Connecting Empires and States: Selected Papers from the 13th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists

Chapter 4: New Finds of the Classical Period in West Sumatra

43 New Finds of the Classical Period in West Sumatra Chapter 4 New Finds of the Classical Period in West Sumatra Budi Istiawan Abstrak Sejak abad 19, beberapa temuan arkeologis telah dilaporkan di Kabupaten Dharmasraya, Tanah Datar, dan Pasaman di Provinsi Sumatera Barat. Beberapa temuan tersebut, antara lain kompleks arsitektur, arca dan prasasti, berasal dari abad 12–14 M ketika wiayah ini menjadi bagian dari kerajaan Budha di Sumatera. Pada tahun 1990, Balai Pelestarian Peninggalan Purbakala Batusangkar didirikan berlokasi di pusat pemerintahan Kabupaten Tanah Datar. Sejak awal, tujuan utama dari kantor ini adalah untuk melakukan inventarisasi / pendataan di wilayah kerjanya yang didukung dengan penelitian arkeologis. Artikel ini akan merangkum beberapa informasi yang relevan / terkait dengan temuan-temuan baru, yang akan menambah pemahaman kita terhadap Sumatera pada masa klasik akhir. Abstract Since the 19th century, several archaeological remains have been reported from the regencies of Dharmasraya , Tanah Datar and Pasaman in West Sumatra. Most of these discoveries, including architectural complexes, sculptures and inscriptions, date from the 12th–14th centuries when this area was part of the last Buddhist kingdom in Sumatra. In 1990, an archaeological office was established in Batusangkar (Balai Pelestarian Peninggalan Purbakala Batusangkar, BP3), in the center of the Tanah Datar regency. From the beginning, the main aim of this office was to provide a heritage inventory of the region, accompanied by intensive archaeological investigations. This article will summarize the most relevant information about the recent finds, which add significantly to our understanding of Sumatra’s late Classical era. Introduction In the periodization of Indonesia’s early history, the term “Classical period” has been adopted to distinguish the era of early state polities with strong, widespread Hindu-Buddhist affiliations in the late 7th century from the preceding prehistoric and subsequent early Islamic period in the 14th century (Miksic 1980: 43, fn. 1; 1996). In Sumatra, the dawn of the Classical period occurred slightly earlier than in Java, as the regional kingdoms of Sriwijaya and Melayu had long been opposed, and were finally defeated, by external forces such as the rise of the Majapahit Empire in Java and the arrival of Islam in North Sumatra. In the 14th century, the last influential king in the Classical history of Sumatra, Adityawarman (c. 1343–75), moved his capital to the mountainous western highlands, to what is nowadays known as the Tanah Datar regency in the province of West Sumatra. This event was preceded by many building activities along the river basins between the area of the former capital in Jambi and the extensive temple and palatial complexes in the midland Dharmasraya region, but also in the areas beyond, like the Tanjung Medan temple complex in Pasaman or the Muara Takus temple complex on the upper Kampar River. Due to the density of finds at the Padang Roco complex and its geo-strategic location elevated above the Batang Hari River, I assume that the former palace of Dharmasraya-Melayu during the time of king 43 Connecting Empires hi res combin43 43 8/24/2012 9:45:03 PM 44 Budi Istiawan Tribhuwana Mauliwarmadewa at the end of the 13th century was located in that region (see also de Casparis 1992: 243; Degroot et al. 2009: 46). However, no structures can be interpreted definitively as palatial buildings. Altogether, these archaeological remains attest to a period of rapid increase in trade and expansion into hinterland areas, which now appear for the first time in history as the focus of cultural and socio-political interactions (Bonatz et al. 2009). In brief, the most important finds prior to the work of the BP3 are as follow. From Tanah Datar, about 19 inscriptions, connected to the reign of Adityawarman, were documented (Krom 1912; Satyawan Suleiman 1977 [2008]; de Casparis 1989; Budi Istiawan 2006a; Bambang Budi Utomo 2007: 55–82). Most of them are still found in situ or were brought to the archaeological office in Batusangkar. The Bapahat inscription at the Selo River in Tanah Datar, however, seems to have disappeared. From Pasaman at Lubuk Layang and Tanjung Medan in Pasaman, situated to the north of Tanah Datar, two inscriptions are known (Budi Istiawan 1994; Bambang Budi Utomo 2007: 83–4). The one from Tanjung Medan is now stored in the National Museum at Jakarta (inv. no. 785b). Among the most spectacular finds in the Dharmasraya area are the gigantic Bhairava statue from Padang Roco and the inscribed Amoghapasa statue from Rambahan on the banks of the Batang Hari River. The Bhairava was discovered in 1906 and was...