𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐊𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐊𝐀, 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐒

RESOURCE: MALAY WORLD

16 NOVEMBER 2023

The kingdom of Langkasuka was an ancient Buddhist polity founded in the early 2nd century CE in the Malay Peninsula.⁽¹⁾ It was an entrepôt civilisation that arise from the settlements of ancient Malayic peoples along the coastal regions of Malay Peninsula.⁽²⁾ The increase in sea traffic between the east and the west from the early Christian era, gave rise to a number of entrepôt ports in the coastal areas of Malay Peninsula, that ultimately flourished into kingdoms.⁽³⁾ The ascendancy of Langkasuka as a trading centre was largely attributed to the strategic position of the peninsula that located in the middle of ancient maritime trading route that required circumpeninsular navigation along its coast, allowing almost unlimited possibilities for receiving foreign vessels.⁽⁴⁾ The ease of charting a course from the tip of Indo-China and the inexhaustible source of rare goods and gold, described by the ancient Chinese as "the strange and the precious",⁽⁵⁾ had contributed to the growth of Langkasuka.⁽⁶⁾

References to Langkasuka consistently appeared in various Chinese records from the early 6th century until the 17th century.⁽⁷⁾ Unlike other ancient Malay polities, particularly Srivijaya, which only re-appeared in the early 20th century after the reconstruction of its history by George Cœdès (before Cœdès, nobody in Sumatra ever heard of a kingdom called 'Srivijaya'),⁽⁸⁾ there is however a continuous memory of Langkasuka passed down into Malay folklore and literature until modern times.⁽⁹⁾

The kingdom, along with the Old Kedah, both were twin entrepôt ports almost facing each other on the opposite coasts of the narrow middle section of Malay peninsula that were linked by ancient inland trans peninsular route, and both yielded significant archeological discoveries, are regarded as the earliest kingdoms of the Malay Peninsula.⁽¹⁰⁾ Several Chinese accounts provide valuable information on the location of Langkasuka’s capital. Among the most important are the passages in the 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝐷𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 (𝑷𝒆𝒊-𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒉) and 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑢𝑖 (𝑺𝒖𝒊-𝑺𝒉𝒖), both written in the 7th century that placed the centre of '𝐿𝘢𝑛𝘨-𝘠𝑎-𝐻𝘴𝑢' in the vicinity of Pattani.⁽¹¹⁾ Another important piece of evidence is provided by the Mao Kun's map also known as Zheng He’s Navigation Map, published in the Ming Dynasty military treatise 𝑊𝑢𝑏𝑒𝑖 𝑍ℎ𝑖 in 1628, which firmly places '𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔-ℎ𝑠𝑖-𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑎' to the south of Singgora (modern Songkhla), up to the Patani River.⁽¹²⁾

Archaeological discoveries at Jering (modern Yarang) located fifteen kilometre south of Pattani, confirmed the descriptions of the Chinese accounts. This site boasts dense concentrations of artefacts, canals, and the remains of moats and ramparts.⁽¹³⁾ The vestiges of canals can be seen connecting the ancient city to the coast, suggesting the capital of Langkasuka as located inland.⁽¹⁴⁾

Many bronze coins from China and the Arab world have been recovered at the site, proving the site as a thriving centre of international trade.⁽¹⁵⁾ Excavations have revealed a brick structure near the site. One appears to have been a Buddhist sanctuary in the Indian style. Votive tablets with inscriptions indicate an occupation from the late 6th to 8th century.⁽¹⁶⁾ The votive tablets also indicate a shift in Buddhist beliefs from Hinayana to Mahayana.⁽¹⁷⁾ There is also an abundance of small votive stupas around the site, suggesting local production. Other religious relics include bronze statues of Buddha, a stone Nandi and two lingas.⁽¹⁸⁾

The most detailed description of Langkasuka is found under the orthography '𝐿𝘢𝑛𝘨-𝘺𝑎-𝑥𝘪𝑢', first in the 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑔 (𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒉𝒖), a Chinese history written in the early 6th century, then in the 8th century encyclopaedia known as 𝑻𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏, later in the 𝑻𝒂𝒊𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑯𝒖𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒖 𝑱𝒊, a 10th century geographical treatise by Chinese scholar Yue Shi, and finally in the 𝑾𝒆𝒏𝒙𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒂𝒐 compiled by Ma Duanlin in 1317.⁽¹⁹⁾ 𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒉𝒖 recorded that Langkasuka was founded over 400 years earlier, which made its founding likely some time in the late 1st or early 2nd century.⁽²⁰⁾ According to 𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒉𝒖, '𝐿𝘢𝑛𝘨-𝘺𝑎-𝑥𝘪𝑢' was 30 days' journey from east to west, and 20 from north to south, 24,000 𝒍𝒊 in distance from Guangzhou.⁽²¹⁾ It mentions that aloeswood and camphor were abundant in the kingdom, and its capital was walled and protected by towers. The city was entered through double gates, behind which were grand pavilions.⁽²²⁾ There are archaeological remains at Jerang (Yarang) that may represent those described by 𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒉𝒖.⁽²³⁾ Both men and women in Langkasuka wore sarongs with their torsos bare and their hair loose, although the king and senior officials covered their shoulders with cloth and wore gold earrings and belts of gold cord. Women of high status wrapped themselves in cloth and wore jeweled girdles.⁽²⁴⁾

In the 3rd century CE, there supervened a period of eclipse, which can be correlated with the imperialist activities of Funan under Fan Shih Man.⁽²⁵⁾ In the second half of the 5th century, after a dynastic schism apparently fostered by Indian influence, the fortunes of Langkasuka were restored and, as political manifestations of independence, during the 6th century four embassies were despatched to the Chinese court.⁽²⁶⁾ The resurgence in the 6th century was concurrent with the decline of Funan. At this time its territory was reputedly thirty days march from east to west and twenty from north to south. covering the modern greater Patani region, Singgora (modern Songkhla), Mardelong (modern Phatthalung), Kelantan and Terengganu.⁽²⁷⁾

During the 7th century Langkasuka was a regular port of call on the sea-route to India but, judging by the Tang histories which omit it from their record, its early importance waned during the 9th and 10th centuries. At about this time, too, it came to form a unit in the Srivijayan thalassocracy, and in the 11th century shared in the reverses inflicted on the loose confederation by Rajendra Chola I.⁽²⁸⁾

In the 13th century, the kingdom appeared in the account of Marco Polo who emphasized its sovereignty, but Prapanca's claim some half century later that Langkasuka owed allegiance to Javanese Majapahit is most likely the license of a poet eulogizing his patron.⁽²⁹⁾

Reference to Langkasuka can still be found in Sulaiman al-Mahri's sailing directions of 1511, but it seems to have been unknown to the Portuguese of the 16th century,⁽³⁰⁾ suggesting that it already succeeded by the Islamic Pattani Sultanate. Pattani appeared in the account of Manuel Godinho de Eredia as a great 'kingdom of the Malayos of the Peninsula.⁽³¹⁾

References to Langkasuka consistently appeared in various Chinese records from the early 6th century, up to the 17th century.⁽³²⁾ Unlike other ancient Malay polities like Srivijaya, which only re-appeared in the early 20th century after the reconstruction of its history by George Cœdès (before Cœdès, nobody in Sumatra ever heard of a kingdom called 'Srivijaya'),⁽³³⁾ there is however a continuous memory of Langkasuka passed down into Malay folklore and literature until modern times. The spirit land of 𝐿𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑤𝑛 𝑆𝑢𝑘𝑎 still featured in the mythology of Patani Malays, while the Kedah peasantry interpreted the realm of 𝐴𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑔-𝑘𝑎-𝑠𝑢𝑘𝑎 as the domain of fairy princess.⁽³⁴⁾

Langkasuka appeared in the passages of Kedah Annals, in reference to firstly, a palace hall, and secondly, as a city.⁽³⁵⁾ There is, too, a tiny stream flowing into a reach of the Upper Perak Rive which until the beginning of the 20th century was still known as the Langkasuka.⁽³⁶⁾ The name "Langkasuka" appeared again in modern history when it was mooted by the founding father of Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman in the 1950s as a possible name for an independent Malaya.⁽³⁷⁾

With the advantage of a long period of uninterrupted royal patronage, Malay music, dancing, drama, metal working, weaving and wood carving, all flourished at a level of excellence in Langkasuka-Patani, which could be compared favourably with the arts of other mainland Southeast Asian states.

Today, traces of their past splendour have been preserved, particularly in Pattani, now in Thailand. The former region of Langkasuka including Kelantan and Terengganu, and to a lesser extent its neighbours, Kedah and Perak, as well as Pahang which formed its southern extremity, are also the living traces of this most ancient Malay culture still to be found in Malaysia.⁽³⁸⁾ Among Malay cutlural heritage that traces its roots from Langkasuka includes, the performing art of Mak Yong, the martial art of Silat, as well as the weaving art of Songket, all already been inscribed on the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco.⁽³⁹⁾

𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬

⁽¹⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 162

⁽²⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), pp. 23-30

⁽³⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 23

⁽⁴⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 61

⁽⁵⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 64

⁽⁶⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 188

⁽⁷⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 411-412

⁽⁸⁾ Manguin, Pierre-Yves (1993), p. 23

⁽⁹⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 406

⁽¹⁰⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 48

⁽¹¹⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 411

⁽¹²⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 388

⁽¹³⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), pp. 166-167

⁽¹⁴⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 168

⁽¹⁵⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 191

⁽¹⁶⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 179

⁽¹⁷⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 157

⁽¹⁸⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), pp. 183-187

⁽¹⁹⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), pp. 389-390

⁽²⁰⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 391

⁽²¹⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 390

⁽²²⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 391

⁽²³⁾ Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018), p. 166

⁽²⁴⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 391

⁽²⁵⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 408

⁽²⁶⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 408

⁽²⁷⁾ Braddell, R. (1950), p. 31

⁽²⁸⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), pp. 408-409

⁽²⁹⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 409

⁽³⁰⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 409

⁽³¹⁾ Godinho de Eredia, Manuel, 1563-1623 & Mills. J. V. (1997), p. 37

⁽³²⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 411-412

⁽³³⁾ Manguin, Pierre-Yves (1993), p. 23

⁽³⁴⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 406

⁽³⁵⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), pp. 404-405

⁽³⁶⁾ Wheatley, P. (1956), p. 406

⁽³⁷⁾ Simandjuntak, B. (1969), p. 86

⁽³⁸⁾ Rasdi, M.T., Ali, K., Ariffin, S.I., Mursib, G., & Mohamad, R. (2005), p. 19

⁽³⁹⁾ Unesco (2023)

𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲

1. Braddell, R. (1950). Notes on Ancient Times in Malaya [Continued]. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 23(1 (151)), 1–36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41559481
2. Godinho de Eredia, Manuel, 1563-1623 & Mills. J. V. (1997). Eredia's description of Malaca, Meridional India, and Cathay / translated from the Portuguese with notes by J.V. Mills ; and new introduction by Cheah Boon Kheng. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia : Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
3. Jacq-Hergoualc'h M. & Hobson V. (2018). The Malay peninsula : crossroads of the maritime silk road (100 bc-1300 ad). Brill.
4. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047400684
5. Manguin, Pierre-Yves (1993). Palembang and Sriwijaya: An Early Malay Harbour-City Rediscovered. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 66(1 (264)), 23–46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41486188
6. Rasdi, M.T., Ali, K., Ariffin, S.I., Mursib, G., & Mohamad, R. (2005). The Architectural Heritage of the Malay World – The Traditional Houses. ISBN:9789835203572
7. Simandjuntak, B. (1969). Malayan federalism, 1945-1963; a study of federal problems in a plural society. Netherlands: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780196380773
8. Unesco (2023) Intangible Heritage - Malaysia https://ich.unesco.org/en/state/malaysia-MY...
9. Wheatley, P. (1956). Langkasuka. T’oung Pao, 44(4/5), 387–412. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4527433

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