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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 history of South Asia, South Asia and History of ...
(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 ...
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, Ca ...
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 LumaySantarita, 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 BC ...
which occupied Sumatra. He was sent by the
maharajah Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great Monarch, king" or "high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Em ...
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, borde ...
.


History


Foundation of the rajahnate

According to Visayan folklore, Sri 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, i ...
, 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 ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opér ...
and Bantayan. He died in battle, fighting with the Muslim
Moro pirates The Sulu and Celebes Seas, a semi- enclosed sea area and porous region that covers an area of space around 1 million square kilometres, have been subject to illegal maritime activities since the pre-colonial era and continue to pose a maritim ...
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 t ...
. The islands they were in were collectively known as ''Pulua Kang Dayang'' or ''Kangdaya'' (literally " he islandswhich 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 A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, commun ...
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 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. ...
and
glass Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 C. Wells, Joh ...
traders. The harbors of Sugbu (the modern-day Parián 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 h ...
arrived from
Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, 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 Isl ...
, 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 364,11 ...
), 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 s ...
). 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 Kota or KOTA may refer to: People and languages *Kōta (given name), a masculine Japanese given name *Kota Brahmin, a sub-caste of Brahmins in Karnataka *Kota people (India), a tribe in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu, South India **Kota language ...
(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, overpower ...
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 h ...
, 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 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 MalayTHE GENEALOGY OF HARI' TUPAS: AN ETHNOHISTORY OF CHIEFLY POWER AND HIERARCHY IN SUGBU AS A PROTOSTATE Astrid Sala-Boza
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 by the forces of conquistador
Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as ''Adelantado, El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spaniard who, from the age of 26, lived and built a career in Mexico (then the Viceroyalty of New Sp ...
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'' ...
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 ...
. 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. The ...
as the immigrant people from India to Southeast Asia. However, Cebu was not at peace with all Rajahnates. The
Rajahnate of Maynila In early Philippine history, the Tagalog Bayan ("country" or "city-state") of Maynila ( tl, Bayan ng Maynila; Pre-virama Baybayin: ) was a major Tagalog city-state on the southern part of the Pasig River delta, where the district of Intram ...
, 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 th ...
, 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 , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
.


Social stratification and caste system

Below the rulers were the Timawa, the feudal warrior class of the ancient Visayan societies of the Philippines who were regarded as higher than the ''
uripon The ''alipin'' refers to the lowest social class among the various cultures of the Philippines before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the Visayan languages, the equivalent social classes were known as the ''oripun ...
'' (commoners,
serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develo ...
s, and slaves) but below the '' tumao'' (royal
nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
) in the social hierarchy. They were roughly similar to the
Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...
''
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 deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu ...
, in ancient sites in
Puerto Princesa Puerto Princesa, officially the City of Puerto Princesa ( Cuyonon: ''Siyudad i'ang Puerto Princesa''; fil, Lungsod ng Puerto Princesa), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Mimaropa region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 censu ...
, 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, overpower ...
*
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 h ...
* Timawa ; Other related * List of India-related topics in the Philippines *
Hinduism in the Philippines Recent archaeological and other evidence suggests Hinduism has had some cultural, economic, political and religious influence in the Philippines. Among these is the 9th century Laguna Copperplate Inscription found in 1989, deciphered in 1992 to ...
*
History of the Philippines (Before 1521) Earliest hominin activity in the Philippine archipelago is dated back to at least 709,000 years ago. ''Homo luzonensis'', a species of archaic humans, was present on the island of Luzon at least 67,000 years ago. The earliest known anatomically ...
*
Pintados Visayans (Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group, ...


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