Sunday 3 June 2012

Ancient Tales: Indian Princess Heo Hwang-ok and Korean King Kim Soo Ro.

Seo Ji Hye as Heo Hwang-ok in Drama Kim Soo Ro

Chronicle 1

Heo arrived on a boat and married King Suro of Korea's Gaya Kingdom in A.D. 48, according to Samguk Yusa, an 11th-century collection of legends and stories.
The chronicle says Princess Heo had a dream about a handsome king from a far away land.

After the dream, Heo asked her royal parents for permission to set out on an adventure to find the man of her fate.

The ancient book indicates that she sailed to the Korean Peninsula, carrying a stone, with which she claimed to have calmed the waters. 



Chronicle 2
Heo Hwang-ok, a princess who travelled from an ancient kingdom in Ayodhya, India, to Korea.
According to the Samyuk Yusa or Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, Heo's parents had a dream of King Suro. The dream showed that the king had not yet found a queen. Her father then told her to go to him. She arrived on a boat with gold, silver and a tea plant. Before marrying the king, she took off her silk trousers and prayed to the mountain spirit.

Evidence

Archeologists discovered a stone with two fish kissing each other in Korea, which is a unique cultural heritage linked to a royal family in Ayodhya. 

The stone is evidence that there were active commercial exchanges between the two sides after the princess's arrival here. 

The princess is said to have given birth to 10 children, which marked the beginning of the powerful dynasty of Gimhae Kims. 


Members of both the Heo and Gimhae Kim lineages consider themselves descendants of Heo Hwang-ok and King Suro. Two of the couple's 10 sons chose the mother's name. The Heo clans trace their origins to them, and regard Heo as the founder of their lines. The Gimhae Kims trace their origin to the eight other sons.


An analysis of DNA samples taken from the site of two royal Gaya tombs in 2004 in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, confirms that there is a genetic link between the Korean ethnic group and certain ethnic groups in India.


Over the past decades, there have been efforts to shed new light on the historical links between Korea and India. In 2000, a Gaya clan raised money to send a large memorial tablet to India and establish a park in Ayodhya.  




Heo Hwang-ok in Dramas


A TV drama series titled Kim Suro was broadcasted in 2010 on network MBC. The series star Ji Sung as Kim Suro with a supporting cast that includes Yu Oh-seong and Bae Jong-ok. 



And who are some of these descendants?


Naturally the Kim family – specifically the Gimhae Kims and the Heo family such as the former Prime Minister of South Korea Heo Jeong(Korean link),  Heo Young-saeng of the Korean boy band SS501( just mine thought =.=" ).   


The more famous and powerful Kims are – Kim Jong-pil (OutlookIndia) is reported to have written a letter to Bimlendra Mohan Mishra, a member of the Ayodhya ruling family describing his visit to India in March 2001 as being “very meaningful” and fulfilled his desire to visit Ayodhya and claimed that he was the 72nd generation descendant of the King Kim Suro or the Karak Kingdom.”  Kim Dae-jungwas also of the same clan so that means he too would have been related to the princess.


Korea’s First Lady, Kim Yoon-ok, also claims to be a descendant of Heo Hwang-ok, a princess from an ancient kingdom in Ayodhya, India.





35 comments:

  1. at least change the pic of the girl representing the character of princess heo. she was not korean. she was not even east indian. she was from ayodhya kingdom. this picture is a false depiction of her.

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    1. I agree. This drama was perfect, except from the fact that non-indians represented indian characters in history. Throughout the drama this flaw saddened me. I hope to see an Indian woman play the princess at least. I hope a remake will be made and Indian characters will be played by Indian people, so as to appeal to us Indian fans, that which this drama has failed to succeed fully in.

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    2. There have been plenty of time where Indian have portrayed non-Indians in Bollywood and other films.

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    3. There have been plenty of time where Indian have portrayed non-Indians in Bollywood and other films.

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    4. The queen Heo was from south India. Her original name is Seembavalam from the Pallava kingdom. The flag of Pallava kingdom had fish on it. Moreover the name Ayutta is now kanyakumari from south India. It’s not Ayodhya. History is wrongly written.

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  2. Replies
    1. Not alone. A lot of similarities in language, culture, food habits between Korea and Tamilnadu. More than 500 words are same in Tamil as well as Korean like Amma, Appa etc

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  3. People of india have mix ancestry from ancient times

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  4. Interesting really! Wish this legend might be a true historical event!

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  5. ahhhh ~ ss501 heo young saeng <3 <3 <3 .. this link makes me soooo happy :D thankyu so much for the article !!

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  6. It may have been a princess from Indonesia too . Koreans have never said this story before. maybe due to rising trade between the 2 countries ??

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  7. Indians now looks and acts horrible. We don't even know what they look before.

    And if their physical characteristics are from before probably Koreans shouldn't look like that. I mean you know what I mean, right?

    No offense but yeah. We can certainly distinguish Indians to any different nationalities and they don't even have a single evidence in Koreans. Okay?

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    1. Honey before you start bashing Indians try and learn some English and proper grammar so people can actually understand what nonsense you are attempting to spew.

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    2. We have perfect face and body structure.Because we are the decendant of lord Rama. An Indian.

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  9. There is ambiguity from the place Heo hailed from. Some say she was from Ayodhya while there are evidences that there was Kingdom called Ayutta in the present Kanyakumari of TamilNadu,India. Queen Heo's original name was Seemavalam and Ayutta was misinterpreted to be Ayodhya. Pardon me if I am wrong

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  11. She was a Tamil queen from kaniyakumari Tamil Nada. So that only many Korean words are similar to Tamil for example Amma which means mother, and appa which means father in both the languages.share this to everyone to create awareness among the people

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  12. She was a Tamil queen from kaniyakumari Tamil Nada. So that only many Korean words are similar to Tamil for example Amma which means mother, and appa which means father in both the languages.share this to everyone to create awareness among the people

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  13. guys she is not from ayodhya she is from tamilnadu south india her tamil name is seampavalam the name aayathi is not ayodhi its kumari kandams old name and the symbol of two fishes carried with her is the symbol of The great Pandiya kings if any one had any doubt or further clarifications u can contact me karthickin@gmail.com

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  14. sorry for the wrong mail id my id is karthickinid@gmail.com

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    1. She was from tamilnadu. she's name sempavalam.The name is not ayodhya(ayuta is crt)

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    2. She was from tamilnadu. she's name sempavalam.The name is not ayodhya(ayuta is crt)

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  15. She was from tamilnadu in the dynasty of Pandiyas.

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  16. The prinxess is a tamil princess!!!!!!☺
    And i am proud to be an tamizhachi

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  17. She is a tamil girl her name called seembavalam and some tamils words are in Korean language

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  18. Nice to know that India and Korea have a common ancestory

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  21. what is the name of the drama and where can i watch it?

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