Henry II, whose titles included, King of England, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou. The surname then apparently falls out of public use for about 350 years until the time of Richard III. It is, however, likely that it continued to be used within the royal house itself until resurrected publicly at that later period.

Different traditions and theories exist as to the meaning of the surname. It is a compound of the words "planta" and "genet" or "genest."

Planta in Latin means "shoot of a plant," or "scion."

The modern word clan is derived from Gaelic cland, which in turn is believed to originate from Latin planta. As Gaelic had no p-, a k- or c- was substituted in its place.

Genet and its variants genest and ginet refer to a small Spanish horse derived from the Barb breed of North Africa, and related to the Spanish Barb and Andalusian. In modern English, this horse is usually known as jennet.

Traditionally, genet or its variant genest has been interpreted as genista "the broom plant."

Surnames in this region were practically non-existent until the coming of the Normans. The Norman conquest saw the rise of both surname usage and heraldry not only in this region but throughout most of Christian Europe. In addition, genealogy becomes a much more serious practice during this period.

A number of surnames arise at this time compounded with "planta" or its derivatives. These names could have a meaning similar to "clan" or "clan of."

So, Plantagenet could mean "clan of the genet (horse)" or "clan of the broom plant."

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au Xve siècle, 1881-1902

Richardson, Douglas and Kimball G. Everingham. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families (Royal Ancestry), Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004.

Stubbs, William. Hist. Works of Master Ralph de Diceto, Dean of London, 1 (Rolls Ser. 68) (1876): 293.

Glossary: Gymnosophists

The Greek word gymnosophist means literally "naked sage" or "naked sophist." It was used to describe classes of "priests" or ascetics particularly from "India" and "Ethiopia."

Among the two most mentioned classes of Gymnosophists were the Samaneans and Brachmanes. The latter are often interpreted as the Brahmin caste of India. Porphyry states that they subsisted on fruits, milk and herbs. The Samaneans appear to be Buddhists and/or Jains and are said by Porphyry to live on rice, bread, fruit and herbs that grew on the banks of the Ganges. Samanean may be derived from Sanskrit shraman, a term for those who followed philosophies in vogue in East India during the development of Buddhism and Jainism.

Both the Samaneans and Brachmanes were described as vegetarian. Indeed, the Gymnosophists were noted if not for their pure vegetarianism at least for their moderation in eating flesh, and in diet in general.

Indeed in all ways, the Gymnosophists were described as living an austere mode of life. The description of their nakedness reminds us of the Nagasadhu and Jain monks who do in fact renounce bodily clothing.

Among the Samaneans, a renouncer leaves his family who are then provided for by the king, who also supports their dormitories. This may refer to the monastic system of the Buddhists and Jains.

One particular class of Gymnosophists of interest for this work are those known as Kalani. A fragment of the writings of Clearchus, a student of Aristotle, gives the latter's account, told to him by an unnamed Jew, of the origin of the Jews. The narrative is given according to Josephus as preserved by Eusebius.

In his first book on Sleep he relates of Aristotle, his master, that he had a discourse with a Jew; and his own account was that what this Jew said merited admiration and showed philosophical erudition.

To speak of the race first, the man was a Jew by birth and came from Cœlesyria [Palestine]. These Jews are derived from the philosophers of India. In India the philosophers call themselves Kalani, and in Syria Jews, taking their name from the country they inhabit, which is Judea; the name of their capital is rather difficult to pronounce: they call it Jerusalem.

Now this man, who had been the guest of many people, had come down from the highland to the seashore [Pergamus]. He was a Greek not only in language, but in soul; so much so that, when we happened to be in Asia in about the same places whither he came, he conversed with us and with other persons of learning in order to test our wisdom. And as he had had intercourse with a large number of sages, he imparted to us more knowledge of his own. This is Aristotle's own account as recorded by Clearchus, and he adds more specific observations regarding his great and wonderful fortitude in diet and continent mode of living.

Contra Apionem of Josephus

Not much information is given regarding the Kalani. Possibly they could be related to the Kolano of the Periplus of the Erythraen Sea who are said to sail their ships between the mouth of the Ganges and Chryse in the Far East. Kolano has been linked with the Kunlun of the Chinese texts which can be used either as the name of a people or a title of a king.

In this connection, a modern survival may be found in kolano, kulano, kuyano and related words meaning king, chief, clan leader, etc. found in the southern Philippines and eastern Indonesia.

Abraham the Chaldean

The curious statement about the Jews origin from the Kalani may be related to current popular tales of Oannes in Greco-Roman circles.

The ancient Sumerian accounts of their own (partial) origin from Dilmun in the Far East were preserved in the Greek translations of Berossus. He told of the Annedoti, known to the Akkadians as Apkallu and to Sumerians as Abgal, who came from across the Erythraen Sea to Chaldea (Sumer).

The Old Testament may even subtly suggest an Apkallu descent for Abraham, the father of the Hebrews. Abraham is the descendent of the Enoch, the seventh of the ante-diluvian patriarchs.

Enoch has some startling linkages with the seventh Apkallu named Utu-abzu, the sage of the seventh king Enmenduranki. It is said of Utu-abzu that he "ascended to heaven" as suggested also for Enoch: "And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24).

The name Utu-abzu means "Heavenly Sun" and Enmenduranki promoted Sun worship. Enoch is said to have lived 365 years (Genesis 5:23), a number suggested to be connected with the solar year.

Solar aspects are strengthened by accounts in 1 Enoch where the patriarch defends the solar calendar against a rival 360 year (12 months of 30 days) calendar. In the Book of Jubilees, Enoch is also strongly linked with the calendric sciences.

The was the first among men that are born on earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom and who wrote down the signs of heaven according to the order of their months in a book, that men might know the seasons of the years according to the order of their separate months. And he was the first to write a testimony and he testified to the sons of men among the generations of the earth, and recounted the weeks of the jubilees, and made known to them the days of the years, and set in order the months and recounted the Sabbaths of the years as we made known to him.

-- Jubilees 4:17-18

By equating Enoch with Utu-abzu, we have an Apkallu connection that may in the end explain the story, attributed to Aristotle, of the eastern Kalani origin of the Jews. Of course at that time from the purely Hebrew perspective Enoch would also be an ancestor of all humanity.

Essenes

The perceived similarity between the philosophy of the Gymnosophists with that of the Jews may stem from the more ascetic sects of Jews such as the Essenes.

Among the Essene community of Qumran, the books of Enoch and Jubilees were of outstanding importance judging from the frequency of manuscripts found. They also may have been defenders of the solar year calendar against the lunar calendar of the temple priesthood.

Communities like the Essenes and the Mandaeans may have give risen to personalities like John the Baptist. The model for the John the Baptist type though seems to arise earlier with the Beni Nabi'im "Sons of the Prophets" a prophetic fraternity in the time of Samuel.

In many ways John the Baptist was like Elijah, one of the Sons of the Prophets; both living in the wilderness; Elijah fed by the ravens while John subsisted on locusts and honey. Both had rough garments and may have appeared relatively naked like a Gymnosophist.

Geographical information found in 1 Enoch and Jubilees indicate that the Qumran communities viewed the Garden of Eden as located in the furthest East, beyond their own conception of "India" and the Erythraean Sea.

Enoch is said to be led by the "Watchers" to both the place of the throne of God and the prison of the fallen angels who 'cohabited with women,' both alike in their fiery environment.

And I beheld a vision, And lo! there was a second house, greater than the former, and the entire portal stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire. And in every respect it so excelled in splendour and magnificence and extent that I cannot describe to you its splendour and its extent. And its floor was of fire, and above it were lightnings and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming fire. And I looked and saw therein a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. And from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon.

-- 1 Enoch 14:15-20

And I saw a deep abyss, with columns of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns of fire fall, which were beyond measure alike towards the height and towards the depth. And beyond that abyss I saw a place which had no firmament of the heaven above, and no firmly founded earth beneath it: there was no water upon it, and no birds, but it was a waste and horrible place. I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains...And Uriel said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods, (here shall they stand,) till the day of the great judgement in which they shall be judged till they are made an end of.

-- 1 Enoch 18-19

Far beyond the Erythraean Sea to the East, Enoch is led to the "Garden of Righteousness."

And after these fragrant odours, as I looked towards the north over the mountains I saw seven mountains full of choice nard and fragrant trees and cinnamon and pepper. And thence I went over the summits of all these mountains, far towards the east of the earth, and passed above the Erythraean sea and went far from it, and passed over the angel Zotiel. And I came to the Garden of Righteousness, I and from afar off trees more numerous than I these trees and great-two trees there, very great, beautiful, and glorious, and magnificent, and the tree of knowledge, whose holy fruit they eat and know great wisdom. That tree is in height like the fir, and its leaves are like (those of) the Carob tree: and its fruit is like the clusters of the vine, very beautiful: and the fragrance of the tree penetrates afar. Then I said: 'How beautiful is the tree, and how attractive is its look!' Then Raphael the holy angel, who was with me, answered me and said: 'This is the tree of wisdom, of which thy father old (in years) and thy aged mother, who were before thee, have eaten, and they learnt wisdom and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked and they were driven out of the garden.'

-- 1 Enoch 32

Of course, Enoch's "father" and "mother" here appear to be Adam and Eve and hence the parents of all humanity, but the connection may still be telling.

Jubilees goes further in proclaiming that the Garden of Eden as the "holy of holies."

And he knew that the Garden of Eden is the holy of holies, and the dwelling of the Lord...

-- Jubilees 8:19

And when she had completed these eighty days we brought her into the garden of Eden, for it is holier than all the earth besides and every tree that is planted in it is holy.

-- Jubilees 3:12-13

Describing the region alloted to Shem, the son of Noah, Jubilees starts in the furthest East at Eden and then moves westward through the Erythraean Sea (Red Sea) and India, along the southern Persian Gulf and the northward through the Mediterranean coast countries to Anatolia. From there it winds back southeastward to Mesopotamia.

And he knew that a blessed portion and a blessing had come to Shem and his sons unto the generations for ever -the whole land of Eden and the whole land of the Red Sea, and the whole land of the east and India, and on the Red Sea and the mountains thereof, and all the land of Bashan, and all the land of Lebanon and the islands of Kaftur, and all the mountains of Sanir and 'Amana, and the mountains of Asshur in the north, and all the land of Elam, Asshur, and Babel, and Susan and Ma'edai, and all the mountains of Ararat, and all the region beyond the sea, which is beyond the mountains of Asshur towards the north, a blessed and spacious land, and all that is in it is very good.

-- Jubilees 8:21-22

One is tempted to link the centrality of Eden in the two texts to the Kalani origin story.

Alfred von Gutschmid suggested that the Jew who told Aristotle about the Kalani origin was the same magician Jew mentioned by Josephus in chapter eight of Antiquities. He was said to have used a rod to draw the soul of a sleeping child out of the body and then to have brought it back again -- an event purportedly witnessed by Aristotle.

The episode is reminiscent of the doctrine of kaladua, karkarma and similar notions as found in the Philippines. According to these beliefs, one's soul or soul-double leaves the body while sleeping and travels about returning before one awakes.

A spiritual adept can allow the kaladau or karkarma soul to leave the body while awake summoning it back by means of some ritual action like thumping the fist on one's chest.

We should also note here that Enoch's journeys around the world with the angels takes place while he sleeps near the "waters of Dan" west of Hermon.

Both Jubilees and 1 Enoch also place much importance in calendric time and in the celestial vault -- the stars, the portals at the horizon, etc. -- that has noteworthy underlying similarity to the philosophy of recursive dualism mentioned in this work.

Exchange of Ideas

During the period corresponding to the rise of Christianity, an environment existed favorable to the flow of religious philosophies from various regions into the Near East.

In the first century, Marinus of Tyre tells about the journey of a mariner named Alexander who sailed from the Golden Chersonese (Malay Peninsula) eastward to Cattigara. He mentions the port of Zaba (Champa?) along the way.

From the same period, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea speaks of the trade of the "Kolano-diphonta" or Kolano ships between the mouth of the Ganges and Chryse the "Golden Isle" to the East in India extra-Gangem (India beyond the Ganges).

Samanean, Brachmane, Kalani and other Gymnosophist presence in the Near East most strongly left its mark, according to the Greeks and Romans, on the Egyptian and Ethiopian gymnosophists. Much of the influence looks like that of esoteric teachers like fakirs, shamans or sadhus, willing to syncretize their beliefs with local ones. Or concepts of orthodox Buddhists and Brahmins were completely reshaped by locals to fit their needs. Most likely both types of phenomenon occured.

Among Gymnosophist-influenced groups were the Therapeuts who were concentrated around Lake Mareotis near Alexandria, in a manner matched by the Essene settlements at Qumran near the Dead Sea. Both the Essenes, according to Josephus, and Therapeuts revered the Sun, praying towards it at sunrise.

Solar aspects are also apparent in the term "Sons of Light" used by the Essenes to describe themselves. From a 4Q298 there is also the more specific phrase "Sons of Dawn." In the Apocalypse of Abraham XVIII we have: "Thou, O Light, shinest before the light of the morning upon they creatures."

Psalm 110:3 states: "In holy splendor before the daystar, like the dew I begot you" (NAB) for the Hebrew mrhm mshr lk tl yldtk rendered in the Septuagint as "from the womb before the morning star I have begotten thee." This psalm has been interpreted most commonly as having messianic meaning with reference to the priest-king Melchizedek, the "King of Righteousness."

Such symbolism remins us of the tradition around Pinatubo and Arayat of a solar lineage through the Sun's grandson Tala, the Morning Star.

Qumran texts give a very high position to Melchizedek in the heavenly order. The priest-king of Jerusalem in the time of Abraham is also seen as an Essene model for the coming Messiah, or even as a reincarnated Messiah.

Cosmic dualism

From their original works we can also surmise that the Essenses held a strong belief in the concept of good and fallen angels something also markedly present in 1 Enoch and Jubilees.

In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the theme of dualistic battle can perhaps be best illustrated by such themes as the dueling volcanoes, the warring brothers and the battle between Moon and Sun/Sky. However, an underlying and very ancient dualism can be found in almost every mythological conflict which pits one side against the other in familiar terms such as upstream-downstream, highland-lowland, left bank-right bank, etc. Specifically the theme most relevant to the "war in Heaven" is that of the dueling volcanoes or the battle between Sun and Moon.

Baptism

Baptism rituals among the Essenes may relate to the purification of angels in a river of fire prior to joining the heavenly choir as mentioned in late Enochian literature (3 Enoch 36). The Rabbis speak of the Neher Dinor "River of Fire" from which "ministering angels" are born daily only to vanish and be reborn the next dawn.

The baptism of fire, like that of water or Holy Spirit, or the baptism of nous in the Hermetic Krater relate well to the Kumbhamela and bathing rituals further east. The lake or river of fire is that of the cataclysmic volcano, the Mount of God, that cleanses away the old impurities. From the ashes of the cleansing fire arises the Phoenix, the new soul or world blessed by the elixir of immortality.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Charles, R.H. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913.

Haase, Wolfgang. Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt[teil] II. Principat-- Religion, Walter de Gruyter, 1984.

Josephus, Flavius. Against Apion, Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

Lopez, Donald S. Jr. The Christ and the Bodhisattva, SUNY Press, 1987.

Maier, Paul L. Eusebius, the Church History: The Church History, Kregel Publications, 1999.

Glossary: Mihraj

Medieval Islamic texts used the word Mihraj or similar forms like Mihrjan to describe the king of the Zabag empire in the East Indies. Mihraj may be a corruption of the Indian Maharaja "Great King."

Writers of the time described the Mihraj's influence as extending over vast territories from the Indies to East Africa. Some of these claims are substantiated by physical evidence such as the written records of the kingdoms of Champa and Cambodia, and land grants in South and East India. According to the texts, Zabag and its southern neighbor Wakwak competed for the highly lucrative East African trade.

Income from the mercantile trade made the Mihraj very wealthy at that time. In the One Thousand and One Nights and other Arabic literature the Mihraj along with the legendary Solomon are held as ideals of royal wealth. Sindbad visits the Mihraj on the "Isle of Mares" in one of most well-known of his voyages.

In the sea of Champa is the empire of Mihraj, the king of the islands, who rules over an empire without limit and has innumerable troops. Even the most rapid vessels could not complete in two years a tour round the isles which are under his possesssion. The territories of this king produce all sorts of spices and aromatics, and no other sovereign of the world gets as much wealth from the soil.

-- Mas'udi, AD 943

Despite the wealth of the Mihraj, his capital is described as a 'town' in Muslim literature. His palace is located on the water's edge in an estuary, and from his patio he daily threw gold bars into the water to propitiate the sea. At low tide, the pile of gold was exposed for all to see, and when the king died the gold was distributed to all the people of the land. The greatness of the king was judged by the amount of gold so accumulated. In the capital, fisher folk living in their boats or homes over the water were exempted from taxes. The Mihraj was the model of the Fisher King, the "Lord of the Net."

The rural setting of his kingdom is detailed by Abu Zaid who states that "patches of settlement succeed each other without interruption" and further mention an "uninterrupted and regular succession of villages."

A very trustworthy man affirms that when the cocks crow at daybreak, as in our country, they call out to each other throughout the whole extent of a hundred parasangs [~500 kilometers]...In effect, there are no uninhabited places in this country and no ruins. He who comes into the country when he is on a journey, if he is mounted he may go wherever he pleases; if he is tired or if his mount has difficulty in carrying on, then he may stop wherever he wishes.

-- Abu Zaid, 10th century

Policy of Attraction

During the heyday of Zabag between about 800 CE to 1300 CE, the Mihraj maintained an "open door" policy, as mentioned above by Abu Zaid. Merchants were encouraged to enter and stay in the country. Idrisi states that in particular the merchants of China favored trading in the islands of Zabag:

It is said that when the states of affairs of China became troubled by rebellions and when tyranny and confusion became excessive in India, the inhabitants of China transferred their trade to Zabag and the other islands dependent on it, entered into relations with it, and familiarized themselves with its inhabitants bcause of their justice, the goodness of their conduct, the pleasantness fo their customs, and their facility in business. It is because of this that this island is so heavily populated and so often frequented by strangers.

-- Idrisi, 12th century

Later during the Ming dynasty, the kingdom of Lusung, Zabag's successor, continued this policy and when the Spanish arrived in Luzon there existed merchant communities from China and Japan on land granted by the Lusung king. The large Chinese trading community of the Manila Bay was known as the Parian.

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)

Not long after reaching the pinnacle of its power, Zabag was threatened by its powerful neighbor to the South. In the late 10th century, an attack by Wakwak prompted the Mihraj to send an embassy to the Sung dynasty requesting assistance. Such a policy of attraction appears to have been a necessary strategy for the Mihraj, whose trading empire was also under attack in the far West.

Indeed both Wakwak and Zabag faced problems with their ancient East African spice routes due to the expansion of Islam. Wakwak for its part decided on massive military action. An expedition in the 10th century of fleet of one thousand ships was sent to the African Zanj coast and to Qanbalu, which by this time was nearly completely in Muslim hands. Arab merchants from Oman were taking over the trade.

Ibn Lakis has imparted to me some extraordinary pieces of information concerning them. It is thus that in 334 AH (945-6 CE) they came upon Qanbalu in a thousand ships and fought them with the utmost vigor, without however achieving their end, as Qanbalu is surrounded by a strong defensive wall around which stretches the water-filled estuary of the sea, so that Qanbalu is at the center of this estuary, like a fortified citadel."

-- Kitab aja'ib al-Hind of Buzurg ibn Shahriyar (955 CE)

The vast Wakwak fleet traveled for one year to attack Qanbalu, Sofala and other Zanj settlements that were then dominated by Muslim traders. Such a costly expedition demonstrates the gravity of the situation to the Wakwak rulers. Certainly the Mihraj must have felt the same way.

However, our thesis is that the Mihraj practiced a policy of attraction. His military might at the time was spent in protecting his home kingdom from Wakwak. He sent ambassadors to India and Tibet, made grants for temples there and some Zabag (Suvarnadvipa) kings are even said to have personally traveled to South Asia.

Further west in Europe, the overtures of the Mihraj may be seen in the letters and ambassadors of "Prester John." There was nothing unusual in the Mihraj patronizing at the same time Buddhism, Christianity (Nestorianism), Hinduism, Jainism, animism, etc. This was not an uncommon practice among the medieval kings of the Indies.

Later, Lusung continued this policy of attraction when the Portuguese arrived on the scene. By this time the ancient eastern routes in Africa had been lost, but Lusung still managed to monopolize the restricted trade with China. And it was still an important source of gold.

King of the Mountain

Chinese texts describing the king of Zabag (Sanfotsi) state that each ruler had images of themselves made in gold (anitos?). These images were consecrated to a "Buddha" called the "Hill of Gold and Silver" after the death of the ruler.

The Southeast Asian concept of the "King of the Mountain" likely derives originally from the mountain custodians of indigenous customary law. The custodian/guardian/king was also often placed as priest of a sacred plot, terrace or temple on the mountain.

The territory divided by the rivers flowing from the mountain were formed into districts under the ultimate influence of the king who ruled the entire banua. In the cosmic version of this kingship, the mountain becomes the axis mundi and the king a type of universal ruler. The territories under the king now include all those 'beneath the sky.'

In the Pinatubo model, the districts around the mountain are eight in number divided by eight major rivers, which including Pinatubo itself gives a total of nine districts. Using the "Mt. Meru" concept, the cosmic mountain also consists of levels, which we can equate with mountain terraces, often given as seven in number -- the 'seven heavens.'

Both the districts and levels can be viewed as if looking down from the sky in the symbolic form known as the mandala.


'Tantric' gold belt from pre-Hispanic gold collection of Philippine Central Bank. The triangles of the buckle represent the tiered mountain with six rows of dots/bindus decreasing by one as they ascend from the base of six dots. (Source: Laszlo Legeza's "Tantric elements in pre-Hispanic Philippine Gold Art," Arts of Asia, Jul-Aug 1988, p. 131)


Triangular gold pendant of the 'Sri Yantra' type also from the Central Bank, with dot-triangles arranged in three rows starting from a base of three triangles and decreasing by one with each ascending row. (Source: Laszlo Legeza's "Tantric elements in pre-Hispanic Philippine Gold Art," Arts of Asia, Jul-Aug 1988, p. 131)


The mandala was one of a series of animistic objects that symbolized or represented the cosmic mountain. These could be amulets, talimans, symbols, relics made of sacred materials from the mountain, even fire from the mountain itself. The objects were seen to have a life and even a mind and voice of their own. They are linked with the spiritual concept of the quest, both an inner and outer journey.



Medieval Philippine gold sash finial with mandala design, from Butuan on the island of Mindanao. (Source: pupuplatter.blogspot.com)



Gold waistcloth finial in "Mt. Meru" pattern from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. When viewed from above the ornament appears as a series of concentric circles. Finials of this type were illustrated in the 16th century Boxer Codex.(Source: pupuplatter.blogspot.com)



The world divided into eight "climes" from Yamakoti/Kangdez.



World divided into "trines" from Yamakoti/Kangdez.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Glossary: Fairy kingdoms of Europe

In Parzival, the genealogy of the Angevin dynasty and King Arthur traces their lineage back to the land of Feimurgan, aka Morgan le Fay.

Such a peculiar assertion resonates also with some earlier literature. Morgan is called the sister of Arthur in Chretien's Erec et Enide written in the 12th century. Earlier, Geoffrey of Monmouth, the creator of the modern Arthurian legend, calls Arthur's sister Anna, which may be a veiled hint at Morgan (Morgen).

In Vita Merlini, also claimed by Geoffrey of Monmouth he describes Morgan as a ruler of Avalon who comes to take the injured Arthur back to that island. Here she will use her healing powers to mend his wounds, and here he will stay to return to Britain one day.

In Parzival there is more than enough reason to suspect that the land of Feimurgan is the same as that of Prester John. Cundrie, for example, is a sorceress like Morgan le Fay and Alcina, Morgan's sister in the latter Italian romances.

By the mid-14th century, Avalon was often located in the Indies or the far East. Roman d'Ogier le Danois has the hero Ogier the Dane marrying Morgan le Fay in Avalon which is in the extreme Orient near Paradise. The Danish version locates it explicitely in the Indies. In Le Batard de Bouillon (1350 AD), Avalon is said to be beyond the Erythraen Sea (Indian Ocean) where Arthur and Morgan dwell.

Robert de Boron, of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, states that the Holy Grail was taken to Avalon. In latter Arthurian romances, the Holy Grail is often said to reside with Prester John or the Swan Knight on a mountain in the far Indies.


Mysterious genealogies

The fairy descent of the Angevins and Arthur seems strange enough especially when one considers the efforts of the royal dynasties at this time to tidy up their official genealogies.

Benoit de Sainte-Maure and John de Marmoutier's history and genealogy of the Angevins along with literary works like Roman de Brut appear designed to convey a sense of respectability to the newly-installed Angevins of England (Plantagenets).

There is nothing that would lead us to conclude that early Europeans disregarded the histories of Arthur as fiction. Indeed, latter kings like Henry VII even openly claimed descent from the ancient British king.

The discrepancy of the "official" genealogies with those of the romances has suggested to some that suppression of history had taken place.

Also peculiar is how the farthest Indies and the historical incidences regarding Prester John's communications at this time get caught up in the literature in this part of northern Europe.

Legitimization of Norman invasion

One could look at Geoffrey of Monmouth's work as possibly an attempt to use old Celtic legends and apply them to the Norman overlords of England at that time, and specifically to William the Conqueror.

Like Geoffrey's Arthur who crosses the channel from Brittany to free England from Roman domination, William crosses the same channel to free the Celtic peoples from Anglo-Saxon oppression. William himself was a descendant of Judith, Princess of Britanny and could seemingly claim to be a Celtic hero, despite his Viking background.

However, this does not explain the fairy descent which is never imputed on the Normans.

When they invade England, William of Poitiers states that the people of Brittany, Anjou, Le Mans and Poitiers formed the left flank of the Norman force. They were under the command of Count Brian of Brittany.

Among this group were knights with the appellation l'estrange "the foreigner" attached to their names. This is during a period when surnames were practically unknown. Eventually, the appellation did become a surname for people brought across the channel from Brittany and Anjou to settle in England.

Henry I, in order to counter-balance the power of Norman elites in England brought more of these people from the same locations of Brittany and Anjou. Orderic-Vitalis states that the newcomers were 'de infimo genere,' or of shady descent.

That the fairy connection could lie with these "foreigners" makes sense as Brittany and Anjou are the locations connected with Arthur and the Angevins respectively.

Interestingly, Arthur's fabled victories are in some sources said to have led to an empire that encompassed parts of Scandinavia, Britain and France, seemingly an allusion to the real conquests of the Normans.


What is a fairy?

Aside from the fairy as a mythical forest creature, early researchers like David MacRitchie and W.Y. Evans Wentz have suggested that the fairy also indicated an ethnic type at one time.

Fairies were seen as shorter than Celtic people, but at times very short or very tall, or having the magical ability to become very short or tall.

Despite being known as "fair folk," the fairies are mostly described as brown or dark-skinned. The Brownies and Duine Sith are examples of brown fairies. The Corrigan were described as black-skinned fairies. In the Vulgate Merlin, Morgan le Fay is described as 'very brown of face.'

The words duine "brown" and dubh "black" are used commonly in the most ancient Celtic myths to describe the fairies. Cundrie and Malcreatiure of Parzival are also described as having dark skin.

Evans-Wentz with regard to some vitrified forts and ancient houses assigned to the Piskies and Picts states:

In the district in which they are, the fringe of coast from St. Ives round by Zennor, Morvah, Pendeen, and St. Just nearly to Sennen, are found to this day a strange and separate people of Mongol type, like the Bigaudens of Pont l'Abbe and Penmarc'h in the Breton Cornouailles, one of those 'fragments of forgotten peoples' of the 'sunset bound of Lyonesse' of whom Tennyson tells. They are a little 'stuggy' dark folk, and until comparatively modern times were recognized as different from their Celtic neighbours, and were commonly believed to be largely wizards and witches.

From the European perspective, the fairy physical appearance varied from the otherworldly beauty of the fairy nobles to the repulsive appearance ascribed to the Nains. Malcreatiure's appearance in Parzival appears to stupefy the locals and it is explained that in the Indies there was "a great many of these people with distorted faces, and they bore strange, wild marks."


Arthur as Fairy King

Evans-Wentz, following Sir John Rhys, makes Arthur a king of the Fay, without necessarily giving Arthur any historical reality.

Many good reasons are given for Arthur as fairy king but none so explicit as the Parzival genealogy were he descends from Mazadan and the fairy Terdelaschoye in the land of Feimurgân.

No information is given on the paternal ancestor Mazadan other than he was lured to Feimurgân and stayed on there. However, Arthur's father Uther Pendragon is said also to rule at Annwn, the Celtic Underworld, and often synonomous with Avalon.

Of course, Arthur's sister, a full sister according to Chretien and half-sister in latter tradition, is Morgan le Fay, the fairy Morgan. Many of the knights in Arthur's service have powers that are usually associated with fairies in other literature.

Also impressively the near-dead Arthur returns to Avalon, land of the fairies, guided by his fairy sister until his eventual return.

The idea of supernatural descent is not unusual, but really comes as a surprise in this period and location of history, especially in that it involves the "other." In previous centuries, the Merovingian dynasty was said to be fathered by one Quinotaur a 'beast of Neptune' that encountered the Salian queen as she bathed in the sea.

This tale might be related to a series of "swan knight" stories that held sway in the northern Germanic countries in succeeding centuries. In Beowulf, Scild "the son of the skiff" comes over the sea sleeping in a boat without rudder or sail. He is raised by the locals and eventually becomes king. When near death, Scild asks to be placed in a boat that is guided into the sea by swans.

In other forms of this myth, and in particular the Lohengrin cycle, the swan knight appears as a hero who comes by boat guided by a swan to rescue and marry a princess or duchess. However, he makes her promise that she never ask about his origin and descent, which in all versions his wife is unable to do. The swan knight, on the breaking of the oath, then returns to the sea on the same swan-driven boat never to be seen again. However, he leaves descendants who adopt the swan on their standards.

The fairy descent of the house of Anjou and Arthur is of a more serious type not encountered since the Quinotaur incident some seven centuries earlier. Later this reputation stuck mostly to the Plantagenets, although the house of Bouillon also gets attached to the swan knight tale.

The "Melusine" tradition of fairy descent was so instilled in European thought that Richard the Lion-Hearted was stated to have said his family came from the "sons of demons."


A Melusine of fairy descent with bat-like wings and fish/dragon lower body. The husband of the Melusine must not view here when she bathes her children or she flies away, a restriction similar to that in the Swan Knight relationship. (Holzschnitt aus dem frühesten Druck des Romans; Basel, undatiert, ca. 1474, http://pr-server.unibe.ch/unipress/heft100/beitrag12.html)


Prester John, the Indias and northern Europe

What do Prester John and the Indies have to do with royal families in northern France and Britain?

Von Eschenbach is the first to explicitely mention Ind with regard to the Grail cycle. However, it must be said that Arthurian romances start with the introduction of the completely foreign and distant Avalon, not found in previous literature.

And the development of the Grail and Arthurian cycles takes place in the same two centuries that Prester John historically is said to have been making initial contacts with the Pope and the European kings.

Not only do we hear of historical visits of patriarchs and ambassadors from the Indies to Rome and Byzantinum, but in Parzival and other works there is mention of journeys by Europeans to the East. For example, Feirefiz's migration to the kingdom of Tribalibot near the Ganges.

Such new contacts could easily be understood in context of the conquest of Jerusalem by Godefrey of Bouillon, supposed descendant of the Swan Knight and leader of the First Crusade.

Hypothetically, we might assume that contacts with the Indies and back would travel through the Shi'a corridors in connection with the Sayabiga either to Sind or to the Crusader forts of the Holy Land. From Sind, the journey would proceed to South India and from thence to points East. From the Holy Land, one could venture to points throughout Europe and Byzantinum. The pact between the Templars and the Assassins might also explain how both east and west cooperated in allowing such travel to take place, albeit on a limited basis.

Latter Italian romances such as Ariosto's Orlando Furioso locate the fairy isles quite clearly in the East Indies. In this tale about the love of Orlando, a knight of the Holy Roman Empire, for Angelica, the daughter of the Great Khan of Cathay, a side story involves the island of Alcina, Morgan le Fay's sister.

Somewhere beyond Cathay (North China) and Mangiana (Manzi, South China) lay the islands ruled by three sisters -- the irresistably beautiful and wicked Alcina and Morgan, and their equally beautiful but virtuous and heroic sister Logistilla. A more specific setting for a tradition that had lasted for centuries.

In analyzing fairy descent, we can say that it was definitely related to the "other" but in both positive and negative ways. The fairies could have either very appealing good looks like the still handsome and youthful-looking thousand-year-old King Mider. Or they could appear with the shocking visage of Malcreatiure.

While the Plantagenets always drew suspicion of conspiracy with the Devil, Godefrey and Baldwin claimed descent from the Swan Knight, while the Tudor kings claimed Arthur as their progenitor.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Ariosto, Ludovico. Orlando Furioso, Oxford University Press, 1999.

Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, Courier Dover Publications, 2003.

Le Strange Records 1100-1310, s.v. "Roland le Strange," http://www.asiawrite.co.nz/lestrange/library/records/chap01.html, s.v. "Observations on the Le Stranges," http://www.asiawrite.co.nz/lestrange/library/observations.html

Maddox, Donald and Sara Sturm-Maddox. Melusine of Lusignan: Founding Fiction in Late Medieval France, University of Georgia Press, 1996.

MacRitchie, David. Ancient and Modern Britons: A Retrospect, 2 Vols. 1884; rpt. Introduction by William Preston. Los Angeles: Preston, 1985, 1986.

___. The Testimony of Tradition, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Limited, 1890.