12 Boundaries and Beyond
Superb sailors, the coastal Malay-Indonesians became the major
players in shipping and carrying trade not later than the fourth or βifth
century. In Ćĉ 399, a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Fa Xian, traveled to India
by way of Central Asia. In Ćĉ 413‒14 he returned from Ceylon by sea.^35
As recorded in his account, he sailed on board a large merchant-vessel
carrying over 200 passengers. After just two days at sea, they ran into
a severe gale that caused the vessel to spring a leak. The storm blew
unabated for 13 days and nights and greatly terriβied the passengers on
board. Throughout the course of the voyage, they were also seldom able
to cast aside the fear of encountering pirates who frequented the sea
route. These sea bandits not only looted passengers’ property but also
did not hesitate to kill them. The ship at last arrived in Yepoti (Java) some
90 days later.^36 Fa Xian sojourned there for βive months before he boarded
another large merchant-vessel, also carrying over 200 passengers. The
vessel set course for Guangzhou. Again, the vessel encountered a violent
gale. Fa Xian and the other traveling merchants and traders felt totally
helpless and could only pray for their safety.^37
Again, the source does not tell about the ownership of the two
vessels. It is quite probable that they were local ships hailing from
India/Ceylon and Java respectively. O.W. Wolters suggests that the
voyage across the South China Sea was βirst undertaken by merchant
ships sometime between the third and the βifth centuries, although one
still cannot be certain who the ship-owners were. Be that as it may, the
trafβic between Java and South China had apparently become regularly
available by the early βifth century. Wolters provides evidence taken from
Gunavarman’s account that could be indicative of the regular shipping.
Gunavarman was a prince from Kashmir and a highly respected pilgrim.
He traveled from Java to China a few years after Fa Xian’s return journey.
Having heard about Gunavarman’s impending visit, the Liu Song emperor
Wendi (Ćĉ 424‒53) “had ordered a ship to fetch the illustrious Buddhist,
but before its arrival Gunavarman ... [had] boarded another merchant
ship” from Java. Both the accounts of Fa Xian and Gunavarman indicate
- Although Fa Xian did not tell about the country of origin of the ship, the
commentator of Fa Xian’s account says it was a Ceylonese vessel. See Fa Xian
zhuan jiaozhu 法顯傳校注 [Annotated travel account by Fa Xian], annotated by
Zhang Xun 章巽 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2008), p. 142; and Kuwabara Jitsuzo
桑原隲藏, Pu Shougeng kao 蒲壽庚考 [A study of Pu Shougeng], translator and
annotator, Chen Songqing 陳松箐 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1954), p. 3. - For the place name, see Hsu Yun-ts’iao, Nanyang shi, Vol. 1, p. 166,
- Fa Xian zhuan jiaozhu, pp. 142–6. The translation of the passage from Fa Xian’s
account can be found in Paul Wheatley, The Golden Khersonese, pp. 37–9.
http://www.ebook3000.com