INDIA Arikamedu and Oc-Èo

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Arikamedu and Oc-èo

Author(s): ROLAND BRADDELL


Source: Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 24, No. 3 (156)
(October, 1951), pp. 154-157
Published by: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41503012
Accessed: 01-12-2019 00:55 UTC

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lo4 W. Linehan

Capitao D. Paulo
Baparam de Piuigor
Anga' dia malu
Sita pa tau dor

The fourth line, the syllable


should read Sitapa ta' udor . In
be rendered:

Kapitan Dom Paulo


Bërpërang di-Punggor
Engga dia malu
Sa-tapak ta ' undor.
Captain Dom Paulo,
Gave battle at Punggor,
He would not suffer disgra'ce,
Not a step did he give way.

The Ъа - of baparam was commonly used by the Portuguese and


"the Dutch to render the Malay prefix Ъёг- ( v . Hafcx* Malay-Latin
VocabulaTy of 1631, passim ). Final -am was sometimes rendered
-ang. Engga , a strong negative, is a Batavian variant of the Penin-
sula* ěnggan, to refuse, be reluctant. Sa-tapak ta' untdor is a
common Malay phrase, and occurs, for example, in the Hikaydt
Inderà Mëngindëra .
W. LUSTEHAÍT.

Arikamedu and Oc-èo.


( Received Mayf 1 9 5 í )

(See J3I.B.B.A.S., 1947, Vol. 20, pt 1, pp. 179-180 & 180-181).


The historical geography of Asia has been able to make two
definite strides forward since the discoveries at Arikamedu and
Oc-èo. A very full account of the former has appeared in Ancient
India , 1946, no: 2, pp: 17-124. The Periplus gives a place called
Poduca on what must have been the Coromandel coast and Schog
in his. edition of that work, 1912, suggested that it was probably
intended for Pudu-chchëry' whičh we call Pondicherry; but others
disagreed. Ptolemy gives an emporium called Podoukë, which also
must have been on the Coromandel coast; and there cannot be the
slightest doubt that it was the same place- as the Poduca of the
Periplus . Arakimedu is a village two miles south of Pondicherry,
where explorations disclosed a trading-station which must have
«dated from 23 B.C. to 200 A.D.; and there cannot be any doubt
that it was Ptolemy's Podoukë, as the full archaeological description

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXIV, Pt. Ill,

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Short Notes 155

of the finds proves. The Greek n


Tamil one than is the European
continual error of trying to l
Tesemblance to modern ones. In the case of Podoukë the facts are
decisive and there can be no doubt that it was a Roman or Yavana,
i.e. Western, settlement and emporium.

There is, as yet, no full account of the explorations at Oc-èo


:and around it ; but there are three papers which give sufficient mate-
rial to show the tremendous historical importance of these ancient
isettlements in the Transbassac. These papers in order of date are
by G. Coedès, 1947, Artibus Asias , vol : X, pp : 193-199 ; L. Malleret,
1948, Artibus Asiae , vol : XI, pp : 274-284, and also, Annuctl Biblio -
graphy of Indián Archaeology , 1950, vol : XV, pp : LI-LVI.
Chinese records tell us that the first founder of Fu-nan was
an Indian Kaundinya, who found the inhabitants naked and civilized
them. Later a second Kaundinya crossed from P'an-p'an (some-
where on the western shores of the Gulf of Siam) to Fu-nan and
»civilised Fu-nan a second time. Coedès in his history also tells us
that between 240 and 245 A.D. a ruler of Fu-nan sent one of his
men to an Indo-Scythian ruler in the Gangetic plain and that in
337 A.D. a prince of Iranian stock held sway over Funan. These
facts seemed .to be confirmed by the Oc-èo finds in a general way.

It is clear, in the first place, that there had been an ancient


megalithic culture in this part of the Transbassac and that the
original people did not progress beyond the neolithic stage. It
seems quite safe to describe these original people generically as
Indonesians in culture and physique; that is to say, the people
whom the Chinese called K'un-Vun . A curious bronze statuette was
found at Oc-èo of a slave with short face and curly hair, which
answers to Chinese descriptions of the K'un-Vun ' there was also
found a depiction on an intaglio of a naked male armed with an
•axe: and a female figure dressed in a sarong but naked above the
ivaist, like girls in Bali. Furthermore, certain objects, as well as
symbols and decorative devices, indicate relations with the Indo-
nesian world.

Next, the coming of the Indians is proved by an abundance


- of evidence which shows their religion to have been a preponderant
Hinduism with Buddhism also ; and sanskrit inscriptions in a South
Indian Br alimi script can be dated epigraphically from the 2nd to
"the 5th centuries A.D.

Finds of Iranian origin were made, particularly a glass disc


with the bust of a person wearing a Scythian head-dress and plaited
locks and beard, who is shown smelling a flower and is reminiscent
of effigies on Sassanian coins.

195l' Royal Asiatic Society .

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156 Roland Braddell

Most surprising of all are the Roma


Chinese records of early "embassie
There are several Roman intaglios; th
Roman beads; a bracteate gold medal
of the- Antonines and a mutilated le
guished the name of the Emperor M
bracteate, very well preserved, bear
Antoninus Pius and a Roman date
Contemporary with the Roman find
a broken bronze mirror which Karlgr
a leaden plaque and two Chinese B
Chinese finds, being few, would show

Oc-èo was undoubtedly a maritime


a port once on the littoral of the ea
On the other side of the gulf lay
thing that on objects found in Oc-èo
stream of saliva issuing from its
reminiscent of the strange ki-jang
Kelantan plays, in Malay folk-lore, a
saliva of the bull is familiar.

There is not the slightest doubt from the 12,000 objects


obtained from Oc-èo and neighbouring sites that it was a cosmopo-
litan town with a large sea commerce, preponderantly in Indian
imports, and that India was also the vehicle for foreign imports.
It is also certain that, like many other Indian establishments in
Malaya and the Archipelago, merchants from India settled at Oc-èo
on a site occupied by aborigines. The dating of the,, objects found
makes this region of the Transbassac synchronize with the dates*
of the Fu-nan empire and like Fu-nan the Transbassac settlements
ended in the 6th century A.D. Oc-èo must undoubtedly have been
part of the Fu-nan kingdom. The geological evidence shows that:
it was overwhelmed by sudden flooding from the Mekong; and
there is no evidence at all that it was ever sacked.

In placing this settlement in Ptolemy's lists one will want more


particulars. It has already been suggested by some that it wa &
Kattigara but I do not think that to be possible of logical argument..
Zabae is a much better suggestion to put forward provisionally at
the present moment.

The most important finds from Oc-èo can be seen splendidly


assembled at the Musée Guimet in Paris in a room beyond that in
which are many objects from Arikamedu. I was immensely im-
pressed by the high artistic quality of the Oc-èo objects and it should
be noted that a develooed local industry existed there, particularly

Journal Malayan Branch [Vol. XXIV, Pt. III„

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Short Notes 15?

in metals, principally gold and ti


lead. The "Roman" period of A
and each synchronizes with Ptol
BOLAND BEADDELL.

Two Notes: Red Gold and Chiamasele


( Received May 195 1 )

Red Gold. J.M.B. R. A. S. , Vol. 23, pt 1, pp: 9, <25.


The тегу pure gold of a deep red colour which Ma Tuan-lin
records as coming from Tan-mei-lieou was the subject of considera-
tion in my paper above. Sir Richaïd Winstedt drew my attention
to his paper on 'Malay Industries, Pt : 1, p. 54 in connection with
sëpoh a process in gold-working. "When the work is finished they
give it that fine high colour they so much admire by an operation
they term sëpoh. This consists in mixing nitre, common salt and
alum reduced to powder and moistened, laying the composition on
the filigree and keeping it over a moderate fire till it dissolves and
becomes yellow". Sir [Richard says that the red gold of the
Selangor regalia is due to sëpoh. How old was the process ? Could
it have been in use a thousand years ago?

Chiamassie. J .M.B.R.A.S. , Vol. 23, pt 1, pp: 40-41.


Dr. Linehan says that he has not seen Ramusio's version of
Marco Polo "but surely Chiamassie is just the Italian word chiama
si (more modern, si chiama) which means "is called" or "is.
named"." In that case it will not be an Italian transcription of
Tumasik : and I have called attention to the fact that Chiamassie
does not appear in any other of the editions of Marco Polo.

ROLAND BRADDELL.

The Use of Impatiens balsamina, Linn, for Dyeing the Hands


See plaie 31.
( Received May 195 1)

Burkill (1935, (2), pp. 1227, 1228)1 writes of Impatiens balsa -


mina a's follows,

"It is widely known in Asia that the flowers may be used instead of
Henna for dyeing the finger nails,

and again : -
"Some writers (Watt, Diet. 1890; K. Heyne, N
ed. of 1927 p. 1003, and Laufer, Sino-iranica, 19
leaves may be used in dyeing (the first named in

(1) Burkill, I.H., M.A., F.L.S. A Dictionary of the


Malay Peninsula , 2 vols, London, 1935.

195l ' Royal Asiatic Society .

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