HOW THE CHINESE HELPED TO UNITE SRI LANKA IN THE 15TH CENTURY
Posted on November 12th, 2010
BY DR JANAKA GOONETILLEKE
Sri Lankan Chinese relations date back to the Anuradhapura period. ThisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ has been proven with out any doubt from the findings of the excavations in Anuradhapura and Sigiriya.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In this long history the Chinese never got involved in the politics of the Island except in the early 15th century during Admiral Zheng HeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s visit to Sri Lanka.
Admiral Zang He was sent on an expedition during the Ming China. At ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the time it was the largest , richest and the most powerful country of the world dominating world trade. He was a Eunuch sent to establish her dominance of the SilkƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sea Route and establish a tributary system. The land route was blocked ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ at the time. To help in this endeavour, the ship was laden with gifts to establish relationships with different countries. Soft power that was very successfully used . It is said that the expeditions had to be later abandoned as the returns were poor. Admiral Zheng ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He visited 30 countries , (Travelled over 50,000 kilometres) and Sri Lanka was one of them. Being located at a strategic position with a reputation as a repository of Theravada Buddhism with a salubrious climate and friendly people and array of products was a prime target for a visit of this nature. Zheng He visited ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka five times and in one of those visits installed the world famous Tri Lingual Inscription of Galle found on Cripps Road in Galle in 1911 by a British engineer called Tomlinson. The following translation of the tablet by Edmund Blackhouse of peking will give the readers a fair idea of the famous lithic record.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty has despatched the Eunuchs Ching Ho, Wang ChƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ing-LeinƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢and others to set forth his utterances before Buddha , the world Honoured one as follows
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Deeply do we reverence you, merciful and the honoured one, whose bright perfectionis wide embracing and whose way of virtue passes all understanding, whose law enters into all human relations and the years of whose great kalpa (period) are like the sand of the river in number , you whose controlling influence ennobles and converts whose kindnessƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ quickens and whose strength discerns , whose mysterious efficacy is beyond compare!
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Where as Ceylons mountainous isle lies in the south of the ocean and its Buddhist temples are sanctuaries of your gospel where your miraculous responsive powerƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ imbues and enlightens.Of late we have despatched missions to announce our mandates to foreign nations and during their journeyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ over the ocean they have been favoured with the blessing of your beneficent protectionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Perusal of the available Chinese references about Sri Lanka it is also said that Zhang He was also sent to visit a temple in the mountain of Sri Lanka . It is said that the following items were gifted to the temple.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- Thousand pieces of Gold, 5000 pieces of silver, fifty rolls of embroidered silk in many colours,50 rolls of silk taffeta in many colours, four pairs of jewelled banners, four pairs of jewelled banners, gold embroidered and of variegated silk, two pairs of the same picked in red , one pair of the same in yellow, one pair in black, five antique brass incense burners, five pairs antique brass flower vases picked in gold on lacquer with gold stands, five yellow brass lamps picked in gold on lacquer with gold stands, five incense ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ on vermilion red, gold picked lacquer on gold stands, six pairs of golden lotus flowers,2500 catties of scented oil, 10 pairs of wax candles,10 sticks of fragrant incenseƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
Chinese diplomacy at the time ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ used a harmonious, non aggressive type of diplomacy ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to achieve their objectives, however they had no hesitancy to use ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ violence to achieve their objectives as shown in their dealings with the then rulers of Sri Lanka. This is quite contrary to the western colonialists who believed in the dictum ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Might Is RightƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and of suppression , dominationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ , colonisation of nations ,exploitation and conversion. It is ironic however that these basic principles pervade diplomacy even today.
At the time the Kotte Kingdom was ruled by Vira AlakeswaraƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who resisted the visit of Admiral Zhang He. He was the defacto ruler afterƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ King Bhuvanekabahu V fled following an attack by the Arya Chakravarthi of Yapapattuna. According to Prof Senerath Paranavitharana in his book ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”SINHALAYOƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ Admiral Zang He returned in 1411 captured Vira Alakeswara and deported him to China and handed the Sinhala Kingdom to Sepanana who later assumed the name of King Parakrama Bahu the VI . Having stabilised his Kingdom Parakrama Bahu the VI ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ made Kotte the capital of his kingdom and brought the Highland kingdom under his authority thus unifying the Sinhala Kingdoms. He then sent an expedition to Yapapattuna and captured it thus unifying the country for the last time until the British united Sri Lanka. It is said that in this expedition a revolt by the Sinhalese in Jaffna helped him. In his endeavours he was supported by the famous Vidagama Mahathera and his glories are chanted by the Poet Totagamuwe Sri Rahula. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He ruled Sri Lanka for fifty five years making his influence felt in South India ,the Malay Peninsula and in Sumatra. According to V L B Mendis in his book Foregn Relations of Sri Lanka King ParakramaBahu the VI visited China in 1416 and 1420 bearing tributes. He further mentions that China unlike the colonial powers who installing puppets, pretenders, nominees and using them ruthlessly believed in the context of the son of Heaven conception of the underlying and the implicit omnipotence and superiority of the Emperor in which a relationship was considered to be a privilege. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It never asserted her authority over Sri Lanka.
To this date a family claiming to be the descendents of the King of Sri Lanka lives in quanzhou province . Most think they are the descendents of Vira Alakeswara although some disagree.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ With the death of King Parakrama Bahu VI centrifugal forces caused great disruption due to Indian invasions, lack of Sinhala unity and the disintegration of the Buddhist temple. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Finally on the pretext of helping the Sinhalese Europeans colonised Sri Lanka and ruled for about 450 years. We are now in a similar stage in history. The question is, will history repeat? ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The greatest lesson of history is that we never learn from it.
November 13th, 2010 at 7:35 am
This is an article everyone should read. It appears as if the ways of Chinese diplomacy has remained the same in spite of communism. This nature of their non-interference in local matters or acting with forethought when assistance is sought baffles American commentators. Their expectation is China ‘flexing its military muscle’ any moment.
The Westerner measures everyone according to their experience during 300 or so years of world dominance through violence. This has made the American frame their foreign policy according to the dictates of the arms industry. The narrow view that America has taken is that hers is a ‘war economy’ and an essential part of it is to sacrifice moral responsibility to prevent death and destruction outside the country and to allow the tragedy to your own society brought by destruction of families of the soldiers, and costs associated with it.
Right now, the dominance of the Anglo-Saxons is waning due to the folly of believing the open market with uncontrolled capitalism would make the world perfect. Instead, it turns out that the super rich have now come to a point of wanting to take over the government too. The problem here is the lack of moral controls. In the past, merchants were allies of the clergy, but the Catholic Church became more of a world government seeking power and money, giving rise to crusades. The Buddhist merchants of the past stayed within the moral codes reiterated by the monks. Luckily, Buddhist teachings are more concretely conserved as the Tripitaka was written down and deviation and reinterpretations are difficult. (Thank you, great monks of Alu Lena fame)
Our hope should be that the Chinese stay with their centuries of experience and not try to emulate the West. We also had friends in Persia. Hopefully, they too have some memory of their pre-Islamic past. People of countries of the Old World like Greece are revolting. A good thing to see.
Unfortunately, our neighbor, brother, India is right now is managed by West-leaning thought. A society ingrained with caste and class discrimination cannot expect a just society where billionaires build home castles amidst swamps of ghettos. Rich Indians are enamored by the picture of the decadent American. (Only few Americans are decadent, though they are the ones we like to emulate). India has to first tackle her high illiteracy rate.
It is unfortunate that since Independence, our academia, for the most part, has been parrots of the West. That deprived the people of understanding themselves and their culture and heritage. We are now at a point when the pseudo-tech experts killing the Sinhala language too.
The people like this writer should begin compiling a more complete history of the island drawing from sources apart from Mahaavamsa. The introductory chapters of the modern Mahaavamsa is too mythical to believe.
November 13th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Excellent informative article and an equally good analysis by ‘gunee’.
November 14th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Then who was MAHINDA 5 who was carted away by Chinese Admiral Chen Ho?
Vira Alakeswara, a Tamil, was sent to the Kotte throne by the Chinese. Now this EDUCATED man tries to TWIST an important piece of History!