The Laguna Copperplate Inscription is an official acquittance (debt relief) certificate inscribed onto a copper plate in the Shaka year 822 (Gregorian A.D. 900). It is the earliest-known, extant, calendar-dated document found within the Philippines. The plate was found in 1987 by a laborer near the mouth of the Lumbang River in Wawa, Lumban, Laguna, in the Philippines. The inscription was mainly written in Old Malay using the Old Javanese script called Kawi script, with several technical Sanskrit words and either Old Javanese or Old Tagalog honorifics. After it was found, the text was first translated in 1991 by Antoon Postma, a Dutch anthropologist and Hanunó'o script researcher. The inscription documents the existence and names of several surrounding states as of A.D. 900, such as the Tagalog city-state of Tondo. Some historians associate the toponym Medang in this inscription regarding the Medang palace in Java at that time, although the name is a common term of Malayo-Polynesian origin.
Description The inscription is made out of copper and measures about 20 by 30 centimeters (7.9 in × 11.8 in), with the words directly embossed onto the plate. It differs in manufacture from Javanese scrolls of the period, which had the words inscribed onto a heated, softened metal scroll. It records the date as the year 822 of the Shaka era, the month of Vaishakha, and the fourth day of the waning moon on the weekday of Somavara, which corresponds to Monday, April 21, 900, on the Julian calendar. The text is Old Malay, with numerous loanwords from Sanskrit and a few non-Malay vocabulary elements whose origin may be Old Javanese. The Sanskrit words are used for technical terms, while the Javanese words are used for forms of address. The Old Malay it uses differs from examples found in Java and Sumatra. The document states that it releases its bearers, the children of Namwaran, from debt in gold amounting to 1 kati and 8 suwarnas (865 grams; 27.8 troy ounces).
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Analysis Postma, who first translated the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, suggested that the place names and personal names in the inscription needed to be carefully studied by scholars because "they furnish vital clues regarding the political and topographic background" of the world around the time of the inscription. He identified as toponyms the words Pailah, Tundun, Puliran, and Binuangan, and posited that Dewata and Medang could be either personal names or toponyms. Postma identified three of these toponyms, Binuangan, Pailah, and Puliran, as Malayo-Polynesian in origin, and three other toponyms, Tundun, Dewata, and Mdang, as being of Sanskrit origin. After carefully considering possible interpretations of the text, including the possibility that Pailah and Puliran were located in the Laguna Lake region, Postma concluded that he was confident that Binuangan, Pailah, and Puliran "find their equivalents within the limited area of what is now known as Bulacan Province in the Philippines, [and that] the text of this same inscription can be considered to refer indeed to these places, already existing already under identical names in the tenth century".
Toponyms as Bulacan settlements Postma emphasized that his interpretation of the inscription place names being in Bulacan puts these named settlements on key locations on Central Luzon's river systems, which he referred to as "water highways", which allowed "an effective (and often only) means of transportation and communication between the different settlements", as well as providing Chinese and Southeast Asian maritime traders easy access to interior trading centers via rivers. He also noted that Central Luzon's rivers were "much deeper and certainly were more navigable than they are today". Postma's assertions have been challenged, notably by the Pila Historical Society Foundation and local historian Jaime F. Tiongson, but have not been fully resolved by scholarly peer review.
Words affirmed as toponyms Postma asserted that he was fairly certain that four words in the inscription were place names, or toponyms: "Pailah" (lines 4 and 6), "Tundun" (line 3), "Puliran" (line 6), and "Binuangan" (line 7).
Tundun Tundun, whose name Postma believed to be "Sanskrit in origin", was referenced in line 3 of the inscription. It is the most easily recognizable of the toponyms identified by Postma in the inscription, and scholarly consensus generally agrees with Postma's original identification of the inscription's Tundun as Tondo, the polity located on the northern seaside of the Pasig River delta, where the Pasig River empties into Manila Bay. Postma left an avenue for an alternative interpretation open, however, saying that Mdang and Tondo "because of their lingual consonants (n and d) that are of Sanskrit origin might originally be toponyms existing on the Island of Java".
Pailah Postma identified Pailah, whose name he believed to be Austronesian in origin, as a "locality with its leader". It was referenced twice, in lines 4 and 6 of the inscription. Locating its possible location in Bulacan, Postma proposed its site to be "the village of Paila, in Barangay of San Lorenzo at the eastern part of the municipality of Norzagaray, with coordinates 14–54.5 & 121-06.9". However, it might also be referred to the Pailaha region part of North Sulawesi province located in the northern Sulawesi.
Puliran Postma identified Puliran, whose name he believed to be Austronesian in origin, as a "locality with its own leader" referenced in line 6 of the inscription. Postma asserted that Puliran was probably located in modern-day Bulacan, on the current site of "Pulilan, along the Angat River (pronounced: Anggat) north of Manila, (coordinates: 14–54.2 & 120-50.8)".
Binuangan Postma believed that the place-name of Binuangan, referenced in line 7 of the inscription as a locality with its own leader, was Austronesian in origin. Locating its possible location in Bulacan, Postma proposed its site to be "the village of Binuangan, belonging to the municipality of Obando, situated at the mouth of the Bulacan River, with coordinates 14–43.2 & 120–543".
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