Where is Suvaṇṇabhūmi?

Textual analysis and comparative discussion on early Buddhist sects and scriptures.
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gavesako
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Where is Suvaṇṇabhūmi?

Post by gavesako »

Where is Suvaṇṇabhūmi?

Account in the Sri Lankan cronicle Mahāvaṁsa
The text concerned is mainly of importance for the information it gives on the early years of Asoka, his conversion to Buddhism, holding the Third Council, and then the spread of Buddhism in the Missionary period of the Dispensation. ...
A similar story is told of the two Elders Soṇa and Uttara, who were sent to Suvaṇṇabhūmi, and defeated a demoness who was eating all the children born in the King's palace. One of the Elders created with his psychic powers a larger army of demons and chased the original group out. Again this is before any formal teaching took place.

http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/T ... uction.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Facts and Fiction The Myth of Suvaṇṇabhūmi through the Thai and Burmese Looking Glass
Nicolas Revire


Suvarṇabhūmi (Skt.) or Suvaṇṇabhūmi (Pāli) may be translated into English as “Golden Land”. This fabled name corresponds somewhat to the myth of “El Dorado” in European traditions, that is, a far off, mysterious place with great wealth and spices. Suvarṇabhūmi may have been a term first coined by ancient Indian traders which perhaps referred broadly to Lower Burma, Central or Lower Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, or even Sumatra. Most scholars think that the generic name was used as a vague designation for an extensive offshore region, east of the Indian subcontinent (Jambudvīpa). Over the centuries, different parts of Southeast Asia came to be designated by the additional epithets of “Golden Island, Peninsula, or City”. References to a “Golden Land” – presumably in Southeast Asia – already appear in various ancient and classical South Asian texts. Some Pāli sources even specifically link Suvaṇṇabhūmi with the introduction of Buddhism to the region. The locus classicus is the Sri Lankan Mahāvaṃsa chronicle (5th or 6th century CE) which states that two monks, Soṇa and Uttara, were sent there for missionary activities in the time of King Aśoka (3rd century BCE). No Southeast Asian textual or epigraphic sources, however, refer to this legend or to the term Suvaṇṇabhūmi before the second millennium CE. Conversely, what hard archaeological evidence is there for the advent of Buddhism in Mainland Southeast Asia? This paper reexamines and carefully confronts the literary evidence and the earliest epigraphic and archaeological data, dissociating material discoveries from legendary accounts, with special reference to the Mon country of Rāmaññadesa (Lower Burma) and Dvāravatī (Central Thailand).

https://www.academia.edu/5735522/Facts_ ... king_Glass" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:reading:
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Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

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Mr Man
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Re: Where is Suvaṇṇabhūmi?

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Cambodia is not a province of Thailand

http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandal ... -thailand/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A vision of a new golden age

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/05 ... 101764.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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gavesako
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Re: Where is Suvaṇṇabhūmi?

Post by gavesako »

Suvarnabhumi Airport Bangkok
resurrecting the Golden Land


http://www.tour-bangkok-legacies.com/su ... rport.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:broke:
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

Access to Insight - Theravada texts
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SarathW
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Re: Where is Suvaṇṇabhūmi?

Post by SarathW »

Sri Lanka is the Suvannabumi!
According to our mythology.
;)
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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gavesako
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Re: Where is Suvaṇṇabhūmi?

Post by gavesako »

There are different theories how Buddhism reached Burma and Thailand, and how much Sri Lanka was involved in that. See this interactive map:

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/boo ... aps/g6_u7/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://go.hrw.com/ndNSAPI.nd/gohrw_rls1 ... 20Buddhism" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

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khemindas
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Re: Where is Suvaṇṇabhūmi?

Post by khemindas »

Many claim that Suvarnabhumi was actually situated in central Bengal. In some Jain texts, it is mentioned that merchants of Anga (in present-day Bihar) regularly sailed to Suvarnabhumi, and ancient Bengal was in fact situated very close to Anga, connected by rivers of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta. Bengal has also been described in ancient Indian and Southeast Asian chronicles as a "seafaring country", enjoying trade relations with Dravidian kingdoms, Sri Lanka, Java and Sumatra. Sinhalese tradition holds that the first king of Sri Lanka, Vijaya Singha, came from Bengal. Moreover the region is commonly associated with gold- the soil of Bengal is known for its golden color (gangetic alluvial), golden harvest(rice), golden fruits(mangoes), golden minerals (gold and clay) and yellow skinned people. Bengal is described in ancient Sanskrit texts as 'Gaud-Desh'(Golden/Radiant land). During the reign of the Bengal Sultans and the Mughal Empire, central Bengal was home to a prosperous trading town called "Sonargaon" (Golden village), which was connected to North India by the Grand Trunk Road and was frequented by Arab, Persian and Chinese travelers, including Ibn Batutta and Zheng He. Even today, Bengalis often refer to their land as 'Shonar Bangla' (Golden Bengal), and the national anthem of Bangladesh- Amar Shonar Bangla (My Bengal of Gold)- is based on this theme.
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