Casting of the Pearls: A Diplomatic Puzzle that shaped History’s Course

A 1077 diplomatic mission from the Chola Empire to the Song court raises questions about ancient maritime rivalries, trade and the blurred lines between empires.

In the Songshi, the written history of the Chinese Song Dynasty (960-1279) as published in the year 1346, it states that a diplomatic mission from the Chola Empire arrived at the Song imperial court in Kaifeng on June 27, 1077 C.E. The envoy is named as Qilolo. Three days later, the mission was received by the Emperor Shenzong, where Qilolo was allowed to cast pearls before the throne.

This event was also recorded at the time as quite the curiosity by a minor conservative Chinese official, Peng Cheng, who noted – perhaps with some distaste that such a ‘foreign custom’ be allowed – that the envoy, Qilolo, knelt at the doorway to the throne room, held a golden plate bearing the pearls above his head, and then, using a lotus-shaped ladle, scooped up tens of liangs of pearls (a liang, a Chinese measure, is approx. 2 ounces) and spread them across the floor in the direction of the throne. According to Peng Cheng, this custom – known as sadian – is the Cholas’ most ‘venerable ritual’. Was the allowing a foreign ritual then, an acknowledgement by the Song court of the importance of trade between the Chola Empire and China?

Due to demographic changes within Song Dynasty China, there had been an increased demand for foreign goods. To meet this demand, the Song court had revamped its tribute system, now selling those tribute goods and levying taxes on those sold in Chinese markets – the cash raised amounting to over 9 percent of the Privy Purse. On the other hand, return gifts and honorific titles for tribute goods made commercial dealings with China more worthwhile than usual – enough to make some ‘ship masters’ pretend to be diplomatic envoys! In 1077, the Chola delegation received 81,800 strings of copper cash and 52,000 taels of silver in return for their pearls and other trade goods.

Just as in the 21st century, the South China Sea of the 11th century was a contested space. In what is now India’s Tamil Nadu, the Chola Empire, founded by Vijayalaya in 848, was flourishing. By the 11th century it had built an unprecedented naval capability to dominate all of the Indian Ocean trade routes. But the Cholas had a serious competitor: the Sri Vijayan Empire based in Sumatra, in modern Indonesia. Both the Cholas and the Sri Vijayans wanted to control the lucrative maritime trade with China.

The Sri Vijayans had been trading with China for a very long time. Sensing the increasing importance of Sri Vijaya, the Chinese Tang Dynasty court had sent a diplomatic mission in 683, which was reciprocated by Sri Vijaya in 702. During the early years of the Song Dynasty, the Sri Vijayans sent no less than sixteen diplomatic missions to China between the years 960 and 1017, and it successfully used its formidable navy to control the straits of Malacca and Sunda and thereby much of the maritime trade with China. In comparison, the Cholas only managed diplomatic missions to the Song Court in 1015, 1033, and 1077 – with a failed mission in 1020 due to the death of the envoy en route. Moreover, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Sri Vijayan envoys controlled much of the communication with the Song court, leading to some confusion from Song officials into the exact nature of the Chola – Sri Vijayan relationship, indeed giving the impression that the Chola Empire was a vassal state to Sri Vijaya.

Whether it was because of the Sri Vijayan interference with the Cholas’ trade with China, or whether it was a natural development of the military expansion of the Cholas during the early decades of the 11th century, or whether it was just because Sri Vijaya was merely there – after all, Rome and Carthage could have happily co-existed, could they not? – the Chola Empire launched a massive naval raid against Sri Vijaya in 1025, probably leading to the temporary collapse of the Sri Vijayan Empire. In 1028, the Chinese Emperor Renzong would complain that foreign shipping hardly ever visited Canton anymore. But, for whatever reason, the Cholas chose not to convert their military success into political dominion and Sri Vijaya would soon recover.

It is hard to say whether Chinese officials properly understood the difference between the Chola and the Sri Vijayan Empires, especially if the Sri Vijayans, as already mentioned, intentionally muddied the waters. Some sources state that both the Cholas and the Sri Vijayans sent diplomatic missions to China in 1077. Curiously, the Chinese transliteration of the Chola ruler who ordered the diplomatic mission of 1077 better fits a Sri Vijayan ruler of the time. And both the Cholas and the Sri Vijayans practised the sadian ritual, the casting of the pearls. Was Qilolo a Sri Vijayan envoy then? Had Peng Cheng actually witnessed a Sri Vijayan diplomatic mission? Are both he and the Songshi, the written history of the Song Dynasty, wrong? We may never know.

(The author is a novelist with an abiding passion for Chinese history.)