Description
The inscription is on a thin copper plate measuring less than 20 × 30 cm (8 × 12 inches) in size with words directly embossed onto the plate. It differs in manufacture from other Javanese scrolls of the period, which had the words inscribed onto a heated, softened scroll of metal.
Inscribed on it the Saka era date year of Siyaka 822, month of Waisaka, the fourth day of the waning moon, which corresponds to Monday, 21 April 900 CE in the Gregorian calendar. The writing system used is the Kawi Script, while the language is a variety of Old Malay, and contains numerous loanwords from Sanskrit and a few non-Malay vocabulary elements whose origin is between Old Tagalog and Old Javanese. The document states that it releases its bearers, the children of Namwaran, from a debt in gold amounting to 1 kati and 8 suwarnas (865 grams).
Dutch anthropologist and Hanunó'o script expert Antoon Postma has concluded that the document also mentions the places of Tondo (Tundun); Paila (Pailah), now an enclave of Barangay San Lorenzo, Norzagaray; Binuangan (Binwangan), now part of Obando; and Pulilan (Puliran); and Mdaη (the Javanese Kingdom of Medang), Indonesia. The exact locations of Pailah and Puliran are debatable as these could refer to the present-day town of Pila and the southeastern part of the lake previously known are Puliran, both close to where the plate was found. The reference of Namwaran may also have the connotation for nawara, a Visayan term for revering the dead. In old Visayan customs, the name of dead persons were not spoken in conversation, out of respect. The word Binwangan in Waray means river mouth while 'Puliran' would mean to roll from hills to a flatland, a topographic condition present in the present town of Lumban.
Read more about this topic: Laguna Copperplate Inscription
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