On Friday, May 20th, 2011, which coincided with the National Day of Resurrection, I visited one of the museums that are located in Jakarta, precisely in Central Jakarta, which called the National Museum, or commonly known as the Elephant Museum. Why is this museum called Elephant Museum? That's because there is a statue of an elephant which was placed in front of the museum, it was a gift from Thailand representative named King Chulalongkorn in 1871.
Elephant Museum was formerly a house donated by one of the founders of the institution owned by the Dutch who named Hinda Bataviaasch Genootschap. It is an institution that aims to advance research in the arts, and science. Founder who donated his house named JCM Radermacher, he also donated a number of collections of cultural objects and books. At the time of British rule in Java, Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles ordered to construct a building, because the old house was already filled by too many collections. And because the sum of collections in the building were getting increased, the Dutch East Indies government in 1862 ordered the construction of the museum at the site which is now the building exists, the museum was first opened to the public in 1868. The museum is considered very important for the people of Indonesia. Therefore, the Indonesian Cultural Institution submitted the managament of the museum to the goverment, and became the Museum Center. After that, following to the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture, No. 092/0/1979 on May 28th, 1979, the Museum Center upgraded its status , and became the National Museum.
On the second floor of building B at the museum, I found some collections of relics of the Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, and also collections of production equipment, transportations, and others. I found various kinds of inscriptions which were relics of the Hindu-Buddhist kingdom. So this time I will discuss about the two inscriptions from one of the Hindu kingdoms, which is Tarumanegara Kingdom. Kingdom of Tarumenegara left some inscriptions, such as Ciaruteun Inscription, Kebon Kopi Inscription, Jambu Inscription, Muara Ciaten Inscription, Tugu Inscription, Pasir Awi Inscription, and Munjul Inscription. The inscriptions which I will discuss are the inscription Ciaruteun and Tugu Inscription. Before that, I will introduce Tarumanegara Kingdom.
Tarumanegara Kingdom was located in West Java in the 5th century AD, and is estimated to be in the Bogor area. This people of this kingdom were the followers of Hindus Waiswana or Vishnu stream. The king who was mentioned in the inscription was King Purnawarman Tarumanegara. This kingdom area included an area of Banten, Jakarta to Cirebon. There were two sources that told people about Tarumanegara Kingdom, those were: Chinese news written by Fa-Hien, and seven inscriptions that have been mentioned above. The seventh inscription was written with Pallawa letters and Sanskrit. And based on those sources, we can find out the aspects of life lived by the people of Tarumanegara. On the economic aspect, the main livelihood of Tarumanegara was farming community, and others worked as a merchant. On the religious aspects, the majority of the society were Hindus, Buddhists, and some others embraced animism, dynamism, where they worshiped the dead stuff and also the spirits of ancestors. According to historians, from the techniques and ways of people that were writing the letters on the inscriptions, it can be known that the level of culture in Tarumanegara was already high at that time.
The Tugu Inscription tells about the Candrabhaga and Gomati River which were interpreted as a river used for irrigation by people. This inscription was found in the Tugu village, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta. It also said that digging the Candrabhaga River canal and Gomati River was to prevent flooding, and water shortages during the dry season in the kingdom of Tarumanegara. Here is the text that was in the inscription, written in letters Pallawa and Sanskrit:
Here are the meanings of this writing:“pura rajadhirajena guruna pinabahuna khata khyatam purim prapya candrabhagarnnavam yayau// pravarddhamane dvavingsad vatsare sri gunau jasa narendradhvajabhutena srimata purnavarmmana// prarabhya phalguna mase khata krsnastami tithau caitra sukla trayodasyam dinais siddhaikavingsakaih ayata satsahasrena dhanusamsasatena ca dvavingsena nadi ramya gomati nirmalodaka// pitamahasya rajarser vvidaryya sibiravanim brahmanair ggo sahasrena prayati krtadaksina//”
"A long time ago, this Candrabhaga river was digged by the overlord glorious Purnawarman, which has a strong arm, for running it into the sea, after a time the river is up in the famous royal palace. In year 22 of the throne of His Majesty the King Purnnawarmman that glittering and sparkling because of his ability and his wisdom and become the banner of all the kings, (so now) he was also commissioned to dig the river that gorgeous and clear watery, which named Gomati, after sometimes, the river flows across the middle-ground of the residence of Her Majesty the Reverend (King Purnnawarmman). The work began on a good day, the 8th of the dark Caitra half-moon, it only lasted for 21 days, while digging length is 6122 arc. Salvation for him by the Brahmins with 1000 heads of cattles as presents "
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| Tugu Inscription |
The uniqueness of the Tugu Inscription, is that this inscription was the longest inscription that ever issued by King Purnawarman. From this inscription, it can be known that the aspect of social life of Tarumenegara people were already high. They thought seriously so that they were not exposed to flooding, and also had no shortage of water, at the time of 1500 years ago. Water flowed into the river that went into the Jakarta area, and after that the water was accommodated and controlled so it would not caused the flooding in city area, and after that it was flowed to various areas through other cannals. How valuable this event for the community and for the King Purnawarman himself, then he made this Tugu Inscription as a record of this extraordinary event. King Purnawarman was a wise, smart, and strong king. Therefore, the people were very obedient to him. In addition, there was another inscription which became a proof that the King Purnawarman’s authority of his kingdom washigh, the evidence was placed in the Ciaruteun Inscription.
Why is it called Ciariteun Inscription? This inscription was originally discovered on the side of the Ciaruteun River. Because of the major flooding in 1893, the stone was dragged down by the water until a few yards downstream. In order not to be dragged again, the stone was finally lifted in 1981 and moved to a more or less about 100 meters away from the first location of the stone inscription were found.
Ciaruteun Inscription tells about King Purnawarman which was the embodiment of Lord Vishnu. Ciaruteun inscription written in the poetry form that contents 4 lines, here is the writing that was found on the stone:
"Vikkrantasyavanipateh shrimatah purnavarmmanah tarumanagararendrasya vishnoriva padadvayam".
Which can be interpreted as:
"Both foot traces that looked like Vishnu’s, belong to the king of the world, Purnawarman, who is the famous heroic ruler of Tarumanagara.
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| Ciaruteun Inscription |
It can be seen in the picture that there are two traces of feet, which belong to the King Purnawarman. Which means that the King Purnawarman had the authority of the area where the inscription was found, it shows that King Purnawarman was the ruler of Tarumanegara Kingdom. And from the contents of these inscriptions, it can be said that King Purnawarman was likened to the same position as Lord Vishnu in Tarumanegara, that he was the protector and also at once the Tarumanegara ruler. From this evidence, it can be said that King Purnawarman was a very wise king, even his position was likened with Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu was the protector deity. Therefore, King Purnawarman ruled his kingdom very nicely. It could even be seen from other inscriptions that he had the attitude and did good treatment for his kingdom.
Moreover, not only in these two inscriptions that told about King Purnawaman. Jambu Inscription, Munul Inscription, also told about the policy of King Purnawarman in governing the Tarumanegara kingdom. The Tepalapak Gajah Inscription also tells about King Purnawarman in rulling his kingdom.
I was very pleased that finally there was a chance for me to visit the Elephant Museum, because my last visit to the museum maybe was about 5 years ago. I felt happy that many tourists also visited the museum. It showed that the museum was one of the interests to the tourists who visited Indonesia. In addition, the new building B was also very nice, neat, clean, and highly facilitated. But unfortunately, the electricity was off when I visited the museum, so I could not visit all the museums area, and I could not enjoy the new facilities that were provided. But, I felt quite satisfied that I could already see some of the collections at the museum.
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