MALAYSIAN ORIGINS® by E.S.Shankar 1/75 a brief history of the peoples of Malaysia® CONTENTS PG. f o r e w o r d 2 m e l a k a – the beginning 6 malay roots 10 sejarah melayu – malay annals 12 chinese armada 17 of birds’ nest s and dragons in the east 20 golden age of melaka 23 dev illed curry chicken 25 islam the pilla r 27 fleeting dutchman - double dutch and bugi s 29 the legend of hang tuah 31 homo sapien 34 race for the future 40 sejarah melayu revisited – t h e a l exander and persian problem 44 aryavartha – t h e n o r t h 49 daksh i n a p a t h a – t h e s o u t h 54 r a j a marong mahawangsa or kedah annals 59 the golden chersonese 62 the truth shall remain the truth 64 A p p e n d i x : melaka sultanate 68 sejarah melayu parameswara ancestry 69 alexander ancestry 70 persian ances t r y 71 c o r r e s p ondence with a ghani ismail 73- 75 MALAYSIAN ORIGINS® by E.S.Shankar 2/75 a brief history of the peoples of Malaysia® F o r e w o r d We have been led to believe by revisionist historians t h a t for all intents and purposes, M’sian history commences w i t h t h e conversion to Islam and t h e installation of I s k a n d a r Shah (Parameswara) as Sultan of Melaka i n 1 4 0 0 AD. That a kind of vacuum existed before this date. Part of this revisionism has also created the oft repeated mantra that the Indians and Chinese only started arriving in M’sia in the mid to late 19 th c e n t u r y , to work in the rubber estates and tin mines. That therefore they are mere immigrants of late. Nothing could be further from the truth! Much of these misd irections have been created by a cabal of academics and (often closet) religious extremists . W a t e r e d d o w n s c h o o l t e x t - books that skim over essential historical facts spanning more than 2000 years h a v e created a certain deliberately crafted and desired s l a n t . S ince 1969, and especially after 1981, n a t i o n a l p o l i c i e s h a v e n u d g e d towards closer asso c i a t i on and identification with Islamic nations and Arabic cultures than with India or C h i n a . The consensus among historians is that Indian forays into Malaya and South East Asia ( SEA ) began probably from very early times. ‘Malayuir’ and ‘ Suvarnadvipa / S u v a r n a b h u m ’ (Island/ Land of Gold) are mentioned i n ancient India texts such as the Ramayana of 500 BC. Assuming the Ramayana was first written about 500 BC, and coupled with extant oral traditions, it is reasonable to assume that trekkers, but more probably sailors, ventured into Malaya from the Gangetic (North) to the Coromandel (South) coast on the eastern sea - board of India for a century or two before this. MALAYSIAN ORIGINS® by E.S.Shankar 3/75 a brief history of the peoples of Malaysia® Archaeological finds and Chinese records offer clear, indisputable evidence of Indian Hindu/ Buddhist kingdoms f r o m 1 st century AD in SEA, as follows: - 1. Funan (Vietnam) 2. C h a m p a ( V i e t nam/Cambodia) 3. I n d o - C h i n a 4. Langkasuka K i n g d o m i n T h a i l a n d / N . M a l a y a 5. B u r m a 6. Malaya/Singapore – Bujang Valley 7. Sri Vijaya Empire and others in Palembang, J a v a , Sumatra, Bali in Indonesia 8. Borneo (Sarawak, Sabah & Indonesian Kalimantan) 9. B r u n e i Angkor Wat, Borobudur and the Shiva temples in Prambanan, Java need no elucidation. B o r n e o w a s regarded by ancient Chinese and Indians as the source of the finest quality Camphor. Tantali sing glimpses of S a n s k r i t and Tamil in their languages, and statues of Indian gods have been discovered in the Philippines . T h e spice islands or Celebes (modern Sulawesi) were known to the early Indians. The Indonesians h a v e n o guilt or qualms in recordin g t h e i r association with India. In A D 7 8 , there arrived in J a v a a Brahmanical Indian P r i n c e / s c h o l a r , A j i S a k a , from the court o f K i n g Shalivahanan . ‘Aji’ means 1 st and therefore, he wa s t h e 1 st in Java from the court of the Indian Saka King , S h a l i v a h a n a n . I t i s c o m mon history that Aji Saka introduced Hinduism, civilized the isl anders, introduced science ( a s t r o n o m y & a s t r o l o g y ) , m e d i c i n e , t h e S a k a c a l e n d a r , a n d m o s t importantly, the Javanese (Sanskrit/Indian) s c r i p t . L e g e n d has it that Aji Saka defeated a l ocal chieftain, described a s a m a n - eating ogre, testifying to the presence then of some cannibalistic tribes in parts of Indonesia (as well as Burma, Indo - China, Nicobar, Celebes e t c . ). This set the foundation for the subsequent Indianised Kingdoms in SEA. If the Indians were the early adventurers in SEA, the Chinese were not far behind. But China p l a y e d t h e r o l e o f p o w e r f u l Grand Statesman , to whom various kings and rulers from all over SEA sent ambassadors and tributes, to seek protection from their enem i e s . I n 1 2 9 3 A D , a force of MALAYSIAN ORIGINS® by E.S.Shankar 4/75 a brief history of the peoples of Malaysia® 20,000 Chinese invaded J a v a , o n t h e o r d e r s o f K u b l a i K h a n , to avenge an earlier insu lt to his ambassadors by t h e M a j a p a h i t King Kirtanagara. E a c h C h i n e s e Emperor/King/Ruler regarded it as his inherent duty to rec ord the histor y o f t h e d y n a s t y p r e v i o u s t o h i s . A nd they have adhered to this policy for over 2 m i l l e n i a . Faxian (Fa Hsien) w h o made his historic journey to India by sea and overland in 399 AD was probably the 1 st Chinese to establish official contact with India. He a l s o travelled to Ceylon & Sumatra, Java or Borneo The sea routes and t h e s e c r e t s of the monsoon winds were eventually mastered by the Chinese a s w e l l , culminating in t h e f a m o u s voyages of Admiral Zheng H e ( C h e n g H o ) , w h o v i s i t e d Melaka more than once. I t would however, be equally misleading to assume that prior to the arrival of the Indians & Chinese, Malaysia & indonesia were inhabited only by savages, uncivilised tribes and peoples. The Aborigines and Malays were already present as fairly organised gro u p s w h e n t h e I n d i a n s f i r s t a r r i v e d . F i s h i n g , n avigational skills and b a s i c , if not a little a d v a n c e d , knowledge of astronomy must be credited t o t h e s e i n d i g e n o u s peoples by force of their extensive sailing expeditions throughout the Archipelago. T h e y m u s t have known about the monsoons a n d riverine systems as they certainly did of the presence of gold and tin bearing valleys further inland from the river mouths. T h e y m u s t have cultivated rice, bananas and fruits ; caught fish . M i n g ( 1 3 6 8 - 1 6 4 4 ) records note t h a t : - ‘In 1378, the King of Pahang, Maharaja Tajau, sent envoys with a letter of gold leaf, and bringing as tribute six foreign slaves ….The higher and lower classes are on a very intimate footing, and there are no thieves….They boil salt out of sea - w a t e r , and make wine by fermenting rice - gruel….Products of the c ountry are lignum - aloes, camphor , t i n a n d a kind of wood used in dyeing.’ Godinho De Eredia (1600AD) wrote: - MALAYSIAN ORIGINS® by E.S.Shankar 5/75 a brief history of the peoples of Malaysia® ‘ P a n ( P a h a n g ) w a s t h e 2 nd seat of the Empire of the M a l a i o s in succession to Patani a nd flourished before the founding of Melaka .