Singhapala (

Baybayin (, ''pre-kudlít'': , ''virama-krus-kudlít'': , ''virama-pamudpod'': ; also formerly commonly incorrectly known as alibata) is a Philippine script. The script is an abugida belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. Geographically, it ...

: , ceb, Dakbayan sa Singapala, tl, Lungsod ng Singapala,

Old Malay Malay was first used in the first millennia known as Old Malay, a part of the Austronesian language family. Over a period of two millennia, Malay has undergone various stages of development that derived from different layers of foreign influence ...

: ''Kota Singapura'') was an ancient fortified city or a region, the capital of the Indianized

Rajahnate of Cebu Cebu, or Sugbu, also called the Cebu Rajanate, was an Indianized raja (monarchical) mandala (polity) on the island of Cebu in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. It is known in ancient Chinese records as the nat ...

. The location of this ancient city is what is now the modern Barangay Mabolo in the northern district of

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Sugbo; fil, Lungsod ng Cebu; hil, Dakbanwa sang Sugbo), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas Regions of the P ...

. Founded by

Sri Lumay Sri Rajahmura Lumaya, known in his shortened name Sri Lumay, was the first Rajah and the founder of the Indianized Rajahnate of Cebu. According to the epic '' Aginid, Bayok sa atong Tawarik'', a Bisayan epic story, Sri Lumay was a half-Tamil ...

or ''

Raja Muda ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...

Santarita, J. B. (2018). Panyupayana: The Emergence of Hindu Polities in the Pre-Islamic Philippines. Cultural and Civilisational Links Between India and Southeast Asia, 93–105. Lumaya'', a half-

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

prince from

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Background

Etymology

The name ''Singhapaha'' comes from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word via Orang Keling ''Singama'' (சிங்கம்) become ''Singa'' in

which means (

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

), and ''Puram'' (புரம்) (Town or a

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

) which become ''Pura'' in

and then ''Pala'' in

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages ...

, it's variation of the

sanskritized Sanskritisation (or Sanskritization) is a term in sociology which refers to the process by which castes or tribes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek 'upward' mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the dominant castes or upper ...

Singa-Puram, ''Singapura'' literally means "Lion city" from ''Singapur'' (சிங்கப்பூர்), the same root name of the country of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Location

The location of ancient Singhapala was said to be in what is now the currently part of the Northern district in modern-day barangay Mabolo in

, with estimated population of 21,842 in 2010. while the modern

where comprises 80

barangays A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

. These are grouped into two

congressional districts Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...

, with 46 barangays in the northern district and 34 in the southern district.

As a trading center

During

Rajah Humabon Rajah Humabon, later baptized as Don Carlos, (died April 27, 1521) was the Rajah of Cebu (an Indianized Philippine polity). Humabon was Rajah at the time of the arrival of Portuguese-born, Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines ...

's reign, the region had since become an important trading center where agricultural products were bartered. From Japan,

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

and

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

utensils were usually traded for native goods.

Ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...

products, leather, precious and semi-precious stones and ''śarkarā''(Sarkarai in

) (

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

) mostly came from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

traders and

Burmese people Burmese people or Myanma people ( my, မြန်မာလူမျိုး) are citizens or people from Myanmar (Burma), irrespective of their ethnic or religious background. Myanmar is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual count ...

traders.The Rajahnate of Cebu

The Bulwagan Foundation Trust
. The harbors of Sugbu and the capital Singhapala became known colloquially as ''sinibuayng hingpit'' ("the place for trading"), shortened to ''sibu'' or ''sibo'' ("to trade"), from which the modern Castilian name "Cebú" originates. It was also during Humabon's reign that

Lapu-Lapu Lapulapu or Lapu-Lapu (ᜎᜉ̰-ᜎᜉ̰), whose name was first recorded as Çilapulapu, was a datu (chief) of Mactan in the Visayas in the Philippines. He is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, where h ...

arrived from

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, and was granted by Humabon the region of Mandawili (now

Mandaue Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Mandaue; fil, Lungsod ng Mandaue), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 ...

), including the island known as Opong or Opon (later known as

Mactan Mactan is a densely populated island located a few kilometers (~1 mile) east of Cebu Island in the Philippines. The island is part of Cebu province and it is divided into the city of Lapu-Lapu and the municipality of Cordova. The island is sep ...

). First contact with the Spanish also occurred during Humabon's reign, resulting in the death of

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East ...

Foundation

According to ''Aginid, Bayok sa atong Tawarik'', a Visayan folk story, prior to the coming of the Spanish conquistadores, rajahnate was the common form of state or government of

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...

island. This rajahnate was established by

(c. 1400 CE.), who was a prince of

Chola Dynasty The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...

that ruled

then who settled in Cebu with his son, Sri Alho, they ruled the south known as Sialo which included Valladolid, Carcar, up to Santander.

Mention in Magellan's expedition

Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition scribe of the

Magellan Expedition The Magellan expedition, also known as the Magellan–Elcano expedition, was the first voyage around the world in recorded history. It was a 16th century Spanish expedition initially led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to the Moluccas ...

, enumerated the towns and dependencies in the Rajahnate of Cebu and Singhapala was even mentioned albeit mispronounced as Cingapola.The First Voyage Round the World by Antonio Pigafetta, translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley (Page 105)

During the Spanish period

Singhapala might continued to exist until 1565, when the Rajahnate was dissolved during the reign of

Rajah Tupas ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...

by the forces of conquistador

Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as '' El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spaniard who, from the age of 26, lived and built a career in Mexico (then the Viceroyalty of New Spain) and, i ...

in the battle of Cebu.William Henry Scott (1992)
Looking for the Prehispanic Filipino: and other essays in Philippine history
, New Day Publishers, . Singhapala and the areas which is now composed of the modern

has incorporated in Spanish rule, and

's party named the new city ''Villa de San Miguel de Cebú'' (later renamed "Ciudad del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús)." In 1567, the Cebu garrison was reinforced with the arrival of 2,100 soldiers from New Spain (Mexico). The growing colony was then fortified by

Fort San Pedro Fort San Pedro ( es, Fuerte de San Pedro) is a military defense structure in Cebu, Philippines, built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. It is located in ...

References

External links

* http://www.cebu-bluewaters.com/early-cebu-history.html * https://thebulwaganfoundation.wordpress.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Singhapala Capitals in Asia Archaeological sites in the Philippines Barangay states History of the Philippines (900–1565) History of Cebu