Tawalisi
Encyclopedia
Tawalisi is a fabled Southeast Asian kingdom described in the journals of Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...

 . Ibn Battuta said he reached Tawalisi after a sea voyage of 71 days, 34 of which were spent rowing due to no wind. He said he reached China from Tawalisi after a voyage of 17 days. The commentators have never been able to decide the port of departure for the 71 day voyage, and so have concentrated on the 17 day voyage from Tawalisi to China. .

A long list of guesses as to the location of Tawalisi have included Pangasinan, Luzon, Sulu, Celebes (Sulawesi), Cambodia, Cochin-China, the mainland province of Kwangtung, and practically every island in South Asia beginning with ta. .

Both Sir Henry Yule and William Henry Scott
William Henry Scott (historian)
William Henry Scott was a historian of the Gran Cordillera Central and Prehispanic Philippines. He personally rejected the description anthropologist as applying to himself.-Early life:...

 consider Tawilisi and its warrior-princess Urduja
Urduja
Urduja is a legendary warrior princess who is recognized as a heroine in Pangasinan, Philippines. The name Urduja appears to be Sanskrit in origin, and a variation of the name "Udaya", meaning "arise" or "rising sun", or the name "Urja", meaning "breath"...

to be fabulous, fairy-tale, fiction. .

But based on linguistics and considering the Chinese perspective in the 13th-14th centuries A.D., Tawalisi might be a Chinese pronunciation of Jawa rsi which could mean kingdom of Java or king of Java. While the original name of the duchess of the said land was actually spelled in Arabic by Ibn Battuta as WHR DJ in his Rihlah which might be misread as Urduja instead of reading it as Wahre Daja (Bhre Daha) due to the lack of geographical perspective and the lack of knowledge in the Arabic script congruent to the period when it happened. Bhre Daha was a title given to Dayah Wiyat (literally means "princess vagina"), the twin sister of Bhre Kahuripan, as duchess of Daha (also known as Kediri). Both duchesses were daughters of Raden Wijaya and Gayatri. After the death of Kala Gemet both duchesses assumed power as rajah kembars (twin rulers) and both were given the title Tribhuana tongga dewi (meaning Madjapahit empress). And it was to be remembered that Java had been attacked by Mongols they called Tatars first in the last part of the 13th century A.D. and second during the reign of Kala Gemet. Hence, it is very clear that Java at that time especially the royal court had also been linguistically influenced by the Turkic speaking Tatars. Thus, the Bhre Daha could talk in Turkic as been observed by Ibn Battuta during his visit in her court.
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