Philippine Studies; Published by Ateneo de Manila University

The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary

By Antoon Postma

 Based on the stone tools, the history of man in the Philippines can be considered to have started
at least 40,000 years ago.
 However, until recently Philippine history is less than 500 years old.
 General consensus has it that the dividing line between Prehistory and History in the Philippines,
is the year 1521, when Antonio Pigafetta wrote his diary notes for the records of his Captain
Ferdinand Magellan on his “discovery”- voyage to the group of islands now known as the
Philippines.

 The Philippines’ southern neighbour, Indonesia, can claim a much earlier history, since the
oldest document, the Kutai Inscriptions, discovered in East-Kalimantan, are estimated to date
from the fifth century A.D.
 These inscriptions, written on stone or thin sheets of copper, have been significantly
contributed to the history of Indonesia during its first millennium of our era.

The Philippine Copper-Plate Inscription

 In January 1990, a crumpled, blackened, thin piece of metal was offered for sale to the National
Museum in Manila.
 The attractive aspect of this plate of copper (as laboratory analysis later established), was the
fact that this copper sheet
 Measuring about 20x20 cm
 Fully covered on one side with an inscription in ten lines of finely written
characters
 Discovered along the Lake of Laguna, east of Manila
 Decided to call it Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription or LCI
 Similar to the standard form of the Early Kawi Script used around the 10th century A.D.
 Like the OJ Randoesari inscription of Central Java dated 905 A.D.
 According to Dr. de Casparis, an expert in Indonesian Paleography, this type of script can be
found from Balie (Indonesia), to Thailand and Champa (Central Vietnam) in the West.
 With the help of Holle’s list of Indonesian Scripts (Holle 1882), was able to identify most of the
aksaras(letters).

Contents

 LCI seems to be a
 Semi-official certificate of acquittal of a debt incurred by a person in high office,
together with his whole family, all relatives and descendants.
  The debt mentioned involved substantial amount in gold that apparently was
still unpaid.
 The document or LCI is confirmed by other leaders and officials, some of whom
are mentioned by name, as well as the place of their jurisdiction.
 The 10th or last line of the LCI seems to be a warning to anyone who might
question or doubt the truth of the document.
 The LCI is the only one known to have “survived.”

Date and Provenance

 The LCI bears the Saka date of 882 or 900 A.D. which situates it at the beginning of the reign of
King Balitung of Central Java.
 In connection with the reign of King Balitung of Central Java (889-910), a great
number of copper-plate have been found.
 The LCI has been discovered during the dredging activities with a mechanical conveyor in the
Lumbang River, a job done by local sand-and-gravel companies at various locations along
Laguna de Bay in the Province of Laguna.
 The LCI was indeed retrieved from that river around 1987.
 Certain persons, without being asked, allegedly said that they had seen a similar
piece of copper plate with inscriptions around the same time, only that they
might have ended up in a local junk yard.

Translation of LCI

1. Hail! In the Saka-year 822; the month of March-April; according to the astronomer: The fourth
day of the dark half of the moon; on
2. Monday. At that time, Lady Angkatan, together with his relative; Bukah by name,
3. The child of His Honor Namwran, was given, as a special favour, a document of acquittal by the
chief and commander of Tundun.
 The Chief of Tundum seems to have occupied a higher position than the others,
because he additionally was a Senapati (Commander)
4. Representing the leader of Pailah, Jayadewa. This means that His Honor Namwran, through the
Honorable Scribe
 Jayadewa; Diving (or Royal) Victory
 Gansakti; Host of Power
 Bisruta; Famous
 Scribe; official clerks employed for important documentary transactions
5. Was totally cleared of a salary-related debt of 1 kati and 8 suwarna(weight of Gold) in the
presence of His Honor the Leader of Puliran
 1 kati; 617.6 grams
 1 suwarna/ 16th part of a kati; 38.6 grams
 Total weight of Gold was 1.5 kati; 926.4
6. Kasumuran; His honor the leader Pailah, representing the Ganasakti and His Honor the leader
 7. Of Binwangan, representing Bisruta. And with his whole family, on orders of Chief of Dewata
8. Representing the Chief of Mdang, because of his loyalty as a subject (slave?) of the Chief,
therefore all the descendants
 It might be that Sir Namwran had technically become a slave, because of his
debt, including his family and descendants
9. Of His Honor Namwram have been cleared of the whole debt that His Honor owed the Chief of
Dewata. This (document) is (issued) in case
10. There is someone, whosoever, some time in the future, who will state that the debt is not yet
acquitted of His Honor…
 The name that follows is probably Namwran. The last line might be a part of the
curse formula, whereby transgressors are threatened.

\\ Tracing of the Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription, by Antoon Postma, at Panaytayan, 16 April 1990

Authenticity and Script

 The LCI is genuine and authentic based on

 The identical script-type known to have existed during the 10th century and;
 The correctness of the language(s) employed, substantial elements that would
be hard to imitate or falsify at the present time without being noticed by the
experts.
 The type of script used in the LCI belongs to the so-called Early Kawi Script that was employed in
the inscriptions that were found in Indonesia during a period of almost 200 years.
 The LCI bears the date 900 A.D. and the script of that period is considered to be the standard
form of Early Kawi, used for a great number of Inscriptions.
 Therefore, the LCI, as far as the script is concerned, could have originated from
Central Java of the 10th century as well.
 It was well executed, in a regular style, and does not present great difficulties in
reading.

The Language

 The LCI has a number of technical Sanskrit words and some OJ words expressing ceremonious
forms of address, but the main language of LCI is clearly Old-Malay (OM) containing several
words that are identical or closely related to the Old-Tagalog language.
 The main language of LCI is OM, and as the ‘lingua franca’ or trade language of whole Malayan
area during those times, it was the medium of communication with outlying regions like the
Philippines that used their own indigenous languages.

Personal and Place Names

 Malayan Names
 Angkatan
 Binwangan
  Bukah
 Kasumuran
 Pailah
 Puliran
 Sanskrit Names
 Bisruta
 Dewata
 Ganasakti
 Jayadewa
 Mdang
 Tundun
 Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos, appended to a Decree promulgated in 1849 by the Spanish
government in the Philippines the names Angcatan, Buca, Diwata Paela, Puriran, Somuran, and
Tundo are metioned as possible surnames.
 Since the LCI was allegedly found in the Laguna de Bay area, Pulilan, the old name for the South
eastern Lake area, according to some old Tagalog dictionaries might be considered as one of the
equivalents of the LCI Puliran.
 Puliran and Puilah, which could have been the earlier name of Pila, Laguna, which was indicated
as “one of the most important centers of trade, as well as of culture during the early part of the
present millennium.”
 However, Pulilan was a region comprising several villages, Pila being one of them, situated
within the area of Pulilan. However, the LCI clearly indicates that they were two separate
localities, each with its own leader.
 North of Manila (Tondo) is located the village of Binwangan, belonging to the municipality of
Obando, situated at the mouth of the Bulacan River, with coordinates; one can further find the
north town of Calumpit, along the large Pampanga river, the village of Gatbuca.
 Their equivalents are within the limited area of Bulacan Province in the
Philippines.

Gold, Debt, Slavery and Class

 Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala; Fr. Pedro de Buenaventura(SB) and Fr. Francisco Blancas de San
Joseph(forerunner)
 Will give adequate definition and description, its origin and use in both Tagalog
and Spanish.
 Scott, wrote : One of the richest vocabularies in the whole dictionary is that pertaining to
metallurgy and metal-working including, special subdivisions for goldsmith and jewellery.
 Slave ladder
 Sagigilir slave; stayed in the bottom part of his master’s house, who claimed
total ownership of him and his family
  Namamahay; lives with his own house a privilege he have acruired by paying it
in gold, called upon by his master for work activities but had more freedom than
slaves,
 The lowest types of slaves and the most wretched, were those whose master
was a slave himself, whether a namamahay o sagigilir, for there was little or no
hope for any improvement in their miserable state.
 Freedom from slavery could be obtained by “paying the price”
 They became free or maharlika at the death of their master through an express
stipulation in his statement. Once free, a maharlika could be considered as the
same social level of timawa, a commoner or a person who had never been a
slave before.
 Top Ladder
 Chief or dato (Maginoo); territory is limited. They possess the gold and power
that came with it. Below them are timawa, the commoner, and the maharlika,
who was no longer slave and they still had their obligations to their chiefs.

Conclusion

 LCI can be considered as the oldest calendar dated Philippine ‘document’ existing at present in
the Philippines, predating the Pigafetta account by some 620 years.
 It also seems that Philippines, or part of it, under whatever name, can now take its rightful place
on the tenth century map of Southeast asia, in the presence of the Kingdoms of
 Sriwajaya (Sumatera)
 Mataram (Java)
 Angkor (Kampuchea)
 Cham Dynasty (Vietnam)
 De Casparis called the LCI; one of the most important discoveries of late, because the
Philippines has now been freed from its pre-Spanish isolation, a well-organized form of
government based on the customary law have been shown to exist for more than a thousand
years, and an important link in the history of the Malay (and the Tagalog) has been
established.
 In the light of new historical evidence for an organized political existence of part of the
Philippine, all previous pre-Spanish historical data pertaining to the Philippines, will have to be
re-examined and re-evaluated.
 In the light of the LCI much new research has to be conducted.
 Antonio Pigafetta

 Friday, April 26
 Zula, a chief of the island sent one of his sons to present 2 goats to the captain general
and to say that he would send him all that he had promised
 Cilapulapu, another chief refused to obey the king of Spagnia
 Zula, requested the captain to send him only one boatload of men on the next night so
that they might help him and fight against the other chief