Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 232

228
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
DECEMBER, 1919
Except through tradition, as recorded in the native chronicles of Java and Sumatra and to a less extent elsewhere, and through some inscriptions, the only general knowledge that exists regarding the Malays before the advent of the Portuguese in 1508 is that contained in the notes of travellers and geographical writers. Thus, Megasthenes (Greek) writing in India (306-298 B.O.), Pomponius Mela (Roman A.D. 43) and Josephus (Jew, c. 85) knew of the existence of the spice regions, and roughly, their position. About 79. Hippalus, the navigator, demonstrated the use of the trade winds, now known as the " Monsoons," which materially altered the capacity for Western discovery. So by the days of Ptolemy, the Alexandrian astronomer-geographer (127-151), knowledge of the Archipelago came to be recorded at first hand, and exploration became possible, bringing about the voyage of the envoys of Marcus Aurelius to Tongking in 166, and later the journeys and records of Cosmas Indicopleustes of Alexandria (c. 530-548). Chinese monkish (Buddhist) travellers also appeared on the scene : Fa Hian in Java (412-414), who found Hinduism flourishing and Buddhism commencing to have influence, and I Tsing in Sumatra in 671 and 688, who first noted the Malays by name. Thereafter the great medieval travellers, Marco Polo (Venetian), Odoric of Pordenone (Italian), and Ibn Batuta of Tangier, are found in Java and Sumatra, respectively in 1293, 1325 and 1345. Others, such as Nicolo de' Cont (Venetian, 1419-1444), produced personal accounts more or less accurate, chiefly less.
All this while, there had been from very early times (1000-400 B.C.) an ever-increasing coasting trade from Southern India (Dravidian), and afterwards from Greece, Rome, Persia, Arabia, and India generally, which on the decline of Roman power passed into Arab and Persian hands in the seventh century, leading eventually by the fourteenth century to the establishment of Islam in the whole of Tanah Maláyu, as the Malays call their own country. So by the time the Portuguese and other Europeans, beginning with Affonso d'Albuquerque in 1511, appeared among the Malays as conquerors in search of the spice trade, a great deal of information as to commercial possibilities had been accumulated in Europe. After the arrival of the Portuguese the story of the Malayan regions takes on a new aspect.
The many recorded traditions of the Malays previous to the advent of the Muhammadans and Europeans, especially in Java and Sumatra, though backed by an immense number of insoriptions and monuments-some of them magnificent-are all disappointing as historical documents. In fact, the most remarkable thing about them is that with so much evidence there should be so little acceptable history. There are points in the early traditions, however, that come out with some certainty.
Malay rulers and ruling families have long delighted in tracing their descent from Sikandar Zu'lkargain (Alexander the Great), which may fairly be taken to mean that just as Megasthenes, the ambassador of Seleucus Nicator at the Court of Chandragupta (306-298 B.O.), the Mauryan Emperor of India, soon after Alexander's date (356-323), knew of the Malayan spioe trade, so had the fame of Alexander reached the Malays at the same timo. Next, the Malays have adopted the distinctive Saka era of India, starting from A.D. 78, and by the time that Fa Hian is found, as above stated, dwelling for a while in Java (412-414), Hinduism was established and Buddhism commencing to make its way The Hinduism was of the Saiva (old animistio) form, and the Buddhism of the Mahayana (Hinduised ritualistio) school. These last two facts support the trend of the traditions, which is that the Hinduism came through Sumatra into Java in the first century, A.D., from South India (Dravidian), and the Buddhism from further North a couple of centuries later.