Dilrook Kannangara

Influenced by China, Sri Lanka joined China’s attempts to push the trilingual inscription to be recognized by UNESCO. This is part of China’s soft power projection and also part of a plan to link the modern One Belt One Road to a historic parallel. The inscription found in Galle, Sri Lanka, contains Chinese, Persian and Malayalee/Tamil writing. It praises gods venerated by the people in China, Persia and south India at that time. The purpose of the inscription was to inform outsiders to Sri Lanka, in a language they understood, the peaceful nature of Zheng He’s commercial exploits through free trade and the formality or requirement of honoring the Buddhist Shrine at Sripada (falsely known as Adam’s Peak”) by outsiders who come in to the island.  

The key here is that none of these languages were spoken in the island. Hence, the need for this inscription.

Zheng He omitted languages spoken in the island at that time as that would not have served any purpose. A visitor who spoke the language spoken in the island (Sinhala) at that time would have been able to easily talk their way around the island and get to know the respected customs through their own conversations. Hence there was no need to include the Sinhala language. Chinese, Persian and Malayalam/Tamil were not spoken in the island at that time and these travelers who visited the island needed guidance.  

Although present day China wants to project him as a peaceful diplomat, in reality most events surrounding him and his exploits were violent. Diplomacy was also a trick Zheng He used when other avenues failed and he didn’t hesitate to revert back to violence when it suited the mission.

Who Was Zheng He?

Zheng He was a Muslim born Ma (Mohammed) He in 1371 in China’s Yunnan Province. He grew up listening to fascinating stories narrated by his father and grandfather about their journey to Mecca for Muslim Hajj pilgrimage. In 1382 when Ma He was just 11 years old Chinese Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty attacked Muslims in China. Ma He’s entire family was killed and he along with other Muslim boys of the region were captured and castrated so that they would not father children. As a result, Ma He became a eunuch. He was assigned as a servant of Prince Zhu Di.

Ma He won the admiration of the prince and in 1404 was honored with the Chinese name Zheng. That’s how Ma (Mohammed) He became Zheng He. Soon thereafter Zheng He led China’s exploitative treasure voyages to Arabia exploiting treasure along the way. Zheng commanded world’s largest known commercial naval fleet of over 300 ships manned by 27,000 sailors at its peak. This created many vassal states in Asia and Africa paying tributes to the Chinese Ming dynasty. Zheng died in 1433 in Kozhikode in Kerala.

Zheng He didn’t entirely ditch his Muslim heritage and played a key role in spreading Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia. He militarily intervened in their internal wars to help Muslims win those wars and constructed a number of mosques. However, he had to venerate Buddhist beliefs first and foremost as he was under the direct command of the Chinese Emperor who was a Buddhist. He cultivated close ties with Kerala in his commercial pursuits and came to respect Hindu gods venerated in Kerala.

Historical Context, Middle Kingdom and Potential Challengers to Chinese Naval Power

By the early 14^th century Persia (Iran) was under the invasion of Turkman who ruled it from 1378 to 1501. Persians (Iranians) were persecuted and subjects of Turkman rulers. Zheng He cultivating strong ties with the Persians shows his political maneuvering of exploiting oppressed, subjugated and defeated peoples’ support to achieve his own goals and objectives.

Similarly, during this time, the Tamil country (Tamil Nadu) was under the Vijayanagar empire of Karnataka. Kerala was a rare nation that didn’t succumb to external empires and Zheng He maintained strong relations with Kerala. But he also developed strong ties with oppressed Tamils in Tamil Nadu who were ruled over by the Vijayanagar Empire (Kannada).

This is another reason to include these oppressed and subjugated people’s languages in the inscription along with Chinese. In doing so, Zheng He cleverly exploited these subjugated peoples’ support for the Middle Kingdom (China) and built a trading buffer against the powerful Turkman and Vijayanagar empires with which China had limited constructive relations at that time.

Jaffna peninsula was also under the Vijayanagar empire. Sinhala rulers relied on Nissanka Alakeshvara of Kerala Malayalam ethnicity (though born in Tamil Nadu) to keep the Vijayanagar empire at bay and to eliminate Tamils who made their way into the island (both Tamil Nadu and Jaffna peninsula were under the same Kannada king’s rule). For the record this was a mode of operating the world over at that time when the Geneva Conventions were not present. This was a clever ploy by Sinhala rulers to eliminate Tamils (who were subjects and slaves of the Vijayanagar Empire) from the rest of the island without confronting Kannadiga rulers. It worked. Following the success, Alakeshvara became a Sinhala Buddhist by the name Agalakkonara and his dynasty was an important element of the Sinhala military. It must be emphasized that Sinhala rulers only had a problem with Tamils and not with the Vijayanagar Empire. Kannada rule over the Jaffna peninsula was tolerated and allowed to continue despite the elimination of Tamils from the rest of the island.

Crafty Political Interactions with Sri Lanka

Zheng He had a complex relationship with Sri Lanka aimed at advancing Chinese imperial ambitions.

His fleet first arrived in Sri Lanka in 1405 to the Beruwala port which was a key transit port with a significant Muslim presence at that time before they were exterminated by the Portuguese in 1567 following the Goan Inquisition and except for 4,000 all remaining Muslims were expelled from the island in 1626. However, before those events, in 1405 the significant Muslim presence in Beruwala helped Zheng He’s peaceful expedition as he too was a Muslim. He worshipped at the Buddhist Shrine in Sri Pada and made valuable offerings.

However, following this initial voyage, his approach turned political. Zheng He exploited local political situation to his advantage. In 1410 Zheng He erected his trilingual inscription in Galle, Sri Lanka which was a key international commercial port. Other than Chinese, it contained languages of oppressed people – Persian and Tamil – who were used as a political tool by Zheng in his plan.

A year later in 1411 his troops confronted the Sinhala army. A description of the battle in a Chinese record in 1515 described how the Chinese troops decimated part of the Sinhala army in a battle like “killing worms” and how women and children were not spared in the villages where the battle took place. This clearly proves the Chinese expedition was bloody and not peaceful. Agalakkonara (a descendant of Nissanka Agalakkonara) who was a key military figure and a prince was captured along with other Sinhalas and taken prisoner to China. Although he was pardoned by the Chinese Emperor, the interruption led to the coronation of King Parakramabahu the Sixth in Sri Lanka. Zheng He put his weight behind the young king and proposed a plan to make him the king of the entire island. It involved teaming up with deposed Tamil royalty from Tamil Nadu to expel the Vijayanagar Empire from the island.

Meanwhile Agalakkonara was married to a Chinese woman with whom he lived until his demise. His grave was marked as a Sinhala prince courtesy the Ming dynasty. It was recently recovered and his 19^th descendant visited the island. (Refer to Xu Shi Yin’e).

King Parakramabahu the Sixth unified the island and maintained goods relations with both China and Tamil Nadu. However, these good relations quickly crumbled upon his death. Had Agalakkonara remained in Sri Lanka, even temporary good relations with Tamil Nadu would not have been possible. This was achieved through cunning and deceit.

Zheng He’s inscription also proves that the Shrine at the Sri Pada Mountain was a Buddhist only shrine. He also venerated at the Vibheeshana Shrine in Devinuwara (Matara). God Vibheeshana is often confused with the Hindu god Vishnu. The inscription also mentions visiting a mosque somewhere in the island.

The trilingual inscriptions proves that ancient Sri Lanka did not have Chinese, Persian or Malayam/Tamil speaking people. Hence the need to communicate with sailors who spoke these languages via the plaque so they will not offend the locals and safely continue their oceanic journey. Violence against Zheng He, his Muslim family, his community and the violence He used against the islanders don’t make the inscription anything diplomatic. Far from it; rather a remnant of exploitation and violence exported by a gluttonous treasure fleet that sailed its last voyage not very long after the death of Zheng He.