Boni in Chinese Sources - Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre - iseas

Kurz: Boni in Chinese Sources NSC Working Paper No. 4Their Buddha is not different [from ours]. It is housed in a reed‐covered building ofseveral storeys that is built like a pagoda. Below it is a small shrine that shelters twopearls, which are called the Sage (sheng 聖 ) and the Buddha (fo 佛 ). 30The local people say: “The two pearls were in the beginning quite small, but theyhave gradually grown to the size of thumbs.” On the festival of the Buddha, the kingpersonally makes offerings of flowers and fruit for three days, and all the men andwomen of the country attend.In the second year of the Taiping xingguo era (977), he sent Puyali and others tosubmit camphor, tortoise‐shell, ivory and sandal‐wood as tribute. The memorial [tothe throne] was sealed several times; its paper was made from wooden bark and itwas thin. It was bright and smooth and of a subtle green colour. It was several chilong, more than a cun wide, and when rolled up it could be held in one hand.The characters on it were tiny and small and had to be read horizontally. Theirtranslation into Chinese reads: “I, Xiangda, king of Boni, kowtow before You, and Iwish the emperor ten thousand times ten thousand times 100 million years.” Itfurthermore said: “As I am preparing [to submit] tribute every year, the winds mayblow our ship to the territory of Zhancheng. I beg the emperor to order Zhanchengnot to retain [Xiangda’s ship] from now on.” The envoys were lodged in the ForeignRelations Office (libin yuan 禮 賓 院 ) 31 , and they were given lavish presents on theirreturning home.In the fifth year of the Yuanfeng era (1082) they sent a further tribute mission.Xilonggong 西 龍 宮 , Shimiao 什 廟 , Rili 日 麗 , Hulumantou 胡 蘆 蔓 頭 , Suwuli 蘇 勿 里 ,Madanyumanuo 馬 膽 逾 馬 喏 are located on islands 32 and they communicate withsmall boats. Their dress and food and drink are the same as that of Boni. Theyproduce incense, jiangzhen‐incense, bee’s wax, and tortoise‐shell. Traders exchangewith them white porcelain, alcohol, rice, crude salt, white thin silk, and trade goldfor these products. 3330 As there is not much more information about the two pearls, I use the present translation. To give one nameto two things, as Hirth and Rockhill did by addressing the pearls as the Sacred Buddha, appears to be ratherillogical.31 According to Hucker, who relies solely on the monographs on institutions in the Songshi, the libin yuan dealtwith Uighurs and other people from Central Asia. See Hucker, Official Titles, 306. The Song huiyao states,however, that apart from Central Asian people, those from the southern regions were also received there, andthat the officials in this agency could communicate in their languages. See Song huiyao jigao 宋 會 要 輯 稿 ,comp. by Xu Song 徐 松 (1781‐1848) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1997), “zhiguan” 職 官 25, 6b‐7b (2917).32 Cf. the translation of this passage in Chao Ju‐kua, 157‐158, where the places concerned are identified as “Silung,Kung‐shï‐miau, Jï‐li‐hu, Lu‐man, T'ou‐ssu, Wu‐li‐ma, Tan‐yü, Ma‐jö”. I follow in my translation the namesgiven in the modern Chinese edition of the text.33 Zhufanzhi jiaoshi, 135‐137.10