Cebu, or Sugbu, also called the Cebu Rajanate, was an
Indianized raja
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...
(monarchical)
mandala
A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...
(polity) on the island of
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...
in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
conquistadors. It is known in ancient Chinese records as the nation of Sokbu (束務). According to Visayan oral legend, it was founded by
Sri Lumay[Santarita, J. B. (2018). Panyupayana: The Emergence of Hindu Polities in the Pre-Islamic Philippines. Cultural and Civilisational Links Between India and Southeast Asia, 93–105.] or Rajamuda Lumaya, a minor prince of the Tamil
Chola dynasty
The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE ...
which occupied
Sumatra.
He was sent by the
maharajah
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...
from India to establish a base for expeditionary forces, but he rebelled and established his own independent polity.
The capital of the nation was
Singhapala (சிங்கப்பூர்)
which is Tamil-Sanskrit for "Lion City", the same rootwords with the modern city-state of
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
.
History
Foundation of the rajahnate
According to Visayan folklore,
Sri
Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific.
The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanes ...
Lumay was a half-
Tamil and half-
Malay Chola king from
Sumatra, who settled in the
Visayas
The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...
, and had several sons. One of his sons was Sri Alho, who ruled a land known as ''Sialo'' which included the present-day towns of
Carcar
Carcar, officially the City of Carcar ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Carcar; fil, Lungsod ng Carcar), is a 5th class component city in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 136,453 people.
Carcar City is ...
and
Santander in the southern region of Cebu. Sri Ukob ruled a polity known as ''Nahalin'' in the north, which included the present-day towns of
Consolación,
Liloan,
Compostela,
Danao,
Carmen and
Bantayan. He died in battle, fighting with the Muslim
Moro pirates known as ''magalos'' (literally "destroyers of peace") from
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
. The islands they were in were collectively known as ''Pulua Kang Dayang'' or ''Kangdaya'' (literally "
he islands
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
which belong to Daya").
Sri Lumay was noted for his strict policies in defending against Moro Muslim raiders and slavers from Mindanao. His use of
scorched earth tactics to repel invaders gave rise to the name ''Kang Sri Lumayng Sugbu'' (literally "that of Sri Lumay's great fire") to the town, which was later shortened to Sugbu ("scorched earth").
Reign of Sri Bantug
Sri Lumay was succeeded by the youngest of his sons, Sri Bantug, who ruled from a region known as ''
Singhapala'', which is now
Mabolo
''Diospyros blancoi'', (synonym ''Diospyros discolor''), commonly known as velvet apple, velvet persimmon, kamagong, or mabolo tree, is a tree of the genus ''Diospyros'' of ebony trees and persimmons. It produces edible fruit with a fine, velvet ...
of Cebu City. He died of disease. Sri Bantug had a brother called Sri Parang who was originally slated to succeed Sri Bantug. But he was a cripple and could not govern his polity because of his infirmity. Parang handed his throne to Sri Bantug's son and his nephew, Sri Humabon (also spelled Sri Hamabar), who became the rajah of Cebu in his stead.
Reign of Rajah Humabon
During
Rajah Humabon
Rajah Humabon, later baptized as Don Carlos, (died April 27, 1521) was the Rajah of Cebu (an Indianized Philippine polity). Humabon was Rajah at the time of the arrival of Portuguese-born, Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines ...
's reign, the region had since become an important trading center where agricultural products were bartered. From Japan,
perfume
Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...
and
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
utensils were usually traded for native goods.
Ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...
products, leather, precious and semi-precious stones and ''śarkarā'' (
sugar) mostly came from
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
traders.
The harbors of Sugbu (the modern-day
Parián
Pariáns were districts of cities in the Philippines during the country's Spanish colonial era where Chinese (Sangley) were required to live by Spanish colonial authorities. In Luzon there are several towns and cities with districts for chinese ...
district of Cebu) became known colloquially as ''sinibuayang hingpit'' ("the place for trading"), shortened to ''sibu'' or ''sibo'' ("to trade"), from which the modern
Castilian name "Cebú" originates. It was also during Humabon's reign that
Lapulapu
Lapulapu or Lapu-Lapu (ᜎᜉ̰-ᜎᜉ̰), whose name was first recorded as Çilapulapu, was a datu (chief) of Mactan in the Visayas in the Philippines. He is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, where ...
arrived from
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
, and was granted by Humabon the region of Mandawili (now
Mandaue
Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Mandaue; fil, Lungsod ng Mandaue), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 ...
), including the island known as Opong or Opon (later known as
Mactan
Mactan is a densely populated island located a few kilometers (~1 mile) east of Cebu Island in the Philippines. The island is part of Cebu province and it is divided into the city of Lapu-Lapu and the municipality of Cordova. The island is sep ...
). First contact with the Spanish also occurred during Humabon's reign, resulting in the death of
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...
.
The phrase ''Kota Raya Kita'' was documented by historian Antonio Pigafetta, to be a warning in the
Old Malay
Malay was first used in the first millennia known as Old Malay, a part of the Austronesian language family. Over a period of two millennia, Malay has undergone various stages of development that derived from different layers of foreign influen ...
language, from a merchant to the rajah and was cited to have meant:
"Have good care, O king, what you do, for these men are those who have conquered Calicut, Malacca, and all India the Greater. If you give them good reception and treat them well, it will be well for you, but if you treat them ill, so much the worse it will be for you, as they have done at Calicut and at Malacca."
In reality, this phrase is that of ''Kota Raya kita'', an indigenous
Malay phrase of merchants under the authority of Rajah Humabon, with a meaning in English of: "our capital city": ''
Kota (fortress)'', ''Raya'' (great, hence Kotaraya (capital city)), ''kita (we)''.
Dependencies of Cebu
Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition scribe, enumerated the towns and dependencies the Rajahnate of Cebu had.
Battle of Mactan
The
Battle of Mactan
The Battle of Mactan ( ceb, Gubot sa Mactan; fil, Labanan sa Mactan; es, Batalla de Mactán) was a fierce clash fought in the archipelago of the Philippines on April 27, 1521. The warriors of Lapulapu, one of the Datus of Mactan, overpowered ...
was fought on 27 April 1521 between forces of Rajah Humabon which included the Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...
hired by Spanish empire and
Lapulapu
Lapulapu or Lapu-Lapu (ᜎᜉ̰-ᜎᜉ̰), whose name was first recorded as Çilapulapu, was a datu (chief) of Mactan in the Visayas in the Philippines. He is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, where ...
, it ended with the death of Ferdinand Magellan.
Reign of Rajah Tupas and subsumation by Spanish
Sri Parang, the limp, also had a young son, Sri Tupas, also known as
Rajah Tupas
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
who succeeded Rajah Humabon as king of Cebu.
There is linguistic evidence that Cebu tried to preserve its Indian-Malay roots as time wore on since Antonio Pigafetta the scribe of Magellan described Rajah Tupas' father, the brother of Rajah Humabon as a "Bendara" which means "Treasurer" or "Vizier" in Sanskritized Malay
[THE GENEALOGY OF HARI' TUPAS: AN ETHNOHISTORY OF CHIEFLY POWER AND HIERARCHY IN SUGBU AS A PROTOSTATE Astrid Sala-Boza](_blank)
Page 280. and is a shortening of the word "Bendahara" (भाण्डार) which means "Storage house" in Sanskrit.
[Becoming Indian: The Unfinished Revolution of Culture and Identity by Pavan K. Varma p.125] The Hindu polity was dissolved during the reign of
Rajah Tupas
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
by the forces of conquistador
Miguel López de Legazpi in the battle of Cebu during 1565.
Relations with other rajahnates
The rajahs of Cebu were relatives to the rajahs of Butuan. Thus the Rajahnates of Cebu and
Butuan
Butuan (pronounced ), officially the City of Butuan ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Butuan; Butuanon: ''Dakbayan hong Butuan''; fil, Lungsod ng Butuan), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Caraga, Philippines. It is the ''de facto'' c ...
had relations with each other, as evidenced by the fact that Rajah Colambu of Butuan gave guidance to the Magellan expedition to reach
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...
. The rajahs of Butuan were descendants of Rajah Kiling, who according to Researcher Eric Casino, were not Visayan in origin but rather, Indian, because Kiling refers to the people of India. The
Sejarah Melayu
The ''Malay Annals'' ( Malay: ''Sejarah Melayu'', Jawi: سجاره ملايو), originally titled ''Sulalatus Salatin'' (''Genealogy of Kings''), is a literary work that gives a romanticised history of the origin, evolution and demise of the g ...
(Malay Annals) of the nearby country of Malaysia, point to the similarly worded
Keling
Keling () or Kling is a derogatory term used in parts of Southeast Asia to denote a person originating from the Indian subcontinent. This includes both those from India and overseas Indians. In modern usage it is not commonly capitalised. Th ...
as the immigrant people from India to Southeast Asia.
However, Cebu was not at peace with all Rajahnates. The
Rajahnate of Maynila, which was a colony of the
Brunei Sultanate and would later become the city of
Maynila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...
had an arrogant attitude against Cebuanos and Visayans as the rajah of Maynila who had an Islamic name,
Rajah Sulayman
Rajah Sulayman, sometimes referred to as Sulayman III (Sanskrit: स्ललैअह्, Arabic: سليمان, Abecedario: ''Suláimán'') (1558–1575), was the Rajah of Maynila, a fortified Tagalog Muslim polity on the southern half of the ...
, ridiculed the Visayans that came and assisted the Miguel de Legaspi expedition (Which also included the Cebuanos) as an easily conquerable people.
Fernao Mendes Pinto, among the earlier Portuguese colonists of Southeast Asia, pointed out that there were Muslims and non-Muslims among the inhabitants of the Philippines who fought each other.
Legacy
Indianization, although it was superseded by Hispanization, left markers in the Cebuano language and culture, such as religious practices and common vocabulary words whose origins are from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
.
Social stratification and caste system
Below the rulers were the
Timawa
The ''Timawa'' were the feudal warrior class of the ancient Visayan societies of the Philippines. They were regarded as higher than the '' uripon'' (commoners, serfs, and slaves) but below the ''Tumao'' (royal nobility) in the Visayan social ...
, the feudal warrior class of the ancient Visayan societies of the Philippines who were regarded as higher than the ''
uripon'' (commoners,
serfs, and slaves) but below the ''
tumao
The Tagalog ''maginoo'', the Kapampangan ''ginu'', and the Visayan ''tumao'' were the nobility social class among various cultures of the pre-colonial Philippines. Among the Visayans, the ''tumao'' were further distinguished from the immediate ...
'' (royal
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
) in the social hierarchy. They were roughly similar to the
Tagalog ''
maharlika
The ''Maharlika'' (meaning freeman or freedman) were the feudal warrior class in ancient Tagalog society in Luzon, the Philippines. They belonged to the lower nobility class similar to the ''Timawa'' of the Visayan people. In modern Filipino ...
'' caste.
Hindu-Buddhist artifacts
In 1921, Henry Otley Beyer found a crude Buddhist medallion and a copper statue of a Hindu deity,
Ganesha
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...
, in ancient sites in
Puerto Princesa, Palawan and in Mactan, Cebu. The crudeness of the artifacts indicates they were of local reproduction. The icons were destroyed during World War II. However, black and white photographs of these icons survive.
Modern name usage
There have been proposals to rename the current
Central Visayas
Central Visayas ( ceb, Tunga-tungang Kabisay-an; tl, Gitnang Kabisayaan) is an administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VII. It consists of four provinces: (Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor) and thr ...
region, which is dominated by the Cebuano ethnic group, into Sugbu region, the former name of the region prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century.
See also
; Related to Cebu polity
*
Singhapala – the ancient capital of the polity of Cebu.
*
Battle of Mactan
The Battle of Mactan ( ceb, Gubot sa Mactan; fil, Labanan sa Mactan; es, Batalla de Mactán) was a fierce clash fought in the archipelago of the Philippines on April 27, 1521. The warriors of Lapulapu, one of the Datus of Mactan, overpowered ...
*
Lapulapu
Lapulapu or Lapu-Lapu (ᜎᜉ̰-ᜎᜉ̰), whose name was first recorded as Çilapulapu, was a datu (chief) of Mactan in the Visayas in the Philippines. He is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, where ...
*
Timawa
The ''Timawa'' were the feudal warrior class of the ancient Visayan societies of the Philippines. They were regarded as higher than the '' uripon'' (commoners, serfs, and slaves) but below the ''Tumao'' (royal nobility) in the Visayan social ...
; Other related
*
List of India-related topics in the Philippines
*
Hinduism in the Philippines
*
History of the Philippines (Before 1521)
*
Pintados
Notes
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110721110617/http://www.nhi.gov.ph/downloads/mp0073.pdf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cebu (historical polity)
Former countries in Southeast Asia
Former countries in Philippine history
Barangay states
History of the Philippines (900–1565)
History of Cebu
Historical Hindu kingdoms