Literature / Laguna Copperplate

Inscription
"Long Live! Year of Siyaka 822, month of Waisaka, according to astronomy. The fourth day of the
waning moon, Monday. On this occasion, Lady Angkatan, and her brother whose name is Buka, the
children of the Honourable Namwaran, were awarded a document of complete pardon from the
Commander in Chief of Tundun, represented by the Lord Minister of Pailah, Jayadewa.

"By this order, through the scribe, the Honourable Namwaran has been forgiven of all and is
released from his debts and arrears of 1 katî and 8 suwarna before the Honourable Lord Minister
of Puliran, Ka Sumuran by the authority of the Lord Minister of Pailah.

"Because of his faithful service as a subject of the Chief, the Honourable and widely renowned
Lord Minister of Binwangan recognized all the living relatives of Namwaran who were claimed by
the Chief of Dewata, represented by the Chief of Medang.

"Yes, therefore the living descendants of the Honourable Namwaran are forgiven, indeed, of any
and all debts of the Honourable Namwaran to the Chief of Dewata.

"This, in any case, shall declare to whomever henceforth that on some future day should there be
a man who claims that no release from the debt of the Honourable …"
—1994 translation by Paul Morrow

The earliest known evidence for written literature in the history of the Philippines, the
Laguna Copperplate Inscription is a sheet of copper metal with ancient writing discovered
in the province of Laguna in 1989. It was found by a dredger working near the mouth of
the Lumbang River emptying out into Laguna de Bay.
From there the plate made its way to the National Museum of the Philippines, where the
Dutch anthropologist Antoon Postma recognised the writing on the plate as being akin
to Kawi, an ancient Javanese script. This allowed him to translate the text on the plate,
the findings of which he published in 1992. One of the findings was that—luckily—it was
very explicitly dated to the 21st of April, 900 C.E.. The text was hammered out onto the
copper sheet in Old Kawi script, but the language appears to be in Old Malay, with
substantial elements of Sanskrit, Old Javanese and Old Tagalog mixed in, making the
entirety sound like an early case of code-switching.
The document is essentially a royal debt pardon, issued by the Kingdom of Tondo
("Tundun"), officially releasing the heirs of the late Namwaran from a debt in gold
amounting to a rough equivalent of 926 grams.
To this day, the copperplate remains as part of the permanent exhibit of the Museum of
the Filipino People , a subdivision of the National Museum Complex in the City
of Manila.