On the titles Ari and Apu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

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

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

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

On the title Dayang

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

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

Hawaiian-like petroglyphs discovered in Tonga

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Tonga petroglyphs hint at Isle link

Carvings uncovered by erosion are similar to those found in Hawaii

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser staff writer

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

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

Photos by Chas and Shane Egan

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

Read whole story.

More on Prester John

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Di Conti and the Eastern Ambassador

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ferdinand and Isabella, to the King ____________

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

Granada, April 30, 1492

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

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

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

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

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

Prester John and the Assassins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Assassins and Sayabiga

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Silence of texts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

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

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

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

Millenarian aspects of some Philippine Christianized rituals and beliefs

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

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

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

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

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


Patianak

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

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

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

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

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

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


Other Santos

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

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

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

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

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

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


Batalla Festival

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Santo before it is carried into church from Karlo Samson.



Japanese echoes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

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

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

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

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

More on Clove and Cinnamon Routes

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

Click here for full image.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

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

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

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

On Undersea Realms

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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


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


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

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

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

-- Enki and Ninhursag

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento


References

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

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

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

Two new studies on Austronesian expansion, peopling of Pacific

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

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

The Peopling of the Pacific from a Bacterial Perspective.

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

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

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

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

Language Phylogenies Reveal Expansion Pulses and Pauses in Pacific Settlement.

Gray RD, Drummond AJ, Greenhill SJ.

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

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

Sayabiga and Rice Agriculture in the Middle East

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

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

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

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

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



View Larger Map

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



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




View Larger Map

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Rice Terrace images on Google Earth

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

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

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



The Halsema Highway in Benguet. Click image to enlarge.



The area near Apunan. Click image to enlarge.

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


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

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


Muyong, indigenous forestry


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

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

Ancient Land Reclamation in Manila Bay?

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

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


Click image to enlarge


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


Click image to enlarge

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

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

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

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


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Indeed some old maps agree with the photographic image.



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



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


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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Notes on place names in Zambales and Pampanga

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


Land of sacred earth and pottery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

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

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

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

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

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