Laguna Copperplate Inscription
Throughout mans’ prehistoric past, civilizations had risen and fallen. Untold cultures lost and buried by the sands of time, the memory of its’ ancient peoples erased perhaps forever. In its’ ruins, only the broken pieces of a few artifacts give an indication that they once existed. Rarely, do we recover artifacts than can give us a glimpse of how they once lived.
Of extreme importance are drawings, paintings, pictographs, hieroglyphs and in its most sophisticated form – writings. The earliest written record of a civilization marks the beginning of its history. Written artifacts not only let us understand how ancient people thought but also have the potential of rewriting the history of an entire culture.
The story of ancient Filipinos and its rich and thriving culture is a page lost in history. The writings of Antonio Pigafetta, are considered as the earliest known historical accounts of the Philippines. Pigafetta was part of the Spanish Expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan who landed on its’ shores in 1521. What they found was a people and culture unlike their own. However, in their eyes they found it primitive and savage, pagan and uncivilized. Under the guise of Christianity, they assimilated the islands, subjugated the inhabitants and forced their own “civilized” culture. Under its weight, the memory of the ancient culture was buried and was all but forgotten.
But an artifact discovered in 1989 has breathed life into this prehistoric culture and challenges the start of Philippine history to 900 C.E. This 8 x 12 piece of thin copper offers undeniable proof of a civilized society already in place 621 years before the arrival of the Spanish.
It was found near the mouth of the Lumabang River, where it empties into Laguna de Bay, by a man dredging for sand. At first he thought that the blackened object was just a discarded piece of rolled-up metal. However, when he unfurled the roll he noticed strange inscriptions on its’ surface. He sold it cheap to one of the antique dealers who visited the area looking for ancient artifacts and then reselling them to rich collectors in Manila. The strange unrecognizable relic seemed worthless and drew little interest. To recover his investment, the dealer sold the object to the Philippine National Museum for 2,000 pesos. Unable to understand the inscriptions, the object now known as the Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI) was stored and in effect ignored for more than a year.
In 1990, Antoon Postma a Dutch expert on ancient Philippine scripts and the director of the Mangyan Assistance & Research Center in Panaytayan, Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, visited the Museum. Curators showed him the LCI and he recognized some of the characters as “Kavi” (ancient Indonesian writings). Intrigued, he asked for some photographs and started his translation of the writings.
Originally, he thought that the document was from Indonesia. Other than the Kavi text, it also indicated a Sanskrit date of 822 or 900 in Common Era (C.E.). To be sure, he consulted another Dutchman Dr. J.G. de Casparis, an expert in ancient Indonesian scripts. Casparis agreed that it corresponded to scripts used in Java during that period.
Postma noted some unique qualities possessed by the document that contradicted his initial assumption that it was from Indonesia. In that era, it was customary to include the name of the king in important documents. The reigning king during that time was King Balitung, who was not mentioned. The writing was a mixture of Kavi, Sanskrit, Old Malay and Old Tagalog (Philippine script). The inscription was also more likely to have been hammered onto the metal rather than it being impressed onto hot copper, as practiced in ancient Java.
Translated, the document was an edict from the chief of Tundun pardoning a man named Namwaran (and his descendants), from his debts of one “kati” and eight “suwarna” (926.4 grams of gold) to the chief of Dewata. It mentioned Namwaran’s children Angkatan and Buka, as recognized by the Lord Minister of Binwagan, who received the document as witnessed by different chiefs namely Jayadewa of Pailah, Ka Sumuran of Puliran and the chief of Medang representing the chief of Dewata.
What struck Postma was that the places mentioned by the document were not in Indonesia but are in the Philippines! In fact, the actual names of the places remained relatively unchanged and still exist even today. Tundun (Tondo), Pailah (Paila), Puliran (Pulilan) and Binwagan (Binwagan) were all in Manila while Dewata (Diwata) was in Butuan and Medang (Medan) in Indonesia. After careful consideration, he declared that it was without question, an authentic ancient Philippine artifact.
The authentication of this rare archeological find is of prime importance in piecing together the true history of ancient Filipinos and their culture centuries after being lost. This once insignificant relic signals the revision of Philippine pre-Hispanic history. For modern Filipinos the discovery will not only give them a better understanding of their forefathers, but also rekindle their pride in their rich culture and unique identity as a people.
