Mantai: City by the Sea
John Carswell, Siran Dera Niyalaga and Alan Graham
Aichwald: Linden Soft Verlag, 2013
Unlike the Atlantic Ocean or even the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean has remained a relatively unexplored from both the historical and archaeological perspectives. This is rather surprising as the Indian Ocean was the ocean that linked the three great civilizations of the early and medieval periods: the Chinese, Indian and the Islamic civilizations. The long shadow of colonialism and the emergence of the Nation State" meant that the countries of South east Asia in their desire for an "autonomous" history chose to disavow their long and enduring cultural and political links with India. The large number of Chinese settlers in Malaysia and other counties made China a visible cultural entity and the rise of China as a huge economic power house made the Chinese look up to China for inspiration, while India with perhaps a larger cultural footprint in the area had to see its role shrunk and truncated in the guise of revisionist historiography, Indianization as a concept for studying the early history of South east Asia was challenged on the ground that the symbols of Indian cultural presence attested to archaeologically in the form of inscriptions, votive objects, iconographical representations, place names, statuary, monumental architecture and the like are all of the elite sections of society and much of the rest of the society continued without the influence of "Indianization" until the advent of Islam in the thirteenth century. Fortunately such interpretations are now unravelling under the weight of evidence from archaeological sites all across the Indian Ocean region. Mantai in Norther Sri Lanka is one such example.
The sixth century Saiva Nayanmar, Sundarar refers to Mattodam by the Sea in one of his hymns and endows the site with a sacredness akin to Ramessvaram. The Cholas of medieval Tamil country built a Siva temple at Tirukketisvaram, close to the site of Mantai. Perhaps this temple was built as a padal perra stalam, the place that received a song in Saivite hagiography.. The medieval city of Mantai was a major entrepot and ships from both China and the Red Sea, Persian Gulf region visited the city. The excavation at this site which began in the 1920's when A M Hocart the celebrated author of Kings and Councillors began with a series of trenches close to the earthen walls. The excavations were disturbed for more than 20 years due to the LTTE insurgency and after the restoration of calm in the Island, the excavations were completed and the Report was published. John Carswell who is an international authority on Chinese trade ceramics of the Tang,, Sung and Ming periods has written the Report in a lucid and careful manner.The material found in Mantai includes (!) Chinese ceramics, (2) Arab/ Islamic Ware (3) Glass shards and a few pieces of European/ Mediterranean ware.
The material found in Mantai suggests that the ships carrying merchandise from the Red Sea reached the entrepot of Mantai by sailing with the monsoon winds, a point strong suggested by Pliny's reference to Hippuros identified with Kudarimalai which lies south of Mantai. From this port ships sailed to South East Asia and then further afield to China.
The Excavation report is divided into five sections' Background, The Excavations, Pottery and Artifacts, General Conclusions and lastly educational programme. The publishers have done a splendid job in bringing out this publication and historians will have to revise their understanding of trade in the region after reading this report.
John Carswell, Siran Dera Niyalaga and Alan Graham
Aichwald: Linden Soft Verlag, 2013
Unlike the Atlantic Ocean or even the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean has remained a relatively unexplored from both the historical and archaeological perspectives. This is rather surprising as the Indian Ocean was the ocean that linked the three great civilizations of the early and medieval periods: the Chinese, Indian and the Islamic civilizations. The long shadow of colonialism and the emergence of the Nation State" meant that the countries of South east Asia in their desire for an "autonomous" history chose to disavow their long and enduring cultural and political links with India. The large number of Chinese settlers in Malaysia and other counties made China a visible cultural entity and the rise of China as a huge economic power house made the Chinese look up to China for inspiration, while India with perhaps a larger cultural footprint in the area had to see its role shrunk and truncated in the guise of revisionist historiography, Indianization as a concept for studying the early history of South east Asia was challenged on the ground that the symbols of Indian cultural presence attested to archaeologically in the form of inscriptions, votive objects, iconographical representations, place names, statuary, monumental architecture and the like are all of the elite sections of society and much of the rest of the society continued without the influence of "Indianization" until the advent of Islam in the thirteenth century. Fortunately such interpretations are now unravelling under the weight of evidence from archaeological sites all across the Indian Ocean region. Mantai in Norther Sri Lanka is one such example.
The sixth century Saiva Nayanmar, Sundarar refers to Mattodam by the Sea in one of his hymns and endows the site with a sacredness akin to Ramessvaram. The Cholas of medieval Tamil country built a Siva temple at Tirukketisvaram, close to the site of Mantai. Perhaps this temple was built as a padal perra stalam, the place that received a song in Saivite hagiography.. The medieval city of Mantai was a major entrepot and ships from both China and the Red Sea, Persian Gulf region visited the city. The excavation at this site which began in the 1920's when A M Hocart the celebrated author of Kings and Councillors began with a series of trenches close to the earthen walls. The excavations were disturbed for more than 20 years due to the LTTE insurgency and after the restoration of calm in the Island, the excavations were completed and the Report was published. John Carswell who is an international authority on Chinese trade ceramics of the Tang,, Sung and Ming periods has written the Report in a lucid and careful manner.The material found in Mantai includes (!) Chinese ceramics, (2) Arab/ Islamic Ware (3) Glass shards and a few pieces of European/ Mediterranean ware.
The material found in Mantai suggests that the ships carrying merchandise from the Red Sea reached the entrepot of Mantai by sailing with the monsoon winds, a point strong suggested by Pliny's reference to Hippuros identified with Kudarimalai which lies south of Mantai. From this port ships sailed to South East Asia and then further afield to China.
The Excavation report is divided into five sections' Background, The Excavations, Pottery and Artifacts, General Conclusions and lastly educational programme. The publishers have done a splendid job in bringing out this publication and historians will have to revise their understanding of trade in the region after reading this report.
