Outrigger boat, Goa. Waruno Mahdi has found the common term *peDaHu/*paDaHu
used for long-distance sailing ships from Austronesia to India. He also found stone representations of ships similar to the old ocean voyaging vessels of the Polynesians in Indonesia and Northeast India. See article on use of sailing ships in the spice trade. (From "Boat-building in ancient Goa," http://www.abc.se/~m10354/bld/goa.htm)
Horse on bronze Dong Son-style drum from Sangeang in the Sunda Islands. The horses of Eastern Indonesia, Timor, Mindanao and other regions are less mixed and are closer to the ancient horses of southeastern Asia. Horses are sacrificed and play an important role in the indigenous religion of Timor.
Riding on horseback from Sangeang bronze.
Another Sangeang image. Horse remains from Batangas in the Philippines were found at the stratified obsidian microlith level dated at 8000-4000 BCE along with canine bones.
Linked twisted copper rings from Harappa. Similar linked (but not twisted) copper rings were used by the Copper Hoard culture, probably as money.
Counterclockwise spiral design on Early Jomon Period pottery.
Horse fights are traditional during festivals in the isolated T'boli region of Mindanao in the Philippines.
(From "Davao del Sur," http://asiatravel.com/philippines/davao2.html)
Timor horse skull mask. Zoomorphic motifs of humans with heads of animals, as in the story of the Asvins, often refer to the use of masks and skins in totem rituals. These masks are now made to ward off bad spirits from the home. (From "Primitive Destinations International," http://2dmall.com/primitive_destinations/mask/kss2019m.html)
Sorghum (Sorghum vulgare). Did the word "yava' in the Rgveda actually apply to sorghum and millet? Click here for some discussion on this topic.
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Copyright 2000 Paul Kekai Manansala
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