Kedah Altered Its Imperial Name From Zabag to Java in mid 13th Century

BotakChinPeng

Chapter I

Having dominated a significant part of the planet's surface for several hundred years, the Zabag empire finally disintegrated by itself in late 13th century. Many old kingdoms reappeared once more after several centuries under Kedah domination while several completely new ones sprang up in the peninsula and Sumatra.
But it was not a total collapse. Several vassal states still think it was in their best interest to stick together in a strong defensive alliance. The remaining Zabag comprised Kedah and several Sumatran states. There was also a city called Java on the peninsula . For some reason the empire was named after this city even though Kedah was still at the helm. However, it can't be ruled out that this Java town was the new capital of Kedah and situated within Kedah's boundaries.

ibn Said who died in 1274 wrote about a political entity made up of Kalah, Jawa, Lawri, Malayur and Fansur.
Dimasqi 1325 : Kalah contains the city of Malayur, Lawri, Jawa, Fansur, Kalah. 900miles by 350miles.
Nuwayri 1332 grouped the cities Fansur Lawri, Malayur and Kalah together.

Meanwhile the old name 'Zabag' which has been discarded by Kedah was gleefully picked up by newly independent Palembang.

The 'Jawa' eponym was not entirely alien to Kedah though. In the fifth century Ye Po Ti ( Java) was among places listed in Fa Hsien's itinerary and it is undeniably located on the peninsula because of the northeasterly direction his ship took when sailing to Canton. In that same century Kedah was better known as Kantoli.

This Kedah led Java empire conducted various military operations to maintain balance of power in the region such as intervening in a Siamese siege of Singapore(Temasek). When Odoric of Pordenone visited the emperor's palace in 1323 he learned that this empire had clashed several times with the great khan's forces; with Java emerging victorious on each occasion.

By the time of ibn Batuta's visit, Qaqulla had rejoined the empire. Brunei which has been rescued by Java(Kedah empire)from Sulu occupation also returned to the fold in 1368. Final addition seems to be Palembang which they attacked and conquered in 1397. Indeed this hardcore remnant of the former Zabag empire had managed to regain some of its former members by various means throughout the 14th century.

This findings may come as a big blow to believers of a powerful Majapahit empire but a simple reality check even in this modern times would easily convince anyone with a sound mind that the puny subservient Javanese had only been lucky beneficiaries throughout the more than a century long case of mistaken identity. Territorial gains touted by Majapahit can be dismissed as cheapskate Javanese fantasies.

Before we proceed further its crucial to understand how this great empire came about and how each country relate to each other.
It is also important to distinguish all misperceptions which has been prevalent to this day.
Both these subjects will be discussed in detail over the following chapters.
There will also be more elaborations on Jawa in episodes further down this textual presentation.

BotakChinPeng

Chapter II

Since the 19th century historians were given every opportunity to configure an accurate history of Srivijaya but instead they created a mess of incompatible fragments and missing links. This is why I recommend Srivijaya enthusiasts who are serious about finding out the uncorrupted history of Srivijaya to conduct extensive research of their own;based entirely on original contemporary documents and inscriptions.Whatever is deemed to be mere opinions of modern day scholars must be shoved aside with extreme prejudice. In this wonderful age of the internet, the unreliable old school can only watch helplessly as they are ridiculed by just about anyone with a superior solution. After painstakingly piecing together textual narratives from a myriad of credible sources, this is the unbiased truthful chronology of Srivijaya and Zabag that I have compiled :

The Sumatran kingdom of Malayu was first documented in 644 when it sent emissaries to China.

Based on the name of their military hub, Minanga Kamwar, which means Kampar estuary, the kingdom of Malayu was located exactly in what is now the province of Riau. They chose the name Malayu because they were the only Malay people on the island of Sumatra. The other neighbouring Sumatran people such as Jambi, Palembang, Acheh, Minang, Lampung etc are not true malays but regarded only as close relatives of Malays.
Sometime around 670 Malayu started launching military campaigns to create an empire.

Their overwhelming success prompted a name change to Srivijaya. As noted by Yiching when he said Malayu has become Sriboga.
Under the Srivijaya banner, Malayu expanded further in the 680s by occupying many other Sumatran territories including Palembang. A city that they built in 682 from scratch. Srivijaya also conquered a part of western Java but they never tried encroaching into any part of the Malay peninsula.

All their ambassadors to China were classified by the Chinese as from Srivijaya/Shilifochi.This explains why there were no more embassies from Malayu kingdom in the later part of the 7th century.
While srivijaya was expanding in Sumatra and into western Java, Kedah across the straits was also busy carving up an empire of its own. It managed to dominate the entire peninsula as well as central Java.
As we already know, the Zabag empire was also known as Savaka by certain 13th century Indians. But this toponym first appeared in written record several centuries earlier. The Manimegalai, a 6th century southern Indian folklore vividly had the kingdom of Savaka written in it. Just like other southern Indian and Ceylonese myths, this Tamil epic also depicted real place names with a fictitious storyline.
The Indra dynasty mentioned in one episode sounds analogous to the Sailendra dynasty while the capital of Savaka called Naga-puram which means Naga city was most certainly the Kota Naga ruins located in Kampung Naga within the Naga subdistrict between Alor Setar and Jitra .The naga(dragon) holds a special place in Kedah mythology. Therefore unless the Manimegalai author was a psychic, the Savaka kingdom definitely began its existence in the 6th century.

Incidentally Kedah ceased to be known as Kan-to-li in the middle of 6th century . This occurrence constitutes a regime change from the Qu-tan(Gautam) dynasty of Kan-to-li to the Sailendra of Savaka.

Another clear sign of a peninsular empire being formed early in the 7th century was a report by the Chinese ambassador Chang Chun that two Chi-tu (Singora) Brahmans who were responsible for overseeing his needs declared discretely to him they are citizens of the Great Central States and no longer citizens of Chi-tu despite living and holding high office in Chi-tu. That alludes to Chih-tu being part of a peninsular empire in 608 . Its not a coincident that nextdoor neighbour Kedah which began to be known as Savaka a few decades earlier ended up with a great empire a few decades afterwards. The nation in charge of this newly formed Great Central States has got to be none other than Kedah. And its no surprise that Chi-tu disappeared soon after the visit by Chang Chun.

The best way to chart the rise of Kedah is by studying countries bearing the "Ko-Lo" type of names such as Ko-lo-fu-sha-lo and Ko-lo-she-fen.
Ko-Lo-Fu-Sha-Lo is the chinese transliteration for Kedah Besar (Greater Kedah) while Ko-Lo-She-Fen is its translation into a Chinese dialect. Interestingly enough The Ko-lo-fu-sha-lo etymology began several hundred years before. A Han dynasty document was quoted by the Tung Tien placing Ko-lo-fu-sha-lo to the southeast of Panpan.

You can also tell that Ko-lo-fu-sha-lo and Ko-lo-she-fen are the same kingdom simply by the fact that they never appear in the same text of a Chinese document while in the very same text, neighbouring kingdoms like Pan-pan or Dvaravati were mentioned.

According to the Hsin Tang Shu, Ko-Lo-Fu-Sha-Lo sent an embassy to China between 650 and 656 and this kingdom was made up of 24 countries .It had the same custom as Dvaravatti and Chi-tu. In another section the Hsin Tang Shu pointed out that Ko-lo-she-fen is to the west of Dvaravati; a position used to be occupied by Pan Pan. Both Ko-lo-she-fen and To-ho-lo had armies of 20,000 men, Kan-pi (Jambi) of 5000. Their customs were roughly similar. In the early Tang period archives, Geluo had 20,000 foot soldiers and many elephants. From the Wenxian Tung Kao we learn that Ko Lo She Fen sent ambassadors to China in 662 and had an elephant equipped army of 20,000 men which is a large number by Malay standards of the time and above all it is conterminous with To ho lo (Dvaravati).Taken together, these reliable sources testified that by the middle of the 7th century Kedah had a large infantry of 20,000 and was no longer seperated from To lo po ti(Dvaravati) by Langya hsiu (Langkasuka) and Pan-Pan; which would signify that both Langkasuka and Pan pan has been integrated within Kedah Besar a.k.a. Great Central States. The stage was set for a showdown between Malayu led Sriwijaya and Kedah.

These two Malay empires finally crossed each others path sometimes in the early 690s.
When the dust settled, Kedah which was ruled by the ambitious Sailendra kings found itself on top.

There can be no denying the Kedah origin of Sailendra dynasty.
The Larger Leyden plate from 10th century Chola is the only contemporary historical source that linked a nation to Sailendra dynasty and that nation is Kedah. Any other suggested country such as India or Funan is just humble speculations by modern day scholars.
The Ligore stelae bore witness to the changing of religion by the Sailendras (and presumably their nation of Kedah as well).
On one of its face is an inscription which eulogize the Sailendra king whose name Vishnu denotes Hinduism as state religion. Inscriptions on the other face made roughly 100 years later, in 775 CE verified Srivijayan hegemony and implied that they had already converted to Buddhism . By then there was no need to glorify the Sailendra name anymore because it was already well established.
It is most fortunate that the northern part of Kedah’s domain like Ligore and Chaiya managed to preserve some important records of the empire.

In central Java the Sojomerto inscriptions of late 7th century was made by Sailendra Hindus in the Malay language. Proving that Kalinga was conquered by a foreign Malay power. But not Srivijaya because they have always been Buddhists. These Javanese Sailendra became Buddhists later on in the mid 8th century; precisely matching the historical religious profile of Kedah. This only proves that the ruling Malays in central Java had Kedah origins and were ruling central Java on behalf of Kedah.

BotakChinPeng

Chapter III

It seems that the usual approach taken by just everyone who had written books on Sriwijaya was to simply quote unauthenticated desultory opinions by authors of previous publications no matter how ridiculous it appears and then adding some invalid hypotheses of their own on top of it. Frankly speaking, figuring out this vast enigmatic empire can cause bouts of headaches; and intellectuals pursuing this subject can be forgiven for coming up with loose ends due to linguistic related complications as well as unfamiliar socio political tendencies of people in ancient times. But on the other hand there can be no excuse for silly conjectures. Some weak minded scholars have lived for quite a while but were still stupid enough to accept delusional voodoo fairy tales such as the self acclaimed victories of softy Cholas against Srivijaya as fact no matter how outlandish it sounds. Equally idiotic is the argument given in denying the repeated assertions of Srivijayan rule over Chola by impeccable chinese sources.The weakling Cholas were caught lying about conquering meekly Gujarat but some lunatics still think they could conquer the powerful Malays. Makes you wonder what hole these wackos been sleeping in.
Throughout the more than a century long culture of mediocrity among Srivijaya researchers, the purported history of Srivijaya became an ever growing pile of speculative trash. Each published paper creating more questions than answers.

The main causes of distortions in Srivijayan history are:
a)Misinterpretation
b)Omission of genuine facts and
c)Outright fabrication

Let me elaborate on these three subjects a little bit

a)Misintepretations.
The Kedukan Bukit inscription explicitly described how Palembang was built in 682CE by an occupying force who set out from a place called Minanga Kamwar to create an empire.
But some nitwit named George Coedes callously twisted facts in his haste to answer the question of Srivijayan origins and location. By claiming Palembang as the founder of Srivijaya, Coedes created another question that remain unanswered.. How come Yiching never mentioned Palembang despite having stayed in Srivijaya for so many years ? The absence of ‘Palembang’ in his writing indicated that he had never heard of it. Yiching started visiting the capital of Srivijaya from 673 when Palembang still does not exist. A good historian would not be afraid to declare honestly that he/she has not been able to identify the location of a capital city.

The perceived historical accounts of Srivijaya is full of unanswered questions that arose from attempts to answer some other questions. Perhaps such lackadaisical attitude are readily accepted within a community so used to failure but Srivijaya buffs out there demand nothing less than a perfect chronology of Srivijaya/Zabag/Sanfotsi
which is something scholars have so far failed to deliver.

b) Omission
Based on Yiching's early statement that Malayu become Sriboga, certain quarters were quick to interpret it as Sribhoga conquered Malayu and that Sribhoga is the same country as Bhoga
but in the later part of his documents there could be no more doubts as to where Srivijaya began when Yiching enumerated eleven sovereign Buddhist nations in the southern seas. Among them was Malayu whose new name was Sribhoga. Boga was not on the list. This is by far the most decisive evidence that pinpoints Malayu as the all conquering creator of Srivijaya. And it also confirmed Bhoga as a vassal of Malayu(Sribhoga).
The failure of scholars to take into account these eleven docemented sovereign kingdoms -probably through negligence or perhaps being too dimwitted to figure out its signifigance- had caused much unnecessary difficulties in identifying Srivijaya’s founder kingdom.

The ruins of Malayu city is somewhere a little bit further up the present day mouth of Kampar river ; waiting to be discovered. Its better to say Sriboga hasn't been found yet rather than pretend to know where it is like that imbecile George Coedes.

Another major omission by scholars is Yiching’s statement of Malayu becoming Sriboga when he first arrived there in 673. All published papers concerning this subjest implied that Malayu became Sriboga only between Yichings first and second arrival there.
This rampant incompetence among ‘srivijayan experts’ is truly mind boggling.
Just because Yiching once said "malayu has become Bhoga" many lousy historians came up with the idea that Srivijaya was created by Bhoga and decided to completely ignore several overwhelming evidence proving the opposite. Yiching said Malayu become Bhoga once but Yiching also twice said Malayu become Sribhoga. Which one is correct ? Its unlikely Yiching wrote a careless mistake twice.Therefore the statement "Malayu has become Bhoga" was definitely the careless gaffe by Yiching.
Besides, we all know that the empire was unanimously called Srvijaya/Shilifochi and not Vijaya/Fochi as it would have to be if Bhoga was the founder

Srivijaya 'specialists' so far have all been plagued with every sort of negative traits: ignorance, indolence, apathy, gullible, inaptitude,.... you name it.
Hopefully future researchers would be more competent and pragmatic.

c) Fabrications
Yiching would have clearly said Srivijaya conquered Kedah if that was what really happened but instead he wrote something ambiguous when reporting the outcome of Kedah-Sriwijaya faceoff which occurred in the early or mid 690s. One can understand why Yiching was mincing words in this issue. For years he has been hyping up this military power (Srivijya) as the champion of Buddhism in the south seas. He even made sure that his most important literary works were written while staying there. Then suddenly out of the blues some Hindu power simply seized it and reduced Srivijaya to vassal status. I'm sure even an honest monk like Yiching would be too embarrassed to declare the truth. Imagine how uncool he would look to his colleagues upon returning to China. Yiching was in a delicate situation where he had to report what transpired between Kedah and Sriwijaya without making himself look bad.

And he was in luck as right after annexing Srivijaya, Kedah almost immediately embarked on an identity hijacking exercise by adopting Srivijaya as the name of its entire realm. Kedah had good reasons for resorting to such post conquest political maneuverings. Much of its newly acquired vassal states depended heavily on the China trade. Many have been granted high trading privileges by the Chinese government. If china found out that these countries have been subjugated by another country, all those trading privileges could be arbitrarily revoked.
This peculiar but necessary ‘rebranding’ by Kedah is a big break for Yiching; allowing him to portray Kedah as the loser in the merger with Srivijaya without making himself look like a liar. Taking O.W. Wolter’s interpretation at face value,there is some truth in the phrase 'Kedah belong to Srivijaya' if that was exactly what Yiching said. By simple logic: the leader of a group also belongs to it.

Another point of contention is that the 11th century Tanjore inscription never said Palembang was Srivijaya. It only listed several kingdoms within Srivijaya including Palembang which they call 'Mevilimbangam'.

BotakChinPeng

chapter IV

Its true that most Arab travellers to Zabag did not specify the name of the emperors' home country due to their limited knowledge of Zabag leadership structure but when those among them who had higher level knowledge got more specific about the imperial hierarchy, the only country they have ever mentioned was Kalah (Kedah).

Merchant Sulayman 851 : "Kalah and Zabag governed by the same king" Which means that only the king of Kedah can become the maharaja of Zabag. Why ? because Kedah was the creater and leader of the empire.
Translations of Arabic texts by Tibbetts and a French document both registered Sri Nata Kalah/ Sri Nuta Kalah as king of Zabaj.
Edrisi (1154 A.D.) clearly says that the king of Kalah Zabag and the neighbouring islands lived in the city of Kalah.
Haraki 1132 mentioned “Zabag Kalah”
while Ibn al Fagih 902 spelled out “Zabag Kalahbar”.
By placing the names Zabag and Kalah together , Arab chronologers emphatically recognize Zabag as the empire of Kedah

As you can see each one of the 6 hard evidences listed above is good enough to prove that Kedah was the head of Zabag empire. And when these are combined with Abu Zayd’s 916 testimony that “Sribuza (Srivijaya) is subject of Zabag” there can be no doubt that Srivijaya was subject of Kedah.
Apart from Yichings tongue in cheek statement regarding the unification of Kedah and Srivijaya, all the other subsequent contemporary documentations pointed to Kedah having gobbled up Srivijaya....whole.

BotakChinPeng

Chapter V

Malayu a few centuries later managed to break free of Kedah domination and once again created a mini empire of its own called Kamar by al-Idrisi. It spans southwestward through Minangkabau country and beyond the ocean to include the entire Maldives island chain.The Comoros islands appear to be named after Kamar. They also made an excursion into the Yemeni city of Aden in 1228 and occupied it for some time before being driven out by the Barabars . Some times later they rejoin the Kedah led empire but in the second half of the same century foolishly decided to leave once more. Kamar/Malayu rejoined the empire once again at the turn of the 14th century when they realised how serious the threats from Siam and the Mongols were.

Khmer kingdom was conqured in a surprise attack after its king announced publicly that he wants to see the Zabag king’s head on a plate. Several decades later in the 8th century it managed to break free.

The raid on Vietnamese cities in 767 by a combined force from Java and Kunlun was made possible by being under Kedah leadership. Kunlun is another terminology for Malays given by the Chinese. This toponym originally appeared as Malaei Colon in Ptolemy’s 2nd century map and located at the southern end of the Malay peninsula. The legend of Raja Chulan most probably was based on a powerful Malaei Colon raja.
It is still unclear as to when exactly Kedah changed the name of its empire from Sriwijaya to Zabag but by the 9th century the term Zabag began to appear in Arab documents .

Having been around for such a long time, the empire was known by various names. Savaka to Pandyans, Javaka and Kalinga to the Ceylonese, Sanfotsi to China, Zabag to Arabs.... the Cholas still stick to Srivijaya because it sounds better to their Indian ears. It was probably called Sabak or Savak in Malay.
The 'Saba' theme can be traced as far back as the second century; appearing in Ptolemy's map as Sabaracus Gulf, Sabaticae Islands, Sabana , Zabae and Sabadibe.

Mercenaries from Sumatera and the peninsula serving in 7th century Persian and Arab armies century were coined "Sayabiga".
In ptolemy’s lifetime Zabae was at the eastern part of the peninsula. By the time of ibn Rustah (903-913) Zabag was defined as the peninsula minus Kedah.
“Those who wish to go to al-Zabaj go eastwards as far as Kalah and from there, the land of al-Zabaj.”

At its peak in the 10th , 11th and 12th century the Kedah led Srivijayan empire extend from the coast of Africa to the fringes of the Pacific Ocean. One territory named Zabag in Africa covered what is now northern Kenya and southern Somalia. Going eastwards its power encompasses some islands off Tanzania such as Zanij; then Chola empire,Ceylon, a port in Pegu called Papphala, Panduranga in the southern part of Champa, all of Malay peninsula, Sumatera, Borneo, Philippines , Sulawesi, western Java, Moluccas, all islands of eastern Indonesia and perhaps Papua as well. Based on the 2+ years it takes for the fastest vessel to circumnavigate the empire as reported by Masudi, the continent of Australia most likely had been part of Zabag. It was entirely inhabited by primitive docile Australian aborigines . Zabag was fully aware of Australia's existence and there was no other people -foreign or local- who had the means to stop Zabag from doing whatever they like on that continent.Therefore 'by simple default' it cannot be denied that the Australian continent was part of Zabag empire.

Sien Mai mentioned by Chau Ju Kua as being among vassal states of Sanfotsi in 1225 sounds a lot like a Siamese territory.‘Sien’ and ‘Mai ‘ means ‘Siam’ and ‘new’ in Chinese and Siamese languages respectively. Therefore wherever this place called New Siam was located, it definitely was a Siamese country somewhre in modern day Thailand.

Imperial stalwart Tamralingga invaded and conquered Lavo in 903 while the Lawo army was out fighting an invading force from Hariphunchai.

Before it become an empire Kedah sent several diplomatic missions to China when it was called Kantoli by the Chinese from 441 to 563 as well as in mid 7th century when it was known to the Chinese as Ko-lo-fu-sha-lo and Ko-lo-she-fen. Unlike many other Malay nations, Kedah never depended on trade with China. Its economy was based on productions of iron, steel, high purity tin, bamboo, ivory and items of manufacture such as weapons and ships. The Qalai swords of Kedah were regarded by Arabs as the best in the world.  Another manufactured product of Kedah in those days were glass beads including the glass to make them. Kedah ceased production in the 12th century when China finally mastered the technology and flooded the market.  Allegations of Kedah sending an embassy to China in 638 was made by some weak minded historians who interpret the word Chacha/Jiazha as Kedah when it actualy means raja. In 428 Raja Mahanaama from Ceylon was addressed as Chacha Mohonan by the Chinese. Kedah was called Chiecha by the Chinese but never Chacha. The emissaries China received in 638 was sent by one of the many kingdoms that has a raja but definitely not Kedah. After possessing an empire late in the 7th century, Kedah only had diplomatic missions to China sent by vassal states Malayu aka Shi-li-fo-shih and then Kalingga. Representatives of the maharaja only began sailing from Kedah to China in 904 and they were registered as Sanfotsi ambassadors. Those from vassal states like Chola or Jambi had the prefix Sanfotsi attached to the kingdom’s name. Such as Sanfoqi Zhunian (Chola) and Sanfoqi Zhanbei (Jambi). There was also a Hadji Sumatrabumi; marking the first documentation of Sumatra , as well as a Muslim king or governor among the vassal states of Sanfotsi/Zabag in the 10th century.

Circa 820 the Javanese branch of Sailendra dynasty who were governing Kalingga for Kedah was deposed by Pikatan the Hindu Javanese king of Mataram which until that point was a dependency of the Sailendras . Kalinga/Holing itself at the time had 28 Javanese tributary kingdoms. The Kalinga king Balaputradeva sought refuge in Kedah with his kinsman the Sailendra emperor.Upon the emperor’s death Balaputradewa was appointed as his successor.
But he caused some confusion during his reign by being Javacentric even though his rank as maharaja of Zabag is much better than as king of a Sailendra vassal state in Java. Diplomatic envoys to China introduced themselves as from She-po (Java), Balaputradewa called himself the Javanese of Hind (Jabat al Hind recorded by al Khordadhbeh) and that was what he was. A Java born lord of a Hindi nation which is Kedah.The Arabic definition of India in those days was the Indian subcontinent, Ceylon & much of southeast Asia. There was also a narrower definition by some Arabs like Abu Dulaf al Muhalhel who stated that Kedah was the easternmost part of India.. Javacentric policies of Balaputradewa were discontinued by his successor upon his death before 900 and things went back to normal. But the ‘damage’ had already been done. For the next several centuries the peninsular part of Zabag were habitually reffered to as Java/ Kalinga by the Ceylonese.

Zabag under emperor Samara Vijayatunggavarman liberated Ceylon form the barbaric Chola occupation in 1045 as recorded by a grateful King Mahendra VI in the Madirigiri inscription. This is the first anti Chola operations by Zabag which culminated in the invasion of Chola kingdom itself 25 years later.

sekngucing

jawa caprut

BotakChinPeng

Several inconspicuous events occurred before ,during and after the year 1070 which points to an unreported conquest of Chola empire by Srivijaya in 1070
and subsequently the appointment of a Buddhist malay from Sriwijaya as the new king of Chola.
These events are :
1)Violent death of the Chola king,Virarajendra in 1070
2)The empty throne of chola was filled by a stranger bearing the name Kulotungga, A kind of name which would be nothing unusual in Srivijaya but was totally alien to the hindu tamils up to that point.
3)The Srivijayan emperor, Diwakara explicitly described by a Chinese official document in 1077 as the foreign ruler of Chola
while
4) Rajendra I which is King Kulothunga’s other name was identified by that same Chinese document as simply the king of Chola. Implying that he is a subordinate to the king of Srivijaya
5)An inscription was made in a Guangzhou temple testifying how its restoration around 1064-1067 was funded by Diwakara, the king of Srivjaya. Taking into account the affirmation of diwakara as chola’s foreign overlord by the chinese govt in 1077 , we can arrive to a conclusion that the subjugation of chola by srivijaya happened between 1064 and 1077.
6)A letter was written by a Song dynasty official in 1106 clearly stating that Chola is a subject of Srivijaya

Throughout Kulottunga's 50 year rule chola remained in Chinese records as the subject of sriwijaya. Upon his death chola ceased to be under srivijayan suzerainty and they immediately embarked on a nationwide cover up campaign to try erase the big time humiliation they have just endured.
Hence the death of king virarajendra was registered as “killed in a civil war”.
A genealogy that links kulothunga to past chola kings was fabricated .
Such falsification explains why Kulothungga’s genealogical links could not be verified to this day.
Even a poem touting the destruction of kedah by Kulothunga was also created under this nationwide denial campaign.

Kulothunga’s swivijayan background can be ascertained not only by the fact that names containing the word ‘tungga’ are common in sriwijaya and non existent in chola before 1070 but also by his eastern region origin mentioned by a cholan inscription.
Speaking of inscriptions, those found in chola territories can only be taken seriously if it does not glorify chola
Since the inscription claiming successful chola attacks against sriwijaya could not be independently verified by any other side, it can be summarily dismissed as delusional state sponsored fantasies.
If chola conqured srivijaya why didn’t they set up similar inscriptions there ?
Any spineless coward could build self flattering monuments in his own backyard.
Besides, it doesn’t make sense at all for those primitive, weakling, loincloth wearing, pussy Indians to even contemplate an attack against a militarily superior neighbour no matter how large the population disparity was between them. Quality will always prevail over sheer numbers.

The Chinese had been completely neutral throughout the two centuries of chola – srivijaya interactions. That means their testimony takes precedence if chola and Chinese accounts contradict each other. And the chinese did not even report any attack on sriwijaya by chola. Much less a chola victory. Instead ,what they reported was to the contrary..Srivijaya ruled Chola.
Since chola denied it, the credibility of their entire uncorroborated historical account can now be deemed questionable especially the ones claiming military successes.

I notice many imbeciles using the word raid when discussing the alleged chola attempts to challenge sriwijayan military supremacy.
Heck. Do they even know what raid means.? A Raid is a surprise attack .You cannot raid people who already knew you are coming. How would those miserable fisihing boat sized chola navy vessels go about raiding the most powerful maritime power in the world ? The giant ships of srivijaya would have quashed them like bugs.

BotakChinPeng

Chapter VII

After Kulotunga's death in 1119 Zabag lost control over southern India and ended up having to fight the newly independent Pandyan Tamils over Ceylon. Throughout the 12th and 13th century Malay commanders like Nissanka Malla, Kalinga Magha, Sahasamalla and Lokissara come and go as control of Ceylon went back and forth between Zabag /Javaka and Pandyan backed factions. The final offensives by Zabag were led by Chandrabanu who launched two expeditions in 1225 and 1260.
Candrabanu might well be a prince from Tambralingga but he attacked Ceylon under orders from the Kedah based maharaja of Zabag. The bulk of his army and whatever wonder weapon he was equipped with were surely furnished by the collective resources of the Kedah led Zabag empire .

In an inscription, dated 1264 A.D., Jatavarman Vira-Pandya, king of the Pandya kingdom claims to have defeated and killed a Savaka leader without saying anything about Kedah; and in another inscription, dated the next year, the king of Kadaram (Kedah) is said to have been defeated by him and Savaka was not mentioned at all. This could either mean that the king of Savaka and the king of Kedah is the same person (Chandrabhanu)
or the maharaja of Savaka/Zabag(king of Kedah ) himself decided to command another expedition after Chanbdrabanu’s failure. The war between Kedah and the Pandya kingdom in 1265 can be accepted as fact but the resulting defeat of Kedah was most probably another fabrication by Vira Pandiya. This is the same king who claimed Sinam (China) as among several countries paying tribute to him.

The idea of Chandrabhanu as king of Kedah does not contradict the Chaiya inscription which stated that Candrabanu is Lord of Tambralinga because the lord of a place is not necessarily its king. Tambralingga was a vassal state within Zabag.
Being the emperor of Zabag by virtue of his position as king of Kedah, Chandrabanu definitely was the overlord of Chaiya just like what the inscription says. And just like what China said about Kulotthunga being the Chola king while Diwakara was its foreign overlord .

Chapter VIII

The first true signs of a crumbling Zabag empire appeared in the 1220s when Jambi, a mainstay of the empire fought its way out as reported by Chau Ju Kua. This kingdom later appeared to have remade itself into a country by the name of Dharmasraya.

In late 13th century The Jawa/Zabag/Sanfochi/Srivijaya empire began losing core Malay territories on the peninsula. Lo-cac which was located between Pulo Cundor (now on Kelantan river delta) and Pentan (Bintan) was reported by Marco Polo to be fully independent. Locac is the Chinese transliteration of the Malay word raksaksa which means giant creature. This Locac was written as Lo-chha by a Chinese diplomat who stopped by to purchase a type of magnifying glass called fire pearls during a trip to another peninsula Malay kingdom Chihtu. Lochha and Tantan(Kelantan) were big exporters of fire pearls from the 6th century.
Ironically at the same time Java/Zabag empire was still able to beat the mighty Mongols everytime they square off .

Meanwhile Tamralinga fared rather well after breaking away. By 1345 when ibn Batutta visited its main port Kaylukari (Ligore) they had fought Mongol dominated China to a favourable stalemate and their warrior princess Urduja had just slain the king of a neighbouring country in battle. This king was definitely that of Siam whose population outnumber that of Tamralinga several fold.The country of Tambralinga later on was renamed after its most prominent province - Ligore.

Another peninsular Malay kingdom to break free in the 14th century was Pahang. One maharaja Tajau sent emissaries to China in 1378.

From the late 13th century onwards grandiose titles such as maharaja and maharajadhiraja was self conferred cheaply by numeros petty kings of southeast Asia. Of course it doesnt mean they hold sway over any other king with a more modest title. Hence The relations between the Maharajadiraja of Singhasari and the Maharaja of Dharmasraya for example was that of equals.

During this turbulent times the term 'Zabag' disappeared. It was obvious that Zabag changed its name once again. This time the new appellation of Kedah empire is Java/Jawa.

Ibn Said in the mid 13th century vaguely described the town named al-Jawa where the king of Jawa resides. And Lamri, Fansur, Malayur as well as Kalah were parts of this Jawa ‘island’. Since the Pandyan king in 1265 made a big deal out of his purported victory over the king of Kadaram in Ceylon, we can be sure that Kedah was still the head of this Jawa empire. According to ibn Battuta the island of Sumatera was Jawa while a neighbouring land called Mul Jawa controlled many kingdoms including Kamar on Sumatera and Qaqulla on the peninsula. Mul Jawa simply means main Jawa.

Based on Odoric of Pordenone's itinerary the Java that has beaten Mongol ruled China several times was located between Sumoltra (Samudra Pasai) and Panten to the south. It also is not on the same island as Sumoltra. This Panten which dominate many other islands is at the south of the peninsula called Pentan by Marco Polo who passed through it on the way from Champa and Pulau Kundor at the Kelantan river mouth to Malayu city at tha Kampar estuary. That means Panten/ Pentan is Bintan island while the Java of Odoric is located on the peninsula. Another first class confirmation is Book 324 of Ming Shih that described the location of Java as to the southwest of Champa which definitely points to the Malay peninsula.

As you can see now, the faultless historical account of Srivijaya and Zabag empires I present above answers all the main questions without creating new ones in the process. This is the kind of comprehensive no nonsense basic facts that both our glorious ancestors as well as modern day Zabag/Sanfotsi enthusiasts rightfully deserve.

And there is definitley no conjured up silly hypotheses such as Sriwija had twin capital,... hapless Balaputradeva fleeing from Kalingga in a pitiful condition simply walk into the capital of the powerful Srivijayan empire and take it over just like that .... Chandrabanu was a king of Grahi who just stroll leisurely into Srivijaya capital and seized power.....miserable canoe dwelling orang laut with their disgusting skin deseases and flimsy little boats formed the backbone of the mighty Srivijayan navy......Srivijaya was Palembang simply because many inscriptions were found there....

BotakChinPeng

Chapter IX

It is much more challenging to reconstruct the empire’s timeline from late 13th century onwards due to the existence of two nations bearing the name Jawa.

There were many military exploits attributed by the Chinese to Java while Majapahit were only documented in non military matters. When the Chinese mention Java, one has to analyze the context of the message to identify which Java they are referring to. Peninsula Jawa has no other name while throughout the 14th century the Javanese country were much beter known as Majapahit. More importantly, the peninsula Malays by that time already had a long track record in pulling off stunning conquests while the submissive backward Javanese has never experienced anything other than subjugations and humiliations at the hands of much smaller neighbours. So there is no reason to believe that the Jawa mentioned flexing its military power by the Chinese was any country other than the peninsula Jawa previously known as Zabag. The brutal fact is Majapahit was too insignificant for the Chinese to even bother writing about. An indication that Majapahit was not as powerful as its own written documents would like the world to believe. At a period when Majapahit was said to attain its peak, Adityavarman who was ranked above the prime minister Gajah Mada contemptfully went back to Dharmasraya and recreated it as the Malayupura kingdom; moving the capital to Suruaso in the process. Proponents of a mighty Majapahit kingdom claim Hayam Wuruk to be the greatest Majapahit leader but they still admit that throughout his reign Java was divided between east and west with Hayam Wuruk only controlling the west. So much for Hayam Wuruk’s supreme leadership. The whole Majapahit regionwide empire postulation is a joke.
Whatever other territories they claimed to have seized were just pulp fiction and has never been backed up by any foreign sources. I must say; servile coward races like the Cholas and Javanese shamelessly love to manifest their delusional fantasies into written form. There is even a few wacky lines in the Javanese Parayangan celebrating a king for his conquest of Sriwijaya ,China and a few other countries.
As can be surmised at this point there were no less than three Javas in the 13th,14th and 15th centuries. Jawa island, the peninsula and Sumatera (Java Minor of Marco Polo and Jawa of Batutta). Adding to the confusion was the existence of two Sanfoqis - Kedah and Palembang. That name had actually been discarded by Kedah in the mid 1200s but some Chinese court officials were a bit slow adapting to the new name of Kedah's empire and still addressed the empire as Sanfoqi when it resumed sending ambassadors in 1371. Palembang on the other hand wasted no time in picking up the Sanfoqi name upon gaining independence from Kedah in the 14th century. Obviously to cash in from the reputation of that illustrious old name. And kedah on its part could not be bothered with the entire affair. They were feeling good with their new identity ‘Jawa’ despite this new name lacking originality.Thus the Ming emperor's personal understanding in 1397 that Sanfoqi (Palembang) used to be a vassal of Jawa(Kedah) was certainly right on the mark. This strange episode is consistent with Chau Ju Kua 1225 listing Palembang among vassals of Sanfochi without mentioning Kedah because kedah WAS Sanfochi. While Malayu was not on the list because as I said above it broke away around the 12th century and would only rejoin the newly renamed Jawa empire a little later. Almost 200 years afterwards Ma Huan noted that Palembang used to be called Sanfochi. Palembang/Sanfoqi earlier seemed to have been involved in a plot by the Chinese prime minister Hu Weiyong to seize power in the 1370s. This Hu Weiyong was soliciting military support from foreign powers such as Japan the Mongols, Korea and Sanfoqi before he was arrested and eventually executed in 1380.

It was reported that his agents sent to Sanfoqi were met by Kedah officials there.After informing the Chinese entourage that they have been misled, the Kedah envoy courteously had them sent back to China.Hu Weiyong probably mistook Sanfoqi(Palembang) for the powerful Kedah empire.Its worth noting that the Chinese had just shaken off the Mongol yoke and Ming bureaucrats in that era were still in the dark over geopolitical dynamics of this region. Anyway Sanfoqi(Palembang)stopped sending tribute to China following this fiasco.The Chinese emperor then asked Kedah to be the mediator. His messengers to Kedah in 1397 was sent via Siam to reduce the possibility of being intercepted by Palembang.This route wouldnt make sense if the Jawa being discussed was the island of Java.And the concerns of being intercepted by Palembang is only justified if Jawa is located on the west coast of the peninsula.Bringing the message to Siam first before taking it to Jawa/Kedah would definitely eliminate the likelihood of beng intercepted by Palembang.
But Kedah(Java)came up with a better idea.In that same year they attacked & destroyed Sanfoqi(Palembang).The name Sanfoqi ceased to appear in Chinese records ever since.
Even though the upper echelon of Ming leadership finally realised that Kedah has been renamed Java and stopped calling them Sanfoqi from the 1370s,some lower ranked officers for many decades to come such as Ma Huan was still confused.He didnt seem to have made any distinction betwen the two Javas he visited while being the official translator of the fleet commanded by Zheng He.
The problem is further aggravated by his book being edited,reedited,revised and rearranged by various subsequent authors over the centuries to the point that notes regarding peninsular Jawa and the Majapahit dominated island of Jawa written in both the same as well as different voyages of Zheng He were lumped together in a single chapter about Java.Thats why we see contradicting comments regardng Java by Ma Huan in modern publications. For instance the natives of Javanese ports Tuban, Gresik and Surabaya were ascribed with misery and squalour. Eating worms,ants,snakes and all kind of insects.Dining out of the same bowl as dogs. Truely a miserable lot.
But on another account his remarks on the people of Java gives the impression that they were prosperous. Living in tall wooden houses partially made of bricks,arming themselves with pulatou(beladau),having great respect for the head and its army possessing mechanical arms. These are all didstinctly Malay traits totally absent in Javanese country. Beladau is exclusively Malay. The handle is made of gold,rhinoceros horn or carved elephant teeth. Unlike another Malay weapon the keris,it was never adopted by the Javanese. Those wretched Javanese were too poor to have every single male 3 to 100 years old armed with the expensive beladau anyway. Which brings us to another observation by Ma huan. One of the two Javas he surveyed was opulent and produced just about everything.Such wealth and industrious nature is nothing unusual on Malay lands especially the peninsula.Kedah used to be so rich it was dubbed by a 11th century Indian Brahmin as ‘the seat of all felicities' . Later on Malacca became arguably the richest port city in the world. On the other hand when was Javanese country ever a rich one ? Never. Not even for a brief period. Throughout their existence the Javanese never amounted to anything more than just the slaves, coolies and housekeeper maids to Malay masters; right up to this day.

The location of Java in Ming Shih Book 324 coupled with inherent inferiority of Javanese to Malays are compelling evidences that the Java which defeated Mongolian forces, chased away the Sulu from Brunei, waylaid a Chinese envoy sent to perform investiture ceremony for Adityavarman’s son in 1377, forced the Siamese to lift their siege on Singapore and conquered Palembang in 1397 was that same peninsular Java all along.

BotakChinPeng

Chapter X

Trengganu may be one of the member states despite being officially Muslim from circa 1300. The only peninsular countries confirmed not to be part of Java was Pahang, Tambralinga and tiny upstart Malacca. It is now perfectly clear that the remnant of Zabag /Sriwijaya empire still existed when Malacca was in its infancy.; coexisting side by side. As Malacca expanded, Jawa/Zabag waned rapidly and finally disbanded sometime in the 15th century; after existing for eight hundred years and changing names two or three times depending on how you look at it. From Kedah to Srivijaya to Zabag to Java.
Malacca managed to acquire several fomer members of Java/Zabag by military or diplomatic means but Kedah itself was reported by the Sejarah Melayu to have voluntarily join the Malacca empire during the reign of the last Malaccan sultan. If this is true there is no doubt that the intention was to benefit from the enhanced security afforded by the combined military resouces of member states.

For a country like Kedah to have created a great and long lasting empire is a very easy fact to accept. Right to this age natives of Kedah figure prominently in key industrial sectors. A disproportionate number of Malaysian US Dollar billionaires are from Kedah namely Daim Zainuddin, Syed Mokhtar, Mokhzani Mahathir, Syed Azman, Khatijah Ahmad and Shazryl Eskay the mahogany cultivator. These are descendants of empire builders and craftsmen who made the best swords in the world. That is not to say other Malays are not equally as good. The Malay race in general is an excellent one. Except for Azman Hashim, unsung US dollar billionaires like Safie Jaffri, Zurina Amnan, Shahiran Daing Manaik,Hamdan Abd Aziz, Suleiman Ali (jatropha plantation & biofuel), Hamidi Osman(banking), Mustapha Kamal(developer), Gulzar Mohd Noor(dredging & dredger shipbuilding), Kamaruddin Meranun(aviation etc), Harris Salleh (teak plantation), Syed Isa(jatropha plantation & biofuel), Abu Sahid, Wan Azmi, Zaini Amran, Nadzmi Salleh (diversified), Ahmad Johan(aviation & defense manufacturing), Baharin Ayob, Tarin Ayub (banking etc), Yahya Jalil (facilities management etc) Ameer Ali Mydin (retail), Ramly Mokni, Shala Siah Abdul Manap(food processing), HRH the Sultan of Johor and many others  don't need to raise money by listing their corporations on the stock market which means no market value to clearly distinguish their owners as billionaires. And malays are cool with it because good wealthy races don't care about appearing in stupid top 40 lists.
This unostentatious mentality is the same Malay psychological trait that caused a lack of record keeping by Kedah/Srwijaya/Zabag/Jawa which would otherwise have divulged more information on their stellar achievements.
Malaysia is the most technologically advanced southeast Asian country due to engineering prowess of the 15 million ethnic Malays. Extremely high tech stuff such as world class car engines, car platform and automatic transmission, as well as high thrust turbojet engine plus many other high end technologies are developed by few countries in the world apart from Malaysia.

Malay technological prowess in ancient times was manifested by the largest ships in the world throughout the first millienium, the 22ft 7in long Patani cannons casted in 1520s, the invention of spectacle by 13th century Malacca, the balance lug sail and the 5000 year old bronze adze together with its mold in Gua Harimau proving the precursors of the Malays as discoverer of this advanced alloy. Hence the mechanical devices deployed by Javaka(Kedah)imperial forces in Ceylon that shot poisoned arrows continuosly could have been invented in any one of the Malay countries within Jawa (Kedah) empire. Malays also developed their firearms technology independently. Up till 1511 Malacca was the only Asian nation that designed and manufature matchlocks.

This 16th century Malaccan matchlock arquebus being kept in a Lisbon museum is hard evidence that Malays invented the standard snapping trigger and trigger guard which are used to this day.



http://www.cccm.pt/page.php?cont ... %20transfer%EAncias

http://www.cccm.pt/imagens_elementos/a20100103120441.jpg

Bronze, madeira
Ceilão ou Malaca, séc. XVI/XVII
Comp. 94,5 cm
Museu do CCCM, Lisboa, inv. 1000

Crucible steel was invented by Malays of Kedah and up through the 15th century the best steel was sourced from kedah. Mirrors and top end swords made of this steel were as precious as jewels.

Kedah crucible steel was known as bulat in Persia, pulat in Russia, pin tieh in China and damascus steel in the middle east. Copycat versions from India was inferior and much more recent . It was termed ukku by Indians and later on was called wootz by the British.
Other than Abu Dulaf who testified to its production in 10th century kedah , Idrisi (1154) as well as ibn- alWardi (1340) also wrote about its manufacture by Zabag people and ‘indians’ respectively in Sofala (mozambique).
Ma Huan in the early 1400s mentioned ‘pin tieh’ as among ‘products of the land’ in his commentaries of Java(kedah). He also stated that pu-la-tou (beladau) were made from pintieh steel. This explains why the steel was also known as bulat and pulat in Persia and Russia respectively.

Ma Huan also witnessed the firing of huochong (handgun or cannon) by people of Java(Kedah) during wedding celebrations.

BotakChinPeng

sekngucing posted on 13-11-2013 02:57 AM
jawa caprut

Yaaa jawa caprut sungguh menyedihkan dari dulu hingga sekarang.

Di Zaman Cheng Ho mereka makan cacing, semut, ulat & serangga. Anjing mereka juga makan bersama dari pinggan yang sama.

Ini pula laporan dari Ludovico Varthema.

The people in this island who eat flesh, when their fathers
become so old that they can no longer do any work, their
children or relations set them up in the market-place for
sale, and those who purchase them kill them and eat them
cooked. 1 And if any young man should be attacked by any great sickness, and that it should appear to the skilful that
he might die of it, the father or the brother of the sick man
kills him, and they do not wait for him to die. And when
they have killed him they sell him to others to be eaten.
Wc, being astonished at such a thing, some merchants of the
country said to us : " O you poor Persians, why do you leave such charming flesh to be eaten by the worms ?" My
companion hearing this immediately exclaimed : " Quick,
quick, let us go to our ship, for these people shall never
more come near me on land."

BotakChinPeng

It was quite a challenge to decipher the mysterious name “minanga kamwar” for someone who doesnt know anything about Old Malay like me. If I hadn't been researching Sarawak history as well, the word 'minanga' would still remain a problem now.
Linguistically and genetically , Malays are a mixture of certain Austronesian tribes and the Sanskrit speaking race from Anatolia. Given that the word for river estuary in the Iban language is 'nanga' and that this language is relatively pure Austronesian , it doesnt take a language scientist to figure out that minanga is an old malay term for river mouth as well.

Regarding the name Kampar , it seems to have started during the early days of Srivijaya as Kamwar and then during al-Idrisi’s time it became Kamar. Finally several hundred years later the name evolved into Kampar which lasted to this day.

Many places mentioned by contemporary Arabs such as Badfarkalah, Bartayil and Mul Jawa still has not been identified but its better to admit not to know where it is instead of speculating.
Anyway most important placenames already had their positions determined
Harang = Yarang in Patani
Maharaja island is now Kampong pulau maharaja in Kedah
Mait = Maitung = Belitung
Kakula/takola= Takua pa
Salahit = a city on the Sunda straits

The biggest mystery now is where the Jawa of Dimasqi/ Java of Odoric/ Mul Jawa of ibn Batutta was. Its definitely buried somewhere in the northwestern part of peninsular Malaysia....waiting to be discovered

pelemparselipar

BotakChinPeng posted on 13-11-2013 03:11 AM
Chapter IX

It is much more challenging to reconstruct the empire’s timeline from late 13th centu ...

hu wei yong was a crazy fool

pelemparselipar

My present javanese maid is better than the previous one from madura

BotakChinPeng

pelemparselipar posted on 18-11-2013 05:31 PM
hu wei yong was a crazy fool

Yeah.
and he paid the ultimate price for his foolishness

BotakChinPeng

Ibn Batuta did not write down any notes duing his travels . His entire memoirs were written by a Moroccan royal scribe several years after he had retired from travelling. The passage concerning Samudra, Mul Jawa and Kakula is a classic ibn Batuta mixture of his true experience and a jumbled up fading memory. To have some idea of how badly his memory has diminished we can turn to the part where he said the people of China ride elephants just like those in Kakula. Another flaw detected was when he already got to the part about Kakula, he went back to commenting on the king of Mul Java whose country he had just finished describing. Ibn Batutta obviously did not remember everything he went through. Therefore whatever journey duration given by ibn Battuta especially the 21 days he claimed to have taken to sail past the Samudra kingdom can be disputed. The duration of journeys are among the first thing people would forget in their travels. If you made a tour of South American countries 15 years ago you might still remember the names of hotels you stayed in and people you met there. But could you remember exactly how many hours was spent on each flight ? Besides, a lumbering heavy junk sailing during the ‘off season’ when the winds are unfavourable may well take 21 days to get from Samudra to Kedah. On returning from India, Yiching took a month to sail from Kedah to Malayu at the Kampar river mouth.

BotakChinPeng

pelemparselipar posted on 18-11-2013 05:38 PM
My present javanese maid is better than the previous one from madura

Lucky you

BotakChinPeng

HERITAGE: 380 BC bricks

Sg Batu, Kedah may be Southeast Asia’s oldest civilisation as new carbon dating results show, writes Subhadra Devan.HE almost whispers to me, “380 BC, the results came two days ago”.Amid my gasps of wonder, Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Prof Mokhtar Saidin stands calm in this oasis of early trade and civilisation in Southeast Asia.Sited in Kedah’s Sungai Batu, a stone’s throw from the growing town of Sungai Petani, this new discovery is about an early — and we are now talking BC here — iron foundry and smelting area that covers 4-square-kilometres.The Sg Batu site is part of an ancient archaeological area called Bujang Valley, also known as Kedah Tua, believed to be the earliest entrepot and religious centre in the country.In 2007, USM’s Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) mapped out 97 sites in Sungai Batu, out of which 33 have been unearthed.The excavations have revealed brick structures and some artefacts — beads, iron objects, iron slags, iron knives, tuyere and smelting areas.The digs have uncovered signs of a nearby old river which lead to the Sungai Batu riverine network. The jetty, Prof Mokhtar believes, is 7km away. “But during 1 AD, that jetty was half a kilometre from the sea.”It’s an innocuous area, set in an oil palm plantation, with a road to Butterworth running through it. Driving past is easily done, in a blink of an eye. All you can see are some red tents on either side of that particular stretch. Beneath the tents are piles of normal-looking bricks.“This is the centre of Kedah’s Bujang Valley,” says Prof Mokhtar. “Our earlier digs have shown archeological findings dating 6 AD onwards.“But Sg Batu reveals that people have used this site continuously from 4 BC to 14 AD.“From such clear evidence and chronomatic dating, Sg Batu is the centre of iron trade and industry in Southeast Asia.“And that’s not all, it’s multifunctional. We’ve evidence that it’s a port for the iron smelting industry, with some administrative buildings, amid this heavy industry. It’s a thriving community in one place, since 4 BC. This early society already had the technology of iron smelting.”The radiocarbon dating of the charcoal samples found in the digs was done at Beta Analytic laboratory in Florida, the United States. Other dating methods used include OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence).In 2011, the unique find of a monument, with a square sitting atop a circle was unearthed. The reverse (a circle structure atop a square) is the norm of ancient temples and monuments in Cambodia, India, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. One famous example is Angkor Wat in Cambodia which dates back to the 12th Century AD.The candi (temples) in Indonesia like Borobodur are also of that period, while Myanmar’s Pagan site is said to be before 9th Century AD.The Sg Batu monument and other findings were presented at an international conference in Kuala Lumpur.Two weeks ago, Prof Mokhtar brushed away the red earth to reveal iron works dating from 50BC.The 380 BC charcoal and clay bricks, found a mere 60cm from the surface, was on the other side of the road.The CGAR team, which received a RM1 million grant this year, work at the site which is open to the public all year round.With the help of the CGAR team, evidence of this ancient iron industry is clear in the tuyere (sometime called tu-iron) sticking out from the earth. To smelt metals, air (or oxygen) is blown or injected into the tube-like tuyeres into a furnace or hearth. This causes the fire to be hotter in front of the blast, enabling metals to be hot enough to be worked in a forge.“Iron needs 1,000°C to melt. This area, according to southern Tamil tracts dating 200B C to 200 AD refer to a place in this part of Malaysia as Kataha. You know what that Sanskrit word means? Kuali Besi, iron pan. And we’ve found iron here dating 4BC.“We feel there is a lingua franca link to another ancient civilisation called the Gandhara Kingdom (18 BC-11 AD).” That might well be another story.In the meantime, CGAR has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Peshawar on archaelogical research and work. “The university’s department has done work on sites that are Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian. So it’s relevant to Sg Batu,” explains Prof Mokhtar.According to the Commissioner of the Department of National Heritage, Prof Datuk Zuraina Abdul Majid, there is a plan to start a Sg Batu Archaelogical Gallery.While it’s still at an early stage, she says in an email that on the drawing board is an exhibition gallery, auditorium and a small office.“The exhibition aims to tell the history of the Bujang valley which began in Sg Batu and then spread to other areas in Kedah, for example Sg Mas and Pengkalan Bujang. The Archaelogical Gallery will hopefully be completed in 2015.”For now, the curious who drop by Sg Batu will see the tuyeres, and lots of clay bricks believed to have been used for the construction of the smelting furnace. The excavation areas outlined include the tuyere, the furnace and iron slags areas.“This is an intelligent people, with their own social hierarchy. They knew how to produce iron before 1 BC. It’s clear this was for export because we have found the ingot iron.”

http://www.nst.com.my/life-times ... -bc-bricks-1.265774

thessailly

caprut2 pun...masih tetap jd rebutan

BotakChinPeng

thessailly posted on 20-11-2013 05:34 AM
caprut2 pun...masih tetap jd rebutan

apa maksud anda ?