Indian Epigraphy c14.s4: 4. Indonesia
Indian Epigraphy c14.s4
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4. Indonesia
c14.s4.1
The earliest inscriptions of Indonesia are written in Sanskrit verse. Most of the early medieval records of the area are in the ornate *kāvya* style; but their size is not big as in the case of Cambodian inscriptions. Java developed an indigenous literature originated from an intimate acquaintance with Indian literary tradition. Although the people of the area are now Muhammadans, the Indian element is still prominent in their culture. The people of Bali may be regarded as Hindu in both religion and culture.
c14.s4.2
The inscriptions of Mūlavarman from Kutei in Borneo are written in *Anuṣṭubh* stanzas in the style of some of the inscriptions of the Early Kadambas of Banavasi, their alphabet being Late Brāhmī similar to that found in Buddhagupta’s inscription discovered in the Malay Peninsula and referred to above.⁴ Pūrṇavarman’s inscriptions from Java are written in a similar alphabet and style, there being one stanza in *Sragdharā* besides others in *Anuṣṭubh*. They may be assigned to the 6th century A.D.⁵
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⁴ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 446-47; Chatterji and Chakravarti, op. cit., pp. 8 ff.
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⁵ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 468 ff.; Chatterji and Chakravarti, op. cit., p. 20 ff.
c14.s4.5
Epigraphic records of Indonesia continue in an unbroken series from the 5th or 6th century down to the end of the Indo-Javanese period about the beginning of the 16th century. But the number of Sanskrit inscriptions found in Malay Peninsula and Indonesia is much smaller than that of those discovered in Cambodia and Annam. The Indonesian inscriptions generally record pious donations or the building of temples. They usually inform us as to when and by whom a temple or monastery or image was constructed or a donation made. When a gift of land was the subject of an inscription, its boundaries were indicated, and, when privileges were bestowed their nature was written down. Usually the inscriptions give some information about the kings in whose regnal reckoning they were dated as well as about the royal officers associated with the documents together with facts throwing light on the religious, administrative and social condition of the country.
c14.s4.6
The inscriptions are generally written on stone, either slabs or rocks. But there are some epigraphs on plates of copper, silver or gold. The earlier inscriptions are in Sanskrit in the Late Brāhmī alphabet of West and South India or its local modification; but later epigraphs are mostly in the Kavi or old Javanese language and the Kavi script which was a derivative of Brāhmī developed in the land itself. The Kavi language is an admixture of Sanskrit and the local Polynesian dialect. The Śailendra kings of Śrīvijaya used the Siddhamātṛkā alphabet of East India and the Sanskrit language for their inscriptions.
c14.s4.7
The use of the Śaka era became popular in Indonesian epigraphy, its earliest use being noticed in inscriptions of the 8th century. It was probably introduced by the merchants of the Western part of the Deccan. The earliest record of Java dated in the Śaka era is the Kelurak inscription¹ of Śaka 700 (778 A.D.). The Minto stone inscription² of Śaka 876 (954 A.D.) is in the Kavi language but has two Sanskrit stanzas at the beginning. The Pereng stone inscription (Śaka 785-863 A.D.), written in the Kavi language, contains five Sanskrit stanzas in the Āryā metre.¹ Similar is the case with the Singasari inscription (915 A.D.) of king Daṣka written in both Sanskrit and Kavi.²
c14.s4.8
¹ India and Java, II, pp. 44 ff.
c14.s4.9
² Ibid., p. 48.
c14.s4.10
¹ Cf. ibid., p. 48, note 6.
c14.s4.11
² Kern, *V. G.*, Vol. IV, pp. 279 ff.