Tamils and the Far East

“1. Trade route between Pandias and China had been established as early as 1000 BC. And goods had been sourced from China, Malaysia and Java, and exported to Europe.

2. A Korean queen “Sembavalam” is a Pandian princess around 50 AD (3rd Sangam period (1300 BC to 400 AD)).

3. The Karak Kingdom of King Suro was named after the Pandian Emblem meaning 'fish'.

4. Many Tamil words like Amma (Mother), Appa (Father), Anni (Brother’s Wife) are still in use in Korean and Japanese languages. In fact, there more than 4000 Tamil root words in Korean language.

5. Japanese Script (Ka, Ta, Ga, and Ma) is based on ancient Tamil Script.

6. Around 2nd Century AD, a Pandian King Sri Maran (Kiu Lien) was ruling Viet Nam (Champa).

7. According to the Mahavamsa – a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka – King Vijaya (543BC to 505 BC) married a Pandian Princess. Along with Vijaya, all the men in his crew got married to Madurai girls and arrived in Sri Lanka with great celebration.

8. The Chinese historian Yu Huan in his 3rd-century text, the Weilüe, mentions The Kingdom of Panyue:

“...The kingdom of Panyue is also called Hanyuewang. It is several thousand li to the southeast of Tianzhu (Northern India)...The inhabitants are small; they are the same height as the Chinese...”

9. 7th Century Chinese Traveller Heung Tsang has mentioned about Pandian Kingdom in his book during his visit to India. According to Heung Tsang (Xuanzang), the Pandya country was a depot for sea pearls, its people were harsh and of different religions. They were very good at trade

10. In Japan, there is a place called Maruthai (?????) in the region Kuril (??????). Both of these are Tamil Place names.

11. In China, there are five places in the name Pandian, which relates to the Pandian Dynasty and its king.

12. Pandian, 3 places in the name Madurai, Madhian, Puhar, Malaiyankoh, Kurinchi, Sempootse-aei, Saaliyur (Saari as of today) and Senkarai are in Indonesia and Malaysia.

13. Pandian Dynasty also had close diplomatic relationship with Yuan and Mongolian Dynasties of East (Refer Map 15 - China and Mongolia – 1200 AD to 1500 AD) just like with Greek and Roman Empires.

14. A Chinese author Ban Hu of Han Dynasty during the times of last Sangam (1300 BC to 400 BC) has noted that Cholas were in close diplomatic contacts with them for more than 300 years.

15. During the times of Chinese emperor Huwang-Ti (159 AD to 161 AD), a Chola diplomatic and trade group has visited him. He has received Ivory, Rhinoceros Horn (Probably from African sources as India is not known for its Rhinoceros population) and Tortoise Shell as gifts.

16. The later Chola Empire witnessed one of the greatest period not only in the history of Tamils but also of India and the world. According to the available sources (see Appendix I) they ruled from coast to coast (from east to west) along with their allies and friendly nations and once again embellished their symbol tiger on the foothills of Himalayas.

17. It seems apart from entire South India, South East Asia and Song Dynasty of China (a close Chola Ally), the entire Indian sub-continent, including Pakistan and Kashmir (In Kashmir, Sivan temples still recite prayers in Tamil) were paying tributes to the Cholas.

18. The Imperial Cholas are the first in the world to send naval expeditions (long before the Imperial British) to as far as the Philippines and China.

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