Suwannaphum
This article describes the ancient toponym. For the Bangkok airport, see Suvarnabhumi AirportSuwannaphum (thai : สุวรร"ภูมิ or สุวั""ภูมิ), a thai pronunciation for the sanskrit "Suvarṇabhumī" or pali "Suvaṇṇabhumī", is the name of a land mentioned in many ancient sources such as the Chronicle of Sri Lanka "
Mahavamsa" (thai : มหาวงศ์), some stories of the
Jatakas (thai : นิบาตชา"ก) and
Milinda Panha (thai : มิลินทปัญหา). Literally, this name means "Golden Land" or "Land of Gold", and might be a region named "Aurea Regio" in "India beyond the Ganges" of
Claudius Ptolemy.
There is a misunderstanding that the
Edicts of Ashoka mentioned this name. The true is the Edicts mentioned only the Kings' names and never said about Suwannaphum in the text. Moreover, All the Kings reigned their cities in the region that located beyond the Sindhu to the west. This error might come from the mixing between the story of Ashoka sending his Buddhist missionaries to Suwannaphum in "Mahavamsa" and his Edicts.
The text form Rock Edict Nb13 of King Ashoka :
"Now it is conquest by Dhamma that Beloved-of-the-Gods considers to be the best conquest. And it (conquest by Dhamma) has been won here, on the borders, even six hundred yojanas away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni."
#'Antiochos' refers to Antiochus II Theos of Syria (261-246 BCE), who controlled the Seleucid Empire from Syria to Bactria, in the east from 305 BCE to 250 BCE, and was therefore a direct neighbor of Ashoka.#'Ptolemy' refers to Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt (285-247 BCE), king of the dynasty founded by Ptolemy I, a former general of Alexander the Great, in Egypt.#'Antigonos' refers to Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedon (278-239 BCE)#'Magas' refers to Magas of Cyrene (300-258 BCE)#'Alexander' refers to Alexander II of Epirus (272-258 BCE).#'Chalas' and 'Pandyas' refer to Southern India#'Tamraparni' refers to Sri Lanka.
The location of Suwannaphum has been the subject of much debate, both scholarly and
nationalistic. It remains one of the most mythified and contentious
toponyms in the history of Asia. Asian history scholars have identified two regions as possible locations for the ancient Suwannaphum : Insular Southeast Asia or Southern India.
Insular Southeast Asia theory
One theory is that it referred to a powerful coastal/island kingdom in present-day
Indonesia and
Malaysia, possibly centered on
Java. This theory is based on such a kingdom's potential for power and wealth (hence, "Land of Gold") as a hub for sea-trade and on vague descriptions provided by contemporary Chinese pilgrims to India. Due to the Chinese writing system, however, the interpretation of the Chinese historical sources are based on supposed correspondences between idiograms and their possible
phonetic equivalents with known toponyms in the ancient
Southeast Asian civilizations.
Southern India theory
The other theory maintains that Ashoka's missionaries did not travel further east than
Sri Lanka (called "Tamraparni" in the Mahavamsa) and identifies Suwannaphum as a toponym in the extreme South of present-day India, outside of Ashoka's empire but still on the
subcontinent, possibly in the land of the Cholas or Pandyas. This theory is based on equally vague
archaeological evidence in southern India and the claim that there is no independent evidence, either historical or archaeoligical, proving Ashoka's missionaries ever visited South-East Asia.
Due to many factors, including the lack of historical evidence, the absence of scholarly consensus, various cultures in Southeast Asia identify Suwannaphum as an ancient kingdom there and claim ethnic and political decendancy as its successors. As no such claim or legend existed prior to the translation and publication of the Edicts, scholars see these claims as based in nationalism or attempts to claim the title of first Buddhists in South-East Asia.
Burman/Mon
In
Burma, both the ethnic
Burmans and the
Mons claim that Suwannaphum was a kingdom located on the
Tenasserim coastal area centered on
Thaton. This belief may stem from two references in the fourth century Sri Lankan history "
Mahavamsa" and
Dîpavamsa which told the story of the Ashoka missionaries (seven centuries removed), stating "Sona and Uttara were dispatched to Suvarnabhumi" and identifies this land with the contemporary (forth century) area of Râmaññadesa or Thaton.
[Dîpavamsa VIII. 12] If true, however, it is unlikely that the people of this area were either Burman or Mon since, according to accepted archaeogical and historical evidence, the
Tibeto-Burman peoples had not yet begun their migration into the peninsula and the Mon were just beginning to filter into and settle the
Khorat area of modern-day
Thailand in the third century BC.
Thailand
In Thailand, government proclamations and national museums insist that Suwannaphum was somewhere in the coast of central plain, especially at the ancient city of U-Thong, which might be the origin of the Dvaravati Culture. Although they have not based their claims on any historical records, the Thai government named the new Bangkok airport,
Suvarnabhumi Airport, after the mythic kingdom of Suwannaphum, in celebration of this tradition. This tradition, however, is doubted by scholars for the same reason as the Burman claim. The migration of the
Tai peoples into Southeast Asia did not occur until centuries later, long after the
Pyu,
Malays, Mons and
Khmers had established their respective kingdoms.
*
Pyu*
Dvaravati*
History of Burma*
History of Thailand
