The Sojomerto inscription is an inscription discovered in Sojomerto village, Reban,

Batang Regency Batang ( jv, ꦧꦠꦁ) is a regency ( id, kabupaten) on the north coast of Central Java province in Indonesia. It covers an area of 788.64 km2 and had a population of 706,764 at the 2010 Census and 801,718 at the 2020 Census. Its capital is ...

, Central Java,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Written in

Old Malay Malay was first used in the first millennia known as Old Malay, a part of the Austronesian language family. Over a period of two millennia, Malay has undergone various stages of development that derived from different layers of foreign influen ...

using the

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/ ...

, it was initially dated to ' the 7th century, but later redated, on

palaeographic Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

grounds, to the early 9th century. The inscription is currently ''

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

'' or on location. The inscription is

Shivaist Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...

in nature, talking about the head of a noble family named Dapunta Selendra, the son of Santanu and Bhadrawati, the husband of Sampula. Boechari speculates that Dapunta Selendra was the progenitor of the

Sailendra 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 ...

s, an influential family who would later rule Mataram and Srivijaya. The inscription was carved on an

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predo ...

stone 43 cm wide, 7 cm thick, and 78 cm tall.Situs Kabupaten Batang, diakses 7 Juni 2007
The text consists of 11 lines, most of them being unclear and eroded.

Content

Transliteration

Common Malay translation

English translation

Interpretation

This inscription concluded that the family of Dapunta Selendra is settled at the north coast of Central Java, speak

and that they are

Hindus. The discovery of this inscription has led to the development of theories proposing a Sumatran origin of the Sailendras, also with the possibility of their initial establishment at the north coast of Central Java before moving inland to Kedu Plain. Just like the Sojomerto inscription, some of Sailendra's inscriptions of the later period—although discovered in Central Java—are also written in

instead of

Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...

, which suggested Sumatran connections. The name 'Selendra' mentioned in this inscription as "Dapunta Selendra" is suggested as the ancestor of the Sailendras. The title 'Dapunta' is similar to those of Srivijayan King Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa, which suggested the Srivijayan connection to Sailendra family. The family was first settled in Central Java northern coast around Batang and Pekalongan regency, they were initially Hindu Shivaist. At a certain point of time they moved southward and established themselves in

Kedu Plain Kedu Plain, also known as Progo River valley, is the fertile volcanic plain that lies between the volcanoes Mount Sumbing and Mount Sundoro to the west, and Mount Merbabu and Mount Merapi to the east. It roughly corresponds to present-day Magela ...

and later probably converted to

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 br ...

Buddhism. Another interpretation suggests that the family was probably a native Javanese family, but having Srivijayan connection. This ruling family was probably a local ruler but somehow subjugated by Srivijayan through invasion and served as Srivijayan vassal. The early Sailendras were probably belongs within Srivijaya's

mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

sphere of influence. Previously known through

Kota Kapur inscription Kota Kapur Inscription is an inscription discovered in western coast of Bangka Island, offcoast South Sumatra, Indonesia, by J.K. van der Meulen in December 1892. It was named after the village of the same name which is the location where this arch ...

(686 CE) that Srivijaya launched series of military campaign against Bhumi Java, which also corresponds to the fall of

Tarumanagara Tarumanagara or Taruma Kingdom or just Taruma is an early Sundanese Indianised kingdom, located in western Java, whose 5th-century ruler, Purnawarman, produced the earliest known inscriptions in Java, which are estimated to date from arou ...

kingdom in West Java.

References