Indian influences in early Philippine polities
The Indian influences in early Philippine polities, particularly the influence of the
The most updated scholarship notes that there is no evidence of direct political or economic interaction between India and the various polities of the Philippine archipelago prior to the Philippines' European colonial era. Scholars such as Milton Osborne and F. Landa Jocano instead suggest that "indirect cultural influence"[3][2] mostly arrived through these early Philippine polities' relations with the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires.[2][7] during the 10th through the early 14th centuries. This updates the theories of earlier scholars, who posited that Indian elements in Philippine culture suggested relations between the two societies as early as the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE.[2] This also places the Philippines and the northern part of Vietnam outside the pattern of "Indianization" which took place elsewhere in Southeast Asia.[3]
History
Historians prior to the later part of the twentieth century such as Zaide and Manuel generally believed that Srivijaya and Majapahit played a significant role in the development of cultures throughout the Philippine archipelago, although the degree of Srivijayan influence was later questioned in seminal works by Jocano and Scott.[2]
Hindu and Buddhist influences first reached
This meant that the Buddhism and Hinduism introduced into the Philippine archipelago by the Srivijaya and the Majapahit were of a distinctly (Insular) Southeast Asian variant,[3] as Osborne, in his 2004 history of Southeast Asia, notes:
Much, but not all, of this culture was absorbed by the local population and joined to their existing cultural patterns.[…] Because Indian culture “came” to Southeast Asia, one must not think that Southeast Asians lacked a culture of their own. Indeed, the generally accepted view is that Indian culture made such an impact on Southeast Asia because it fitted easily with the existing cultural patterns and religious beliefs of populations that had already moved a considerable distance along the path of civilization.[…] Southeast Asians, to summarize the point, borrowed but they also adapted. In some very important cases, they did not need to borrow at all."[3]: 23–24
Possible influence through early contacts with the Srivijaya
Popular literature and some 20th century history textbooks often suggest that Hindu and Buddhist cultural influences first came to the Philippines through early contacts with the Srivijayan and Majapahit thalassocracies. Jocano notes, however, that there is insufficient physical evidence[2] to suggest that Philippine polities traded extensively with the Srivijayan empire. He suggests that contact between Philippine polities and the Srivijaya was probably limited to small-scale trade.[2]
Influence through trade with the Majapahit
Jocano suggests that the Hindu and Buddhist cultural influences on Philippine cultures actually probably came through the Majapahit, as evidenced by significant archeological findings:
"Philippine-Indonesian relations during precolonial times became intensified during the rise of the Majapahit Empire. It was during this time that much of the so-called Indian cultural influence reached the Philippines through Indonesia. But what penetrated into our country, particularly in the seaport communities, was already the modified version of the original Hindu cultural traits."[2]: 142
Manifestations of cultural influence
Because physical evidence regarding the degree to which India influenced the Philippines prior to the
"Except for a few artifacts and identified loanwords that have been accepted as proofs of Indian-Philippine relations, there are meager intrusive materials to sustain definite views concerning the range of Indian prehistoric influence in the country. Many generalizations [that] have so far been advanced merely obscure the basic issues of Philippine cultural development. Even archeological data, mostly trade items, must be critically evaluated before they are judged as evidence of direct contacts.[2]
Jocano lists the various streams of the evidence which support the assertion that this influence reached the Philippines include:[2]
"Syllabic writing; artifacts in the form of different figurines made of clay, gold, and bronze that were dug in various sites in the Philippines; and 336 loanwords identified by Professor Francisco to be Sanskrit in origin, with 150 of them identified as the origin of some major Philippine terms."
The Agusan image
One major artifact often presented as physical evidence of early Indian influence in the Philippines is the "
H. Otley Beyer interpreted the image as that of a Sivaite goddess, but with the religiously important hand signals improperly copied by local (probably Mindanao) workmen. Thus it suggests that Hinduism was already in the Philippines before Magellan arrived, but also suggests that the early Filipinos had an imperfect version of Hinduism which they got from the Majapahit.[10]
The Laguna copperplate inscription
Another artifact often presented as physical evidence of early Indonesian and Indian influence in the Philippines is the 10th century Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI), found in 1989 and deciphered in 1992 by Dutch anthropologist Antoon Postma, and famous as the earliest known written document found in the Philippines.[11]
The (LCI) was written in a variety of the
Sanskrit loanwords and scripts
According to Jocano, a total of 336 loanwords were identified by Professor Juan R. Francisco to be Sanskrit in origin, "with 150 of them identified as the origin of some major Philippine terms."[2] Many of these loanwords concerned governance and mythology, which were the particular concern of the Maginoo class, indicating a desire of members of that class to validate their status as rulers by associating themselves with foreign powers.[12]
The origins of various pre-colonial
Folk literature
The most prominent example of Indian cultural influence on early Philippine folk literature is the case of the Maharadia Lawana, a Maranao epic which tells a local version of the Indian epic Ramayana,[15] first documented by Filipino anthropologist Juan R. Francisco in the late 1960s. Francisco believed that the Ramayana narrative arrived in the Philippines some time between the 17th to 19th centuries, via interactions with Javanese and Malaysian cultures which traded extensively with India.[16]: 101
Some Philippine High School textbooks
Philippine anthropologists and historiographers such as
"Indirect Indianization" through Maritime Southeast Asia
"Indianization" in Maritime Southeast Asia
Historically
"Indirect Indianization" in the Philippines
Historiographers — both from Southeast Asia in general,[3] and the Philippines specifically[1][2][4] — agree that the impact of "indianization" in Philippines was indirect in nature,[3] occurring through contacts with the Majapahit culture.[2][1] Osborne (2004) notes that Vietnam and the Philippines did not participate in the main wave of Indianization:[3]: 23
"In the case of Vietnam, who were in this period living under Chinese rule, the process of Indianization never took place. For a different reason – distant geographical location – neither did the Philippines participate in this process."
Jocano furthers:
"The Philippines is geographically outside the direct line of early commerce between India and the rest of Southeast Asia. Moreover, the island world of Indonesia, with Sumatra and Java controlling the traffic of trade, functioned as a sieve for whatever influence (cultural, social, and commercial) India might have had to offer beyond the Indonesian archipelago.[...]Thus, it can be said that Indian Influence filtered into the Philippines only indirectly."[2]: 139
Degree and nature of "influence" in the Philippines
Regardless of how and when it actually happened, Historiographers specializing in Southeast Asia note that this "influence" was cultural and religious, rather than military or political in nature. For example, Osborne, in his 2004 history of Southeast Asia, notes:[3]: 23
Beginning in the 2nd and third centuries C.E. there was a slow expansion of [Indian] cultural contacts with the Southeast Asian region. It was an uneven process, with some areas receiving Indian influence much later than others, and the degree of influence varying from century to century. [...] Indianization did not mean there was a mass migration of Indian population into Southeast Asia. Rather, a relatively limited number of traders and priest scholars brought Indian culture in its various forms to Southeast Asia where much, but not all, of this culture was absorbed by the local population and joined to their existing cultural patterns.
Osborne further emphasizes that this "indianization" of Southeast Asia did not per-se overwrite existing indigenous patterns, cultures, and beliefs:
"Because Indian culture “came” to Southeast Asia, one must not think that Southeast Asians lacked a culture of their own. Indeed, the generally accepted view is that Indian culture made such an impact on Southeast Asia because it fitted easily with the existing cultural patterns and religious beliefs of populations that had already moved a considerable distance along the path of civilization.[…] Southeast Asians, to summarize the point, borrowed but they also adapted. In some very important cases, they did not need to borrow at all.[3]: 24 "
Localization of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs
Milner (2011)[21] suggests that the cultural adaptation of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs in Maritime Southeast Asia is better characterized as "localization," which Wolters (1999) describes as a process by which foreign ideas ("specifically Indian materials"[21]) could be "fractured and restated and therefore drained of their original significance" in the process of being adopted into "various local complexes."[22]
See also
- Rajahnate of Butuan
- Rajahnate of Cebu
- Indosphere
- Greater India
- Indian Filipino
- History of Indian influence on Southeast Asia
- List of India-related topics in the Philippines
References
- ^ ISBN 971-550-135-4.
- ^ ISBN 971-622-006-5.
- ^ ISBN 1-74114-448-5.
- ^ )
- ^ Jamkajornkeiat, Thiti. "Southeast Asia, Surprisingly". Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ISBN 978-1-4384-6875-4.
- ^ a b Churchill, Malcolm H. (1977). "Indian Penetration of Pre-Spanish Philippines" (PDF). Asian Studies. 15. Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines: University of the Philippines Asian Center.
- ^ Jan Gonda, The Indian Religions in Pre-Islamic Indonesia and their survival in Bali, in Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 3 Southeast Asia, Religions, p. 1, at Google Books, pp. 1-54
- .
- ^ H. Otley Beyer, "Outline Review of Philippine Archaeology by Islands and Provinces," Philippine Journal of Science, Vol.77,Nos.34 (July–August 1947),pp. 205-374
- ^ JSTOR 42633308.
- ^ Junker, Laura Lee (1990). "The Organization of IntraRegional and LongDistance Trade in PreHispanic Philippine Complex Societies". Asian Perspectives. 29 (2): 167–209.
- ^ Krishna Chandra Sagar, 2002, An Era of Peace, Page 52.
- ^ Morrow, Paul. "Baybayin, the Ancient Philippine script". MTS. Archived from the original on August 21, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2008..
- ^ Francisco, Juan R. "Maharadia Lawana" (PDF).
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(help) - JSTOR 42633135.
- ^ a b Halilli, Maria Christine (2004), Philippines History, pp. 46
- ^ ISBN 9789715425148.
- ^ Acharya, Amitav. "The "Indianization of Southeast Asia" Revisited: Initiative, Adaptation and Transformation in Classical Civilizations" (PDF). amitavacharya.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 7, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ Cœdès, George (1967). The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. Australian National University Press.
- ^ )
- OCLC 318419814.