Lubuk Layang inscription, also known as Kubu Sutan inscription, is an

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

found in 1970 in Kubu Sutan, Lubuk Layang, Rao Selatan district,

Pasaman Regency Pasaman Regency is a regency ''(kabupaten)'' of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It has an area of and had a population of 252,981 at the 2010 Census and 299,851 at the 2020 Census. The regency seat is the town of Lubuk Sikaping. Pasaman is located in t ...

, of

West Sumatra West Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. The province has an area of , with a population of 5,534,472 at the 2020 cen ...

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 Guine ...

. The inscription is carved into a sloping sandstone, partially submerged in the ground. It is 85 cm tall on the non-submerged side, and 43 cm on the immersed side, with 42 cm wide and 18 cm thick. The writing is on both front and back sides, the front contains 9 lines and the back contains 7 or 8 lines, and written in a mixed language of

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 influen ...

and

Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the islan ...

. Much of the writing is difficult to read because it is already worn out. The inscription is not dated, but paleographically it is viewed to be from the reign of King

Adityawarman Adityawarman (formal regnal name Maharajadiraja Srīmat Srī Udayādityawarma Pratāpaparākrama Rājendra Maulimāli Warmadewa. ) was a king of Malayapura Suvarnabhumi, and is the successor of the Mauli dynasty based on central Sumatra. He w ...

(14th century CE). The content of this inscription mentions a vice king/crown prince (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

: '' yuwaraja'') named

Bijayendrawarman Bijayendrawarman was the name of one a '' yuwaraja'' (vice king, or crown prince) of the Malayapura kingdom, who ruled in the 14th century in the Pasaman Regency, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Bijayendrawarman's name is written in Lubuk Layang inscriptio ...

, who made a temple (''

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as '' śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumam ...

'') in a place called Parwatapuri. This suggests the possibility of a government system similar to that of

Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was based on the island of Java (in modern-day Indonesi ...

at that time, in which younger children of a king were sent to the borders to become local rulers.

Text

Text of the inscription as read by de Casparis, as follows:Kozok, Uli (2016).
14th Century Malay Code of Laws:: The Nitisarasamuccaya
'. Flipside Digital Content Company Inc. , 9789814620499. A. (front side) # ''. . . śrī /'' # ''pūrṇṇa .. nira'' # ''......surimadana'' # ''dhr . . iḥ // O // O //'' # ''_______ amarawijaya yauwāsutajata'' # ''tendrawarma . satatawibhawa pujāpa-'' # ''/ dhid. . itatārasadawaca ti'' # ''/ ṛṣ a .ārsabhakti di mātapitāra sakala'' # ''/ prāptiswastha śanta . . tan'' B. (back side) # ''sugatayawāta /'' # ''nṛpati Bijayawarmma'' # ''namokṣam // O // O //'' # ''srī yauwarāja Bijayendrasekhara'' # ''. . kṛtya . astu paripūrṇṇasobhitā / ku'' # ''na pamuja di pitāmahā darādi'' # ''srī Indrakīlaparwwatapurī // O //''

References

{{reflist Inscriptions in Indonesia 14th-century inscriptions History of West Sumatra

Text

See also

References