- IJ
182: The Tamil Bell (2)- a different angle
The appearance in the roots of a coastal tree, of a bell with Tamil lettering, is no direct indication at all that Tamilians went anywhere near NZ, until recent migration trends took them to this country on some international airline. Further, the story of its location, when found in NZ, is not proven.
Colenso claims that when he came across the bell, it was being used by the locals to boil potatoes. They must have been exceedingly tiny potatoes since the bell is only 13 cm tall and 9 cm in diameter. So therefore that story is like BS. The very shape of the bell precludes it from being used for anything culinary as it also has two holes in the bottom. What could Maori possibly plug it with to withstand fire and still hold water? No one has ever seemed to come up with a satisfactory answer for that question.
How and why would the sounding flange be broken off so neatly with stone tools? Why even break them off. After all you could boil more potatoes (kumara) as a full complete bell!
Colenso enquired of Maori as to what that metal vessel was. The answers he received were vague but good enough to instill in him that this metal vessel had been used for several generations. Good enough or assumed. Often people want to believe something and after a while the suggestion becomes possibility, the possibility becomes valid theory and the theory becomes fact. That is worth repeating... Often people want to believe something so bad that after a while the suggestion becomes possibility, the possibility becomes valid theory and the theory becomes fact.
While the Maori narration of incidents was straightforward, Colenso knew that there was much more to be learnt. The story that this bell was discovered by Maori buried under a tree in itself warrants further study. The Maori had the custom of burying the possessions of an accomplished man after his death and planting a sapling over it. Instances such as these have been recorded all across New Zealand. This is the principle of protecting the Mauri (life force) of an object. It is a bit like hiding a sacred talisman. Since this bell reported to have been found under a tree, it could only mean this object was revered by Maori at some point in time.
The bronze Tamil Bell is incomplete, the sound ridge or ‘skirt’ having been sheared off through damage, or even cut away deliberately. There is no word or any mention of a clapper (the bit that clangs on the side of a bell). The crown is not of a type common to European or Hindu designs: it seems consistent with Chinese/Buddhist design. Neither is it of the functional type required for use on a sailing vessel ( ! ). The very rounded overall shape is reminiscent of the wide stupas found at Borobudur.
The Tamil alphabet used is generally considered to be from between 1400 and 1500 CE and appears to be superimposed, not actually cast into the body. This is a VERY important point. It was almost certainly added significantly later than the date of manufacture and the edges bear file marks. Whilst there is no doubt at all that Hinduism was once a major religion in most of what is today Indonesia, and of the trade links between these islands and South India, it is highly unlikely that Indian traders ventured as far as New Zealand. Commodities were what traders wanted, not land, and there was ample trade with the Spice Islands.
One possibility is that the bell was a souvenir or a trophy of some skirmish and then remained on the souvenir-hunter’s ship that perhaps went adrift and was wrecked off the coast of NZ. But no wreckage has been reported where the bell was found. Some writers contend that the bell came from a Portuguese ship that was secretly mapping the east coast of Australia between roughly 1520 and 1525. Historians reject this claim on the lack of evidence. There is no record of a shipwreck near the place where the bell was discovered, nor any mention of rocks, so the cause of the damage to it remains a mystery. Then there is the theory that South Indian ships under the command of Tamil Muslim traders ventured far into southern seas. A family in South India even claims to be the descendants of the Mohideen Baksh cited in the inscription.
Ultimately, in the absence of the documented evidence that historical research requires, no one can be certain of how the so-called 'Tamil Bell' reached NZ. All theories of the origin of the Tamil Bell remain speculation or guesswork, and none is seriously admissible. Neither does the printed word confer authenticity on the content of an article. Anybody can create a Wikipedia page and a YouTube account but a little knowledge, together with the slightest whiff of nationalism, can be very misleading. The Tamil Bell may remain an entertaining puzzle, but modern Tamil slang is both entertaining and accurate, and certainly appropriate in this case.
The bell must have been first taken to Spain and then found its way on another ship that eventually made landfall in Wellington around 1570-1580.
From there, it is anybody’s guess as to how the bell found its way under a huge tree in Northland. However, Brett Hilder, an Australian photographer and traveller, called Langdon’s theory ‘utterly farfetched’. He attributed the arrival of the ‘Tamil Bell’ to New Zealand to a derelict ship. Derelict ships, also known as ‘Ghost’ or ‘Phantom Ships,’ are abandoned vessels left to the mercy of the mighty ocean waves. In his article titled, ‘The story of the Tamil Bell,’ that appeared in a publication, Hilder said, “Most stretches of coast are littered with driftwood from damaged or wrecked ships, including hundreds of vessels which have gone missing through the centuries without a trace and without any survivors to tell the tale.”
Could one of Mohaideen Baksh’s ships have met the same fate? Could it have been attacked and plundered by sea pirates? Could the abandoned ship then have drifted all the way to the coast of New Zealand to be discovered by the Maori? Hilder provided an example in the article.
“Someone in the Koscivsko, a ship of the Aberdeen White Star Line, threw a bottle overboard in Cape Horn, Chile on March 30, 1890. For 2½ years it drifted on the ocean, carried by currents until it was recovered on the Australian coast near Portland, Victoria in October 1892. It has been calculated that to cover the distance of 9585 miles (15425.5 kilometers) in 934 days, the bottle drifted about 10.3 miles (16.5 kilometers) each day.”
Is this what happened to one of Mohaideen Baksh’s ships? Did it drift all the way to New Zealand bringing the bell along with it? Or could it be simply a case of theft from the ship when it was plundered, and the bell changed hands several times until it reached New Zealand?
Experts say that the inscriptions carry the traits of Middle Tamil (between 8 AD and 13 AD). This does not in any way prove that the bell reached New Zealand as early as this period. However, it only adds on to the mystery and intrigue.
