Page 40 - Chinese and Asian Ceramics from an Indonesian Collection

Chapter 3. Ceramic Trade and the Musi Rive

(2014) notes that by the 5th century, these polities Excavations in 1989 in the Yarang area found
had developed to become full-fledged city-states that various Buddhist structures and objects, including
were sending and receiving embassies from India and votive tablets and sculptures, indicating a strong
China. Some of these were very large urban centres Buddhist presence in the kingdom. Hindu objects for
indeed. For example, Tun-Sun covered an area of worship were also found. As were many Chinese and
about 370 kilometres and hosted foreign nationals, Arab bronze coins and two silver Sassanid coins which
including a colony of South Asians (Wheatley 1961). indicated considerable commercial activity.
Another kingdom, PanPan, on the east coast of the
Peninsula, sent embassies to China. Satingpra polity (7th to 14th century)
Satingpra was an affluent and commercial civilization
Kao Sam Khaeo which developed on the Satingpra Peninsula, Thailand,
This civilization was on the Upper Thai–Malay between the Gulf of Thailand and the great lakes near
Peninsula. A range of dates have been recorded for the modern coastal city of Songkhla. Satingpra had a long
settlements at Khao Sam Kaeo, indicating it had been history of settlement and trade with both the West and
occupied at different periods. A few earlier dates were China. Traces of an extensive ancient hydraulic system of
recorded for artefacts (8000 BC and 6000 BC), as well shipping canals and reservoirs cover most of the Satingpra
as finds such as Neolithic polished adzes, seals bearing Peninsula. At the centre of this system are remains of a
a Brahmin script of the mid-5th to 7th century, and port city and at least nine lesser sites distributed along their
a few shards of Ayutthaya Period pottery (14th–18th banks (Stargardt 1976). The city is linked to international
century). However, most dates suggest that the main maritime trade as early as the 1st millennium. It fell strongly
activity of the site was between the early-4th to 2nd under the influence of Sriwijaya and in 775 and the
century BC (Bellina and Silapanth 2008). Earlier, Sailendra King of Sriwijaya built three Buddhist temples
Bellina had proposed that Khao Sam Kaeo was a there. Satingpra was important to Sriwijaya because of its
manufacturing centre for semi-precious ornaments, strategic position which would have allowed Sriwijaya to
some having symbolic functions in early Indian force traders on route from China or South Asia to call
religious traditions-probably with Indian craftsmen into Sriwijaya ports and pay charges.
settled on the site at least at its initial stage (Bellina One of the most intriguing finds in the city and
2001, 2003, 2007; Glover and Bellina 2011). It also surrounds are the Ban Kok Moh water jugs or kendis
participated in mid–late-1st millennium BC cultural (see Chapter 5).
exchange network for copper-base artefacts, which During the 11th century, Satingpra was probably part
stretched from the Indian subcontinent to Taiwan. of the Hindu kingdom of Tambralinga, whose capital was
Their metalworkers may have produced high-tin bronze to the north in Nakhon Si Thammarat. It was also under
ingots for export or onsite casting/forging (Murillo- the influence of Sriwijaya (Munoz 2006). Stargardt (1986)
Barroso et al. 2010). This scenario conforms to evidence describes the variety of hydraulic works such as tanks, field
that ‘Indianisation’ in Thailand was a long drawn out canals, ponds, and reservoirs that were developed by the
process with its origins in the late-prehistoric Iron Age. early Khmer, Pyus and Mons civilizations of the Trans-Bassac
Plain, Thailand. Satingpra, however, was unusual in that
Langkasuka (2nd to 12th century) combined both transport and irrigation in its hydraulic
Historical records are sparse for this polity but there works. She argues that Satingpra developed several long
were some descriptions of it during the Chinese trans-isthmus canals which allowed international trade
Liang Dynasty (502 to 557) which stated that it was in its surplus rice production to be shipped directly to
founded in the 2nd century. While there is dispute Indian Ocean grain deficient communities, such as north
as to its location it is now located south of Songkhla Sumatra, as early as the 5th century. These canals would
near the modern town of Pattani (Wheatley 1961). have avoided shipping such grain the additional distance
Langkasuka was a significant part of regional trading around the tip of the Peninsula. (The grain deficient
networks. Its walled city and dense concentrations of communities of KoYing and Kantoli at the mouth of the
canals and moats connected the city to the sea which Musi River at that time, are more likely to have imported
is about 10 kilometres away (Jacq-Hergoualc’h 2002). grain from nearby Java, as appeared to be the case with
It declined due to the expansion of Funan in the early- Sriwijaya.)
3rd century. But in the 6th century it experienced
resurgence when it began to send emissaries to China. ISLAND SOUTH EAST ASIA
It first established formal relations with China in 515, Kota Kapur, Bangka Island
with further embassies sent in 523, 531 and 568. By the Bangka Island is directly opposite the mouth of the Musi
8th century it had probably come under the control River. It contained one of the earliest Sriwijayan stone
of the rising Sriwijaya empire. In 1025 it was attacked inscriptions and had a pre-Sriwiyayan Vaishnava temple
by the armies of King Rajendra Chola in his campaign at Kota Kapur which was probably dated between 550
against Sriwijaya. In the 12th century it was a tributary to 600. Excavations on Bangka between 1994 and 2007
to Sriwijaya. revealed proto Classic and Classic artefacts, as well as four
more Visnu statues and numerous fragments. Remains

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