Kota Kapur Inscription is an inscription discovered in western coast of

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in ...

, offcoast

South Sumatra South Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Selatan) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southeast of the island of Sumatra, The province spans and had a population of 8,467,432 at the 2020 Census. The capital of the province is Palembang. The prov ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. In ...

, by J.K. van der Meulen in December 1892. It was named after the village of the same name which is the location where this archaeological findings were discovered. This inscription is using

Old Malay Malay was first used in the first millennia known as Old Malay, a part of the Austronesian language family. Over a period of two millennia, Malay has undergone various stages of development that derived from different layers of foreign influenc ...

language written in

Pallava script The Pallava script or Pallava Grantha, is a Brahmic script, named after the Pallava dynasty of South India, attested since the 4th century AD. As epigrapher Arlo Griffiths makes clear, however, the term is misleading as not all of the relevant sc ...

. It was one of the oldest surviving written evidence of ancient Malay language. The inscription dated first day of half moon Vaiśākha on the year 608 Śaka (28 February 686 CE), mentioned about the curse of whomever committed treason against Srivijaya and the beginning of Srivijayan invasion against Java. The inscription was first examined and dated by H. Kern, a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People ...

epigrapher that worked for ''Bataviaasch Genootschap'' in Batavia. At first he thought that Srivijaya was the name of a king.

George Cœdès George Cœdès (; 10 August 1886 – 2 October 1969) was a 20th-century French scholar of southeast Asian archaeology and history. Biography Cœdès was born in Paris to a family of supposed Hungarian-Jewish émigrés. In fact, the family was ...

noted the name on the inscriptions was that of

Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...

, a Buddhist kingdom in 638–86, "that had just conquered the hinterland of

Jambi Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra and spans to the Barisan Mountains in the west. Its capital and largest city is Jambi. The province has a land area of 50,160.05 km2, and a sea area of 3 ...

and the island of Bangka and was preparing to launch a military expedition against Java." The name corresponds to

Yijing The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...

's.

Content

Kota Kapur inscriptions is one of the five inscriptions edicted by Sri Jayanasa, the ruler of Srivijaya. Most of this inscriptions contains

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

for crime, trespassing and treasons against Srivijaya. The contents was translated by Cœdès:

Transliteration

Translation

# ''Success !'' (followed probably by cursing mantra formula that cannot be understood or translated) # ''All oh thou gods almighty, all that gathered to protect Kadatuan (palace/kingdom) Srivijaya; all of thou gods that starts the beginning of the swear of all swear (curse)!!'' # ''If in this lands, the realm under Kadatuan rule, there is a rebel, conspired with rebel, talk to rebel, and listen to rebel;'' # ''know the rebel, dishonor, ungrateful, unfaithful to me or those whom I've appointed as datu; may all people that commit those deeds will die caused by curse or fell under expedition (war campaign) against them wage by a datu or led by several datus od Srivijaya, and let them;'' # ''punished altogether with their clan and family. Moreover, let the evil deeds; such as disturbing other's soul, make other sick, cause people to suffer madness, using mantra (magic spell), poison, using upas (poison), tuba (poison), and ganja (marijuana),'' # ''saramwat (?), pekasih (love charm), force themself upon others, and many other things, may all that deed will not succeed and strike back to those whom guilty for that evil deeds; may all die because of curse. Also those whom spread evil rumors to sway people.'' # ''May those whom destroy the stone placed in this place also die because of the curse and directly punished. May all murderer, rebel, all of those ungrateful and unfaithful to me, all the performer of those deeds'' # ''die because of curse. But for those whom obey and faithful to me and those whom I have appointed as datu, may all their efforts are blessed, also their clan and family'' # ''with success, welfare, good health, freed from disaster, abundance everything for all their lands! In the year 608 Saka, first day of half moon Vaisakha (28 February 686), in that time'' # ''this curse is said; the carving took place during the Srivijaya army just departed to attack Java, which is not submit to Srivijaya.'' The inscriptions was carved on a pinnacle stone with several sides, with 177 cm height, 32 cm width on base and 19 cm width on top.

Significance

Kota Kapur inscription was the first Srivijayan inscription discovered, long before the discovery of the

Kedukan Bukit Inscription The Kedukan Bukit inscription is an inscription discovered by the Dutchman C.J. Batenburg on 29 November 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, South Sumatra, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), on the banks of Tatang River, a tributary of Musi River. It is the ...

on 29 November 1920, and before the

Talang Tuwo inscription The Talang Tuo inscription is a 7th-century Srivijaya inscription discovered by Louis Constant Westenenk on 17 November 1920, on the foot of Bukit Seguntang near Palembang. This inscription tells about the establishment of the bountiful Śrīkse ...

that was discovered several days earlier on 17 November 1920. The Kota Kapur inscription, together with other archaeological findings in the region, was the testament of Srivijaya era. It has opened a new horizon and revealed the history of Hindu-Buddhist era in that area. This inscription also uncovered the ancient society inhabiting the region during 6th and 7th century that clearly shows Hindu-Buddhist influence.

References

{{reflist Inscriptions in Indonesia 7th-century inscriptions Malay inscriptions Srivijaya Bangka Belitung Islands National Museum of Indonesia

Content

Transliteration

Translation

Significance

See also

References