Suvarṇabhūmi (Sanskrit:सुवर्णभूमि,IPA:[suʋɐrɳɐbʰuːmi]; Pali:Suvaṇṇabhūmi,IPA:[suʋɐɳːɐbʰuːmi];lit. 'golden land')[a] is atoponym that appears in manyancient Indian literary sources andBuddhist texts[1] such as theMahavamsa,[2] some of theJataka tales,[3][4] theMilinda Panha[5] and theRamayana.[6]
Though its exact location is unknown and remains a matter of debate, Suvarṇabhūmi was an important port along trade routes that run through theIndian Ocean, setting sail from the wealthy ports inBasra,Ubullah, andSiraf, throughMuscat,Malabar,Ceylon, theNicobars,Kedah and on through theStrait of Malacca to fabled Suvarṇabhūmi.[7]
Ian Glover, EmeritusReader in Southeast Asian Archaeology at theUniversity of London, has said: “It is widely accepted in the 21st century thatSuvarnabhumi as reported in early Indian literature was not a specific location which can be marked on a map. Rather, it was an idealised place, perhaps equivalent toAtlantis in Western history, a distant somewhere to the east of India where traders, sailors, and Buddhist andHindu teachers went to make their fortunes and spread their teachings and bring back gold and other exotic products desired by a rising elite and the wealthy classes at home.”[8]
Suvarṇabhūmi means 'golden land' or 'land of gold' and the ancient sources have associated it with one of a variety of places throughout the Southeast Asian region.
It might also be the source of the Western concept ofAurea Regio in ClaudiusPtolemy'sTrans-Gangetic India orIndia beyond the Ganges, and theGolden Chersonese of the Greek and Roman geographers and sailors.[9] ThePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea refers to the Land of Gold,Chryse, and describes it as “an island in the ocean, the furthest extremity towards the east of the inhabited world, lying under the rising sun itself, called Chryse... Beyond this country... there lies a very great inland city calledThina”.[10]Dionysius Periegetes mentioned: “The island ofChryse (Gold), situated at the very rising of the Sun”.[11]
Or, asPriscian put it in his popular rendition of Periegetes: "if your ship… takes you to where the rising sun returns its warm light, then will be seen the Isle of Gold with its fertile soil."[12]Avienius referred to theInsula Aurea (Golden Isle) located where “theScythian seas give rise to the Dawn”.[13]Josephus speaks of the "Aurea Chersonesus", which he equates with theBiblicalOphir, whence the ships ofTyre andIsrael brought back the gold for theTemple of Jerusalem.[14] The city ofThina was described by Ptolemy’sGeography as the capital city of the country on the eastern shores of theMagnus Sinus (Gulf of Thailand).
The location of Suvarṇabhūmi has been the subject of much debate, both in scholarly andnationalistic agendas. It remains one of the most mystified and contentioustoponyms in Asia.[15] Scholars have identified two regions as possible locations for the ancient Suvarṇabhūmi:Insular Southeast Asia andSouthern India.[16] In a study of the various literary sources for the location of Suvarṇabhūmi, Saw Mra Aung concluded that it was impossible to draw a decisive conclusion on this and that only thorough scientific research would reveal which of several versions of Suvarṇabhūmi was the original.[17]
Some have speculated that this country refers to theKingdom of Funan. The main port of Funan wasCattigara Sinarum statio (Kattigara the port of theSinae).[18]
Due to many factors, including the lack of historical evidence, and the absence of scholarly consensus, various cultures in Southeast Asia identify Suvarṇabhūmi as an ancient kingdom there, and claim ethnic and political descendancy as its successor state.[19] As no such claim or legend existed before the translation and publication of the Edicts, scholars see these claims as based on nationalism or attempts to claim the title of the first Buddhists in Southeast Asia.[15]
Funan (1st–7th century) was the first kingdom in Cambodian history and it was also the first Indianized kingdom that prospered in Southeast Asia. Both Hinduism and Buddhism flourished in this kingdom. According to the Chinese records, two Buddhist monks from Funan, named Mandrasena andSanghapala, took up residency in China in the 5th to 6th centuries, and translated several Buddhistsūtras from Sanskrit (or aPrakrit) into Chinese.[20]
The oldest archaeological evidence of Indianized civilization in Southeast Asia comes from central Burma, central and southern Thailand, and the lowerMekong Delta. These finds belong to the period of Funan Kingdom or Nokor Phnom, present-day Cambodia, and South Vietnam including part of Burma, Laos, and Thailand, which was the first political centre established in Southeast Asia. Taking into account the epigraphic and archaeological evidence, the Suvarṇabhūmi mentioned in the early texts must be identified with these areas.[21] Of these areas, only Funan had maritime links with India through its port atÓc Eo. Therefore, although Suvarṇabhūmi in time was broadly applied to all lands east of India, particularly Sumatra, its earliest application was probably to Funan. Furthermore, the Chinese term of “Funan” for Cambodia, may be a transcription of the "Suvaṇṇa" in “Suvaṇṇabhumī”.
In December 2017, Dr Vong Sotheara, of theRoyal University of Phnom Penh, discovered a Pre-Angkorian stone inscription in the Province ofKampong Speu,Basedth District, which he tentatively dated to 633 AD. According to him, the inscription would “prove that Suvarnabhumi was the Khmer Empire.” The inscription was issued in the reign ofKing Isanavarman I (616–637 AD) of the CambodianKingdom of Chenla, the successor of Funan and the predecessor ofthe Khmer Empire. The inscription, translated, read:
“The great KingIsanavarman is full of glory and bravery. He is the King of Kings, who rules overSuvarnabhumi until the sea, which is the border, while the kings in the neighbouring states honour his order to their heads”.
The Inscription is the oldest found mention of Suvarṇabhūmi in Southeast Asia, identifying it with Chenla. The inscription is now exhibited in theNational Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. However, his claim and the findings are yet to be peer-reviewed, and remain in doubt with other historians and archaeology experts across the region.[22]
Mon tradition maintains that theThaton Kingdom in LowerMyanmar was calledSuvannabhumi (Burmese:သုဝဏ္ဏဘူမိThuwunnabhumi).[23] However, dating the Thaton Kingdom independent of traditional chronicles gives anterminus post quem foundation year of 825; even this date remains unattested.[24]
There are several sites withinMon State that local archaeologists cite as Suvarṇabhūmi. Suvarnabhumi City inBilin Township is one such site with limited excavation work. The site, called Winka Old City by other archaeologists, contains 40 high-grounds of which only four have been excavated.[25] The Winka site, along with nearby walled sites like Kyaikkatha and Kelasa, have been dated as early as the sixth century.[26] While the archaeology of early Lower Burmese sites requires more work, other urban centres in Myanmar like theSri Ksetra Kingdom in modernPyay were Buddhist as early as the 5th century.[15]
The scholarly search forSuvannabhumi within Myanmar is attached to various nationalistic and religious narratives about Suvannabhumi.[27] The fifteenth century legend ofShwedagon Pagoda enshrining a few hairs of theBuddha brought back by Mon merchants highlights the cultural significance placed on early Buddhist missionaries in Myanmar. In many such legends, the narrative of the conversion of Suvarṇabhūmi is that it Burmanizes key historical Buddhist figures.[15]
In modern Thailand, government proclamations and national museums insist thatSuwannaphum was somewhere on the coast of the central plain, especially at the ancient city ofU Thong, which might be the origin of theMonDvaravati Culture.[28] These claims are not based on any historical records but on archaeological evidence of human settlements in the area dating back more than 4,000 years and the findings of 3rd-century Roman coins.[29] The Thai government named the newBangkok airport,Suvarnabhumi Airport, after the mythic kingdom of Suwannaphum, honouring this tradition that is still debated by scholars[who?] for the same reasons as the Burman claim.Suphan Buri (from the Sanskrit,Suvarnapura, "Golden City") in present west/central Thailand, was founded in 877-882 as a city of theMon-speaking kingdom ofDvaravati with the name,Meuang Thawarawadi Si Suphannaphumi ("the Dvaravati city of Suvarṇabhūmi"), indicating that Dvaravati at that time identified as Suvarṇabhūmi.[30]
According to Thai chronicles, around 241 BCE, during the times that twoBuddhist monks named Sona Thera and Uttara Thera came fromMagadha to spreadBuddhism to Suvarṇabhūmi, the majority of the kingdom's population wereMon people, whileThai people arrived later, around 50 BCE.[31] The Suvarnabhumi Kingdom was destroyed by the invasion ofFunan around the 1st-2nd centuries,[32] and most of its population was forcibly moved toFunan resulting in it being left abandoned.[33] After Funan lost toBhavavarman I of Chenla in 550, Suvarṇabhūmide facto became a tributary state of Chenla as well.[32]
The kingdom's area reached Lamphakappa Nakhon (ลัมภกัปปะนคร, present-dayLampang) in the north, and was ruled inmandala style with five royal cities, including Suvarnabhumi (the present old town ofNakhon Pathom),Ratchaburi,Singburi,Phetchaburi, andTanintharyi.[34]
The area surrounding the old capital of Suvarnabhumi was resettled in 590 when Sri Sittichai Phromthep (ท้าวศรีสิทธิไชยพรหมเทพ) from Yossothon (possibly the city in Chenla) established the new city, Nakhon Chai Si (old name of the present-dayNakhon Pathom). Most of its population wereThai people from theNgao,Yom, andSalween river basins.[33]Lavo was also founded during such a period. Both later created a new kingdom,Dvaravati; however, the new capital together with the other nearest settlement, Pong Tuek (พงตึก, present-day Ratchaburi) were sacked byChenla 300 years later, around the 8th-9th centuries.[35] After that, the center ofDvaravati culture shifted toLavo,[36] and the people of the sackedDvaravati moved westward and founded a new city in 807 in the area of the present-day Ladya subdistrict,Kanchanaburi (Kanchanaburi old city) while the affected area was almost left abandoned.[37] The new settlement was named Suvarṇabhūmi and was then renamed Sri Ayutthaya and Kanchanaburi, respectively.[37][38]
At the peak of power around the 13th-14th centuries, the border of the new Suvarṇabhūmi orSuphannabhumi metLavo Kingdom at thePasak River in the east, the west toDawei on the coast of the outer sea (Andaman Sea), northwest to the south ofMawlamyine, which was the sea trading harbor of the Chaliang Kingdom (Si Satchanalai), while the south to the tip of theMalay Peninsula, and the north to Phraek Siracha (present-daySankhaburi).[39] In 1351, the Suphannabhumi Kingdom was merged into its succeeding state,Ayuttaya, after its last ruler,Uthong, moved eastward to create a new capitalAyutthaya on present-day Ayutthaya Island.
A clue referring to the Malay Peninsula came fromClaudius Ptolemy'sGeography, who referred to it asGolden Chersonese (literally 'golden peninsula'), which pinpointed exactly that location in South East Asia.[40]
The term Suvarṇabhūmi ('land of gold') is commonly thought to refer to the Southeast Asian Peninsula, including lower Burma and theMalay Peninsula. However there is another gold-referring termSuvarnadvipa (the Golden Island or Peninsula, where “–dvipa” may refer to either apeninsula or anisland),[41] which may correspond to theIndonesian Archipelago, especiallySumatra.[42] Both terms might refer to a powerful coastal or island kingdom in present-dayIndonesia, possibly centered onSumatra orJava. This corresponds to the gold production areas traditionally known inMinangkabau Highlands inBarisan Mountains, Sumatra, and interiorBorneo.[42] The eighth-century Indian textSamaraiccakaha describes a sea voyage toSuvarnadvipa and the making of bricks from the gold rich sands which they inscribed with the name “dharana” and then baked.[43] These pointing out to the direction of western Insular Southeast Asia, especially Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Java.
Benefitting from its strategic location on the narrowStrait of Malacca, the insular theory argued that other than actually producing gold, it might also be based on such a kingdom's potential for power and wealth (hence, "Land of Gold") as a hub for sea-trade also known from vague descriptions of contemporary Chinese pilgrims to India. The kingdom referred to as the center of maritime trade between China and India wasSrivijaya. Due to theChinese writing system, however, the interpretations of Chinese historical sources are based on supposed correspondences ofideograms – and their possiblephonetic equivalents – with known toponyms in the ancientSoutheast Asian civilizations.Hendrik Kern concluded thatSumatra was theSuvarnadvipa mentioned in ancient Hindu texts and the island of Chryse mentioned in thePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea and byRufius Festus Avienius.[44]
The Chinese pilgrim and Buddhist scholarYijing (義淨), visited the kingdom ofSrivijaya onSumatra in 672 and identified it withSuvarnadvipa, the Island of Gold (金洲jin-zhou).[45]
The interpretation of early travel records is not always easy. Javanese embassies to China in 860 and 873 CE refer to Java as rich in gold, although it was in fact devoid of any deposits. The Javanese would have had to import gold possibly from neighbouring Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula or Borneo, where gold was still being mined in the 19th century and where ancient mining sites were located.[46] Even though Java did not have its own gold deposits, the texts make frequent references to the existence of goldsmiths, and it is clear from the archaeological evidence such asWonoboyo Hoard, that this culture had developed a sophisticated gold working technology, which relied on the import of substantial quantities of the metal.[47]
ThePadang Roco Inscription of 1286 CE, states that an image of Buddha Amoghapasa Lokeshvara was brought toDharmasraya on the UpperBatang Hari - the river ofJambi - was transported fromBhumi Java (Java) toSuvarnabhumi (Sumatra), and erected by order of the Javanese rulerKertanegara: the inscription clearly identifies Sumatra as Suvarṇabhūmi.[48]
Butuan on the southernPhilippine island ofMindanao was so rich in treasures that a museum curator, Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, stated it was even richer than the more well-known western maritime kingdom ofSrivijaya; “The astonishing quantities and impressive quality of gold treasures recovered in Butuan suggest that its flourishing port settlement played an until recently little-recognized role in early Southeast Asian trade. Surprisingly, the amount of gold discovered in Butuan far exceeds that found in Sumatra, where the much better known flourishing kingdom of Srivijaya is said to have been located.” This despite that most of the gold of Butuan were already looted by invaders.[49]
A popular interpretation ofRabindranath Tagore's poemAmar Shonar Bangla serves as the basis for the claim that Suvarṇabhūmi was actually situated in centralBengal atSonargaon.[50] In someJain texts, it is mentioned that merchants ofAnga (in present-dayBihar, a state ofIndia that borders with Bengal) regularly sailed to Suvarṇabhūmi, and ancient Bengal was in fact situated very close to Anga, connected by rivers of theGanges-Brahmaputra Delta. Bengal has also been described in ancient Indian and Southeast Asian chronicles as a "seafaring country", enjoying trade relations withDravidian kingdoms, Sri Lanka, Java and Sumatra.Sinhalese tradition holds that the first king of Sri Lanka,Vijaya Singha, came from Bengal.[51] Moreover the region is commonly associated with golden color - the soil of Bengal is known for its golden color (Gangetic alluvial), golden harvest (rice), golden fruits (mangoes), golden minerals (gold andclay) and yellow-brown skinned people. Bengal is described in ancientSanskrit texts as 'Gaud-Desh' (Golden/Radiant land). During the reign of theBengal Sultans and theMughal Empire, central Bengal was home to a prosperous trading town called "Sonargaon" (Golden village), which was connected to North India by theGrand Trunk Road and was frequented by Arab, Persian and Chinese travelers, includingIbn Battuta andZheng He. Even today, Bengalis often refer to their land as 'Shonar Bangla' (Golden Bengal), and the national anthem of Bangladesh -Amar Shonar Bangla (My Bengal of Gold), from Tagore's poem - is a reference to this theory.[52]
The thirst for gold formed the most powerful incentive to explorers at the beginning of modern times; but although more and more extensive regions were brought to light by them, they sought in vain in the East Indian Archipelago for the Gold and Silver Islands where, according to the legends, the precious metals were to be gathered from the ground and did not need to be laboriously extracted from the interior of the earth. In spite of their failure, they found it difficult to give up the alluring picture. When they did not find what they sought in the regions which were indicated by the old legends and by the maps based thereon, they hoped for better success in still unexplored regions, and clutched with avidity at every hint that they were here to attain their object.[53]
The history of geography thus shows us how the Gold and Silver Islands were constantly, so to speak, wandering towards the East. Marco Polo spoke, in the most exaggerated language, of the wealth of gold inZipangu, situated at the extremity of this part of the world, and had thus pointed out where the precious metals should preferably be sought.Martin Behaim, on his globe of 1492, revived the Argyre and Chryse of antiquity in these regions.[53]
In 1519,Cristóvão de Mendonça, was given instructions to search for the legendary Isles of Gold, said to lie to "beyond Sumatra", which he was unable to do, and in 1587 an expedition under the command of Pedro de Unamunu was sent to find them in the vicinity of Zipangu (Japan).[54] According toAntonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, in 1528Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón in the shipFlorida on a voyage from theMoluccas toMexico reached a large island which he took for theIsla del Oro. This island has not been identified although it seems likely that it isBiak,Manus or one of theSchouten Islands on the north coast ofNew Guinea.[55]
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