Buddhistic remains in the form of stone and metal imagery and/or brick-built temples have been found at several locations throughout the island ranging from Aceh in the north west to the Palembang region of southern Sumatra. This talk will review the various finds of imagery and the implications of such recoveries which mainly infer links with local rulers or with foreign traders. The Buddhist sangha, although possibly, left some minor influences in the Sumatran adat (culture), did not seem to have developed into a vigorous or sustainable form among indigenous communities throughout the island in the past. This perhaps suggests an over-dependence on overseas trade which, by the sixteenth century, was increasingly Islamic in nature.

About the Speaker:
E. Edwards McKinnon obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from Cornell University, USA. He has interests in ancient inter-regional maritime trade and Indian (particularly Tamil) influences in Sumatra, especially the vestiges of both Buddhism and early Islamic influences. He has worked in northern Sumatra, where he pioneered excavation at Kota Cina, a medieval harbour site near Medan and in Aceh, and published widely on the history and archaeology of Sumatra. He has travelled extensively throughout the island and is familiar with much of the landscape of Sumatra and with numerous early archaeological sites.

* Please note that this lecture takes place at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, (ISEAS), in Seminar Room II.

Due to limited seating, registration is required. Please R.S.V.P to betty@iseas.edu.sg or fax 6775 6264 by 21st October, Wednesday. For more enquires, please call Betty at 6870 2472.

Successful registrants will be notified by email.

This lecture is free. Light refreshments will be served before the lecture.

This lecture is jointly organised by the Research and Publication Unit of ACM and Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, ISEAS.

photo credit: The Wandering Angel

Anusorn pushes for listing of Thai sites
Bangkok Post, 17 June 2008

Anusorn pushes for listing of Thai sites
ANCHALEE KONGRUT

The Fine Arts Department is proposing new World Heritage sites in Thailand.

The FAD is asking the United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural Organisation (Unesco) to consider the merits of three old towns in the North, landscapes along the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok and the remnants of an ancient civilisation in the South.

The sites are being pushed by Culture Minister Anusorn Wongwan.

Kriengkrai Sampatcharit, an FAD official, said the three northern towns of Nan, Lamphun and Chiang Sean, in Chiang Rai province, are worthy of inclusion as they are sites of the 800-year-old Lanna civilisation and feature temples and pagodas from this era.

The second region being promoted is the Chao Phraya landscape from the King Rama I Memorial bridge, near Pak Klong Talat flower market, to the King Rama VIII bridge in Bangkok. The section of the city includes national heritage sites including the Grand Palace and city landmarks including Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn.

The third nominee is the the former home of the Sri Vijaya civilisation, which reaches over the border into Malaysia. The span of the civilisation covered what is now Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani and part of Kedah State in Malaysia. This site will have to be proposed jointly by Thailand and Malaysia.

Thailand already has three world heritage sites _ Ayutthaya Historical Park, Sukhothai Historical Park and Ban Chiang, an archaeological site in the Northeast.

The FAD has also already submitted some Khmer ancient sandstone structures, such as Phanom Rung stone temple in the lower Northeast, and Phu Phrabat, a park of bizarre geographical formations in Udon Thani, for Unesco listing.

You might be wondering: When you think of Srivijaya, don’t you think of Indonesia rather than Thailand? The answer is yes, the polity was centred in Palembang in Sumatra, but at its height Srivijaya was thought to have another major power base in the middle of the Malay-Thai peninsula, the area shared between the Malaysian and Thai borders.

Related books:
- Around Lan-Na: A Guide to Thailand’s Northern Border Region, From Chiang Mai to Nan.
- A Brief History of Lan Na: Civilizations of North Thailand
- An Ancient Bird-Shaped Weight System from Lan Na and Burma
- History of Lan Na
- The Art of Sirvijaya
- Sriwijaya: History, religion & language of an early Malay polity : collected studies (Monograph of the Malaysian Branch, Royal Asiatic Society)

It is the general assumption that Srivijaya was an powerful maritime kingdom that played an important role in the political forum in early Southeast Asia for many centuries, from 7th century to the end of 13th century AD. Just as its sudden appearance not very much is known of its decline, for that matter, the extent of this hegemony especially in Insular Southeast Asia during the height of its power. It influenced many social aspects in the region at that time, such as history of political life, beliefs, culture and economy.

The remains of Srivijaya civilization, tangible or intangible are still found up to now in many sites in South East Asia countries. The researched about Sriwijaya is being conducted in each country until nowadays, and it was come out with a long term polemic about the center of this huge kingdom.
Several sites were presumed as a center of Srivijaya Kingdom and its supported with many written sources and archaeological evidences, such as Palembang and Jambi in South Sumatera Indonesia, Ligor in Malaysia, and Chaiya in Thailand.

With this as background sholars are not agreement as to the location of the site (s) of Srivijaya. Until the last seminar (1985) Seameo Project in Archaeology and Fine Arts (SPAFA), it is still confusion in the construction of the center of activities of the kingdom. There are many places and regions that claim to be the center of Srivijaya.

The present Seminar on Srivijaya Civilization will be present the followings objectives as guidelines for drawing up the development for research projects on this important period of Southeast Asian History.

Goal

1) To give information of the last decade years researches on Srivijaya.
2)To give information there was cultural dan historical relationship among Indonesia and Southeast Asia
3) To give information that Srivijaya was a powerful empire in the history of Indonesia and Southeast Asia
3) To give information about Srivijaya as a maritime and powerful empire in Indonesia and Southeast Asia in the early history.
The Seminar outcome:
1) Proceedings on Cultural History of Srivijaya Civilization
2) Documented all the last decade years researches on Srivijaya

Venue

The seminar activity will be held at Quality Hotel in Palembang, July 16th – 19th, 2008 (3 days seminar and 1 day for site visit). Starting in June with the celebration of the rise of Srivijaya 682 AD. and will be continue in July with Seminar on Srivijaya. The Seminar will be organized by the National Research Centre and Development of Archaeology (Puslitbang Arkenas) in Jakarta joined with Research Branch Centre for Archaology (Balai Arkeologi) in Palembang.

Participants

The seminar is an effort to bring qualified persons to draw up an integrated Research Plan to the undertaken by scholars in Southeast Asia. A number of experts from foreign countries as well as from Indonesia will attend the seminar. They are from various discipline (archaeology, history, art, architecture, geology, and others), and from institution inside/outside of the region which have join researches in Srivijaya such as India, China, England, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore Brunei, Philippine and Indonesia.

Topic

The topic will be classified into general and thematic studies, such as:
1) Settlement: early settlement, urban settlement
2) Environment
3) Religion
4) Trade/maritime
5) Technology
6) Art and architecture

If you need more detail information please contact
Organizing Committee
1) The Centre of National Archaeology
Jln. Raya Condet Pejaten 4 , Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta
2) Archaeological Office in Palembang, South Sumatera
Jln. Kancil Putih, Lr. Rusa. Demang Lebar Daun, Palembang, Sumatera Selatan
email: balai(AT)arkeologi.palembang.go.id

Related Books:
- Early Indonesian Commerce: A Study of the Origins of Srivijaya
- Consultative Workshop on Archaeological and Environmental Studies on Srivijaya (I-W2b), Jakarta, Padang, Prapat, and Medan, Indonesia, September 16-30, 1985: Final report
- Sriwijaya dalam perspektif arkeologi dan sejarah
- Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula
- Ancient History (The Indonesian Heritage Series)

Malay Ethnic Identity: Unravelling the Historical from the Discursive by Prof Leonard Andaya
15 November 2007
1700 hrs
National University of Singapore Bukit Timah Campus, 469 Bukit Timah Road, Blk B, Level 3, Auditorium
Organised by Asia Research Institute, East Asian Institute, Faculty of Law, Institute of South Asian Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Abstract:
In recent years there has been a considerable number of works devoted to analyzing “Malay” identity. Such discussion often begins with the Malaysian Constitutional determination of who can legally claim to be a Malay. The more informed will cite social science theories on ethnicity and identity to emphasize the power relationships involved in the determination of any ethnic identity. Any discussion of Malay ethnic identity, therefore, often begins in the nineteenth century with the attempt by colonial authorities to identify, classify, and hence control. While governments changed over the years, the relationship between power and classification hence control was maintained. But is this the whole story of Malay ethnic identity? In this paper I attempt to demonstrate that the ethnic group called “Malayu” can be traced to the early history of the archipelago. By adopting a historical approach extending deep into the past, it is possible to see how the discursive identity associated with power relationships operated on one level, while another level existed in the marketplace. Practical economic and social factors at the ordinary level of people’s lives helped to sustain ethnic identities that did not always coincide with the government’s prescriptions. It is this dual perception that helps to ameliorate some of the harshness that at times pervades government ethnic rhetoric.

About the Speaker:
Professor Andaya received a BA in History from Yale University, and an MA and PhD in Southeast Asian history at Cornell University. He has held positions at the University of Malaya, the Australian National University, the University of Auckland, and the University of Hawaii, where he has been professor of Southeast Asian history since 1993.

His area of research specialization is Malaysia and Indonesia in the early modern period (c. 1500-c. 1800). Among his publications are The History of Johor (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1975), A History of Malaysia (with Barbara Watson Andaya) (London: Macmillan, 1981), The Heritage of Arung Palakka: A History of South Sulawesi in the 17th Century (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1982), and The World of Maluku: Eastern Indonesia in the Early Modern Period (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993). A second edition of A History of Malaysia was published in December, 2000. His latest book is called, Leaves of the Same Tree: Trade and Ethnicity in the Straits of Melaka, and will be published by the University of Hawai’i Press in March, 2008.

He was awarded a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to conduct research in Indonesia and The Netherlands in 2008 for a book on the history of eastern Indonesia in the early modern period.

Arroyo cites ancient Philippines-India ties
By Michael Lim Ubac

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday sought to revive the Philippines’ ancient ties with India even as she called on the two countries’ leaders to “move the integration of our economies forward.”

The President was accorded full military honors when she arrived here on the second day of a three-day state visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.

Indian President Pratibha Patil, India’s first woman chief of state, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were on hand to receive Ms Arroyo in elaborate ceremonies at the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Sanskrit for presidential palace), a magnificent colonial structure with massive columns, verandas and balconies incorporating traditional Indian motifs.

Ms Arroyo’s visit here is the second in 10 years by a Philippine president. President Fidel Ramos visited India in 1997.

“India has played a very important influence on the culture of the Philippines way back before the Spanish colonized us, and we want to revive our cultural ties,” Ms Arroyo said in brief remarks to reporters following her arrival.

Cultural influence

Indian cultural influence reached the Philippines indirectly via two great Indo-Malayan empires which traded with the Philippines. The Sriwijaya Empire (7th to 13th centuries) based in Palembang, Sumatra, was a mix of Buddhism and Hinduism. The Majapahit Empire (1293 to 1527) was Hindu, and centered in Java in what is now Indonesia. Indian hegemony over Southeast Asia ended with the decline of the Majapahit in the 14th century and the rise of Islam.

Scholars believe that Indian cultural influence on Filipino culture has been underestimated. It extended through the indigenous religions, epic folk literature, myths, social customs, arts, crafts, traditional dress and Sanskrit roots of pre-Hispanic script and numerous contemporary words.

The President said that India was the fourth largest economy in the world (in terms of purchasing power parity), “and with that comes great responsibilities of India to her neighbors in the economic, political and security fields.”

“And as one of the neighbors of India in the East Asian region, we are happy to be here to move the integration of our economies forward,” she said.

In a measure using purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations, India has the world’s fourth largest gross domestic product at $4.156 trillion. PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of countries, rather than using just the exchange rates, which may distort real differences in income.

India has a population of 1.1 billion, second only to China’s 1.3 billion people.

After the ceremonies at the presidential palace, the President went to lay a wreath at the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi, India’s great nationalist leader.

She returned to the Oberoi Hotel to receive a succession of Indian leaders and businessmen before addressing the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Associated Chamber of Commerce of India.

Trade ties lopsided

Saying trade relations between the two countries were “lopsided” in favor of India, Ms Arroyo invited the Indian business groups to invest in the Philippines in the areas of information technology, business outsourcing, mining, filmmaking, tourism, biofuels, asset privatization and consumer products.

Philippine exports to India, led by electronics, registered at $119.5 million in 2006, while imports of Indian goods such as meat, wheat and iron finished products amounted to $400.9 million.

9 accords signed

Ms Arroyo announced the signing of nine bilateral agreements with India:

• Framework of Philippines-India Bilateral Relations

• Agreement to Establish the Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation

• $50-million credit line from the Export and Import Bank of India

• Philippines-India Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism, to include exchange of military personnel and students and joint military exercises in non-combat activities

• Memorandum of Agreement in the Field of Health and Medicine

• Agreement between the government-owned Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) and Indian State Trading Corp. on the purchase of $35 million worth of quality but affordable medicines from India

“Our massive spending on health care includes importing pharmaceuticals from India as part of our program to cut in half the price of medicines commonly bought by the poor,” Ms Arroyo said.

• Memorandum of Agreement on Enhanced Cooperation in the Field of Renewable Energy

• Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Foreign Service Institutes of the Philippines and India

• Memorandum of Agreement on the Waiver of Visa Requirements for Holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports.

Other meetings

President Arroyo also met with Indian opposition leader Lok Sabha, Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari and Sonia Gandhi, chair of the Indian National Congress party.

In the evening, she Arroyo again met Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before going on to a state banquet hosted by the Indian President.

To cap the day, Ms Arroyo met with the Filipino community here at the Oberoi Hotel. This Saturday she goes to Agra for a tour of the Taj Mahal, the magnificent white marble mausoleum which the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan built for his wife in the 17th century.

President Arroyo arrived in India on Thursday straight from a two-day visit to China. Her visit to the Indian capital was preceded by a visit to Mumbai, India’s industrial center. She leaves for home later today.

At her meeting with the Confederation of Indian Industries in Mumbai, the President invited Indian pharmaceutical companies to make the Philippines their main base of operations in Southeast Asia.

She also invited India’s hotel and resort owners to invest in the Philippines to promote tourism, particularly in the central Philippines tourism corridor and touted the country’s pristine waters and white sand beaches.

She also invited Indian businessmen to participate in the government’s asset privatization program and invest in government-owned or -controlled corporations.

Call center in Camarines Sur

Sutherland Global Services of India has announced its plan to expand its call center operations in the Philippines.

Sutherland president K.S. Kumar, who called on the President in Mumbai, said Sutherland would set up a new call center in Camarines Sur province, southeast of Manila, in the next 45 days, which he said was expected to create 500 jobs.

He said that within the next three months, they will be establishing a 100-seat call center in Davao, and add another 500 seats to their existing 2,000-man operation in Clark.

Kumar said Sutherland Global Services was among the first locators in the new IT Park in the northern province of Tarlac, with its 100-seat call center expected to be online by January 2008.

The company is finalizing the evaluation of a proposed 200-employee call center operation in Iloilo and the planned training facilities in seven provinces to accommodate 500 graduates every month.

WNS Global Services also presented to the President its plan for a call center project in the Philippines that was registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority last Sept. 26.

In the 11th century, the south Indian Tamil kingdom of Chola launched an attack on Srivijaya, systematically plundering the Srivijayan ports along the Straits of Malacca, and even captured the Srivijayan king in Palembang. The reasons for this change in relations between Srivijaya and the Cholas are unknown, although it is theorised that plunder made up an essential part of the Chola political economy. While it seemed that the Cholas only intended to plunder Srivijaya, they left a lasting presence on Kataha, the remains of which are still visible at the Bujang Valley archaeological museum.

The successful sack and plunder of Srivijaya had left it in a severely weakened state that marked the beginning of the end of Srivijaya. Having lost its wealth and prestige from the Chola attack, the port cities of the region started to initiate direct trade with China, shrugging off the exclusive influence Srivijaya once held over them. Towards the end of Srivijaya’s influence, the power centre of Srivijaya began to oscillate between Palembang and neighbouring Jambi, further fragmenting the once-great empire. Other factors included Javanese invasion westwards toward Sumatra in 1275, invading the Malayu kingdoms. Later towards the end of the 13th century, the Thai polities from the north came down the peninsula and conquered the last of the Srivijayan vassals.

Despite its influence and reach, Srivijaya flew very quickly into obscurity, and it was not until the last 90 years that the kingdom’s history was rediscovered, mainly through epigraphical sources. Palembang, determined as the centre of power for Srivijaya poses a special problem for archaeologists, for if the modern settlement followed the ancient settlement pattern, ancient Palembang would have been built over shallow water and any archaeological remains would be buried deep in the mud. As the 19th-century naturalist Alfred Wallace described it, Palembang is a populous city several miles long but only one house wide!

By way of a quick epilogue, the story of Srivijaya ends where the story of the Malacca Sultanate begins. The Sejarah Melayu, or Malay Annals, begins with a story about Raja Chulan – perhaps an allusion to the king (Raja) of the Cholas, whose sack of Srivijaya led to its ultimate downfall. The annals go on to relate the appearance of three princes at Bukit Seguntang in Palembang, one of whom eventually founds a city of Singapura in Temasek before establishing Malacca further north…

Books about Srivijaya (and also the books I referred to):
- Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History by P. S. Bellwood and I. Glover (Eds) contains chapters on the classical cultures of Indonesia and the archaeology of the early maritime polities of Southeast Asia.
- Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula by P. M. Munoz
- Early History (The Encyclopedia of Malaysia) by Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman (Ed) has several chapters on Srivijaya.
- Sriwijaya: History, religion & language of an early Malay polity by G. Coedès and L. Damais

- The Wiang Sa Inscription (Thai Peninsula) dated 775 AD.

With a reach spanning from Sumatra and Java to as far north as the Thai peninsula and a reign of some 600 years, it’s remarkable that what is now known as the Srivijaya empire was only unearthed relatively recently. The first hint of a Sumatran-based polity was first alluded to by the eminent French scholar George Coedes 1918, based on inscriptions found in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. In this primer, we’ll talk about the Srivijayan empire, the extent of its influence and its eventual fall.

The kingdom of Srivijaya, a name which translates to “shining victory”, was a Malay polity centred in Palembang in south Sumatra. At its height, its area of influence included neighbouring Jambi, to the north the kingdoms of the Malay Peninsula: Chitu, Pan-pan, Langkasuka and Kataha, as well as eastwards in Java, where links with the Sailendra dynasty and Srivijaya are implied. The same Sailendra dynasty was responsible for the construction of the massive Buddhist stupa of Borobudur between 780 and 825 AD.

Indeed, Srivijaya was considered to be one of the major centres of learning for the Buddhist world. In the 7th century, Yijing, a Buddhist monk who travelled between China and India to copy sacred texts mentioned the high quality of Sanskrit education in Palembang, and recommended that anyone who wanted to go to the university at Nalanda (north India) should stay in Palembang for a year or two to learn “how to behave properly”. Srivijaya’s prominent role in the Buddhist world can be found in several inscriptions around Asia: an inscription in Nalanda dated 850-860 AD described how a temple was built in Nalanda at the request of a king of Srivijaya. In the 11th century, a temple in Guangzhou in China received a donation from Srivijaya to help with the upkeep. The Wiang Sa inscription quoted above recounts how a Srivijayan king ordered the construction of three stupas in Chaiya, also in the Thai peninsula.

The Srivijayan empire controlled the important Strait of Melaka (Malacca) which facilitated trade between China and India. With its naval power, the empire managed to suppress piracy along the Malacca strait, making Srivjayan entrepots the port of choice for traders. Despite its apparent hegemony, the empire did not destroy the other non-Srivijayan competitors but used them as secondary sources of maritime trade. Srivijaya’s wide influence in the region was a mixture of diplomacy and conquest, but ultimately operated like a federation of port-city kingdoms. Besides the southern centre of power in Palembang, Arab, Chinese and Indian sources also imply that Srivijaya had a northern power centre, most probably Kataha, what is now known as Kedah on the western side of the Malay peninsula.

Kedah is now known for remains of Indian architecture at the Bujang Valley. This was due to the invasion by the Chola kingdom from South India – an invasion which ultimately led to the fall of Srivijaya. How did this happen? Look out for part 2 of Srivijaya: A primer.

Books about Srivijaya (and also the books I referred to):
- Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History by P. S. Bellwood and I. Glover (Eds) contains chapters on the classical cultures of Indonesia and the archaeology of the early maritime polities of Southeast Asia.
- Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula by P. M. Munoz
- Early History (The Encyclopedia of Malaysia) by Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman (Ed) has several chapters on Srivijaya.
- Sriwijaya: History, religion & language of an early Malay polity by G. Coedès and L. Damais

Singapore, of course wasn’t always known as “Singapura” – it once bore the name of Temasek, a name which in Old Malay means “city of the sea”. In 14th century Chinese accounts, Wang Dayuan, a trader who traveled through Southeast Asia mentioned Temasek (Dan-Ma-Xi). There, he noted a settlement where the natives and Chinese lived side-by-side. He also noted that the Dan-ma-xi barbarians were pirates, often letting ships passing to the west unmolested, but plundering returning ships when they reached Karimun island. (Aside: I previously wrote about a Srivijayan inscription on Karimun). So it’s quite amusing that the latest Pirates of the Carribean movie features Chow Yun-fat as the pirate king of Singapore. A case of life imitating art imitating life? Perhaps it would be more accurate to have him say:

So how did Temasek get its named changed then? We have one account from the Sejarah Melayu, or Malay Annals. Sang Nila Utama, later entitled Sri Tri Buana (both titular names, and referring to a prince from Palembang) had just crossed the sea from Bentan (Bintan) to the white sandy shores of Temasek:

And when they reached the shore, the ship was brought close on and Sri Tri Buana went ashore with all the the ship’s company and they amused themselves with collecting shell-fish. The king then went inland for sport on the open ground at Kuala Temasek.

And they beheld a strange animal. It seemed to move with great speed; it had a red body and a black head; its breast was white, it was strong and active in build, and in size was rather bigger than a he-goat. When it saw the party, it moved away and then disappeared. And Sri Tri Buana inquired of all those who were with him, “What beast is that?” But no one knew. Then said Demang Lebar Daun, “Your Highness, I have heard in ancient times it was a lion that had that appearance. I think that what we saw must have been a lion.”

…

Sri Tri Buana then established a city at Temasek, giving it the name of Singapura.
(Shellabear edition of the Sejarah Melayu)

Contrary to popular belief, Singapura was not named after a lion (which indeed would have been a very lost lion), but in fact an unidentified “strange creature” that was thought to be a lion! The source of this account – the Malay Annals – must also be seen as a product of its times. The annals were first compiled in the 16th or 17th century, when the Malacca Sultanate had moved to Johor after being ousted by the Portuguese. The Malay Annals does little to explain to its audience – who would have heard the history rather than read it – why a Malay Islamic sultanate’s precursor would have an Indic name. The early part of the annals, which includes the founding of Singapura, are thought to be romanticised, mythologised accounts of a more shady past.

Other historical sources provide supplementary and contradictory information: according to the Alfonso D’Alberquerque, the Portuguese general who conquered Melaka, a Palembang prince named Paramesvara (Parameswara) fled to Singapura and usurped rule. When the king of Patani (in the Thai peninsula), who was brother of the former ruler, came to seek revenge, Paramwswara fled north to found Melaka. In the Malay Annals, Parameswara was fifth in the line of rulers of Singapura, who was attacked by the Javanese Majapahit and was forced to flee to Melaka, which he founded.

Whatever the case may be, as we may well never truly know, the name Singapura lived on through the Malay Annals. This name and location was later picked up on by Sir Stamford Raffles in the 19th century who sought to build a settlement in Singapore, but also as a symbolic move to legitimise a British foothold in the region. From the lack of textual references from both the Chinese and Srivijaya, it certainly appears that Temasek/Singapura was not geographically significant until around the 14th century, and its current importance is due largely to the British rather than any former glory. However, the different accounts collectively imply that a settlement existed before Parameswara, and typical of other populated areas of the region would have adhered to a syncretic Hindu-Buddhist religion. John Crawfurd, the first British resident of Singapore noted in his diaries the remains of an ancient settlement on Fort Canning Hill, which he attributes as remains of a Buddhist temple and monasteries. It is in this setting, then, that the name Singapura is not entirely out of place.

And that wraps up this series on The Many Places of Singapura! I hope you found this series interesting, as much as I had found it interesting to write about it.

The books I referred to for this article were:
Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula by P. M. Munoz
Archaeological Research on the “Forbidden Hill” of Singapore: Excavations at Fort Canning, 1984
The Malay Annals (Shellabear)

In “On why Malacca and not Srivijaya?“:

A majority of Malays are content to look only as far as the Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th and the 16th century, apparently accepting the era as the golden age of ancient, classical or medieval Malay civilization. Thanks to the education I received through the Malaysian system, I had the same perception too and I do think even Malaysians as a society in one way or another accept Malacca was the greatest civilization in ancient, classical or medieval Malaysian history. My love for history has allowed me to delve far beyond Malaysian textbooks. While Malacca was a great empire, a greater civilization was Srivijaya, a empire that was almost forgotten. I truly believe that Srivijaya was that brilliant light that stayed bright from nearly a millennium. Malacca was a just spark, though brilliant as it may be.

In “Of the link between Srivijaya and the Khmer Empire“:

Srivijaya was one of the greatest empires in the Malay Archipelago. It lasted for possibly about 1,000 years and had interacted with so many proud kingdoms that existed during its time. The Chinese civilizations were the source of Srivijaya richness through a tributary system, which gifts were exchanged between the courts of the two emperors. The exchange was not exactly free trade but it was trade nonetheless. In the east, there was the Chola of which the great Rajaraja was king. In most cases, the two outsiders exerted stronger influence on Srivijaya culturally, economically and politically though from time to time, Srivijaya exported culture to China due to it being the center of Buddhism outside of India. Apart from that, Srivijaya left a mark on one of the great kingdoms of Southeast Asia — the Khmer Empire.

Perhaps I shall write a short primer on Srivijaya… after I finish my Many places of Singapura series.

Related Books:
- Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History by P. S. Bellwood and I. Glover (Eds)
- Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula by P. M. Munoz
- Sriwijaya: History, religion & language of an early Malay polity by G. Coedès and L. Damais

The island of Karimun Besar (Greater Karimun) is a croissant-shaped island resting at the end of the Melaka strait – a great strategic position because from the north shore one can see Sumatra at the left and the Malay Peninsula in the right. In fact, the British once considered setting up base there because of its location – but Raffles opted instead for Singapore with the romantic notion of resurrecting the civilization (Temasek) that was mentioned in the Malay Annals.

I read about the inscription a long time ago, and was recently reminded by it when I attended a short course on the archaeology of Singapore. Dr. John Miksic, the course conductor, mentioned the Karimun inscription and inspired me to take a trip down to look for it. Finding the inscription was the tricky part, however. Dr Miksic mentioned visiting the place almost 20 years ago, so I was working with 20-year-old information. The only lead I had was that it must have laid on the north shore of the island, possibly by a beach. Locating the stone was also compounded by the fact that Karimun of late was mired in some tension over importing granite to Singapore – and that the granite quarry was also in the north side of the island.

So I was rather fortunate to have met with Tres, one of the taxi drivers who aggressively touted visitors to Karimun. For something like S$30, Tres would drive my party of three up to the northern Pasir Panjang beach. When he found out that we were looking for the stone inscription, he told us that he knew where it was and offered to drive us directly there.

It was a good thing he did – as it turns out the inscription was, as feared, inside the grounds of the granite quarry. We had to pass through two security checkpoints, as well as surrender our cameras at the second checkpoint where we continued on foot. Our guide was good to his word when he led us to a shed 100 metres away from the security post – the stone inscription was carved on the side of a large granite hill, in an area of about 3 metres by 3 metres. At a distance, trucks rumbled carrying workers and granite. The area around the inscription was fairly untouched and protected – a small wall, fence and roof were erected over the inscription, and the presence of incense offerings also indicated that the place was venerated as a shrine. There was even a government notice that indicated the inscription was protected.

(Yes, I snuck my phone camera in.) I think the current worshippers at the shrine are Sikhs, judging from the images placed at the shrine. This is quite strange, considering that the inscription was probably written by a Buddhist author:

According to Dr. Miksic, the inscription is written in Devanegari script and dates to the 9th or 10th century AD. It reads, “These are the footsteps of the illustrious Gautama the Mahayana Buddhist who possessed a round instrument.” Which was why I found it strange that it has become a site of Sikh veneration. Dr. Miksic also noted that the characters that formed the word “round instrument” are unique – they are not found in any other Indian inscription anywhere in the world. When I got home, I merged the two photos in photoshop-cleanup for better clarity:

What about the footprints that our illustrious Gautama left behind? At first, I thought it was the rounded depressions on the side of the hill beside the shrine. But Tres our guide came to the rescue again, pointing us to the footprint at the foot of the hill, 20 feet away.

The footprint was carved in the rock, but was partly covered by sand which was also wet. As a result, we couldn’t see if there were carvings at the bottom, but we managed to scoop out enough water to see the outline of the foot. Maybe the task for the next time I visit?

Related Books:
The article on Malaysia in Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History by I. Glover and P. S. Bellwood (Eds) mentions the Karimun inscription but not much else.