Language on the Stones

That stone still stands there.

The previous article left off here. This article will look at what was written on that stone.

May 1, 683#

In that year, someone erected a stone on the banks of the Tatang River outside Palembang. ^1,2

The time was recorded very clearly: the year 605 of the Saka era, which converts to May 1, 683 CE.

How is this date known? The inscription itself bears its own date. This is the greatest value of epigraphy — it doesn't rely on someone else's recounting; it speaks for itself.

This stone was erected outside the city of Palembang. It was seen again more than 1,200 years later — on November 29, 1920, when a Dutch colonial official named C.J. Batenburg dug it up on the banks of the Tatang River. ^1,2

The excavated object is now housed in the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta.

What This Stone Recorded#

The Kedukan Bukit Inscription records an expedition. ^1,2

The leader was named Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa. The starting point was called Minanga Tamwan — scholars still debate where exactly this place was, so let's set that aside for now. He led twenty thousand men on a "sacred expedition" (Sanskrit: siddhayātra), ending with the establishment of a new settlement.

The inscription concludes with praises for the "Great Srivijaya."

Twenty thousand men, a sacred expedition, founding a new settlement. This is a certificate of nation-building, or at least the record of a major expansion.

But this article wants to pause on another matter.

The Script Came from the South, but the Language Was Not Sanskrit#

The first thing anyone looking at the inscription sees is the script.

It is the Pallava script — a writing system brought over from southern India. ^1,2 In that era, Brahmin scholars from southern India brought writing, religious rituals, and architectural techniques onto ships, riding the trade winds to Southeast Asia. Sanskrit classics, concepts of kingship, courtly rituals — this entire package was brought in along with the Pallava script.

So, seeing this script is not surprising. Many inscriptions in these waters used it.

However, what is written in the Pallava script is not necessarily Sanskrit.

The Kedukan Bukit Inscription, using the Pallava script, is written in Old Malay. ^1,2

This is no small matter. This is one of the earliest known Old Malay inscriptions with a clear date — not Sanskrit, not Pali, but a specific language that is still alive today and spoken by hundreds of millions of people.

The earliest complete written record of this language was left on this stone.

The Next Stone: An Edict for a Garden#

About a year after the Kedukan Bukit Inscription was erected, on March 23, 684, the same Sri Jayanasa erected a second stone in a different place. ^1,2

The location was at the foot of Bukit Seguntang — a hill near Palembang that carries heavy weight in Malay legends, though that is a story for another article. This stone is called the Talang Tuwo Inscription, also using the Pallava script, also writing in Old Malay, and also housed today in the National Museum in Jakarta.

Talang Tuwo does not record military operations.

It records that Sri Jayanasa built a royal park for the welfare of all living beings, and made a Buddhist-style vow: May what is planted here, bamboo, palms, coconuts, areca nuts; may the ships that come here; and may all living beings attain happiness and peace.

One stone records an expedition, another records a garden. Putting the two stones together, you begin to see the silhouette of a person — a ruler seeking to expand territories, but also praying for the blessings of his subjects.

Bangka Island: The First Stone Discovered#

The third stone came slightly later, on February 28, 686, erected on the western coast of Bangka Island. ^1,2

It is called the Kota Kapur Inscription.

Here we must interject an interesting fact: among these Srivijayan inscriptions, Kota Kapur was the first to be discovered. The time was December 1892, when a Dutchman named J.K. van der Meulen found it on Bangka Island.

But its date is the latest among the group. Being discovered early does not mean it was erected early.

The tone of the Kota Kapur inscription shifts noticeably: it curses those who betray Srivijaya and records preparations for an invasion of Java. Curses, oaths, war preparations — the tone of this stone is starkly different from the royal park edict.

A regime expanding to a place like Bangka Island, erecting stones there, demanding local oaths of loyalty, and then preparing to attack Java — this was Srivijaya in 686.

Telaga Batu: The Stone That Is an Organizational Chart#

Of these four stones, the one worth spending the most time on is the Telaga Batu Inscription.

It has no clear dating text; based on the script style and discovery location, scholars place it around 683, contemporary with Kedukan Bukit. ^1,2

Let's discuss the physical object first. Andesite stone, 118 centimeters tall, 148 centimeters wide. The top is carved with seven Nāga serpent heads, peering down at the text below. The bottom has a water spout.

What was that spout used for?

Loyalty rituals.

The ritual procedure went something like this: water was poured onto the inscription, flowed beneath the seven serpent heads, washed over the text, and came out of the bottom spout for the oath-taker to drink or touch. The water had flowed over the cursing text; those who drank it were bound by the curse.

This was a legal contract created with stone and water.

The text of the inscription itself contains the longest curse among these Srivijayan inscriptions. ^1,2

Even more interesting: it doesn't just curse traitors; it lays out a list — about twenty official titles and social strata: princes, generals, merchants, ship captains, slaves... all kinds of people had to swear loyalty before this stone.

Think of it this way: a stone, seven serpent heads watching over it, a water spout at the bottom flowing with cursed water, and carved upon it twenty types of people who must pledge allegiance.

This stone itself is an organizational chart.

It tells us that around 683, Srivijaya already had a sufficiently complex hierarchical structure that it needed stones to manage loyalties. One stone could not govern everyone — that's why it required stratification, job divisions, and grouping, with each category corresponding to a section of the curse on the stone.

The Script Came from the South, but Where Did the Language Come From?#

Let's pause here, because there is something worth thinking through clearly.

The Pallava script came from southern India. This is certain. Influence from southern India left many things in this region — Sanskrit vocabulary, royal rituals, architectural forms.

But the language recorded on these inscriptions was not Sanskrit.

If someone writes Malay lyrics using the English alphabet, the song does not become an English song just because it uses English letters. The Pallava script was just a set of writing tools; it was borrowed to write Old Malay — nothing more.

What does this mean? It means that by 683, Old Malay was already a language that could be formally written and left on stones. It had enough standardization and sufficient status to record the orders and oaths of a ruler.

This is a sign of a language reaching a certain stage of maturity.

The Peninsula Had to Wait More Than 600 Years#

Where is the first Malay-language stone inscription on the Malay Peninsula?

In Terengganu, by the Tersat River, discovered in 1887, now housed in the Terengganu State Museum, and added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2009. ^3,4

This stone is called the Terengganu Inscription Stone (Batu Bersurat Terengganu).

It does not use the Pallava script; it uses Jawi — Arabic letters used to write Malay, because by that era, Islam had arrived. The inscription promulgates Islamic laws, detailing ten basic Sharia regulations.

What era is this inscription from?

Here we must stop and honestly state a fact: the date of this inscription remains controversial to this day. ^3,5

At the date section on the eleventh line of the inscription, the text is physically damaged and unreadable. Different scholars looking at the same damage read different numbers. There are currently at least three main theories:

• Read as 702 AH, converting to 1303 CE (The reading of scholar al-Attas, deduced using calendars and linguistics — one of his bases is that the Friday mentioned on the stone aligns with only one specific date in 702 AH)
• Another scholar, Ahmat Adam, re-examined the damage and argued for 1308 CE
• The first decipherer, Blagden in 1922, leaned toward 1387 CE

The root of the controversy is that those words are ruined. No X-ray can read words that are no longer in the stone. This is not because any scholar is lazy; it is a physical fact.

Regardless of which year is chosen, the conclusion is the same:

The Terengganu Inscription Stone is at least six hundred years, and at most over seven hundred years, later than the Srivijayan inscriptions in Sumatra. ^3,5,4

Comparing 683 to 1303 yields a difference of 620 years. Comparing it to 1387 yields a difference of 704 years. No matter where it falls in this range, the statement "more than six hundred years" stands firm.

A Time Gap#

What does this time gap mean?

It does not mean there was no Malay language on the Malay Peninsula. Of course there was. People don't need to wait for someone to erect a stone inscription before they start speaking.

But leaving written language on stones is a specific act. It means there was a ruler who thought it worth the effort to carve certain words into stone, it means there were craftsmen who knew how to do it, and it means a writing system was recognized as formal.

On the Sumatra side, this happened in 683.

On the Malay Peninsula, the earliest surviving evidence of this kind in public records dates to the fourteenth century.

The language itself might be older than the stones. But the stones leave the timestamps. ^1,2

This time gap is not a secret; it sits in museums. Four stones in Jakarta, one stone in Terengganu, the dates are carved, and anyone who goes to see them can see it.

Where Does This History Go Next?#

Palembang had these stones, and it also had a throne.

Srivijaya expanded from the seventh century, strangling the Strait of Malacca, taxing every passing merchant ship, and accumulating centuries of wealth and prestige.

And then, in 1025, a fleet arrived from southern India.

Next: Palembang had more than just stones. Behind the stones was a throne, a throne that controlled the straits for centuries.