Boni in Chinese Sources - Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre - iseas

Kurz: Boni in Chinese Sources NSC Working Paper No. 4possibility that he was Chinese. The king may have treated the envoys differently, if he hadpossessed up‐to‐date information on the newly established Ming dynasty and the envoyswould not have had to resort to serious threats in order to establish diplomatic tributerelations. Carrie Brown suggests that Song Lian, in writing up this report, used earlier textsas “models”. As a matter of fact, Song Lian did not use the TPHYJ and the ZFZ as “models”,but he copied them, as is apparent in his description of the country. Moreover, he didnothing to explain the inconsistencies of his text, such as the distances covered. Eventhough Shen Zhi himself declared that it took a little more than a month to reach Boni fromShepo, Song nevertheless quotes the distance found in the TPHYJ, that is, 45 days or oneand a half months. We are still left in the dark as to where Boni was situated, for the reportdoes not give the sailing direction. Therefore Carrie Brown’s assumption, that the text“provides undisputable evidence of Javanese dominance of northwest Borneo”, 87 isdefinitely farfetched because the text does not situate Boni in northwest Borneo, or inBorneo as such. Song Lian, as a scholar, included the oldest information on Boni that hecould find. Again, the people in the Boni of the early Ming, had no recollections of contactswith the Song – at least they did not mention any.Stele Inscription at the Tomb of the Gongshun King of Boni (Boniguo gongshun wangmubei 浡 泥 國 恭 順 王 墓 碑 ), 1408On the day with the cyclical characters yiwei 88 of the eighth month in the autumn ofthe sixth year of the Yongle era (9 September 1408), the king of Boni,Manarejiananai, leading his wife, children, younger brothers and sisters, relativesand officials, more than 150 people altogether, arrived at the capital. He submitted amemorial and local products as tribute. The Emperor received what he presented atthe Fengtian Hall, after which the king withdrew. At the Fengtian Gate the Emperorordered the king to speak with him. An interpreter translated his speech like follows:“I am your vassal from a very remote place and I boast that I was transformedthrough the Sage (i.e. the Emperor). I wanted to observe the pure light which I wasignorant of. I am only afraid that I dared so unceremoniously to annoy You.”Moreover he said: “Heaven covers me, Earth supports me. The Emperor has broughtpeace to me like a father, and to our old and our young people. That they can live inpeaceful dwellings, that the food has good taste, that clothes are fitting, that for87 Brown, “An Early Account”, 223.88 Carrie Brown throughout her translation has omitted the days and their cyclical characters given in the Sibucongkan edition of this text which she used. However, in the footnotes she nevertheless provides the dates inthe Western calendar including days. See Carrie C. Brown, “Two Ming Texts Concerning King Ma‐na‐je‐cha‐naof P'o‐ni [sic!]”, in BMJ 3.2 (1974): 222‐229.29