Bujang Valley
The Bujang Valley (
The archaeological remains suggest a
The local rulers adopted
Archaeological research
For the past two decades, students from universities around Malaysia have been invited for research and have done their graduate works at the Valley.[9][10] Much of the historical links is still vague considering not many of the scriptures and writings survive. Even the temples did not survive the onslaught of age because their wooden roofing has rotted and withered over the past 1,200 years. The museum itself is inadequate and not organised, much of the findings are elsewhere scattered from Museum Negara to Singapore (which once formed a part of Malaysia). Folk stories and oral history also provide place for a magnificent kingdom of jewels and gold. Outside peninsular and insular Southeast Asia, oral history in India suggests the presence of golden chariots and jewels in hidden caves at Bujang Valley and Mount Jerai. Some visitors to the antiquity department at Muzium Negara has eyewitness accounts of magnificent objects such as a 10-feet-tall Raja Bersiung Throne and various idols and items from the Valley.[8]
In 2013, it was reported that, a 1,200-year-old Hindu Temple at the site, identified as Candi No. 11, had been demolished by a land developer.[11] Candi 11 was one of the most ancient of the Old Kedah kingdom and was amongst 17 registered candi.[12] In the face of public criticism, the Kedah State Government sought to deflect blame by claiming that it was powerless to do anything because the land was privately owned and further, that the site had not been gazetted as a historical site.[13] After the controversy, the Tourism and Heritage Ministry has agreed to consider gazetting the Bujang Valley as heritage site.[14]
Before the 1970s, the research in Bujang Valley was done by western archaeologists, the most prominent ones include H.G. Quaritch Wales, Dorothy Wales, and Alastair Lamb.[15][16] After the 1970s, local archaeologists were trained to continue the research, excavations and reconstructions of sites were done by National University of Malaysia and University of Malaya in collaboration with National Museum. The most prominent local archaeologist who did research in the Bujang Valley was Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman who wrote and publish countless books and articles on this topic.[17] He introduced a periodisation of the history of Bujang Valley as well as a theory which explains about the process of indigenisation of the Indian Culture which formed the socio-economic make up of the polity.[18][19] Other earlier local archaeologist who significantly contributed to the research of Bujang Valley include from Leong Sau Heng, Mohd Supian Sabtu, Kamarudin Zakaria, and Zulkifli Jaafar. After 2008, The Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) from University Sains Malaysia, led by Mohd Mokhtar Saidin explored a new archaeological complex which reveals dozens of new sites, said to be dated from 2nd CE.[20][21]
History
As early as the 1st century AD, Southeast Asia was the place of a network of coastal city-states, the centre of which was the ancient Khmer
The rulers of the western part of Indonesia adopted Indian cultural and political models e.g. proof of such Indian influence on Indonesian art in the 5th century, i. e. an Amaravati Buddha statue found in southern
Being on the maritime route between China and
Kedah inscriptions
In Kedah there are remains showing
An inscribed stone bar, rectangular in shape, bears the
UNESCO proposal
UNESCO made a report in 1987 endorsing the site.[33] In 2014, some ruins of candi (temples) in Bujang were destroyed by an urban developer, causing an international outcry against attacks on cultural heritage. In 2017, the government of Malaysia announced that more research on the site is still needed, thus excluding it from the Malaysian tentative list. The government also said that Bujang's Merbok Museum and Pengkalan Bujang held historical significance to the site.[34]
The Bujang Valley is currently in the process of being nominated by
See also
- Langkasuka
- Chi Tu
- History of Kedah
- Candi of Indonesia
- Mahanavika Buddhagupta
- Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism
- Sungai Batu
References
- ^ "Bujang Valley impetus to tourism, By Subhadra Devan, 2010/09/19".
- ^ "Bhujanga". Sanskrit Dictionary.
- ISBN 978-981-10-5669-7.
- ISBN 978-9971-69-141-7.
- ^ Malaysia, Persatuan Sejarah (1980). Bujang Valley. Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia.
- ^ Mok, Opalyn (9 June 2017). "Archaeologists search for a king in Sungai Batu | Malay Mail". www.malaymail.com. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ "New interest in an older Lembah Bujang, 2010/07/25". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
- ^ a b "Bujang Valley Museum". www.photodharma.net. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4939-6519-9, retrieved 20 January 2021
- ^ "Lembah Bujang". www.trekearth.com. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ "Centuries-old temple ruins in Bujang Valley furtively destroyed". 1 December 2013.
- ^ Murad, Dina. "Candi controversy: Bulldozing 1,000 years of history - Nation - The Star Online".
- ^ "After uproar, Kedah scrambles bid to salvage Lembah Bujang ruins". 1 December 2013.
- ^ "Candi controversy: Ministry has agreed to consider gazetting Lembah Bujang as heritage site, says Mukhriz - Nation - The Star Online". Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
- S2CID 165881443.
- ^ "Revisiting the Bujang Valley: A Southeast Asian entrepôt complex on the maritime trade route". ResearchGate. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ "Prof. Emeritus Dato' Dr. Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abd. Rahman | INSTITUTE OF THE MALAY WORLD AND CIVILIZATION". www.ukm.my. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ "Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 6(16): 3027-3033,... ISSN: 2040-7459; e-ISSN: 2040-7467". studylib.net. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ "Lembah Bujang : dari perspektif arkeologi dan pelancongan / penyunting, Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman". National Library Board. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
- ^ Zanina, Putri (23 May 2016). "Ancient seaport of Sg Batu | New Straits Times". NST Online. Archived from the original on 24 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- S2CID 188062111.
- ^ "Funan | ancient state, Indochina". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- ^ infid (13 November 2017). "Indianization of Indonesia". infid.be. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- .
- .
- ^ Leong, S.H., 1973. A study of ceramic deposits from Pengkalan Bujang, Kedah (Doctoral dissertation, University of Malaya).
- ^ "State formation and the evolution of naval strategies in the Melaka Straits, c. 500–1500 CE". ResearchGate. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ "Who guards the treasures of Bujang Valley?". The Edge Markets. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- JSTOR 41492012.
- JSTOR 41561175.
- ^ "BM 04. The mysterious relic of Cherok To'kun". butterworthguide.com.my. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ Sanday, John (1987). "Bujang Valley and Kuala Kedah Fort: proposals for a masterplan: Malaysia". Paris: UNESCO. FMR/CC/CH/87/131, RP/1986-1987/XI.I.3/Technical report.
- ^ Abdullah, A. (6 August 2017). "Ministry: More studies before Unesco push for Bujang Valley". Free Malaysia Today (FMT). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
- ^ Ancient temple ruins destroyed. YouTube. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021.
- ^ Abdullah, A (6 August 2017). "Ministry: More studies before Unesco push for Bujang Valley". Free Malaysia Today.
- ^ "Bujang Valley should be recognised as Unesco World Heritage Site". The Malaysian Times. 28 November 2016. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019.
Sources
- Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h, The Malay Peninsula, Crossroads of the Maritime Silk Road, 2002, Brill, Leiden, ISBN 90-04-119736
- Wolters, O. W., Early Indonesian Commerce : a Study of the Origins, 2001, 1597401870
- Wolters, O. W., Early Southeast Asia : selected essays, Cornell University, 2008, ISBN 978-0-87727-773-6/ 0-87727-773-7
- Wolters, O. W., The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History, Cornell University Press, 1970, ISBN 0-8014-0595-5
Further reading
- "Lobbying Unesco to recognise Bujang Valley as world heritage site". New Straits Times (online). 25 April 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2022.