Everything about Suwannaphum totally explained
or pali, is the name of a land mentioned in many ancient sources such as the Chronicle of Sri Lanka ("
Mahavamsa"), some stories of the
Jatakas, and
Milinda Panha. Literally, this name means "Golden Land" or "Land of Gold", and might be a region named "Aurea Regio" in "India beyond the Ganges" of
Claudius Ptolemy.
There is a common misunderstanding that the
Edicts of Ashoka mention this name. The truth is the Edicts relate only the Kings' names and never reference Suwannaphum in the text. Moreover, all of the Kings referenced in the text reigned their cities in the region that located beyond the Sindhu to the west. The misunderstanding might come from a mixing of the story of Ashoka sending his Buddhist missionaries to Suwannaphum in "Mahavamsa" and his Edicts.
Location
The location of Suwannaphum has been the subject of much debate, both scholarly and
nationalistic. It remains one of the most mythified and contentious
toponyms in the history of Asia. Asian history scholars have identified two regions as possible locations for the ancient Suwannaphum : Insular Southeast Asia or Southern India.
Insular Southeast Asia theory
One theory is that it referred to a powerful coastal/island kingdom in present-day
Indonesia and
Malaysia, possibly centered on
Java. This theory is based on such a kingdom's potential for power and wealth (hence, "Land of Gold") as a hub for sea-trade and on vague descriptions provided by contemporary Chinese pilgrims to India. Due to the Chinese writing system, however, the interpretations of Chinese historical sources are based on supposed correspondences of
ideograms – and their possible
phonetic equivalents – with known toponyms in the ancient
Southeast Asian civilizations.
Southern India theory
The other theory maintains that
Ashoka's missionaries didn't travel further east than
Sri Lanka (called "Tamraparni" in the Mahavamsa) and identifies Suwannaphum as a toponym in the extreme South of present-day India, outside of Ashoka's empire but still on the
subcontinent, possibly in the land of the Cholas or Pandyas. This theory is based on equally vague
archaeological evidence in southern India and the claim that there's no independent evidence, either historical or archaeoligical, proving Ashoka's missionaries ever visited South-East Asia.
Other traditions
Due to many factors, including the lack of historical evidence, the absence of scholarly consensus, various cultures in Southeast Asia identify Suwannaphum as an ancient kingdom there and claim ethnic and political decendancy as its successors. As no such claim or legend existed prior to the translation and publication of the Edicts, scholars see these claims as based in nationalism or attempts to claim the title of first Buddhists in South-East Asia.
Burman/Mon
In
Burma, both the ethnic
Burmans and the
Mons claim that Suwannaphum was a kingdom located on the
Tenasserim coastal area centered on
Thaton. This belief may stem from two references in the fourth century Sri Lankan history "
Mahavamsa" and
Dîpavamsa which told the story of the Ashoka missionaries (seven centuries removed), stating "Sona and Uttara were dispatched to Suvarnabhumi" and identifies this land with the contemporary (forth century) area of Râmaññadesa or Thaton. If true, however, it's unlikely that the people of this area were either Burman or Mon since, according to accepted archaeogical and historical evidence, the
Tibeto-Burman peoples hadn't yet begun their migration into the peninsula and the Mon were just beginning to filter into and settle the
Khorat area of modern-day
Thailand in the third century BC.
Thailand theory
In Thailand, government proclamations and national museums insist that Suwannaphum was somewhere in the coast of central plain, especially at the ancient city of U-Thong, which might be the origin of the
Dvaravati Culture. Although they've not based their claims on any historical records, the Thai government named the new Bangkok airport,
Suvarnabhumi Airport, after the mythic kingdom of Suwannaphum, in celebration of this tradition. This tradition, however, is doubted by scholars for the same reason as the Burman claim. The migration of the
Tai peoples into Southeast Asia didn't occur until centuries later, long after the
Pyu,
Malays, Mons and
Khmers had established their respective kingdoms.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Suwannaphum'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://suwannaphum.totallyexplained.com">Suwannaphum Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
