Ramesh at 03:06, 9 April 2026

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{{Use Philippine English|date=April 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}}
The '''Indian influences in early Philippine polities''', particularly the influence of the [[Srivijaya]] and [[Majapahit]] [[Thalassocracy|thalassocracies]] on cultural development, is a significant area of research for scholars of Philippine, Indonesian, and Southeast Asian history,<ref name="Scott1994">{{cite book | last = Scott | first = William Henry | author-link = William Henry Scott (historian) | title = Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society | publisher = Ateneo de Manila University Press | date = 1994 | location = Quezon City | isbn = 971-550-135-4 }}</ref> and is believed to be the source of [[hinduism|Hindu]] and [[buddhism|Buddhist]] elements in early Philippine [[Culture of the Philippines|culture]], [[Religion in the Philippines|religion]], and [[Languages of the Philippines|language]].<ref name="Jocano2001">{{cite book | last = Jocano | first = F. Landa | author-link = F. Landa Jocano | title = Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage | publisher = Punlad Research House, Inc. | date = 2001 | location = Quezon City | isbn = 971-622-006-5 }}</ref><ref name="Osborne2004">{{cite book | last = Osborne | first = Milton | author-link = Milton Osborne | title = Southeast Asia: An Introductory History | publisher = Allen & Unwin | date = 2004 | location = Australia | edition = Ninth | isbn = 1-74114-448-5 }}</ref><ref name="JocanoJr2012">{{Cite book |title=A Question of Origins |last=Jocano |first=Felipe Jr. |date=August 7, 2012 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-1-4629-0742-7 |editor-last=Wiley |editor-first=Mark |language=en|others=Arnis: Reflections on the History and Development of Filipino Martial Arts}}</ref> Because the Indonesian thalassocracies of Srivijaya and Majapahit acquired many of these Hindu and Buddhist elements through [[Indianization of Southeast Asia|Indianization]], the introduction of such elements to early Philippine cultures has sometimes been referred to as ''indianization''.<ref name="Osborne2004"/> In more recent scholarship, it is termed ''localization'',<ref name="Jamkajornkeiat">{{Cite web | last = Jamkajornkeiat | first = Thiti | url = https://kyotoreview.org/yav/southeast-asia-surprisingly/ | title = Southeast Asia, Surprisingly | access-date = May 20, 2019 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190326103019/https://kyotoreview.org/yav/southeast-asia-surprisingly/ | archive-date = March 26, 2019 }}</ref> as in, e.g., localization of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Holt|first=Emily|title=Water and Power in Past Societies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7paDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-6875-4|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-7paDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA165&dq=localization+Hindu+Buddhist 165]}}</ref> Some scholars also place the Philippine archipelago within the outermost reaches of the [[Indosphere]], along with [[Northern Vietnam]], where the Hindu and Buddhist elements were not directly introduced by Indian travellers.<ref name="Churchill1977">{{Cite journal |last=Churchill |first=Malcolm H. |year=1977 |title=Indian Penetration of Pre-Spanish Philippines |url=http://www.asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-15-1977/francisco-indian-prespanish-philippines.pdf |journal=Asian Studies |language=en |publisher=University of the Philippines Asian Center |location=Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines |volume=15}}</ref>

The most updated scholarship notes that there is no evidence of direct political or economic interaction between India and the various polities of the Philippine archipelago prior to the [[History of the Philippines (1565–1898)|Philippines' European colonial era]]. Scholars such as [[Milton Osborne]] and [[F. Landa Jocano]] instead suggest that "indirect cultural influence"<ref name="Osborne2004"/><ref name="Jocano2001"/> mostly arrived through these early Philippine polities' relations with the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires.<ref name="Jocano2001"/><ref name="Churchill1977"/> during the 10th through the early 14th centuries. This updates the theories of earlier scholars, who posited that Indian elements in Philippine culture suggested relations between the two societies as early as the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE.<ref name="Jocano2001"/> This also places the Philippines and the northern part of Vietnam outside the pattern of "Indianization" which took place elsewhere in Southeast Asia.<ref name="Osborne2004"/>

== History ==
[[File:Filippine, provincia di agusan, immagine hindu, statuetta in oro massiccio, xiii secolo.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Agusan image]] statue (900–950 CE) discovered in 1917 on the banks of the Wawa River near [[Esperanza, Agusan del Sur|Esperanza]], [[Agusan del Sur]], [[Mindanao]] in the [[Philippines]].]]

Historians prior to the later part of the twentieth century such as Zaide and Manuel generally believed that Srivijaya and Majapahit played a significant role in the development of cultures throughout the Philippine archipelago, although the degree of Srivijayan influence was later questioned in seminal works by Jocano and Scott.<ref name="Jocano2001"/>

Hindu and Buddhist influences first reached [[Nusantara (archipelago)|Nusantara]] or Maritime Southeast Asia as early as the first century.<ref name=jgonda>[[Jan Gonda]], The Indian Religions in Pre-Islamic Indonesia and their survival in Bali, in {{Google books|X7YfAAAAIAAJ|Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 3 Southeast Asia, Religions|page=1}}, pp. 1-54</ref> There are two major theories for the arrival of Hinduism in the region, both focusing on Indonesia. The first is that South Indian sea traders brought Hinduism with them, and second being that Indonesian royalty welcomed Indian religions and culture, and it is they who first adopted these spiritual ideas followed by the masses. Either way, Indonesian islands adopted both Hindu and Buddhist ideas, fusing them with pre-existing native folk religion and Animist beliefs.<ref name="junemcdaniel">{{cite journal|last=McDaniel|first=June|date=August 1, 2010|title=Agama Hindu Dharma Indonesia as a New Religious Movement: Hinduism Recreated in the Image of Islam|journal=Nova Religio|volume=14|issue=1|pages=93–111|doi=10.1525/nr.2010.14.1.93}}</ref>

This meant that the Buddhism and Hinduism introduced into the Philippine archipelago by the Srivijaya and the Majapahit were of a distinctly (Insular) Southeast Asian variant,<ref name="Osborne2004"/> as Osborne, in his 2004 history of Southeast Asia, notes:<blockquote>''Much, but not all, of this culture was absorbed by the local population and joined to their existing cultural patterns.[…] Because Indian culture “came” to Southeast Asia, one must not think that Southeast Asians lacked a culture of their own. Indeed, the generally accepted view is that Indian culture made such an impact on Southeast Asia because it fitted easily with the existing cultural patterns and religious beliefs of populations that had already moved a considerable distance along the path of civilization.[…] Southeast Asians, to summarize the point, borrowed but they also adapted. In some very important cases, they did not need to borrow at all.''"<ref name="Osborne2004"/>{{rp|pages=23–24}}</blockquote>

=== Possible influence through early contacts with the Srivijaya ===
{{see also|Hinduism in the Philippines|Religion in pre-colonial Philippines}}

Popular literature and some 20th century history textbooks often suggest that Hindu and Buddhist cultural influences first came to the Philippines through early contacts with the [[Srivijaya]]n and Majapahit thalassocracies. Jocano notes, however, that there is insufficient physical evidence<ref name="Jocano2001"/> to suggest that Philippine polities traded extensively with the Srivijayan empire. He suggests that contact between Philippine polities and the Srivijaya was probably limited to small-scale trade.<ref name="Jocano2001"/>

=== Influence through trade with the Majapahit ===
Jocano suggests that the Hindu and Buddhist cultural influences on Philippine cultures actually probably came through the [[Majapahit]], as evidenced by significant archeological findings: <blockquote>''"Philippine-Indonesian relations during precolonial times became intensified during the rise of the Majapahit Empire. It was during this time that much of the so-called Indian cultural influence reached the Philippines through Indonesia. But what penetrated into our country, particularly in the seaport communities, was already the modified version of the original Hindu cultural traits."''<ref name="Jocano2001"/>{{rp|page=142}}</blockquote>

== Manifestations of cultural influence ==
Because physical evidence regarding the degree to which India influenced the Philippines prior to the [[History of the Philippines (1521–1898)|Spanish conquista]] is rather sparse, scholars have held differing views on this matter over the years. Preeminent Filipino Anthropologist [[F. Landa Jocano]] (2001) notes:<blockquote>''"Except for a few artifacts and identified loanwords that have been accepted as proofs of Indian-Philippine relations, there are meager intrusive materials to sustain definite views concerning the range of Indian prehistoric influence in the country. Many generalizations [that] have so far been advanced merely obscure the basic issues of Philippine cultural development. Even archeological data, mostly trade items, must be critically evaluated before they are judged as evidence of direct contacts.<ref name="Jocano2001"/>{{rp|pages=138–139}}"''</blockquote>

Jocano lists the various streams of the evidence which support the assertion that this influence reached the Philippines include:<ref name="Jocano2001"/><blockquote>''"Syllabic writing; artifacts in the form of different figurines made of clay, gold, and bronze that were dug in various sites in the Philippines; and 336 loanwords identified by Professor Francisco to be Sanskrit in origin, with 150 of them identified as the origin of some major Philippine terms."''</blockquote>

=== The Agusan image===
{{Main|Agusan image}}
One major artifact often presented as physical evidence of early Indian influence in the Philippines is the "[[Agusan image|golden image of Agusan]]" artifact, a 1.79 kilogram, 21 carat [[Mataram Kingdom|Mataram]]-period gold image discovered by a [[Manobo]] woman named Bilay Campos in [[Esperanza, Agusan]] in 1918.

[[H. Otley Beyer]] interpreted the image as that of a [[Shaivism|Sivaite goddess]], but with the religiously important hand signals improperly copied by local (probably Mindanao) workmen. Thus it suggests that Hinduism was already in the Philippines before Magellan arrived, but also suggests that the early Filipinos had an imperfect version of Hinduism which they got from the Majapahit.<ref name="Beyer1947">H. Otley Beyer, "Outline Review of Philippine Archaeology by Islands and Provinces," Philippine Journal of Science, Vol. 77, Nos. 34 (July–August 1947), pp. 205-374</ref>

=== The Laguna copperplate inscription ===
{{Main|Laguna Copperplate Inscription}} {{see also | Tabon_Caves#Tabon_Caves_Garuda_Gold_Pendant | label 1 = Tabon Caves Garuda Gold Pendant }}
Another artifact often presented as physical evidence of early Indonesian and Indian influence in the Philippines is the 10th century [[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]] (LCI), found in 1989 and deciphered in 1992 by Dutch anthropologist [[Antoon Postma]], and famous as the earliest known written document found in the Philippines.<ref name="Postma1992">{{cite journal|url=http://www.philippinestudies.net/ojs/index.php/ps/article/download/1033/1018|title=The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary|jstor=42633308|last=Postma|first=Antoon|journal=Philippine Studies|volume=40|issue=2|pages=182–203|publisher=Ateneo de Manila University|date=April–June 1992}}</ref>

The (LCI) was written in a variety of the [[Old Malay]] language, using the [[Old Kawi]] script,<ref name="Postma1992"/> and contains numerous loanwords from [[Sanskrit]] and a few non-Malay vocabulary elements whose origin may be [[Old Javanese]]. The use of Sanskrit loanwords is considered evidence of Indian cultural influences on the cultures of the Malay Archipelago, which in turn had close trade and cultural ties with early Philippine polities, including those mentioned in the LCI.<ref name="Jocano2001"/>

=== Sanskrit loanwords and scripts ===
{{main | List_of_loanwords_in_Tagalog#Sanskrit | label 1 = Sanskrit loanwords in Tagalog }} {{Further| Indosphere | Sanskritisation | Indian honorifics | Juan R. Francisco}}
According to Jocano, a total of 336 loanwords were identified by Professor [[Juan R. Francisco]] to be Sanskrit in origin, "''with 150 of them identified as the origin of some major Philippine terms.''"<ref name="Jocano2001"/> Many of these loanwords concerned governance and mythology, which were the particular concern of the [[Maginoo]] class, indicating a desire of members of that class to validate their status as rulers by associating themselves with foreign powers.<ref name="Junker1990">{{cite journal | title=The Organization of IntraRegional and LongDistance Trade in PreHispanic Philippine Complex Societies | author=Junker, Laura Lee | journal=Asian Perspectives | year=1990 | volume=29 | issue=2 | pages=167–209}}</ref>

[[Indian honorifics]] also influenced the [[Filipino styles and honorifics|Filipino]] honorifics.<ref name=tit1>Krishna Chandra Sagar, 2002, An Era of Peace, Page 52.</ref> Examples of these include Raja, Rani, Maharlika, Datu, etc. which were transmitted from Indian culture to Philippines via Malays and [[Srivijaya empire]].

The origins of various pre-colonial [[Suyat|native Filipino scripts]] such as the [[Baybayin]], the [[Visayan languages|Visayan]] as '''badlit''', the [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]] '''kur-itan/kurditan''', and the [[Kapampangan language|Kapampangan]] '''kudlitan''', can be traced to the [[Brahmic scripts]] of India and first recorded in the 16th century.<ref name="baybayin">{{Cite web | last = Morrow | first = Paul | url = http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm | publisher = MTS | title = Baybayin, the Ancient Philippine script | access-date = September 4, 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100821192259/http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm | archive-date = August 21, 2010 }}.</ref>

===Folk literature===
The most prominent example of Indian cultural influence on early Philippine folk literature is the case of the [[Maharadia Lawana]], a [[Maranao people|Maranao]] epic which tells a local version of the Indian epic [[Ramayana]],<ref name="Francisco1969">{{Cite publication| last=Francisco|first=Juan R.|title=Maharadia Lawana|url=http://www.asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-07-02-1969/franciso-maharadia%20lawana.pdf}}</ref> first documented by Filipino anthropologist [[Juan R. Francisco]] in the late 1960s. Francisco believed that the Ramayana narrative arrived in the Philippines some time between the 17th to 19th centuries, via interactions with Javanese and Malaysian cultures which traded extensively with India.<ref name="Francisco1989">{{Cite journal|last=FRANCISCO|first=JUAN R.|date=1989|title=The Indigenization of the Rama Story in the Philippines|jstor=42633135|journal=Philippine Studies|volume=37|issue=1|pages=101–111}}</ref>{{rp|page=101}}

Some Philippine High School textbooks<ref name="Halili2004">Halilli, Maria Christine (2004), Philippines History, pp. 46</ref> have also suggested that the Ilocano epic [[Biag ni Lam-ang]] may have been influenced by Hindu epics the [[Mahabharata]] and [[Ramayana]], although the textbooks do not substantiate this claim.<ref name="Halili2004"/> Most of the scholarship around the poem focus instead on the incorporation of syncretistic elements from [[Roman Catholicism]], with no mention of supposed Indian influence.<ref name="Lopez2006">{{Cite book |title=A Handbook of Philippine Folklore |last=Lopez |first=Mellie Leandicho |publisher=University of the Philippines Press |year=2006 |isbn=9789715425148 |location=Diliman, Quezon City}}</ref>

Philippine anthropologists and historiographers such as [[F. Landa Jocano]] suggest that such Hindu influences probably arrived in the Philippines through the extensive trade local cultures had with the [[Majapahit empire]] during the 14th through 16th centuries,<ref name="Lopez2006"/><ref name="Osborne2004"/><ref name="Jocano2001"/> although earlier scholars such as [[Juan R. Francisco]] and [[Josephine Acosta Pasricha]] had suggested earlier dates for this influence, during the 9th to 10th century AD.<ref name="Lopez2006"/>{{rp|pages="xxiv-xxv"}}

== "Indirect Indianization" through Maritime Southeast Asia ==
{{see also | Greater India | Indosphere | Sanskritisation | List of India-related topics in the Philippines | label 5 = India-Philippines topics }}

==="Indianization" in Maritime Southeast Asia===
Historically [[Southeast Asia]] was under the influence of [[Greater India|Ancient India]], where numerous [[Indianized kingdom|Indianized principalities]] and empires flourished for several centuries in Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the southern part of Vietnam, with cultural influence also spreading indirectly to the mostly Austronesian cultures of the Philippine archipelago and the highly sinified culture of Northern Vietnam.<ref name="Osborne2004"/> The influence of Indian culture in these areas was given the term ''indianization''.<ref name=acharya>{{cite web|last1=Acharya|first1=Amitav|title=The "Indianization of Southeast Asia" Revisited: Initiative, Adaptation and Transformation in Classical Civilizations|url=http://www.amitavacharya.com/sites/default/files/Indianisation%20of%20Southeast%20Asia%20Revisited.pdf|website=amitavacharya.com|access-date=April 3, 2018|archive-date=January 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107152930/http://www.amitavacharya.com/sites/default/files/Indianisation%20of%20Southeast%20Asia%20Revisited.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> French archaeologist, [[George Cœdès]], defined it as the expansion of an organized culture that was framed upon Indian originations of royalty, [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhist|Buddhism]] and the [[Sanskrit language]].<ref name=coedes>{{cite book|last1=Cœdès|first1=George|author-link=George Cœdès|title=The Indianized States of Southeast Asia|date=1967|publisher=Australian National University Press}}</ref> This can be seen in the [[Indianization of Southeast Asia]], [[Hinduism in Southeast Asia|spread of Hinduism]] and [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|Buddhism]].

=== "Indirect Indianization" in the Philippines ===
Historiographers — both from Southeast Asia in general,<ref name="Osborne2004"/> and the Philippines specifically<ref name="Scott1994"/><ref name="Jocano2001"/><ref name="JocanoJr2012"/> — agree that the impact of "indianization" in Philippines was indirect in nature,<ref name="Osborne2004"/> occurring through contacts with the [[Majapahit]] culture.<ref name="Jocano2001"/><ref name="Scott1994"/> Osborne (2004) notes that Vietnam and the Philippines did not participate in the main wave of Indianization:<ref name="Osborne2004"/>{{rp|page=23}} <blockquote>''"In the case of Vietnam, who were in this period living under Chinese rule, the process of Indianization never took place. For a different reason – distant geographical location – neither did the Philippines participate in this process."''</blockquote>

Jocano furthers:<blockquote>''"The Philippines is geographically outside the direct line of early commerce between India and the rest of Southeast Asia. Moreover, the island world of Indonesia, with Sumatra and Java controlling the traffic of trade, functioned as a sieve for whatever influence (cultural, social, and commercial) India might have had to offer beyond the Indonesian archipelago.[...]Thus, it can be said that Indian Influence filtered into the Philippines only indirectly."<ref name="Jocano2001"/>{{rp|page=139}}''</blockquote>

=== Degree and nature of "influence" in the Philippines===
Regardless of how and when it actually happened, Historiographers specializing in Southeast Asia note that this "influence" was cultural and religious, rather than military or political in nature. For example, Osborne, in his 2004 history of Southeast Asia, notes:<ref name="Osborne2004"/>{{rp|page=23}}<blockquote>''Beginning in the 2nd and third centuries C.E. there was a slow expansion of [Indian] cultural contacts with the Southeast Asian region. It was an uneven process, with some areas receiving Indian influence much later than others, and the degree of influence varying from century to century. [...] Indianization did not mean there was a mass migration of Indian population into Southeast Asia. Rather, a relatively limited number of traders and priest scholars brought Indian culture in its various forms to Southeast Asia where much, but not all, of this culture was absorbed by the local population and joined to their existing cultural patterns.''</blockquote>

Osborne further emphasizes that this "indianization" of Southeast Asia did not per-se overwrite existing indigenous patterns, cultures, and beliefs: <blockquote>"''Because Indian culture “came” to Southeast Asia, one must not think that Southeast Asians lacked a culture of their own. Indeed, the generally accepted view is that Indian culture made such an impact on Southeast Asia because it fitted easily with the existing cultural patterns and religious beliefs of populations that had already moved a considerable distance along the path of civilization.[…] Southeast Asians, to summarize the point, borrowed but they also adapted. In some very important cases, they did not need to borrow at all.''<ref name="Osborne2004"/>{{rp|page=24}}"</blockquote>

=== Localization of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs ===
Milner (2011)<ref name="Milner2011">{{Cite book |title=The Malays |last=Milner |date=2011 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=9781444339031 |location=Chichester |oclc=733917612|first=Anthony Crothers}}</ref> suggests that the cultural adaptation of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs in Maritime Southeast Asia is better characterized as "localization," which Wolters (1999) describes as a process by which foreign ideas ("specifically Indian materials"<ref name="Milner2011"/>) could be "fractured and restated and therefore drained of their original significance" in the process of being adopted into "various local complexes."<ref name="Wolters1999">{{Cite book |title=History, culture, and region in Southeast Asian perspectives |last=Wolters, O. W. |date=1999 |publisher=Southeast Asia Publications, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University |isbn=9781501732607 |edition= Rev. |location=Ithaca, N.Y. |oclc=318419814}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Butuan (historical polity)]]
* [[Cebu (historical polity)]]
* [[Indosphere]]
* [[Greater India]]
* [[Indian Filipino]]
* [[History of Indian influence on Southeast Asia]]
* [[List of India-related topics in the Philippines]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{India-related topics in Philippines}}

[[Category:Political history of the Philippines]]
[[Category:Indosphere]]
[[Category:Indian diaspora by country]]

Indian influences in early Philippine polities - Revision history

Ramesh at 03:06, 9 April 2026