A Princess from Ayodhya
India’s
early contacts with Korea date back more than 2000 years. Two thousand years
ago, a 16 year old princess from Ayodhya, accompanied by her brother, sailed
from India for Korea. We only know her by her Korean name, Huh Wang-Ock. There
she wed King Kim Suro, founder of the ancient Korean kingdom of Karack. The King
himself received her upon her arrival, and later built a temple at the place
where they had first met. She is said to have died at the grand old age of 189.
Her story is narrated in the ancient Korean history books, "Samkuksaki" and "Samkukyusa".
Her tomb is located in Kimhae and there is a
stone pagoda in front of the tomb. The pagoda is built with stones, which the
princess is said to have brought with her from Ayodhya. They have engravings and
red patterns. They are believed to have a mysterious power to calm stormy seas.
The Kimhae kingdom's influence is still felt in modern-day South Korea. Kimhae
Kims and Kimhae Huhs trace their origins to this ancient kingdom and Korea's
current President Kim Dae Jung and Prime Minister Jong Pil Kim are Kimhae Kims.
In February, 2000, Kimhae Mayor Song Eun-Bok led
a delegation to Ayodhya. The delegation proposed to develop Ayodhya as a sister
city of Kimhae and there are plans to set up a memorial for Queen Huh.
Note: Ayodhya is the modern Faizabad in Uttar
Pradesh. It was the capital of the kingdom of Lord Ram, the seventh incarnation
of Lord Vishnu.
References: Times of
India. 15 May 2000, India Abroad
14 May 2000.
In the northern Indian city
of Ayodhya, a visiting Korean delegation has inaugurated a memorial to their
royal ancestor, Queen Huh.
More than a-hundred historians and government representatives, including
the North Korean ambassador to India, unveiled the memorial on the west bank of
the River Saryu. Korean historians believe that Queen Huh was a princess of an
ancient kingdom in Ayodhya.
She went to Korea some two-thousand years ago and started the Karak
dynasty by marrying a local king, Suro. Today, the historians say, Queen Huh's
descendants number more than six-million, including the South Korean president -
Kim Dae Jung. According to a history book
written in the 11th century in Korean language, “The History of Three
Kingdoms”, the India-Korea relationship started in 48 AD when a princess from
Ayodhya, Queen Hur Hwang-ho went to Korea and married King Suro Kim.
South Korea's Ayodhya (Ancient India) connection
What's
South Korea's Ayodhya connection? To get the answer, pay a visit to the
picturesque banks of river Saryu in the holy city.
Here one will find a monument in memory of an Ayodhya princess who is believed
to have 'mothered' a dynasty in South Korea.
It has
been an affair that resurfaced after a lapse of almost 2000 years in the year
2001. Mayors of Ayodhya and Kim-Hae city in South Korea had signed a Sister City
Bond in March 2001.
The origin of the historical ties can be traced back to the middle of the first
century AD. According to Sam Kuk Yusa, the ancient
history of Korea, Queen Huh, wife of legendary King Suro, who founded the Karak
Kingdom, was born in Ayodhya.
Queen Huh was a princess of the kingdom. Her father,
the king of Ayodhya, on receiving a divine revelation, sent her on a long sea
voyage to the Karak kingdom in southern Korea to marry King Suro, states the
lines inscribed on the plaque at the monument in Ayodhya.
The monument in memory of Hwang Huh is built in Korean tradition using a three-metre
high stone weighing 7,500 kg, specially shipped from South Korea. The
clan that descended from the Ayodhya princess Huh and South Korean King Suros,
today known as Kim-Hae-Kim clan, has a little over six million Huh descendants
in the Republic of South Korea.
The
Kim-Hae-Kim clan has countless illustrious members including many presidents and
premiers.
The memorial site in Ayodhya has become a place of pilgrimage for members of the
clan. While unveiling the monument Bong Ho-Kim, president of the clan society,
Republic of Korea had said: "Ayodhya being birthplace of our great Queen Huh,
has acquired the status of a place for pilgrimage to over six million
descendants."
(source:
South Korea's Ayodhya connection - timesofindia.com).
According to a history
book written in the 11th century in Korean language, “History of
Three Kingdoms”, in the year 48 AD, an Indian princess by name Hur Hwang-ho (her
Korean name), came to Korea from Ayodhya and married King Kim Suro of the
ancient Korean Kingdom of Kaya which is now the Kimhae city. Kimhae City is the
birthplace of this kingdom and thus has a historical link with Ayodhya. The clan
of Kimhae Kims wants to perpetuate this memory.
(source: Festivities
organized to honor Indian princess).
In 48 AD, Queen Suro or Princess Heo Hwang-ok is said to have made a journey
from Lord Ram's birthplace to Korea by sea, carrying a stone which calmed the
waters. The stone is not found anywhere in Korea and is now a part of crucial
evidence that the princess belonged to the city of Ayodhya in India.
"This
stone is only found in India, proof that it came from there to Korea," said Song
Weon Young, city archeologist of Kimhae, a city near the big industrial town of
Pusan. People of Kimhae were so fascinated by these links that they started
research on it several years ago.
They also ran into a symbol of the Kaya Kingdon with two fish kissing each
other, similar to that of the Mishra royal family in Ayodhya. The Princess is
said to have given birth to 10 children, which marked the beginning of the
powerful dynasty of Kimhae Kims. Kim Dae Jung, a former President also belongs
to the same family name.
But even at the centre of these links lies a strong
sense of commercial exchange between Korea and India.
The stone represents Kaya's cultural heritage which did
not stay in one place, and the stone indicates that commercial exchange has been
on since the Queen came from India.
Thousands of miles away from Ayodhya, the stone is a small piece of history. The
people in the city seem quite proud of their links with India, especially
because Queen Suro gave rise to the Kim dynasty, a powerful family name in the
country.
(source:
Carved stones:
Historic India-Korea links discovered
-
ndtv.com).
South Koreans may have Indian genes
- A genetic
discovery in South Korea has claimed that Koreans could have an Indian ancestor
2000 years ago.
The findings have gained interests in the backdrop of the popular romantic
legend of an Indian princess married to a Korean king of the Great Gaya dynasty.
According to the legend, the Korean king from Southeast Korea, Kim Su-ro,
married an Indian princess, Heo Hwang-ok, from the ancient Indian kingdom of
Ayodhya.
The stories say that Heo travelled by ship to Korea. The Great Gaya dynasty
ruled Southeast Korea till 562 AD. In fact, Heo is still a common family name in
Korea.
The researchers now say that the myth could turn out to be true, according to
the daily. More studies are in the offing. The genetic study at Gimhae tomb
focused on the mitochondrial DNA in the human remains.
economic times.indiatimes.com).
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