Indian Influences in the Philippines

Subtitle: With special reference to language and literature The standard reference on Indian influence in the Philippines is the work of the late Dr. Juan Francisco, a Filipino Indologist who obtained his Ph.D in Sanskrit at the University of Madras and who later became a professor in the University of the Philippines. Francisco gives the following Tagalog words as examples of words derived from Sanskirt: mulâ (from), sukà (vinegar), mutyâ (pearl), maharlikâ (warrior), harì (king). basa (read). Among his achievements, Francisco discovered the Sanskrit epic Rāmāyana in the Maranao epic Maharadia Lawana, with many indigenous and Muslim concepts overlaid onto the Hindu original.