The Calcutta Stone, known in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

as the Pucangan Inscription, is an ancient

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

nese inscription written in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and

Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was natively spoken in the central and eastern part of Java Island, what is now Central Java, Special Region o ...

, dated to 1041 CE during the reign of king

Airlangga Airlangga (also spelled Erlangga), regnal name Rakai Halu Sri Lokeswara Dharmawangsa Airlangga Anantawikramottunggadewa (born 1002 in Bali, Indonesia – died 1049 in Java), was the only king of the Kingdom of Kahuripan. The Kingdom was bui ...

of the

Kahuripan Kahuripan (also spelled Kuripan) was an 11th-century Javanese Hindu-Buddhist kingdom with its capital located around the estuarine of Brantas River valley in East Java. The kingdom was short-lived, only spanning the period between 1019 and 10 ...

kingdom, which explains some events and the royal genealogy of the king. The inscription more or less narrates the life story of King Airlangga, one of the greatest kings in Javanese history, also explaining his lineage as the rightful ruler of Java, the successor of King Dharmawangsa of Isyana dynasty. This inscription was known as the "Calcutta Stone" because it has been stored at the

Indian Museum Indian Museum (formerly called Imperial Museum of Calcutta) is a grand museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the ninth oldest museum in the world and the oldest, as well as the largest museum in Asia, by size of collection. It ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

(Calcutta),

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, from the 19th century until today. The Pucangan inscription is a

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

inscription carved on both sides of a single monolith. The front side is written in Old Javanese while the other side is written in Sanskrit. Both inscriptions are written in the

Kawi script The Kawi script or the Old Javanese script (, ) is a Brahmic script found primarily in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia between the 8th century and the 16th century.Aditya Bayu Perdana and Ilham Nurwansah 2020Proposal to en ...

(Ancient Javanese script). The inscription scape is a block with pointed top, on the base of the inscription is adorned with ''padma'' (lotus) pedestal. The name ''Pucangan'' derived from a word in this inscription. It was the name of a place on the slopes of Mount Penanggungan, today located in

Mojokerto Regency Mojokerto Regency (; ) is a regency in East Java Province of Indonesia. It is part of the Surabaya metropolitan area (known as Gerbangkertosusila) which comprises Gresik Regency, Bangkalan Regency, Mojokerto Regency, Mojokerto City, Surabaya Ci ...

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

Content

The inscription describes a terrible ''pralaya'' (calamity) that befell the East Javanese Mataram Kingdom of

Isyana Dynasty The Ishana dynasty, rulers of the Kingdom of Mataram, was a dynasty of the Hindu Mataram Kingdom on the island of Java. Ishana (Sanskrit: ईशान, IAST: Īśāna, ) refers to a Hindu god who is often considered to be one of the forms of the Hi ...

in the early years of the 11th century. In 1016, a rebellion incited by a vassal king Wurawari from Lwaram resulted in the destruction of the capital of Watugaluh. The reigning king, Dharmawangsa, successor to Sri Makutawangsawardhana, was murdered along with his entire family and many of his subjects. Only the young

, who was aged about 16 at the time, managed to escape unharmed.East Java.com
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Discovery

The Pucangan inscription was discovered on the slope of Mount Penanggungan in East Java and sent to Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the British Governor General of Java 1813–1816 in Batavia. In 1812 Raffles sent it together with Sangguran inscription to Lord Minto,

Governor-General of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, as a token of appreciation. This inscription was stored in Calcutta Museum while the Sangguran inscription was taken by Lord Minto back to his estate in

Hawick Hawick ( ; ; ) is a town in the Scottish Borders council areas of Scotland, council area and counties of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east o ...

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Inscription

Quotation of some verses in the inscription.

Transcription

# ' # '

Translation

# Congratulation and well-being! respect and great honor for him, always blessed with three '' guna'' means 'string' or 'a single thread', in this context it means quality, principle or tendency when the destiny of human (mortals) are already predestinated, so when the destruction (strike or happen) it is meant to be, so be it for the Creator had not the ''guna''. # Honor for him, that is (performing) ''triwikrama'', known in the world as (three) great steps without any predisposition, also always honoring the mind (decision) of the King of Gods

Notes

{{reflist

References

* Kern, H., (1913), ''Een Oud-Javaansche steeninscriptie van Koning Er-Langga'', Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 13 h. * Stutterheim, W.E., (1937), ''Oudheidkundige aantekeningen:XLVIII. Waar lag Erlangga's kluizenarij van den Pucangan?'', BKI, 95. * Poerbatjaraka, R. N., (1941), ''Strophe 14 van de-Sanskrit-zijde der Calcutta-steen'', TBG, LXXXI, 425–437. Inscriptions in Indonesia 10th-century inscriptions History of East Java Collections of museums in India Sanskrit inscriptions in Indonesia 11th-century Sanskrit literature