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Laguna Copperplate Inscription
Laguna Copperplate Inscription (circa 900 AD), a thin copperplate measuring less than 8x12 inches in size and is inscribed with small writing that had been hammered into its surface, shows heavy Indian cultural influence present in the Philippines during the era previous to Spanish colonization in the 16th century
DiscoveryThe Laguna Copperplate Inscription first found in 1989 at the mouth of the Lumban River near Laguna de Bay, by a man who was dredging sand to turn into concrete. Suspecting that the artifact might have some value, the man sold it to an antique dealer who, having found no buyers, eventually sold it to the Philippine National Museum.[1] It was in the National Museum that, a year later, the Dutch anthropologist and Mangyan language expert Antoon Postma noticed that the writing on the inscription was similar to an ancient Indonesian script called Kavi. Postma translated the script and found the document dated itself to the Saka year 822, which in the old Hindu calendar corresponded to 900 C.E. This meant that the document pre-dated the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, extending the record of Philippine history back by 600 years.[1] SignificanceThe Laguna Copperplate Inscription, among other discoveries made in recent years in the country such as the Golden Tara of Butuan and 14th century pottery and gold jewellery artifacts found in Cebu, is highly important in revising the ancient history of the Philippine archipelago (which prior to the LCI discovery was considered by western historians to be culturally isolated from the rest of Asia, as no evident pre-hispanic written records were found at the time). It sheds light on the ancient Philippine history, which was previously largely ignored due to the dominantly Hispanic-derived culture present during the Spanish occupation. This document is considered a National treasure and rests in the National Museum of the Philippines in Manila. Cultural referencesThe transliteration of the LCI shows heavy Sanskrit and Malay linguistic influence. Among the observances made by Pigafetta in the 16th century Boxer Codex, Old Malay was spoken among pre-colonized Filipinos as a lingua franca. The use of Hindu references in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription would also suggest the people who authored this inscription, were followers of Hinduism and Buddhism at this time in history. The Golden Tara icon, an ancient artifact discovered in Butuan, Mindanao dating from the same period, also highly suggests the influence of Hindu and Buddhist religions being followed in the area (alongside Islam in many places in the archipelago from the 14th century onwards) up until the 16th century, when Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion of the Filipino people in a majority of the archipelago. TransliterationThe transliteration is as follows:
English translation
The copper scroll differs in manufacture from the Javanese scrolls of the time in that the words are embossed into the plate, rather than being inscribed onto a heated, softened scroll of metal. ReferencesSee alsoExternal links
de:Laguna-Kupferplatteninschrift fr:Laguna Copperplate Inscription id:Keping Tembaga Laguna tl:Sulat ng Platong Tanso ng Laguna ta:????? ???????? Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article
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