“Marriages are made in heaven” is a popular quote and this marriage was indeed arranged by God. A princess traveled by sea to marry a Korean king, became the first Queen of Gaya and created a flourishing dynasty.
Garakguk dynasty comprises of more than six million people, which is roughly 10% of the current South Korean population, including the former President and Prime minister of the nation. Let us read the legacy of the Queen of Indian origin, who is worshipped as a God in South Korea…
Samguk Yusa
“Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms” is a collection of legends, folktales and historical accounts relating to the three kingdoms of Korea written by a Buddhist monk in Chinese, around 13th century. Given its mythical narrative, its reliability is questionable but still considered as a testament by Koreans.
King Gim Suro
According to the legend, King Suro was one of the six princes born from eggs that descended from sky in a golden bowl wrapped in red cloth. Suro was the firstborn and the legend is believed to be indicative of the early view that kings descended from heaven. He is believed to have lived approximately between 40 C.E to 200 C.E.
He was the founder of the Gaya confederacy (Geumgwan Gaya or Bon-Gaya or Garakguk) uniting nine tribal villages which believed to be located around the modern-day city of Gimhae, near Nakdong River.
King Suro refused to choose his wife from the maidens recommended by his courtiers and believed his marriage will be commanded by the lord of heaven.
Heo Hwang-ok
Heavenly Lord appeared in a King’s dreams of a far-off land and instructed to send his daughter to Suro, the king of Gaya. Accordingly, the King sent his 16-year-old daughter along with a fleet of 22 people and loads of wealth including gold & silver jewelry, silk brocade and gifts.
King Suro on intuition, asked his commander to take a horse and a boat to Mangsan-do, an island to the south of the capital. At Mangsan, the commander saw a vessel with a “red sail” & a “red flag” and escorted it to the shores of Gaya. Another officer informed the King of the vessel that had reached the shores after 2 months of sea journey. The King sent nine clan chiefs to receive the crew and proposed to marry the princess. Before her marriage, the princess offered her silk cloth to the mountain spirit.
The princess was given the name of Heo Hwang-ok and she sent representatives back to her Kingdom of “Ayuta” informing their safe arrival at destination and her marriage to King Suro.
Descendants
Heo and Suro had 12 children – 10 sons and 2 daughters. She requested Suro to let two of the sons to bear her maiden surname “Heo” and the other eight bear the surname of “Kim”. After the King died, it is believed that the Queen led the Kingdom that prospered under her guidance until she died, at the age of 157.
Gimhae tomb
The tombs believed to be that of Heo and Suro are located in Gimhae, South Korea. A pagoda traditionally held to have been brought to Korea on her ship is located near her grave. The Samguk Yusa reports that the pagoda was erected on her ship in order to calm the god of the ocean and allow the ship to pass. The unusual and rough form of this pagoda, unlike any other in Korea, may lend some credence to the account. A passage in the Samguk Yusa indicates that King Jilji (eighth ruler of Gaya) built a Buddhist temple for the ancestral queen Heo Hwang-ok on the spot where she and King Suro were married. He called the temple Wanghusa meaning “the Queen’s temple” as a tribute for her guidance to lead the Kingdom to prosperity.
Research
In the 1990’s, the Chinese text of Samguk Yusa was translated and Koreans were corroborating and correlating the events and location that had significance in their ancestry. They went in search of the Queen’s origin from the mention of “Ayuta” Kingdom, her name bearing a reference to a precious stone (“ratna”) and a possible symbol of twin fish, that is popular in Korean culture and is carved in her statue.
Ayodhya
In the research conducted between 1992-1997, Koreans explored the relevance of Ayuta in ancient days. Their first option was the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Thailand, but this city was not founded until the year 1350, even after the composition of Samguk Yusa. On further exploration, the possibility of “Ayodhya” (birth place of Lord Rama) being the birthplace of the Queen was investigated.
Folklore
A Korean mythological story of “Ungnyeo”, mentions a tale of bear and tiger, in which the bear succeeds to live inside a cave away from sunlight for 100 days. Later the bear received blessings to be transformed to a girl and eventually marries the lord of heaven.
Indian mythological story of Jambavan, divine-king of bears strikes a great resemblance to the Korean folklore. Jambavan fights with a lion and emerges victorious from a cave. Later Jambavan happened to meet Krishna and proposed to give his daughter in marriage. The Bear-girl transformed to a human form to get married to Lord Krishna. It went to signify common roots to the two culture.
Facts and Theories
Being a prosperous regiment in ancient days, the reference of “ratna” and the translation of her name “Heo Hwang-ok” to “Suriratna” as an equivalent Indian origin name had a good probability. “Ayodhya” was phonetically similar to “Ayuta. State of Uttarpradesh in which “Ayodhya” is located has an emblem of twin fish that strikes a remarkable association with Korean’s twin fish symbol of Ssangeomun. King Suro was also referred as “Sakrodevendra”, similar to the popular Lord Vishnu’s name of “Chakra dev” (wielding the weapon of Chakra) and “Devendra” meaning descendant from heaven.
Memorial
In 2001, a Korean delegation, inaugurated a memorial stone dedicated to the Queen in Ayodhya. The legend of Queen Heo is inscribed on the stone memorial in Korean and English and the park which surrounds the memorial is called as the “Korea park”. The monument was built in Korean tradition using a 3-meter high and 7,500 kg heavy stone shipped from Korea. In March 2016, a proposal was made to develop the memorial further as a joint project between India and South Korea. Hundreds of South Koreans who trace their ancestry to the Queen, visit Ayodhya every year to pay tribute.
Did you Know?
As the expansion projects and the news about the Queen’s memorial hit the news, people started taking an interest on the topic and pondered over the details.
With improvements in technology and thanks to the Internet that bridges the gap of centuries and distance, a notion started circulating questioning the credibility of the “Ayodhya” theory.
The Kingdom of Ayodhya was referred as Saketa in ancient period. The twin fish emblem of Uttar Pradesh was designed in 1916 and the pair of fish represented the former Muslim rulers of Oudh. Also, Ayodhya doesn’t have a sea shore, making it impossible for the princess to have travelled through sea. As India had established sea trade to the other southern eastern countries in the ancient times, the similarities in folklore were a possible “sharing” of stories and not a common lineage. However, the remarkable details about the Queen’s origin explored other possibilities.
Truth unfolds
The twin fish symbol was in the official flag of the Pandya kings who had ruled Tamilnadu around the early centuries matching the timeline of King Suro’s period. When “Heo Hwang-ok” is translated to Tamil language, it had an equivalent “Sembavalam” – meaning the reddish coral stone. This is a common tamil name and the Pandya kingdom had skilled expertise in retrieving Pearl and Coral stones from sea and exported the precious gems to other countries. Pandya kings ruled the coastal areas of southern India, establishing the possibility of the princess to have taken up a sea route.
Working on these lines, further ties between South Korea and Tamil has been established – both languages share a common meaning and connotation of more than 500 words. Both regions are major rice consumers with similarities evident in ancient street games, housing structure, cuisine and harvest festivals. Korean people traditionally like wearing white-colored dress despite the cold weather. This custom must have been brought by Tamilians who prefer white because of the hot weather. “Kuji- bong” is the custom of offering prayers in front of holy mountains in Korean tradition and the word “Kurunji” refers to mountainous region in Tamil and relates to the tradition of praying to the mountain god.
Current era Kanyakumari was referred as “Ay Kingdom” in ancient days and had strong ties with Pandya kings. The port area of Ay kingdom could have been referred as the land of “Ayuta” indicating the origin of the princess.
Mounting evidences stands to prove the Tamil origin of the first Korean Queen and her legacy stands to accomplish great horizons.
End-Note
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