In previous posts I have been challenging a long-held belief that a “surname” that appears in Chinese sources, “Pu,” indicates the Arab name, “Abu” or the Javanese-Malay title, “mpu/empu.”
In this post, I would like to go a bit deeper by looking at a specific Cham clan that lived in the area of what is now Guangzhou in the early thirteenth century.
I will do so by quoting a passage from a Song-era text called the Deskside Chronicles (Tingshi 桯史) by Yue Ke 岳珂. The translation below is one that I made quickly with my friend ChatGPT. I have gone over it and changed obvious errors, so we can consider this a “human-assisted AI translation.” However, there are probably things that I have missed, so feel free to point anything out.
番禺有海獠雜居，其最豪者蒲姓，號白番人，本占城之貴人也。
In Panyu, there were sea Lao who lived among the local population. The most powerful among them bore the surname Pu and were known as “white barbarians.” They were originally noblemen from Champa.
[I have not come across the term “sea Lao” (hai Lao 海獠) before. The term “Lao” was used to refer to indigenous peoples in the coastal and mountainous regions of southern China.]
旣浮海而遇風濤，憚於復反，乃請於其主，願留中國，以通往來之貨。主許焉，舶事寔賴給其家。歳益久，定居城中，屋室稍侈靡踰禁。
Having once crossed the sea and encountered stormy waves, they were deterred from returning. They then petitioned their ruler to remain in China to facilitate maritime trade. The ruler agreed, and shipping affairs increasingly depended on their family. As time passed, they settled permanently in the city, and their residences grew lavish, surpassing official limits.
[There is earlier evidence of Cham getting blown off course by storms on the way to China. So, that was a thing.]
使者方務招徠，以阜國計，且以其非吾國人，不之問，故其宏麗奇偉，益張而大，富盛甲一時。
At that time, the imperial envoys were focused on attracting trade to enrich the realm, and since these people were not the kingdom’s subjects, no restrictions were imposed on them. As a result, their buildings became even grander and more extraordinary, and their wealth and opulence were unmatched.
紹熙壬子，先君帥廣，余年甫十歳，嘗遊焉。今尙識其故處，層棲傑觀，晃蕩綿亙，不能悉舉矣。然稍異而可紀者，亦不一，因録之以示傳奇。
In the renzi year of the Shaoxi era [i.e., Shaoxi 9 = 1202], when my late father was governor of Guang [i.e., Guangzhou], I was just ten years old and once visited their quarter. I still remember the place clearly: tiered buildings, lofty halls, dazzling and expansive—it is impossible to recount them all. Yet many peculiar and memorable aspects stood out, which I have recorded here as a kind of curiosity or legend.
獠性尙鬼而好潔，平居終日，相與膜拜祈福。有堂焉，以祀名，如中國之佛，而實無像設，稱謂聱牙，亦莫能曉，竟不知何神也。
These Lao people were spirit-revering and fond of cleanliness. In daily life, they would gather together to prostrate and pray for blessings. There was a hall of worship, which they named after a sacrifice, similar to the Buddha in the Middle Kingdom, but without a statue. Its appellation was convoluted, and no one could understand, so in the end it was not known what deity this was.
堂中有碑，髙袤數丈，上皆刻異書如篆籀，是爲像主，拜者皆嚮之。
Inside the hall stood a stele several zhang tall, inscribed with strange characters resembling ancient seal script, which was treated as the image of the deity. Worshipers faced and bowed toward it.
旦輒會食，不置匕箸，用金銀爲巨槽，合鮭炙、粱米爲一，灑以薔露，散以氷腦。
Every morning, they would gather for a communal meal. No chopsticks or utensils were used. They ate from large gold or silver basins, mixing grilled fish and glutinous rice, sprinkling it with rose dew, and scattering borneol on top.
[“Rose dew” (qianglu 薔露) is a poetic term. I’m not sure what they were putting on their food.]
坐者皆置右手於褥下不用，曰此爲觸手，惟以溷而已，羣以左手攫取，飽而滌之，復入於堂以謝。
When seated, they would place their right hand under their mat, saying, “This is the touching hand. It is only for unclean things.” They would then use only their left hand to grab food, and after eating, they would wash, then return to the hall to offer thanks.
居無溲匽。有樓髙百餘尺，下瞰通流，謁者登之，以中金爲版，施機蔽其下，奏廁，鏗然有聲，樓上鵰鏤金碧，莫可名狀。
Their homes had no latrines. There was a tower over 100 feet high overlooking flowing water, and an usher ascended it, and taking a plank of gold/bronze, extended a mechanism to cover the lower part, and it would resound loudly when used. The upper level was exquisitely carved and painted in gold and azure, beyond description.
[This is difficult to decipher, but my guess is that it is describing a form of water clock. If anyone has a better reading of this than I do, please let me know. ChatGPT had people going up the tower to defecate given that there were no latrines in the houses. . . I really don’t think that’s what’s going on here, but maybe there’s something that I’m missing. . . 🙂 ]
有池亭，池方廣凡數丈，亦以中金通甃，制爲甲葉而鱗次，全類今州郡公宴燎箱之爲而大之，凡用鉟鋌數萬。
They had a pavilion with a pool, several zhang wide, paved entirely with bronze plates, shaped and overlapped like armor scales. It resembled, but was used for burning boxes (??) at official banquets in districts and prefectures but bigger. The amount of bronze used numbered in the tens of thousands of ingots.
中堂有四柱，皆沈水香，髙貫於棟，曲房便榭不論也。嘗有數柱，欲羾於朝，舶司以其非常有，恐後莫致，不之許，亦臥廡下。
In the main hall, there were four pillars of agarwood, reaching up to the beams. The side rooms and verandas were too numerous to describe. At one point, they offered some of these pillars as tribute to the court, but the Maritime Office feared such extraordinary items would be hard to obtain again, and refused to accept them, so the pillars remained laid under the eaves.
後有窣堵波，髙入雲表，式度不比它塔，環以甓，爲大址，絫而增之，外圜而加灰飾，望之如銀筆。
Behind their quarters stood a stupa that reached into the clouds. Its structure was unlike other tower, encircled by bricks laid to form a large base, added in successive layers, with the outside coated in white ash, making it shine like a silver brush.
下有一門，拾級以上，由其中而圜轉焉如旋螺，外不復見其梯磴。毎數十級啓一竇，歳四五月，舶將來，羣獠入于塔，出于竇，啁唽號嘑，以祈南風，亦輒有驗。
Below there was a single entrance, and one could ascend via a spiral staircase inside, like a snail shell, without any visible external stairs. Every few dozen steps, a window opened. During the fourth or fifth lunar month, when the maritime fleets were to depart, the Lao people would climb the tower, and from these windows, and would shout and cry out, praying for southern winds, and this often proved effective.
絶頂有金鷄甚鉅，以代相輪，今亡其一足。
At the very top, there was a huge golden rooster, serving in place of a spire. But now, one leg was missing.
聞諸廣人，始前一政雷朝宗潨時，爲盜所取，跡捕無有。會市有窶人鬻精金，執而訊之，良是，問其所以致，曰：
According to Guangzhou locals, during the tenure of former governor Lei Chaozong Cong, the rooster’s leg was stolen by a thief. After a long investigation, nothing was found. Then a destitute person was found selling pure gold at the market. Upon interrogation, he confessed:
[This official’s name was Lei Cong and his courtesy name was Chaozong].
「獠家素嚴，人莫闖其藩。予棲梁上，三宿而至塔，裹麨糧，隱於顚，晝伏夜縁，以剛鐵爲錯，斷而懷之，重不可多致，故止得其一足。」
“The Lao household is heavily guarded, and no one dares trespass. I hid in the beams of their house for three nights, then sneaked to the top of the stupa. With dried food, I hid during the day, and climbed at night, using hardened iron tools, I cut through the metal. It was too heavy to carry far, so I only took one leg.”
又問其所以下，曰：「予之登也，挾二雨蓋，去其柄，旣得之，伺天大風，鼓以爲翼，乃在平地，無傷也。」
When asked about he got down, he said: “When I went up, I brought two umbrellas. I took off their handles, and when I had obtained [the foot], I waited for a strong wind, used them as wings to glide down safely to the ground.”
盜雖得，而其足卒不能補，以至今。
Although the thief was captured, the leg was never found, and remains missing to this day.
他日，郡以歳事勞宴之，迎導甚設，家人帷觀，余亦在，見其揮金如糞土，輿皁無遺，珠璣香貝，狼籍坐上，以示侈。帷人曰：「此其常也。」
The prefectural authorities held a banquet to reward them for their annual duties. The reception and ceremonial procession were grandly arranged. Family members watched from behind curtains, and I was there as well. I saw them throwing gold around like dirt, both the elite and commoners. The floor was strewn with pearls, and fragrant shells, to flaunt their extravagance. A person behind the screens said, “This is normal for them.”
後三日，以合薦酒饌燒羊以謝大僚，曰：「如例。」龍麝撲鼻，奇味不知名，皆可食，迥無同槽故態。
Three days later, they offered sheep roasted with wine and dishes to thank the officials, saying, “As usual.” The scent of ambergris and musk overwhelmed the senses, and the delicacies were unidentifiable but all edible, unlike their usual communal food style.
羊亦珍，皮色如黃金，酒醇而甘，幾與崖蜜無辨。獨好作河魚疾，以腦多而性寒故也。
The sheep were especially prized, their hides golden-yellow, and the wine was so fine and sweet it could hardly be distinguished from cliff honey. It is only that it was easy to get diarrhea, because of a lot of brain and its inherently cold nature.
余後北歸，見藤守王君興翁諸郎，言其富已不如曩日，池醫皆廢，云泉亦有舶獠，曰「尸羅圍」，貲乙於蒲，近家亦蕩析。意積賄聚散，自有時也。
Later, when I returned to the north, I met the governor of Teng, Mr. Wang Xingweng, and other gentlemen who told me that the [family’s] wealth was no longer what it had once been. Their pools and [pavilions] had fallen into disrepair.
It was said that in Quan[zhou], there were also ship Lao known as “Shiluowei whose wealth ranked second to the Pu family, though their households had also declined.
Indeed, it seems that the accumulation and dispersal of great fortunes have their own destined times.
[In this text, the character after pool means “doctor” or “medical” 醫, and that makes no sense here. My guess is that this must be a mistake for something more common like, “pools and pavilions” or chige 池閣.
As for the “ship Lao” (bo Lao 舶獠), the name Shiluowei 尸羅圍 is commonly understood to be a reference to Shiraf. I haven’t investigated this, but it seems reasonable.]
Ok, what do we see here?
1) We see a Pu clan that is identified as Cham nobility. This supports the point that I have been making, that Pu is the Cham pu/po and not “Abu” or the Javanese-Malay “mpu/empu.”
2) We see that they are labeled as sea Lao (hai Lao 海獠) and white barbarians (bai fanren 白番人)
3) We see obvious signs of Islamic culture: prostrating to pray, eating with one hand, etc.
4) We also see signs of practices that are not Islamic: drinking alcohol.
5) We see them getting equated with boat Lao (bo Lao) from Shiluowei, presumably Shiraf
What can we conclude from this? These were obviously Cham Muslims. As for the alcohol, I asked ChatGPT and was told that there is definitely evidence of alcohol in Islamic societies in this general time period. That is something that I would want to follow up on, but it strikes me as common sense.
Were they the descendants of Arabs or Persians? There is no way to know, but it’s possible. Foreigners getting hired by Southeast Asian kingdoms and getting integrated into the ruling elite is a common theme in premodern Southeast Asian history. So there definitely might have been Muslim traders who intermarried.
Alternately, as I’ve shown previously, Cham were sailing all through the region and in the early Song period, and they directed certain foreigners (Dashi, Chola) to China to present tribute as well. It is possible (but I think less likely) that some Cham converted through contact.
As for the “white barbarian” title, I suspect that this was a reference to the clothes they wore. There is a statement in the section on Champa in the History of the Song that says that “their customs and clothing are similar to those of the Dashi [‘Arab world’] kingdom” (其風俗、衣服與大食國相類). And there is a record of a Cham king in 1074 who would wear a long robe of either Dashi brocade or Chuanfa brocade (著大食錦或川法錦大衫).
I’m not sure what Chuanfa brocade is (Sichuan brocade? Maybe, but there was already a term for that: Shu bo 蜀錦). However, we can’t use the fact that this guy wore some kind of Dashi robe to argue that he was Muslim. All we can say is that he appears to have liked Dashi textiles.
Similarly, the statement about Champa that “their customs and clothing are similar to those of the Dashi [‘Arab world’] kingdom” could simply be a recognition of this taste for Dashi textiles. It doesn’t tell us that anyone was Muslim.
By contrast, the behavior of the Pu family in Panyu does show us that they were Muslim. Did they wear Dashi textile robes? They might have. If so, might those robes have been white, hence the label the “white barbarians”? That is possible too.
In any case, what the above passage from the Deskside Chronicles and the previous blog posts demonstrate is that the “surname” Pu was not a religious marker, and it has no connection to “Abu.” It was a marker of Cham nobility.
That said, members of the Cham elite could and did become Muslims, but not every Pu was a Muslim. To the contrary, I would argue that such people were probably a tiny minority. This account above, for instance, is about a single clan. Further, from what we can see in Chinese sources, Cham “Pu” appear over centuries with no evidence of Islamic practices.
It is only in rare cases like this one, where we can see that a clan called Pu and identified as Cham nobility were also Muslim.
稱謂聱牙. I can see: “It is called ‘Aoya’ and no one knows what the deity is.” It sounds like the Arabic word for God, Allah 🤔 Also, those strange characters resembling seal script people worshipped may be Arabic 😌
Thanks for pointing this out. When I went over that section I didn’t feel entirely comfortable.
However, there is a problem with seeing aoya 聱牙 as “Allah” and that is the fact that this is an actual compound, and when Chinese wrote foreign names, they avoided using actual Chinese terms (that had meaning in Chinese). Further, this compound is used for talking about language that is awkward or convoluted, like in the chengyu 詰屈聱牙 which can refer to writing that is difficult to read because the language is convoluted.
In looking at this again, the part that I think I got wrong was in translating 稱謂 as “their pronouncements.” This is probably better translated as “its appellation.” So, I’ve changed it now to “Its appellation was convoluted, and no one could understand, so in the end it was not known what deity this was.”
In modern times we have created what I call a “textbook version” of religions. So in the textbook version, Buddhists worship “the Buddha,” Muslims worship “Allah,” etc. However, this is not what you find when you look at historical evidence of religions “in action.” In the case of Islam, for instance, there were many honorifics and epithets that were used. So, that might be what this guy encountered. Hence, it seemed convoluted and no one understood it.
Finally, as for Arabic writing, yes!, that would be my guess.
Again, thank you for drawing my attention back to that passage. It was very helpful.
The pronunciation of liao in this case is lao. There is a comment in a local Guangzhou gazetteer of the late 17th century that further explains the identity of foreign merchants raised in a text of the 11th century, that some scholars read as proof of early Arab presence from Champa in China. The Guangdong tongzhi reads: The area below the Yuetai, once called the living area of foreign merchants, did not refer to (foreigners from Central Asia (xiyu 西域)), but to the sea Lao (hailao 海獠).
As far as I recall Islam came to Champa quite late, like in the 14th or even 15th century only.
Thanks for the comment. Yea, I couldn’t remember what the accepted pronunciation was. And that is after having read and reviewed an entire book on them (Catherine Churchman’s “The People Between the Rivers”). . .
As for Islam, there is a major difference between “Islam coming to Champa” and “an elite Muslim family (or 2 or 3) becoming members of the Cham ruling class.”
I don’t know if you are familiar with the Bunnag family in Thailand, but if not, look them up.
I don’t think anyone argues that with the appointment of Persian merchant Sheikh Ahmad to a high position that “Islam came to Ayutthaya.” Instead, a powerful Muslim merchant gained entry into the Ayutthayan elite, and his descendants maintained their position as members of that elite until. . . maybe still now?
However, not all foreigners who were brought into the royal courts of Southeast Asian kingdoms enjoyed such long and prosperous fates. The account here could easily be an example of that.
Further, before this point, there is clear documentation of turmoil in Champa and people fleeing. Of course, we don’t have sufficient evidence to say anything for sure, but there are enough pieces of the puzzle to create a plausible picture.
Even without attempting to imagine a history, this clan was clearly Muslim, and it was clearly identified as coming from the Cham elite. What more evidence do we need to argue that there was at least one elite Cham Muslim clan at this time (as there would be an elite Muslim clan/family in Ayutthaya later)?
Finally, while we can’t rule out the possibility that some member(s) of the Cham elite converted, personally, I can’t imagine that happening without foreigners being present first. I think it is more likely that a foreign merchant would gain access to the elite, would intermarry, etc.