Tracing Maritime Trade Networks through Early Brahmī Inscriptions: New Findings from Early Port-Cities in the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula

U-Tain Wongsathit

This presentation examines the significance of seals, beads, and potsherds inscribed with Early Brāhmī script, recently discovered from the upper Thai-Malay Peninsula. Specifically, the study focuses on early maritime entrepôts along the Kra Isthmus. Dating from the 3rd  Century BCE to the 1st Century CE, these artifacts constitute the most tangible empirical evidence to date of nascent maritime exchange between the Indian subcontinent and Suvarṇabhūmi (Southeast Asia). Employing orthographical and onomastic analyses, this research delineates early maritime trade networks by identifying the regional origins of the itinerant merchants. Palaeographic variations in the Brāhmī script indicate that these early maritime agents hailed from diverse regions of the subcontinent. Furthermore, the study investigates the nexus between commercial enterprise and the diffusion of Buddhism, emphasizing the agency of specific Indian social classes - particularly the Vaiṣya (merchant) and Śūdra (goldsmith) castes - in catalysing religious and cultural development along the Kra Isthmus. Additionally, an analysis of potsherds bearing Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions attests to the robust presence of South Indian Tamil mercantile networks during this formative period. Ultimately, these findings significantly recalibrate the historiography of the transition from late prehistory to the early historic period. They demonstrate that the Thai-Malay Peninsula functioned as a dynamic, trans-cultural nexus and a primary catalyst for regional integration centuries prior to the emergence of monumental epigraphy.