Funan’s embassy to India: Su Wu sails to the Ganges
In the 240s Fan Zhan, king of Funan, sent his kinsman Su Wu to India by sea. After more than a year Su Wu reached the mouth of the Ganges and sailed up the river to the court of an Indian king, who sent him home with two envoys and four horses from the land of the Yuezhi (Kushans) — the first known direct relations between Funan and an Indian court.
- Date
- between 240 and 250exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Mouth of the Gangesapproximate locationtoday: Hooghly estuary near Sagar Island, West Bengal, India · South Asia
- Route
- Funan (port not named; Óc Eo shown for reference) → Touju-li (probably Koli, at the Kuantan estuary; disputed) → Mouth of the Ganges
- Participants
- Funan, Fan Zhan
- Threads
- South Asia (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Su Wu; Embassy of Su Wu; Fan Zhan’s embassy to India; Murunda embassy; Посольство Су У; Мурунды
The story is told in the chapter on India of the Book of Liang, compiled in the 7th century from earlier records. Fan Zhan — the son of Fan Shiman’s sister, who had seized the throne of Funan — sent his relative Su Wu as envoy to India. Setting out from Touju-li, the embassy followed the shores of the great bay north-west past several countries, reached the mouth of the river of India after more than a year and then travelled 7,000 li upstream. The Indian king, astonished that such people lived at the far edge of the sea, had the envoys shown round his country and sent them back with two men, Chen and Song, bringing four Yuezhi horses as a gift for Fan Zhan. The journey there and back took four years. When the Indian envoys arrived, the Chinese envoy Kang Tai, sent by the kingdom of Wu, was in Funan and questioned them in detail about the customs of India.
According to a 5th-century text cited by Paul Pelliot, a traveller from a country called Tanyang, apparently west of India, had told Fan Zhan of India’s wonders; Pelliot saw Fan Zhan as the first king of Funan to enter into official and direct relations with the princes of India. Sylvain Lévi identified the Indian king as a ruler of the Murunda dynasty. The river is usually taken to be the Ganges, although Claude Jacques argued for the Indus. George Coedès accepted Paul Wheatley’s identification of the port of departure, Touju-li, with Koli, a port named by Ptolemy and probably located at the estuary of the Kuantan on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula; others had placed it at Takkola on the Isthmus of Kra. The date follows from Kang Tai’s visit, placed between about 245 and 250, so the embassy must have set out in the early or mid-240s.
Connections
Related events
- Fan Shiman, the ‘Great King of Funan’c. 205 – c. 225 · Southeast Asia and Oceaniathe embassy was sent by Fan Zhan, who seized the throne after Fan Shiman
- Kang Tai and Zhu Ying, envoys of Wu, in Funanbetween 245 and 250 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaKang Tai met the Indian envoys who came back with Su Wu
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaFunan’s port on the sea routes to India
Adjacent events in the thread
- The Satavahana realm breaks upbetween 220 and 230 · South Asia
- Vindhyashakti founds the Vakataka dynastyc. 250 · South Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Decian persecutionJanuary 250 – 251
- Plotinus teaches in Rome: the rise of Neoplatonismc. 244 – 270
- Crisis of the Third CenturyMarch 235 – 20 November 284
Eastern Europe
- The Goths destroy Tanaisbetween 244 and 254
- Crisis of the Bosporan Kingdomc. 250 – c. 275
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
Balkans and Anatolia
- Battle of Abritusbetween June and August 251
- Gothic invasions of the Balkans and Asia Minor238–271
Middle East and Egypt
- Paintings of the synagogue and the church at Dura-Europosbetween 240 and 256
- Mani begins his mission240
- Diophantus’ Arithmeticac. 250
Africa
- Plague of Cyprianc. 249 – between 262 and 270
Central and Northern Asia
- Shapur I conquers Kushanshahrbetween 230 and 262
- Toprak-Kala, palace of the kings of Khwarezm200–299
- The Kushano-Sasanian kingdom in Bactriabetween 230 and 262 – between 350 and 370
East Asia
- Queen Himiko’s embassy to the Wei courtbetween 238 and 239
- Kofun period: the age of keyhole tombsbetween 250 and 300 – 538
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Kang Tai and Zhu Ying, envoys of Wu, in Funanbetween 245 and 250
- Lady Triệu’s uprising against Wu248
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Burial of the Lord of Sipánc. 250
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
- Preclassic Maya collapse: El Mirador is abandonedc. 100 – c. 250
- Rise of Teotihuacanc. 1 – c. 250
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Funan
- Book of Liang (Liang shu), ch. 54: Funan and Tianzhu (India) — Chinese text
- Coedès G. The Indianized States of Southeast Asia / Ed. W. F. Vella; transl. S. B. Cowing. — Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1968. — P. 39–42.
- Pelliot P. Le Fou-nan // Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient. — 1903. — T. 3. — P. 248–303.
- Vickery M. Funan Reviewed: Deconstructing the Ancients // Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient. — 2003–2004. — T. 90–91. — P. 101–143.