Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.111

v2.c13.111

I do not wish to be dogmatic and do not altogether reject the views of Ferrand. But the known facts about the Mālava-Mālaya tribe in India seem to me to offer quite a satisfactory explanation not only of the problem of colonisation of Madagascar but also of the racial, linguistic and cultural phenomena observed by Schmidt, Hutton and Hornell. It is interesting to note in this connection that various words inscribed on the coins of the Mālavas which have been provisionally explained as names of tribal leaders, are non-Sanskritic. Thus we have Bhapamyana, Majupa, Mapojaya, Mapaya, Magajaśa, Magaja, Magojava, Gojara, Māśapa, Mapaka, Pacha, Magacha, Gajava, Jāmaka, Jamapaya, Paya. Whatever the language may be, it shows one peculiar Austro-nesian characteristic, which has been traced by Sylvain Lévi in certain geographical nomenclatures of ancient India, viz., the existence of a certain number of words constituting almost identical pairs, differentiated between themselves only by the nature of their initial consonants. Among the terms on the Mālava coins noted above we may easily select two series of this type.