When i first read about the chola ambassadors to the chinese court, it filled my heart with pride. but when i read this translation, i was a bit shocked. free download the App II: Chinese Texts Describing or Referring to the Chola Kingdom as Zhu-nian, from below link.
To consider that as your subject i am a small being like a mosquito and a humble creature like a paper mache dog, having been living for generations in a barbarous town.My country is far from chinese civilisation, having not been enlightened and having sent no tribute to your court. Now i quietly listen to the song praising the virtues of your majesty, which is sung even in the frontiers. Regrettably i am too advanced to proceed to your court personally to offer tribute.
Could this be a correct account. My heart says no way !!!!
Reading it a bit more closely, it's very interesting.
Pg. 295: "In the kingdom there is a city which is enclosed by seven-fold walls that are seven-feet high. The length of the outer wall is twelve li from north to south, and seven li from east to west.*... The sixth wall encloses Buddhist monasteries, where one hundred monks live.* The seventh walled citadel comprises the royal palace where there are more than four hundred rooms."
Buddhist?
Pg. 296 "The present king belongs to the third generation of the dynasty." Pg. 297: "In the ninth month of the eighth year of the dazhong xiangfu reign period (1015), its king Luo-cha-luo-zha sent to our..."
That would be RRC or RJC, right? I guess you could call RJC the third of his (sub)-dynasty: Parantaka-Sundara, Rajaraja, Rajendra, but not RRC.
"Now I quietly listen to the song praising the virtue of Your Majesty, which is sung even in the frontiers. Regrettably I am too advanced in age to proceed to your court personally to offer tribute. In addition I live in a remote country separated by the vast sea and there are many obstacles on the way rather difficult to overcome. Therefore, I am now observing from after the gate of Your Majesty’s palace with the strength of my sincerity."
If I'm right, and it's RJC, _old age_ sounds rather ridiculous, since he ruled for another 30-odd years after this, and if it's RRC, how do we reconcile the "third of his dynasty" claim?
Apart from that, this hardly sounds like a message that came from either RRC or RJC, after proclaiming themselves "Rulers of the three worlds". Besides, many of the terms used seem very directly Chinese, not Indian:
Pg. 297: "I humbly hear that Your Majesty’s rule extends without limit and people serve you submissively wherever they live." - a very Confucian ideal, which I can't reconcile with anything we know about Indian (and especially Tamil) kings.
"The merit of your administration covers Heaven and Earth, and the force of your power gives discipline to the universe." - Again, very Chinese formulae.
Pg. 298: "Therefore, Heaven appreciated your splendid achievements and as predicted in the *letter from Heaven*, you have accomplished what was never done in the past and are keeping the base for the established rule of the Empire. - The heavenly mandate is the logic used by all Chinese emperors for their rule.
In general, it looks like this message was composed by a Chinese hand, not an Indian one. So, I'll propose a theory (with no justification, of course). I see no reason to doubt the translation, or even the arrival of emissaries from the Cholas (either RRC or RJC). Possibly, either the envoy or the scribe who recorded this changed the message to be in keeping with the court traditions of the Song dynasty. Maybe (and here I'm really speculating), the reason was that they would have been a head shorter if they presumed to suggest that any other ruler was even suggesting equality with the Emperor of China, which would have been the import of any message sent by a Chola ruler. Diplomacy probably made it this way.
Unfortunately, we don't have the Chola side of this correspondence, which should have been very enlightening. I wonder if the same trick was played by other emissaries to various places. After all, the king of the place they're visiting is right there, and their own king is beyond a mountain and on the other side of the sea...
Dear Vijay, As per your suggestions, I forwarded the excellent interview of Sundar Krishnan to Kalaimagal magazine. The said interview was considered and got published in the August 2010 issue page no 62-64. I request you to kindly go through the same and give your valauble suggestions. In the said magazine my article on Shenbagaraman was also published. I request you to go throrugh the same and give your remarks, which may help to improve my writings
Dear VJ All the historical accounts taken from chinese history between 9th and the end of 10th centuries are mostly based on 'Chu Fan Chi' (meaning 'Description of barbaric foreign people' who were trading with china) written by Chau Ju Kua who was an inspector of foreign trade at the customs department in Quanzhou (Fukien – Fujian) a.k.a Zeytoun, then (Information collected from around 1211 and completed by 1225) documents (together with another man called Chou Ku Fei). He wrote the translated accounts of the chinese royal palace about the visit of Cholas and they have to priase the chinese kings and to write inferior about all other kings. (Kindly see the warfares in history of China between Northern Sung dynasty and Souther Sung dynasty struggles). For further clear details, kindly read KN Sastri's Cholas Part II. pages 788 to 801.
You will be interested to know the words for Father & Mother in Korean Language is Amma & Appa as in Tamil Language, (as mentioned to me by some Koreans themselves recently).