K'un-lun po

K'un-lun po (also called Kun-lun po, Kunlun po, or K'un-lun bo, Chinese: 崑崙舶) were ancient sailing ships used by Austronesian sailors from Maritime Southeast Asia, described by Chinese records from the Han Dynasty. In the first millennium AD, these ships connected trade routes between India and China. Ships of this type were still in use until at least the 14th century.

History
NameK'un-lun po, Kun-lun po, Kunlun po, K'un-lun bo, Kun-lun bo, Kunlun bo, kolandiapha, kolandiapha onta, kolandiaphonta, kolandia, colandia,[1] 崑崙舶
General characteristics
TypeSailing ship
LengthMore than 50 metres (164.04 ft) or 60 metres (196.85 ft)
Sail planTanja sail

Description

The characteristics of this ship are that it is large (more than 50–60 m long), the hull is made of multiple plankings, has no outrigger, mounted with many masts and sails, the sail is in the form of a tanja sail, and has a plank fastening technique in the form of stitching with plant fibers.[2]: 27–28 [3]: 41 [4]: 275 [5]: 262 [6]: 347 

These ships are observed by the Chinese as visiting their southeastern ports and identified as K'un-lun po (or bo), which means "ships of the southern people". They were not made by the people around the Malacca straits, large shipbuilding industry only existed in the eastern half of Java.[7]

History

Greek astronomer, Ptolemy, said in his work Geography (ca. 150 AD) that huge ships came from the east of India. This was also confirmed by an anonymous work called Periplus Marae Erythraensis. Both mention a type of ship called kolandiaphonta (also known as kolandia, kolandiapha, and kolandiapha onta),[1][3]: 41  which is a straightforward transcription of the Chinese word K'un-lun po—meaning "ships of Kun-lun".[2]: 27–28  K'un-lun is a rather broad term, it may be an ethnolinguistic term or a region consisting of southern mainland of Southeast Asia and the Maritime Southeast Asia, these include Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Champa, and Cambodia.[8]: 153 [9]: 172 

The 3rd century book Strange Things of the South (南州異物志 — Nánzhōu Yìwùzhì) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes ships capable of carrying 600–700 people together with more than 10,000 hu (斛) of cargo (250–1000 tons according to various interpretations[4]: 275 —600 tons deadweight according to Manguin).[5]: 262  These ships came from K'un-lun. The ships are called K'un-lun po (or K'un-lun bo), could be more than 50 meters in length and had a freeboard of 5.2–7.8 meters.[note 1] When seen from above they resemble covered galleries.[6]: 347  Wan Chen explains the ships' sail design as follows:

The people beyond the barriers, according to the size of their ships, sometimes rig (as many as) four sails which they carry in row from bow to stern. (...) The four sails do not face directly forward, but are set obliquely, and so arranged that they can all be fixed in the same direction, to receive the wind and to spill it. Those sails which are behind the most windward one receiving the pressure of the wind, throw it from one to the other, so that they all profit from its force. If it is violent, (the sailors) diminish or augment the surface of the sails according to the conditions. This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts. Thus these ships sail without avoiding strong winds and dashing waves, by the aid of which they can make great speed.

— Wan Chen, Strange Things of the South[10]: 207 [5]: 262 

A 260 CE book by K'ang T'ai (康泰), quoted in Taiping Yulan (982 AD) described ships with seven sails called po or ta po (great ship or great junk) that could travel as far as Syria (大秦—Ta-chin, Roman Syria). These ships were used by the Indo-Scythian (月支—Yuezhi) traders for transporting horses. He also made reference to monsoon trade between the islands (or archipelago), which took a month and a few days in a large po.[6]: 347 [11]: 602 [12]: 406  The word "po" might be derived from the Old Javanese parahu,[13]: 1280  Javanese word prau, or the Malay word perahu, which means large ship.[14]: 21  Note that in modern usage, perahu refers to a small boat.[15]: 193 

Faxian (Fa-Hsien) in his return journey to China from India (413–414) embarked a ship carrying 200 passengers and sailors from K'un-lun which towed a smaller ship. A cyclone struck and forced the passengers to move into the smaller ship. The crew of the smaller ship feared that the ship would be overloaded, therefore they cut the rope and separated from the big ship. Luckily the bigger ship survived, the passengers were stranded in Ye-po-ti (Yawadwipa—Java). After 5 months, the crew and the passengers embarked on another ship comparable in size to sail back to China.[16]: 6–7 [17] In I-ch'ieh-ching yin-i, a dictionary compiled by Huei-lin ca. 817 AD, po is mentioned several times:

Ssu-ma Piao, in his commentary on Chuang Tzü, said that large ocean-going ships are called "po". According to the Kuang Ya, po is an ocean-going ship. It has a draught of 60 feet (18 m).[note 2] It is fast and carries 1000 men as well as merchandise. It is also called k'un-lun-po. Many of those who form the crews and technicians of these ships are kunlun people. With the fibrous bark of the coconut tree, they make cords which bind the parts of the ship together (...). Nails and clamps are not used, for fear that the heating of the iron would give rise to fires. The ships are constructed by assembling several thicknesses of side planks, for the boards are thin and that they fear they would break. Their length is over 60 meters (...). Sails are hoisted to make use of the winds, and these ships cannot be propelled by the strength of the men alone.[5]: 262 

Kuang Ya was a dictionary compiled by Chang I about 230 AD, while Ssu-ma Piao lived from ca. 240 to ca. 305 AD.[6]: 348 

Champa was assaulted by Javanese or Kunlun vessels in 774 and 787.[18][19][20] In 774 an assault was launched on Po-Nagar in Nha-trang where the pirates demolished temples, while in 787 an assault was launched on Phang-rang.[21][22][23] Several Champa coastal cities suffered naval raids and assault from Java. Java armadas was called as Javabala-sanghair-nāvāgataiḥ (fleets from Java) which are recorded in Champa epigraphs.[24][25]

In 1178, the Guangzhou customs officer Zhou Qufei, wrote in Lingwai Daida about the ships of the Southern country:

The ships which sail the southern sea and south of it are like giant houses. When their sails are spread they are like great clouds in the sky. Their rudders are several tens of feet long. A single ship carries several hundred men, and has in the stores a year's supply of grain. Pigs are fed and wine fermented on board.[note 3] There is no account of dead or living, no going back to the mainland when once the people have set forth upon the cerulean sea. At daybreak, when the gong sounds aboard the ship, the animals can drink their fill, and crew and passengers alike forget all dangers. To those on board everything is hidden and lost in space, mountains, landmarks, and the countries of foreigners. The shipmaster may say "To make such and such a country, with a favourable wind, in so many days, we should sight such and such a mountain, (then) the ship must steer in such and such a direction". But suddenly the wind may fall, and may not be strong enough to allow of the sighting of the mountain on the given day; in such a case, bearings may have to be changed. And the ship (on the other hand) may be carried far beyond (the landmark) and may lose its bearings. A gale may spring up, the ship may be blown hither and thither, it may meet with shoals or be driven upon hidden rocks, then it may be broken to the very roofs (of its deckhouses). A great ship with heavy cargo has nothing to fear from the high seas, but rather in shallow water it will come to grief.[11]: 464 

Wang Dayuan's 1349 composition Daoyi Zhilüe Guangzheng Xia ("Description of the Barbarian of the Isles") described the so-called "horse boats" at a place called Gan-mai-li in Southeast Asia. These ships were bigger than normal trading ships, with the sides constructed from multiple planks. The ships uses neither nails or mortar to join them, instead they are using coconut fibre. The ships has two or three decks, with deckhouse over the upper deck. In the lower hold they carried pressed-down frankincense, above them they are carrying several hundred horses. Wang made special mention of these ships because pepper, which is also transported by them, carried to faraway places with large quantity. The normal trading ships carried less than 1/10 of their cargo.[26]: 33 [27]: 170 

Controversy

Indian historians usually call this ship colandia (Tamil: சொழாந்தியம்), which they attribute to the Early Chola navy.[28][29] Periplus Marae Erythraensis mentioned two varieties of vessels. The first kind, known as the Sangara, includes vessels both large and small. The second variety, called kolandiaphonta, was very large in size and these types of vessels were used for voyages to the Ganges and the Chryse, which was the name of various places occurring in ancient Greek geography. The Indians believe Chola had voyages from the ancient port of Puhar to the Pacific Islands.[30][31]

It is now generally accepted that kolandiaphonta was a transcription of the Chinese term Kun-lun po, which refers to an Indonesian vessel.[32] The Sangara is likely to have been derived from Indonesian twin-hulled vessels similar to Pacific catamarans.[33]

See also

Notes
  1. In the original text, the length of the ship is listed as 20 chang or more and the freeboard 2–3 chang. Here 1 chang (or zhang) is taken as 2.6 meters.
  2. Might be a mistranslation. A ship of such draught is manifestly absurd. Instead, it may refer to the height of the ship's hull, from the keel to the open deck. Pelliot proposed that the figure should be translated as "six or seven feet". See Pelliot, Paul. "Quelques textes chinois concernant l'Indochine hindouisśe." 1925. In: Etudes Asiatiques, publiées à l'occasion du 25e anniversaire de l'EFEO.- Paris: EFEO, II: 243-263. p. 258.
  3. Grape wine is not found in Nusantara. The possibility that is meant here is palm wine.

References
  1. Coedès, George (1968). The Indianized States of South-East Asia. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 29, 273. ISBN 9780824803681.
  2. Dick-Read, Robert (July 2006). "Indonesia and Africa: questioning the origins of some of Africa's most famous icons". The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa. 2 (1): 23–45. doi:10.4102/td.v2i1.307.
  3. Dick-Read, Robert (2005). The Phantom Voyagers: Evidence of Indonesian Settlement in Africa in Ancient Times. Thurlton.
  4. Manguin, Pierre-Yves (September 1980). "The Southeast Asian Ship: An Historical Approach". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 11 (2): 266–276. doi:10.1017/S002246340000446X. S2CID 162220129.
  5. Manguin, Pierre-Yves (1993). "Trading Ships of the South China Sea. Shipbuilding Techniques and Their Role in the History of the Development of Asian Trade Networks". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient: 253–280.
  6. Christie, Anthony (1957). "An Obscure Passage from the "Periplus: ΚΟΛΑΝΔΙΟϕΩΝΤΑ ΤΑ ΜΕΓΙΣΤΑ"". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 19: 345–353. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00133105. S2CID 162840685 – via JSTOR.
  7. Halimi, Ahmad Jelani (2023, June 20). Mendam Berahi: Antara Realiti dan Mitos [Seminar presentation]. Kapal Mendam Berahi: Realiti atau Mitos?, Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC), Malacca, Malaysia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq3OsSc56Kk
  8. Donkin, R. A. (2003). Between East and West: The Moluccas and the Traffic in Spices Up to the Arrival of Europeans. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 9780871692481.
  9. Boussac, Marie-Françoise; Salles, Jean-François (1995). Athens, Aden, Arikamedu: Essays on the Interrelations Between India, Arabia, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Manohar. ISBN 9788173040795.
  10. Temple, Robert (2007). The Genius of China: 3000 Years of Science, Discovery Invention. London: Andre Deutsch.
  11. Needham, Joseph (1971). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Cambridge University Press.
  12. Beaujard, Philippe, ed. (2019). The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: A Global History. Volume 1, From the Fourth Millennium BCE to the Sixth Century CE. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-42456-1.
  13. Zoetmulder, P. J. (1982). Old Javanese-English dictionary. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. ISBN 9024761786.
  14. Sunyoto, Agus (2017). Atlas Walisongo. South Tangerang: Pustaka IIMaN.
  15. Rafiek, M. (December 2011). "Kapal dan Perahu dalam Hikayat Raja Banjar: Kajian Semantik". Borneo Research Journal. 5: 187–200.
  16. Groeneveldt, Willem Pieter (1876). "Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, Compiled from Chinese Sources". Batavia: W. Bruining.
  17. Jacq-Hergoualc'h, Michel (2002). The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk-Road (100 BC-1300 AD). BRILL. pp. 51–52. ISBN 9789004119734.
  18. Tōyō Bunko (Japan) (1972). Memoirs of the Research Department. p. 6.Tōyō Bunko (Japan) (1972). Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library). Toyo Bunko. p. 6.
  19. Proceedings of the Symposium on 100 Years Development of Krakatau and Its Surroundings, Jakarta, 23-27 August 1983. Indonesian Institute of Sciences. 1985. p. 8.
  20. Greater India Society (1934). Journal. p. 69.
  21. Ralph Bernard Smith (1979). Early South East Asia: essays in archaeology, history, and historical geography. Oxford University Press. p. 447. ISBN 978-0-19-713587-7.
  22. Charles Alfred Fisher (1964). South-east Asia: a social, economic, and political geography. Methuen. p. 108. ISBN 9789070080600.
  23. Ronald Duane Renard; Mahāwitthayālai Phāyap (1986). Anuson Walter Vella. Walter F. Vella Fund, Payap University. University of Hawaii at Manoa. Center for Asian and Pacific Studies. p. 121.
  24. Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient. L'Ecole. 1941. p. 263.
  25. Daniel George Edward Hall; Phút Tấn Nguyễn (1968). Đông Nam Á sử lược. Pacific Northwest Trading Company. p. 136.
  26. Kwee, H. K. (1997). Dao Yi Zhi Lue as a maritime traders' guidebook. Unpublished honour's thesis, National University of Singapore.
  27. Miksic, John M. (2013). Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800. NUS Press. ISBN 9789971695583.
  28. "Periplus mentions 3 ports in Tamil country of which kaveripatnam as center, as the places from which great ships which calls colondia sailed to pacific islands" - K.M.Panikkar in "geographical factors in indian history", ப-81.
  29. The Colandia type of vessels were employed for voyages between the Coramandel coast on the one hand and the Gangetic delta and Khryse
  30. Two kind of vessels
  31. Naval Warfare in ancient India by Prithwis Chandra Chakravarti
  32. Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China, Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. p. 459-460.
  33. Dick-Read, Robert (July 2006). "Indonesia and Africa: questioning the origins of some of Africa's most famous icons". The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa. 2: 23–45. doi:10.4102/td.v2i1.307.
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