The 'Golden Kinnari' similar to that pictured above was excavated upon the island of the Philippines, its age is said to be over 1000 years, dating back to a pre islamic age when the Philippines, along with the Indonesian islands and the Indo/Chinese peninsula were all part of an Ancient Vedic culture.

 

'Kinnari' are described in the Ancient Vedic scriptures as a beautiful half human and half bird celestial being and one which was embraced by the Buddhists as part of their culture and throughout Indonesia and the Indo/Chinese peninsula they can be found adorning their temples.

 

"In the veins of every one of my people flows the blood of Indian ancestors and the culture that we possess is steeped through and through with Indian influences. Two thousand years ago people from your country came to Jawadvipa and Suvarnadvipa in the spirit of brotherly love. They gave the initiative to found powerful kingdoms such as those of Sri Vijaya, Mataram and Majapahit. We then learnt to worship the very Gods that you now worship still and we fashioned a culture that even today is largely identical with your own". Suharto Sukarno ( 1901-1970 ) Indonesian nationalist leader and the first President of Indonesia.

 

 

As pictured above, Golden Tara, a cross legged female figurine which was also dug up on the island of the Philippines, a deity which is composed of twenty one carat gold, weighing nearly four pounds and which is also dated over 1000 years old.

 

Tara is a goddess from the Ancient Vedic scriptures and a Sanskrit word meaning 'star' and that which 'crosses' a deity which was very much embraced by the Buddhists who worshipped her as one who helps one to 'cross over' at the time of death.

 

"The culture of India has been one of the world's most powerful civilizing forces. Countries of the Far East, including China, Korea, Japan, Tibet and Mongolia owe much of what is best in their own cultures to the inspiration of ideas imported from India. The West, too, has its own debts." "But the members of that circle of civilizations beyond Burma scattered around the Gulf of Siam and the Java Sea, virtually owe their very existence to the creative influence of Indian ideas... No conquest or invasion, no forced conversion imposed them. They were adopted because people saw that they were good and that they could use them.”  Philip S. Rawson and The Art of South East Asia.

 

 

'Garuda' the feathered carrier of Visnu is famous throughout the world and especially Indonesia and the Indo/Chinese peninsula where in Thailand he was officially adopted as the national emblem and for centuries Garuda has been a symbol of royalty in Thailand, depicted upon seals used by Thai Kings and governments.

 

As well as 'Golden Tara' and 'Golden Kinnari' we find pictured above the golden dagger handle bearing the form of 'Garuda' excavated once again upon the island of the Philippines and once again dating over 1000 years.

 

"There is an obstinate prejudice thanks to which India is constantly represented as having lived, as it were, hermetically sealed up in its age-old civilization, apart from the rest of Asia. Nothing could be more exaggerated. During the first eight centuries of our era, so far as religion and art are concerned, central Asia was a sort of Indian colony. It is often forgotten that in the early Middle Ages there existed a "Greater India," a vast Indian empire. A man coming from the Ganges or the Deccan to Southeast Asia felt as much at home there as in his own native land. In those days the Indian Ocean really deserved its name.”  The Civilizations of the East and Rene Grousset.

 

 

The image of Garuda is used as a charm or an amulet to ward off snakes and poisons and so as well as the golden Garuda dagger handle we also find a golden ring which bears the image of Garuda and which was also excavated upon the island of the Philippines.

 

This golden ring of Garuda which is pictured above is like Golden Tara and Golden Kinnari and the Golden dagger handle which have all been dated to over 1000 years and to an age where the Philippine Archipelago as well as the Indonesian islands and the Indo/Chinese peninsula were all part of the Ancient Vedic culture of India.

 

"This was the time of the great Indian expansion, when seafaring merchants fanned out across the Indian Ocean and brought to Southeast Asia a seething ferment of new ideas. From Burma to Indonesia, they established a chain of settlements along the coasts from which they traded for gold, precious stones, perfumes, and spices. The merchants brought with them their religion, Hinduism and Buddhism, their literary language, Sanskrit, their art and technology; and their science and mathematics." Splendors of the Past: Lost Cities of the Ancient World - National Geographic Society. p.186-190).

 

 

The island of the Philippines seems to be one of the 'islands of gold' which are described in the Ancient Vedic scriptures as 'Suvarnabhumi' meaning the land ( bhumi ) of gold ( suvarna ) and 'Suvarnadvipa' meaning the island ( dvipa ) of gold ( suvarna ).

 

The Philippines was known by the medieval muslims to be the 'islands of gold' and it is said that only South Africa possesses more gold per land area and these islands along with the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra are mentioned in the Ancient Vedic scriptures such as the Ramayana as seen in the following verse.

 

“You strive hard in the island of 'Yavadvipa' which will be splendorous with seven kingdoms, like that even in Golden and Silver islands that are enwreathed with gold-mines in and around Yava islands. On crossing over Yava Island, there is a mountain named 'Shishira' which touches heaven with its peak and which gods and demons adore. You shall collectively rake through all the impassable mountains, waterfalls, and forests in these islands for the glorious wife of Rama.”

 

 

Such treasures as the Golden Tara, the Golden Kinnari and the golden artefacts of Garuda are a few which survive from a Philippine island whose land once embraced this Ancient Vedic culture, but in an age of corruption and greed these finds are quickly melted down and what to speak of the golden treasures which were usurped by the Spanish colonialists whose eyes could only recognise gold.

"Pieces of gold, the size of walnuts and eggs are found by sifting the earth in the island of that king who came to our ships. All the dishes of that king are of gold and also some portion of his house as we were told by that king himself...He had a covering of silk on his head, and wore two large golden earrings fastened in his ears...At his side hung a dagger, the haft of which was somewhat long and all of gold, and its scabbard of carved wood. He had three spots of gold on every tooth, and his teeth appeared as if bound with gold." Antonio Pigafetta on the Rajah Siagu of Butuan ( Philippines ) during Magellan's voyage.

 

"There are some chiefs in this island who have on their persons ten or twelve thousand ducats' worth of gold in jewels, to say nothing of the lands, slaves, and mines that they own. There are so many of these chiefs that they are innumerable. Likewise the individual subjects of these chiefs have a great quantity of the said jewels of gold, which they wear on their persons, bracelets, chains, and earrings of solid gold, daggers of gold, and other very rich trinkets. These are generally seen among them, and not only the chiefs and freemen have plenty of these jewels, but even slaves possess and wear golden trinkets upon their persons, openly and freely" Guido de Lavezaris ( Spanish Governor General of the Philippines ) 1574.