Boni in Chinese Sources - Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre - iseas

Kurz: Boni in Chinese Sources NSC Working Paper No. 4comes first, followed by betel nuts, then finger rings, and after this cotton cloth ispresented or a measure of gold or silver to conclude the marriage rites.For burials they also put the deceased into coffins and make biers of bamboo, [onwhich] they carry [the coffins] into the mountains where they leave them. In thesecond month (of the Chinese calendar) they start tilling and then they aresacrificing to their dead. The seventh day of the twelfth month is their spring festival.The place is hot, and has a lot of wind and rain.When the people are feasting, they beat the drum, blow the flute, play the cymbals,sing and dance to make merry. They have no [ceramic or porcelain] vessels, so theyuse bamboo basketwork and palm leaves as vessels [and dishes], which they fill withfood. When they have eaten the food they discard them.This country is a neighbour to the country of Dimen 底 門 (Timor) in which grows amedicinal tree. By cooking its root one can produce an ointment. Swallowing it andapplying it on the body, one will not die, if one is wounded by weapons.As [this country] did not pay tribute to earlier [Chinese] dynasties, the historicalrecords did not mention it.In the second year of the Taiping xingguo era (977) the king Xiangda sent envoys tosubmit an official letter and presented tribute: One big piece of camphor, shiningcamphor (guang longnao 光 龍 腦 ), azure camphor (cang longnao 蒼 龍 腦 ), tortoiseshell,sandalwood incense (tanxiang 檀 香 ), and elephant tusks.The letter was sealed in several small bags, and it was not [written] on Chinesepaper, but on a material that resembled wooden bark which was thin. It was brightand smooth and was of a subtle green colour. It was several chi long, more than acun 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 Bohai 渤 海 , 49 kowtow before You,and I wish the emperor ten thousand times ten thousand times 100 million years,and may the emperor live ten thousand years. We hope that You will not blame ourinferior country for our unpolished behaviour.I have now sent envoys to present tribute. I, Xiangda, heard about the [Imperial]Court, but there was no way to go there. Recently, a merchant by the name ofPuluxie anchored his junk by the mouth of the river. I ordered people to invite himto come to my place. [When he had arrived] he said that he came from China(zhongchao 中 朝 ) and that he was on his way to Shepo when a fierce wind damagedhis junk, so he could not reach [his destination]. When our people heard that hecame from China, they were full of joy. As soon as an ocean‐going ship had beenbuilt I ordered Puluxie to lead the way to the court so I could present tribute there.The envoys I have sent only want to meet with the emperor in peace. I have orderednow to present tribute to the court every year. As I am preparing [to offer] tributeevery year, I am afraid that the winds may blow our ship to the territory of49 Bohai certainly is a typographical error and should correctly read Boni. Bohai was an independent empire innorthern China and ceased existence in the tenth century.16