Suvarnabhumi

Suvarnabhumi “Ground of Gold” is the name of a country mentioned in several old texts like the Jataka (collection of tales related to the Buddhist tradition Theravâda, composed between IIIe century before J. - C. and IIIe century after J. - C.), the chronicle Ceylon ease of the Mahavamsa (6th century), which mentions missionary sending Bouddhiste S in this country by the emperor Ashoka (R. 272-231 av. J. - C.), or the Milindapañha. Certain authors identify it with the " Chersonèse d' Or " of the Greek geographer Ptolémée, this “India beyond Gange” or transgangetic India. Suvarnabhumi was selected like name of new the International airport of Bangkok, inaugurated in September 2006.

Localization

The site of Suvarnabhumi, one of the mythical Toponym S the most disputed history of the Southeast Asia, is the subject of debates as well scientific as Idéologique S. historical information is rare and vague. Contrary to spread an enough belief, this place is not mentioned in the edicts of Ashoka, which quote only names of kings reigning on cities located beyond the river Indus in the west of India, and not of the kingdoms. The Burmese chronicles and inhabitants of Thailand, posterior several centuries with the events, make sending state in Suvarnabhumi of two named missionaries Sona and Uttara. The historians of the area identified two areas like possible sites: the insular Southeast Asia and India of the South.

the theory which places Suvarnabhumi to insular Southeast Asia bases on an allusion to a powerful insular kingdom, perhaps Java in current the Indonesia. Chinese pilgrims made to India after there having made stopover described a flourishing trade whose prosperity could have justified the Ground name “of Gold”. The Indian epopee of the Ramayana mentions the name of Suvarnadvipa , “island of the gold”, which undoubtedly indicates Sumatra, because the text also speaks about Yavadvipa , “island of the millet”, which indicates Java. But the identification of these old toponyms to their modern counterparts is all the more difficult as they often reach us in the form of phonetic transcription in Chinese ideograms, whose pronunciation has evolved/moved for this old time.

the theory which places Suvarnabhumi to India of the South supports that the missionaries of Ashoka further did not go than Ceylon; this place would be thus in the extreme south of current India, which did not form part of the empire of Ashoka, perhaps the kingdom of the dynasty of the Chola or Pandya.

Modern claims

The lack of historical evidence and the scientific absence of consensus allowed, subsequently to the translation of the edicts of Ashoka (19th century), the birth of claims relating to Suvarnabhumi with various ethnic or political nationalisms,

With the Myanmar, the Burmese and the My affirm that Suvarnabhumi was a kingdom located on the coast of the Tenasserim and had as a capital Thaton. That it is reality or not, it should be specified that the populations of this area were undoubtedly neither Burmese nor my at the time of Ashoka (IIIe century before J. - C.). The Burmeses indeed were still confined in the valley of the river Irrawaddy, and My hardly began them to settle in the area of Khorat in the North-East of current the Thailand.

In Thailand, the official discourses locate Suvarnabhumi on the littoral of the central plain, more particularly in the area of the old city of U Thong, center of the culture my to which the historians inhabitant of Thailand gave the name of Dvaravati. New the International airport of Bangkok, inaugurated in September 2006, was even baptized " Suvarnabhumi". Here still, it should be recalled that even if this theory were true, the migrations Thai since the south-east of China took place only several centuries after the time of Dvaravati (Life-XIe centuries a. J. - C.).

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