Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Message
- Preface
- Introduction
- The Contributors
- 1 The Naval Expeditions of the Cholas in the Context of Asian History
- 2 Medieval Commercial Activities in the Indian Ocean as Revealed from Chinese Ceramic-sherds and South Indian and Sri Lankan Inscriptions
- 3 The Military Campaigns of Rajendra Chola and the Chola-Srivijaya-China Triangle
- 4 Rajendra Chola I's Naval Expedition to Southeast Asia: A Nautical Perspective
- 5 A Note on the Navy of the Chola State
- 6 Excavation at Gangaikondacholapuram, The Imperial Capital of Rajendra Chola, and Its Significance
- 7 New Perspectives on Nagapattinam: The Medieval Port City in the Context of Political, Religious, and Commercial Exchanges between South India, Southeast Asia and China
- 8 South Indian Merchant Guilds in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia
- 9 Anjuvannam: A Maritime Trade Guild of Medieval Times
- 10 Rajendra Chola's Naval Expedition and the Chola Trade with Southeast and East Asia
- 11 Cultural Implications of the Chola Maritime Fabric Trade with Southeast Asia
- 12 Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia during the Period of the Polonnaruva Kingdom
- 13 India and Southeast Asia: South Indian Cultural Links with Indonesia
- 14 Rajendra Chola's Invasion and the Rise of Airlangga
- 15 Rethinking Community: The Indic Carvings of Quanzhou
- Appendix I Ancient and Medieval Tamil and Sanskrit Inscriptions Relating to Southeast Asia and China
- Chinese Texts Describing or Referring to the Chola Kingdom as Zhu-nian
- Index
Appendix I - Ancient and Medieval Tamil and Sanskrit Inscriptions Relating to Southeast Asia and China
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 November 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Message
- Preface
- Introduction
- The Contributors
- 1 The Naval Expeditions of the Cholas in the Context of Asian History
- 2 Medieval Commercial Activities in the Indian Ocean as Revealed from Chinese Ceramic-sherds and South Indian and Sri Lankan Inscriptions
- 3 The Military Campaigns of Rajendra Chola and the Chola-Srivijaya-China Triangle
- 4 Rajendra Chola I's Naval Expedition to Southeast Asia: A Nautical Perspective
- 5 A Note on the Navy of the Chola State
- 6 Excavation at Gangaikondacholapuram, The Imperial Capital of Rajendra Chola, and Its Significance
- 7 New Perspectives on Nagapattinam: The Medieval Port City in the Context of Political, Religious, and Commercial Exchanges between South India, Southeast Asia and China
- 8 South Indian Merchant Guilds in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia
- 9 Anjuvannam: A Maritime Trade Guild of Medieval Times
- 10 Rajendra Chola's Naval Expedition and the Chola Trade with Southeast and East Asia
- 11 Cultural Implications of the Chola Maritime Fabric Trade with Southeast Asia
- 12 Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia during the Period of the Polonnaruva Kingdom
- 13 India and Southeast Asia: South Indian Cultural Links with Indonesia
- 14 Rajendra Chola's Invasion and the Rise of Airlangga
- 15 Rethinking Community: The Indic Carvings of Quanzhou
- Appendix I Ancient and Medieval Tamil and Sanskrit Inscriptions Relating to Southeast Asia and China
- Chinese Texts Describing or Referring to the Chola Kingdom as Zhu-nian
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
We have assembled here sixteen Tamil and Sanskrit inscriptions relating to Southeast Asia and China during the ancient and medieval periods. Out of the sixteen inscriptions, seven come from Southeast Asian countries and China, and the remaining nine from South India. We have given the full text and English translation for the inscriptions from Southeast Asia and China, except for one in Champassak, but we have given the text and translation of only the relevant parts of the inscriptions from South India and Champassak, as their references to Southeast Asian matters are very short and casual, though the inscriptions are long.
The sixteen inscriptions are divided into two broad categories: Nos. 1–9 come from South India and relate to Kadaram (Srivijaya) or Kamboja, and nos. 10–16 are all those discovered in Southeast Asia or China. In each category, we have arranged the inscriptions in chronological order. Most of the inscriptions are written in Tamil, but two copper-plates (nos. 1 and 3) are partly in Sanskrit, and the Champassak inscription (no. 9) is fully in Sanskrit.
Except for nos. 2–4 (Nagapattinam), no. 6 (Tirukkadaiyur), and no. 16 (Neusu Aceh), the text and translations of all the inscriptions have been published in some epigraphical journals or books that we have given for reference at the beginning of each section, or in footnotes. However, we have made some alterations in the text and translations wherever necessary. Texts and/or translations of nos. 2–4, 6, and 16 are prepared here by us for the first time.
Though the date of the Kadaram expedition made by Rajendra I has been controversial, we may suggest the date as sometime in 1026, since the first reference to the expedition in stone inscriptions appears only in those which have the date of the fourteenth regnal year of Rajendra I (1026). Its appearance in inscriptions of the thirteenth year is doubtful. Even in the fourteenth year, up to the seventieth day of that year, only the pre-Kadaram expedition is given (South Indian Inscriptions, V, No. 651).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Nagapattinam to SuvarnadwipaReflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia, pp. 271 - 291Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak InstitutePrint publication year: 2009