The Belanjong pillar, also Blanjong pillar or Blanjong inscription (
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
: ''Prasasti Blanjong''), is a pillar established in 914 CE in the harbour of Belanjong, in the southern area of
Sanur in
Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
.
The pillar was established by king
Sri Kesari Warmadewa, the first king of the Balinese
Warmadewa dynasty and bears a long inscription where the king describes his military campaign in the island. It is located in the Belanjong (Blanjong) Temple, where it is housed under a protective enclosure, and is often decorated and partially covered with devotional cloth.
The pillar was only discovered in 1932, and has remained where it was initially found.
Language and Date
The inscription is written in both the Indian
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
language and Old Balinese language, using two scripts, the
Nagari script
Nagari may refer to:
Writing systems
* Nāgarī script, a script used in India during the first millennium
* Devanagari, a script used since the late first millennium and currently in widespread use for the languages of northern India
* Nandinag ...
and the Old Balinese script (which is used to write both Balinese and Sanskrit). The Old Balinese in pre-Nagari script is on one side of the pillar, while the Sanskrit inscription in
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahana dynasty, with whom they had formerly served as fe ...
-derived old Javanese script (also called
Kawi script
The Kawi or or Old Javanese script is a Brahmic script found primarily in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia between the 8th century and the 16th century.Aditya Bayu Perdana and Ilham Nurwansah 2020Proposal to encode Kawi/re ...
)
[A short history of Bali by Robert Pringle p. 46](_blank)
/ref> is on the other side.[''The people of Bali'' Angela Hobart p. 141](_blank)
/ref>
The pillar is dated according to the Indian Shaka era
The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year 78.
The era has been widely used in different regions of India as well as in SE Asia.
Hist ...
, in seventh day of the waxing half ('saptāmyāṁ sita') of the month Phalguna of the ''Śaka'' year 835, which corresponds to 4 February 914 CE as calculated by Louis-Charles Damais.[Louis-Charles Damais (1947) ''Études balinaises: I. La colonnette de Sanur'' p. 127](_blank)
/ref>[Louis-Charles Damais (1959) "Ouvrages d'Études Indonésiennes", ''Bulletin d'École française d'Extrême-Orient'', 49, 2, pp. 685-686.]
Contents
The Blanjong pillar inscription was published by W.F. Stutterheim,[W.F. Stutterheim (1934) "A newly discovered pre-nagari inscription on Bali". ''Acta Orientalia'', XII, pp. 126-32] whose transliteration was reproduced by Roelof Goris[ Roelof Goris (1954) ''Prasasti Bali'' Masa Baru: Bandung. p. 64-65] taking into account corrections by Louis-Charles Damais, as follows. Sadly, so much of the writing is damaged that it is difficult to gain a clear sense of the text's meaning. Hyphens indicate illegible letters, parentheses indicate conjectural readings, and double slashes indicate a section marker. For variant readings, S indicates a reading by Stutterheim (1934), and D indicates a reading by Damais (1947).
Transliteration
A side (Old Balinese and Sanskrit languages, Nāgarī script)
1. śākabde śara-vahni-mūrti-gaṇite māse tathā phalguṇe (sārā) - - -
2. - (rā) - (taki) nasva(kṣā) - rādhāyajihitivārovinihatyavairini - h- ṅ(s) -
3. - - (hī) - (ja)vampuraṅ : siṅhadvāla, D: siṅhārccalapure(nika) - i - ya - - ta - - t -
4. - - // (śa) : –, D: 835vulan phalguṇa - - - - śrī kesarī - - -
5. - - - raḥ di gurun di s(u)val dahumalahaṅ musuḥdho - ṅka - (rana) - - - (tah)di kutarā -
6. nnata - (tabhāja) - kabudhi kabudhi//
B side (Sanskrit language, Old Balinese script)
1. sva - - raṭapratāpamahi - (h) - - ścodayaḥ dhvastārāti tamaścayo (buga)na
2. - samārggaraṅgapriyaḥ padmoboi - (āṣa)seravirabūdhā(ś)ā - - naḥkṛtiḥ vālidvīpa -
3. - (bhayebhīrovi) - - - (bhe)ri - na(bhū)pa(śa) (śi)nā(r)ā(g)atva - -
4. llegible
5. llegible
6. llegible
7. llegible
8. - - - - (śa) - (maśaṅśuta) - - -
9. - - - - (śepra)yātandīśārssyannantāriṣṛ u- - -
10. - - // (vija)yarka(ṇḍantaraṇḍ)antā(pe) kabhājobhṛśam // yenā e
11. - - - - nbhidyā(ṣaṭa)laṅvidhāyuṅgurubhiḥ sarrundhyaśatrūnyudh(i)
12. maha - ha(dv)iparāgrevairimahibhujā(ṅ) ṣṛjutaraḥkamp- - -
13. - ndre(th)a r(amajasa)ptā - ptiḥ samasta-sāmantādhipatiḥ śrī kesarī varmma(deva) - - -
Interpretation
The inscription is severely damaged, so it is difficult to make clear sense of much of the text. It is important to distinguish information explicitly stated in the text from scholars' modern interpretations of those statements. This is the first known Balinese inscription in which a king (''adhipatiḥ'') recorded his name: Śrī Kesarī Varma(deva), mentioned on A.4 and B.13. The ''deva'' part of the name does not appear clearly on the stone, but it is a conjecture based on the common use of the title Varmadeva in later Balinese inscriptions.
There is an apparent reference to the island of Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
, which is called ''Vāli-dvīpa'' (B.2). The alternation of ''b'' and ''v'' is common in Balinese epigraphy. The inscription also mentions "the palace Singhadvāla" (''siṅhadvāla-pure'', A.3), which many scholars identify with the palace Singhāmandava of earlier Balinese inscriptions.
The inscription also tells about the success of military expeditions against enemies in two places: Gurun and Suwal (A.5). These place-names are slightly obscure. Stutterheim suggested that they might refer to offshore islands, with Gurun possibly referring to Nusa Penida
Nusa Penida ( ban, ᬦᬸᬲᬧᭂᬦᬶᬤ, Nusa Penida, Penida Island) is an island located in the southeastern Indonesian island of Bali and a district of Klungkung Regency that includes the neighbouring small island of Nusa Lembongan and twel ...
. Goris, quoted by I Wayan Ardika, "believed that Gurun was Lombok, and interpreted Suwal as Ketewel beach south of Sukawati in the Gianyar regency". Others have suggested more faraway places such as Maluku, but it is unclear what evidence this suggestion is grounded on.
Pringle has argued that the mix of language and script suggest that the objective of the inscription was not to communicate locally to the Balinese people, but rather to be established as a symbol of power and authority.
According to the French historian George Coedès
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd President ...
, who was referring in general to Balinese inscriptions of the period 884-939 CE:
Some have suggested that the Blanjong pillar testifies to the connections of Bali with the Sanjaya Dynasty
The Sanjaya dynasty () was an ancient Javanese dynasty that ruled the Mataram kingdom in Java during the first millennium CE. The dynasty was an active promoter of Hinduism in ancient Java.
Origin and formation
According to the Canggal inscri ...
in Central Java
Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...
. However, there is no explicit reference to Javanese kings in the inscription.
It has been speculated that Sri Kesari was a Buddhist king of the Sailendra Dynasty
The Shailendra dynasty (, derived from Sanskrit combined words ''Śaila'' and ''Indra'', meaning "King of the Mountain", also spelled Sailendra, Syailendra or Selendra) was the name of a notable Indianised dynasty that emerged in 8th-century ...
leading a military expedition, to establish a Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...
Buddhist government in Bali.''Bali & Lombok'' Lesley Reader, Lucy Ridout p. 156
/ref> However, there is no explicit evidence for this interpretation in the inscription itself.
Three other inscriptions by Kesari are known in the interior of Bali, which suggests either that there were conflicts in the interior of the island, or that Śrī Kesarī's power was centred in the interior.
Gallery
File:Sanur Pilar top inscription.jpg, Part of the inscription on the top of the pillar.
File:Belanjong pillar alley.jpg, The alley leading to the Belanjong pillar in Belanjong temple.
File:Protective roof of the Belanjong pillar in Belanjong temple.jpg, Protective enclosure for the Belanjong pillar, in Belanjong temple.
See also
* History of Bali
The History of Bali covers a period from the Paleolithic to the present, and is characterized by migrations of people and cultures from other parts of Asia. In the 16th century, the history of Bali started to be marked by Western influence with th ...
* Sri Kesari Warmadewa
Notes
{{reflist
History of Bali
Sanskrit inscriptions in Indonesia
914