Sanskrit inscriptions in the Malay world

A good number of inscriptions written in Sanskrit language have been found in Malaysia and Indonesia (in Indonesian known as Prasasti). "Early inscriptions written in Indian languages and scripts abound in Southeast Asia. [...] The fact that southern Indian languages didn't travel eastwards along with the script further suggests that the main carriers of ideas from the southeast coast of India to the east - and the main users in Southeast Asia of religious texts written in Sanskrit and Pali - were Southeast Asians themselves. The spread of these north Indian sacred languages thus provides no specific evidence for any movements of South Asian individuals or groups to Southeast Asia.^[1]

Notable inscriptions

Kutai inscriptions

The oldest known inscriptions in Indonesia are the Kutai inscriptions, or the Muarakaman inscriptions, which are those on seven stone pillars, or yupa (“sacrificial posts”), found in the eastern part of Borneo, in the area of Kutai, East Kalimantan province. They are written in the early Pallava script, in the Sanskrit language, and commemorate sacrifices held by a king called Mulavarman. Based on palaeographical grounds, they have been dated to the second half of the 4th century AD. They attest to the emergence of an Indianized state in the Indonesian archipelago prior to AD 400, and hence Old Kutai Kingdom (Kutai Kuno) is the earliest known Indianized polity in Indonesia.

In addition to Mulavarman, the reigning king, the inscriptions mention the names of his father Asvavarman and his grandfather Kundungga. It is generally agreed that Kundungga is not a Sanskrit name, but one of native origin. The fact that his son Asvavarman is the first of the line to bear a Sanskrit name indicates that he was probably also the first to adhere to Hinduism.^[2]

Tugu Inscription

The Tugu inscription is one several inscriptions associated to Tarumanagara, discovered in Batutumbuh hamlet, Tugu village, Koja, North Jakarta, in Indonesia. The inscription contains information about hydraulic projects; the irrigation and water drainage project of the Chandrabhaga river by the order of a certain Rajadirajaguru, and also the water project of the Gomati river by the order of King Purnawarman in the 22nd year of his reign. The digging project to straighten and widen the river was conducted in order to avoid flooding in the wet season, and as an irrigation project during the dry season.

The Tugu inscription was written in Pallava script arranged in the form of Sanskrit Sloka with Anustubh metrum, consisting of five lines that run around the surface of the stone. Just like other inscriptions from the Tarumanagara kingdom, the Tugu inscriptions do not mention the date of the edict. The date of the inscriptions was estimated and analyzed according to paleographic study which concluded that the inscriptions originated from the mid 5th century. The script of the Tugu inscription and the Cidanghyang inscription bear striking similarity, such as the script "citralaikha" written as "citralekha", leading to the assumption that the writer of these inscriptions was the same person.

The Tugu inscription is the longest Tarumanagara inscription pronounced by edict of Sri Maharaja Purnawarman. The inscription was made during the 22nd year of his reign, to commemorate the completion of the canals of the Gomati and Candrabhaga rivers. On the inscription there is an image of a staff crowned with Trisula straight to mark the separation between the beginning and the end of each sentence.

Kedah Inscription

An inscription in Sanskrit dated 1086 has been found in Kedah. This was left by Kulothunga Chola I (of the Chola empire, Tamil country). This too shows the commercial contacts the Chola Empire had with Malaysia.^[3]

Ligor Inscription

An inscription was found in the Malay Peninsula in Southern Thailand, at Nakhon Si Thammarat. It has been dubbed the Ligor inscription, being the name given by Europeans to the region in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is written in Sanskrit^[4] and bears the date of 775 AD.^[5] One side of the inscription refers to the Illustrious Great Monarch (śrīmahārāja) belonging to the "Lord of the Mountain" dynasty (śailendravaṁśa), which is also mentioned in four Sanskrit inscriptions from Central Java; the other side refers to the founding of several Buddhist sanctuaries by a king of Srivijaya.^[6] Srivijaya is the name of a kingdom whose centre was located in the modern city of Palembang in South Sumatra province, Indonesia. The Ligor inscription has been known in the list of inscription of Thailand as "Inscription No. 23 : Inscription of Wat Sema Mueang" which has been found at Wat Sema Mueang, Wiang Sak township, Mueang district of Nakhon Srithammarat in 1907 by Prince Damrongrachaniphab when he was Ministry of Interior during the annual inspection trip with the era recorded in the inscription as "Maha Sakkarat 697" (AD 775)^[7] The Ligor inscription is testimony to an expansion of Sriwijaya power to the peninsula.^[8]

List of Sanskrit inscriptions throughout the Southeast Asia archipelago

Inscriptions	Place of discovery	Date	Note
Võ Cạnh inscription	Nha Trang, Vietnam	2nd-3rd century CE
Muarakaman inscriptions	East Kalimantan, Indonesia	~ 400 CE	Also known as Kutai inscriptions
Kebon Kopi I inscription	Bogor, Indonesia	~ 400 CE	Also known as Tapak Gajah inscriptions
Tugu inscription	North Jakarta, Indonesia	early 5th century CE
Cidanghiang inscription	Pandeglang, Indonesia	5th century CE	Also known as Lebak inscription
Ciaruteun inscription	Bogor, Indonesia	5th century CE
Muara Cianten inscription	Bogor, Indonesia	5th century CE
Jambu inscription	Bogor, Indonesia	5th century CE
Pasir Awi inscription	Bogor, Indonesia	5th century CE
Tukmas inscription	Magelang, Indonesia	6th-7th century CE
Canggal inscription	Magelang, Indonesia	732 CE	Earliest mention of King Sanjaya
Plumpungan inscription	Salatiga, Indonesia	760 CE
Ligor inscription	Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand	775 CE
Kalasan inscription	Sleman, Indonesia	778 CE
Kelurak inscription	Klaten, Indonesia	782 CE
Karangtengah inscriptions	Temanggung, Indonesia	824 CE	Also known as Kayumwungan inscription
Tri Tepusan inscription	Temanggung, Indonesia	842 CE
Munggu Antan inscription	Purworejo, Indonesia	887 CE
Belanjong pillar	Denpasar, Indonesia	913 CE
Sangguran Inscription	Batu, Indonesia	928 CE	Also known as Minto Stone
Pucangan inscription	Mojokerto, Indonesia	1041 CE	Also known as Calcutta Stone
Mula Malurung inscriptions	Kediri, Indonesia	1255 CE
Gondang inscription	Mojokerto, Indonesia	1275 CE
Padang Roco inscription	Dharmasraya, Indonesia	1286 CE
Wurare Inscription	Mojokerto, Indonesia	1289 CE
Pasir Panjang inscription	Karimun, Indonesia	9-12th century CE
Singapore Stone	Singapore	10-11th century CE	Language unclear; either Sanskrit or Old Javanese
Akarendra inscription	Tanah Datar, Indonesia	12th century CE
Manjusri inscription	Malang, Indonesia	1343 CE
Amoghapasa inscription	Dharmasraya, Indonesia	1347 CE
Pagaruyung III inscription	Tanah Datar, Indonesia	1347 CE
Bukit Gombak inscription	Tanah Datar, Indonesia	1357 CE
Pagaruyung VIII inscription	Tanah Datar, Indonesia	1369 or 1316 CE
Suruaso I inscription	Tanah Datar, Indonesia	1375 CE
Suruaso II inscription	Batusangkar, Indonesia	14th century CE	Also known as Batusangkar inscription
Kuburajo inscription	Tanah Datar, Indonesia	14th century CE

Notes

References

^ Jan Wisseman Christie, "The Medieval Tamil-language Inscriptions in Southeast Asia and China", Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 29, No. 02, September 1998, pp 239-268
^ S. Supomo, "Chapter 15. Indic Transformation: The Sanskritization of Jawa and the Javanization of the Bharata in Peter S. Bellwood, James J. Fox, Darrell T. Tryon (eds.), The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Australian National University, 1995
^ Arokiaswamy, Celine W.M. (2000). Tamil Influences in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Manila s.n. pp. 37, 38, & 41.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Niranjan Prasad Chakravarti and Bijan Raj Chatterjee, An Outline of Indo-Javanese History, Calcutta: Greater India Society, 1926
^ O. W. Wolters, “Tambralinga”, in Classical civilisations of South East Asia: an anthology of articles published in the Bulletin of SOAS (Vladimir Braginsky ed.), RoutledgeCurzon, 2002, 0-7007-1410-3, p. 588
^ Pierre-Yves Manguin, “Srivijaya, An Introduction”, Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009
^ จารึกวัดเสมาเมือง (in Thai). Retrieved 19 May 2022.
^ Leonard Y. Andaya, Leaves of the same tree: trade and ethnicity in the Straits of Melaka, University of Hawaii Press, 2008, p. 149

[1] Jan Wisseman Christie, "The Medieval Tamil-language Inscriptions in Southeast Asia and China", Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 29, No. 02, September 1998, pp 239-268

[2] S. Supomo, "Chapter 15. Indic Transformation: The Sanskritization of Jawa and the Javanization of the Bharata in Peter S. Bellwood, James J. Fox, Darrell T. Tryon (eds.), The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Australian National University, 1995

[Arokiaswamy2000-3] Arokiaswamy, Celine W.M. (2000). Tamil Influences in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Manila s.n. pp. 37, 38, & 41.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[4] Niranjan Prasad Chakravarti and Bijan Raj Chatterjee, An Outline of Indo-Javanese History, Calcutta: Greater India Society, 1926

[5] O. W. Wolters, “Tambralinga”, in Classical civilisations of South East Asia: an anthology of articles published in the Bulletin of SOAS (Vladimir Braginsky ed.), RoutledgeCurzon, 2002, 0-7007-1410-3, p. 588

[6] Pierre-Yves Manguin, “Srivijaya, An Introduction”, Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009

[7] จารึกวัดเสมาเมือง (in Thai). Retrieved 19 May 2022.

[8] Leonard Y. Andaya, Leaves of the same tree: trade and ethnicity in the Straits of Melaka, University of Hawaii Press, 2008, p. 149

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