Muarajambi temple

Prajnaparamitha

2010-10-05T17:56:00.002+07:00

Prajnaparamitha is buddhist of perfect wisdom considered as the feminine personification of the prajnaparamitha texs. A headless statue was found at Gumpung temple.t is seated female image, it has the hand in dharmmacakramudra. It's jewellery: necklace and beed upavita remind us of that of the Singhasari Statue. The style of Singhasari which is not surprising, as Kertanegara (The King of Singhasari Kingdom) paid special attention to Jambi which is shown by his sending of Pamalayu Expedition in 1275. He did the help of the King of Dharmasraya in Jambi. He needed this strategic point to defend Sumatera against the agression of Khubilai Khan

House drawing

2010-07-29T11:00:00.003+07:00

During excavation and restoration of the temples in the muarajambi temple compounds, some of the bricks remain some scratches. Among them are house drawing. There is no information whether this drawing is models of houses they have at that time. Find out more picture of the bricks with scratches on it here

The Muarajambi Temple Compound Situation Map

2010-07-29T09:24:00.002+07:00

Here is the information about the muarajambi temple compound areas
SOo, once you decided to go to all around this temple compound, prepare yourself and it would be very much recommended to see each of the place.
First, you can have a look at this picture. There are some temples, menapo *a hill of bricks originally the ruins of building or narrow yard surrounded by trench made by ancient people*, lake, pond, information centre, river, canals, and the hill.

Teluk I Temple

2010-07-07T10:17:00.002+07:00

Teluk I temple is located on 103° 22’ 45” of east and 01° 24’ 33” of south. The temple was coincidently found in 1980. A bulldozer doing land paving for the preparation of a factory building hit the old structure ruins. Subsequently, a team from Ditlinbinjarah and Puslitarkenas Jakarta conducted survey and excavation so as to get conviction that it is an old structure (Teluk I temple) and that the area is archaeological site.
Teluk I temple is located on Batanghari riverbank, exactly in Kemingking river. There are four mounds which are identified as main temple in square sketch 20 x 20 m directing to northeast, 11 x 20 m square shape perwara on the northeast of the main temple, perwara in octagon sketch 11 x 5 m located on the northeast of the main temple, 50x50 m surrounding fence.

Kedaton Temple

2010-07-06T14:50:00.001+07:00

Kedaton Temple is astronomically located on E 103° 38’ 55,6” and S 01°28’ 32,8”. The temple is first found 1976, after an archaeological survey in the Muarajambi compound site. The research showed that the Kedaton temple is the biggest and largest structure among other temple in the site. The dimension is 55850 m2 surrounded by concrete fence. While, the main temple dimension is 26 m x 26 m with white corals inside. The white corals are unique, as other temple within the site having bricks inside. The corals later predicted that they are taken from Batanghari river upstream which is closeby Bukit Duabelas highlands. To date, the Kedaton Temple are for the most part covered by forest plants, while the only open sky yard is the main temple location which is now being reconstructed. Inspite of the temple structures, some other arcaeological properties were also found here, including padmasana (arca base), elephant arca, bronze pots, and other findings which are now being kept in the Site collection hall.

History of Muarajambi Temple Compound

2010-07-02T11:01:00.003+07:00

The name of Muarajambi first appeared on a report written by a navy officer from United Kingdom named S.C. Crooke in 1883. Crooke reported that he saw ruins of brick constructions and found a stone elephant sculpture. The Crooke’s description then enriched by T. Adam, a dutchman visiting Jambi in 1921. He also did not mention archaeological heritage except the constructions and arca. Thirteen years later, F.M. Schnitger visited Muarajambi. He added some information about names of new temples, they are Gumpung, Tinggi, Gunung Perak, Gudang Garem, Gedong I and Gedong II. Schnitger did excavation in the inner part of some temples. Schnitger is the first scholar relating the Muarajambi Site to ancient Malay (Mo-lo-yeu) mentioned in Chinese manuscript XVII century. He went through a small river called Melayu in western part of Muarajambi village as basic argumentation. In 1954, this site was researched by by Department of Education and Culture team lead by R. Soekmono. The team took new photos and assumed there is relation between this site and Sriwijaya kingdom. Then in 1975, restoration was started by Directorate of History and Archaeology, Department of Education and Culture. During forest sweeping mission, the workers in the field successfully showed large seven temples area: Kotomahligai, Kedaton, Gedong I and II, Gumpung, Tinggi, Kembarbatu, dan Astano. In 1985, Bakosurtanal (National Survey and Mapping Coordination Board) did aerial photo on the temples area. It is visibly on the map that the Muarajambi Site has canal system which is made encircling natural levee. Of the archaeological researches, shows that Muarajambi Site is an old malay kingdom heritage which has been developed since the 8th to 14th century by Mahayana Buddhist.

Astano Temple

2010-07-02T10:57:00.003+07:00

Astano temple is located on the Kelari lakeside, exactly on S 01° 28’ 28.9”, E 103° 40’ 43.8”. The temple structure is on higher surface surrounded by canal. The main temple is dodecagon and it is predicted that the construction conducted in three phases. The main construction as the oldest and highest is in the middle, while other constructions are on the east and west side. archaeological properties found within this temple area are 2 stone padmasana, 14 stone arca fragments, stone mortar, beads, and foreign and local ceramic. All the artifacts are now being kept in collection hall of the Site.

Kotomahligai Temple

2010-07-02T10:54:00.003+07:00

Kota Mahligai temple compound is located on the west of Kedaton temple separated by Terusan river, exactly on S 01° 28’ 15.6”, E 103° 38’ 20.7”. Almost all the structures are currently remain ruins like mound which is locally cited as Menapo. Based on archeologist who conducted excavation, the structures are main temple, perwara, surrounded fence and a surrounded ditch flowing into Terusan river. The uniqueness of this temple beside its function as holy building, a Gajahsinga (a lion on an elephant) sculpture was found at this temple.

Sengalo Hill

2010-07-02T10:46:00.002+07:00

Sengalo Hill is the only highland resembles a small hill and located on the westernmost of the Muarajambi site compound land or exactly on S 01° 28’ 445”, E 103°37’ 29.2”. The hill is clearly visible for the nature of Muarajambi site land is flat as it is located next to the east coast area of Sumatera. Archeologists said this hill is unique and some of them assumed this as orientation point of the Muarajambi site compound. In reality, majority of temple compound main gate are located on the east side where the sunrise, while the Sengalo hill is located on the westernmost, this is a reflection of life which is started from the sunrise and ended in the sunset.

Ancient Canal and Hydro System

2010-07-02T10:09:00.003+07:00

The ancient canal network in Muarajambi archaeological site are Melayu river, Terusan river, Jambi river, Johor ditch, Sekapung ditch, Buluran Dalam river, Buluran Keli river, Buluran Paku, and Selat river. This canal network interconnected to tributaries along Batanghari watershed and flows along the Muarajambi site area. The tributaries are Seno river, Amburan Jalo and Berembang river. As canal network knot, Berembang river has important role as the ancient canals circulation connected with the Berembang river before then flowing to Batanghari river.
Batanghari river and the canals flow and located in the Muarajambi temple compound is inseparable part of the land where holy structures are built. Batanghari river as cruise line to connect the Muarajambi temple site area to mobility of community in Jambi territorial and its environs as well as other territorials in Nusantara and oreign people including Chinese, India, and even people from central Asia.
Furthermore, the ancient canals developed in the same time with the temple construction is landscape unity as water use network, crossing each other and develop a ‘protection system’ for the Muarajambi temple site. In this case, symbolically the canals function as boundary between the sacral and profane. Dalam hal ini secara simbolis fungsi kanal merupakan batas antara yang sakral dan profan. The ’holied’ land is bound and specialized as location for temple construction are inside the canal network. Functionally, the canal is not only developed to support population and comers in the Muarajambi site, but also symbolically related to macrocosmic and microcosmic world in Buddhism. In this case, the ancient canals indicate symbol, while the mountain are represented by the temple structure.

Telagorajo Pond

2010-07-02T09:50:00.002+07:00

The Telagorajo pond was found in the mid of 1970, the sureness about its function have not been clear, but it can be concluded that the pond related with reservoir for clean water saving for ancient people. Advance research accordingly is required to identify the function. Telagorajo is a symbolism of macrocosmic and microcosmic in Budhism, that a pond is a symbol of an ocean.
The name of Telagorajo is taken from the local community citation that is inherited to date and related to collective memory that the Muarajambi site is a very important part of kingdom at that time.
The Telagorajo pond is located on 100 meter southeast of Gumpung temple. The depth is two to three meter from recent land surface. If calculated from the surrounding mound, the pond depth is about three to four meter.

Gedong I Temple

2010-07-02T09:01:00.002+07:00

Gedong I temple compound is located on S 01° 28’ 39.2”, E 103° 39 32.5”. The area width of this compound is 5.525 m2 which was reconstructed in 1998 consists of a main temple, perwara and surrounded fence with main gate in east part. The fence is 65 m x 65 m, the main temple is square sketch about 14,5 m X 14,5 m. On the left side is entrance ladder to the upper part of the structure. Archaeological properties in this location are 6 stoned base, arca fragments, ornate and paleograph bricks, as well as Chinese ceramic fragments from Sung Dinasty (10 - 13 C), Yuan (15-16 C) and Ching (17-20 C), and old glass fragments which are predicted made in Middle East and India. Itis interesting to be scrutinized there found concrete base and tile roof fragments which represents that in Gedong I temple beside the concrete structure there were wooden structure as well.

Kembarbatu Temple

2010-06-23T12:17:00.001+07:00

The Kembarbatu temple compound is located on 250 meter southeast Tinggi Temple, exactly on S 01° 28’ 39.7”, E 103°40’ 15.2”, while the dimension of land is about 59 m x 63 m. The temple which was reconstructed in 1994-1995, has discovered: 1 main temple, 5 reconstructed perwara, 2 other structures which function has not been identified, surrounded fence, gate and surrounded canal. The main temple facing to east, Perwara I facing to eastwest, perwara II and V facing to east and Perwara III and IV facing to North. Temples within the Kembarbatu temple compound are: main temple 11,39 m x 11,33 m x 2,82 m, Perwara I 11,60 m x 11 m x 1,86 m, Perwara II 3,75 m x 3,45 m x 1,30 m, Perwara III 8,09 m x 5,79 m x1,46 m, Perwara IV 12,32 m x 12,17 m x 0,65 m, Perwara V 5,10 m x 5,07 m x 0,92 m. Based on findings around, including bronze gong with Chinese letters on, golden plaque, gems, bricks with Old Java letters, and Chinese ceramic, it can be concluded that the structures had been constructed during 10 - 12 Century.

Tinggi Temple

2010-06-23T11:56:00.002+07:00

Tinggi Temple is one of temples in the Muarajambi temple site compound, located on the northeast of Gumpung temple compound, exactly on S 01° 28’ 33.7”, E 103° 40’ 07.3”. The width of this temple is 2.92 Ha with one main temple, six perwara and enclosed fence. The temples had been reconstructed in 1980 – 1982 including the main temple with dimension of 16 x 16 m and 7.6 m height. Of archaeological research conducted during the resconstruction, initially, the temple was constructed in two phases; the inner part of the older construction was still in original shape in the time it was found. While, square perwara are located on the northeast, southwest, and south of the main temple. Currently, the remaining structures are the foundation and few footer parts. The main entrance is located on the east and west and a smaller gate on the west.

Gedong II Temple

2010-06-23T10:14:00.003+07:00

Gedong II temple compound is located on S 01° 28’ 32.9’, E 103° 39’ 27.9’, in western part of Gedong I temple. The dimension of this temple compound is 75 m x 67,5 m surrounded by concrete fence and a main gate on the east. The compound consists of a main temple and 2 perwara. In the first perwara (in front of the main temple) is wooden pillar base, it shows us that in the past it was concrete structure in the base part and wooden structure on the upper part with tile roof. the yard is covered by pavement. Beside the temple structures, there found an arca called Arca Gadjahsingha. currently the arca is kept in collection hall of the Muarajambi temple compound site. During restoration of the temple in 2002, another arca as found called Dwarapala (keeper) on the left of entrance ladder, the arca is currently also kept in the collection hall.

GUMPUNG Temple

2010-06-23T08:44:00.004+07:00

Gumpung Temple is located on S 01° 28’ 39.5”, E 103° 40’ 02.0”, and is one of large temple compound in the Muarajambi archaeological site. Gumpung temple is first called by F.M. Schnitger in his report in 1937. Boechari, an arcaeologist in reading old inscription, in his report wrote that based on result of his reading on the golden inscription found in the Gumpung temple, it is predicted that the Gumpung temple compound was constructed in the mid of 9 century to early 10 century. Of the golden inscription, it is found that Gumpung temple was prayer centre of Buddhist. This is supported with the finding of Pradjaparamita and other artifacts related to the Buddhist religious ceremony. Gumpung Temple surrounded by square fence in dimension of 150 m x 155 m. The land surface height is about 14,7 mdpl, directs to east, based on the main gate facing to east. While, the main temple is 17,9 m x x 17,3 m and the perwara 9,85 m x 9,75 m. the temple yard divided into some rooms, each surrounded by concrete fence and entrance gate. Currently, the remaining fences and entrance gates lost and result of restoration in 1982 had restored the remaining structure. While the original fence remains can be found under the protection building on the north of the temple.

Reconstruction of Kedaton Temple

2010-02-08T08:03:00.004+07:00

Hidden by jungle since the end of its glory days, the mysteries of the Muara Jambi temple complex are gradually being unearthed by Indonesian archaeologists. Candi Kedaton is a busy place. Walls are being demolished and bricks are being diligently numbered and stacked under blue plastic tarpaulins. “We have to stabilise the foundations of the temple. Once we’ve done that we will rebuild the walls and reconstruct the temple,” explains Agus Widiatmoko, an archaeologist in BP3 Jambi.

Candi Kedaton belongs to the Muara Jambi temple complex, a 2062-hectare Buddhist site on the east coast of Sumatra vying for Unesco World Heritage status. Covering 7.5 kilometres of the Batanghari River’s banks, the site is quite rightly known as Indonesia’s Angkor Wat. Of the 82 known ruins on the site, so far only eight have been dug up and reconstructed.

The city of Jambi is a no-nonsense blue-collar town, producing oil and rubber. It is also the location for several paper mills that process the vast amounts of timber harvested, illegally or not, from the surrounding rainforest. The city has a few hotels meeting international standards as well as an airport, which makes it the ideal gateway to some of Sumatra’s most exciting nature reserves and historical sites.

Two-and-a-half hours south of the city is the Harapan Rainforest Reserve where you can spot hornbills, wild boar and treetop gibbons. A bit further away is the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park where Asian elephants, Sumatran tigers and orangutans roam the forest. Another exciting, if more inaccessible attraction are the stone age megalithic complexes of Mount Kerinci, which at 3805-metres is Indonesia’s highest volcano.

The Muara Jambi is only 22km outside the city, and the most relaxed way to get there is a one-and-a-half-hour boat journey up the Batanghari River. Faster, of course, is a drive by car through sleepy villages, rice paddies and lush orchards dripping with mangos, durians and langsat.

Temple tourism is in its infancy, so amenities for visitors are few and far between. For a few Indonesian rupiah, local guides will happily take you around the complex. Their view of history might not be completely accurate, but they will fill you in on the popular local stories and myths – which are certainly no less entertaining. The temples may have no religious significance to the Muslim guides, but they remain a source of local pride, reminding the locals of a far more ancient tradition of belief and achievement.

Burning bright: Sumatran women washing clothes on Samosir Island in Lake TobaFrom the 4th until the 13th century AD, Muara Jambi was the centre of the Hindu-Buddhist Melayu Kingdom and a partner in its tumultuous history. According to the Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing, who travelled through the area in the 7th century, the early Melayu was an independent kingdom and a centre of Buddhist worship and education. By the end of the century, however, it was taken over by the rival Srivijaya empire, another ancient Malay Kingdom. Even as a vassal state, Jambi continued to be powerful due to its gold mines, and is probably the reason why the Sanskrit name for Sumatra is Suvarnadvipa (island of gold).

In its heyday, the influence of the Srivijaya empire extended to Java, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines. One major reason for this was Jambi’s strategic location at the point where the South China Sea, the Java Sea and the Straits of Malacca meet. Its control of this trade bottleneck enabled its influence to reach even the borders of present-day Cambodia, until Jayavarman II, the founder of the Khmer Empire, severed the link.

As Srivijaya’s dominance waned in the 11th century, due to conflicts with the Chola Kingdom of South India and Javanese feifdoms, the seat of the empire was moved to Jambi. Jambi’s political, diplomatic and commercial connections produced a cosmopolitan city where traders from Arabia, India and China mingled with the Bugis of Sulawesi and other indigenous tribes.

Road less travelled: a tourist negotiates a forest trailIn two restored temples, Candi Gumpung and Candi Tinggi, a collection of artefacts includes coins from China, ceramics from Siamese Sawankhalok and a huge bronze kettle from Vietnam. But beyond these artefacts and a few old documents, little is really known about the temples. “We even don’t know the real names of them,” admits Widiatmoko. He points to a block of sandstone with ornamental carvings on its sides, which sits next to Candi Kedaton’s main stairway. “We have no idea what purpose these stones served. They must have been imported since there is no sandstone in Jambi. Perhaps they served as pedestals for Buddha statues.” While most of the bricks used for the temples are plain red stones, occasionally archaeologists have found some bricks covered in carvings. “These bricks contain the oldest graphic representations of Sumatran architecture and show domestic architecture reflecting a variety of cultural influences in Jambi,” says Widiatmoko. One thing that is known is that it will be impossible to restore the Jambi temples to their original state since the main structure of each temple was made from wood.

Walking the tracks of an ancient civilisation makes you hungry. Fortunately Widiatmoko knows the perfect place for lunch: the home of batik artist Azmiah Edy Sunarto in Jambi. In the traditional manner, we sit on the floor in a living room that doubles as a show room for the colourful batik tulis – hand-drawn batik artwork. A red, beautifully designed batik sheet is spread out and the artist’s daughter serves lunch. Fish and meat curries are placed on the batik sheet, accompanied by vegetables, fruits and rice.

Pointing to her creations, Azmiah Edy Sunarto tells us that Jambi batik is characterised by its floral and fruit motifs, unlike Javanese batik that uses animals. There are about 80 traditional batik Jambi designs, which, she says, are as ancient as the temples, handed down from generation to generation since the glory days of the Melayu Kingdom.

Amorphophalus Campanulatus found

2010-01-08T09:39:00.006+07:00

Wow!! Great!!
It was on Early January 2010 when we visited Muarajambi temple area. We went there for our office mission, accompanying visitors. Unfortunately the visitor has very limited time and they visited only Gumpung temple, Tinggi temple and the collection hall. After the guests left the area, we got information from the local people, they found an Amorphophalus Campanulatus (it's called Bunga Bangkai in Bahasa Indonesia, bunga means flower, while bangkai means corpse or cadaver) is growing up closeby the temple. We then had a look at there together with the keeper. YES!!! IT's GREAT!. Purple Amorphophalus titanum.

This flower is originally from Sumatera. Though, it's not common to see, as it rarely grow. "It grows between November to January", said a man owning the area. He also told us that the flower has twice growing on his cacao plantation. "In the beginning, when the flower started blooming, it smelled too bad", added him. This flower thrives at the edges of rainforests near open grasslands. Though found in many botanic gardens around the world it is still indigenous only to the tropical forests of Sumatra.

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

2009-12-15T14:59:00.001+07:00

The Muarajambi Temple Compound Site has outstanding universal value as seen from the cultural heritage findings and the relatively intact and preserved environment that has been maintained by the local community. Having such values, the Muarajambi Temple Compound Site has the potential to be nominated as a Word Heritage under the criteria in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the Word Heritage Convention, as follows:

(ii) To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design

The Muarajambi Temple Compound Site illustrates the exchange of culture and human values over a span of time within the period of the Hinduism - Buddhism culture in Indonesia and specifically in Jambi. The values of humanities are reflected in the building of the temples based on the philosophy of Hinduism-Buddhism. In terms of technology and architecture, the structures illustrate the skills and the knowledge in various fields starting from selecting the location, method of constructing the temple and land use adjusted to the geographical condition and environment of the temple compound. The Muarajambi region -that is located in the natural leavee of Batanghari River and is a floodprone area- has been realigned to become a viable area for worship rituals and for settlement at that time. The findings of man-made canals -that pass around the temple complex and the water reservoirs- are evidence that the people of the past have the local wisdom to conserve water, use the canals for transportation, obtain source of protein from the various fish cultivated in these canals connected to the Batanghari River.

From the architectural point of view, it is apparent that the local community of that time around the Muarajambi temple compound already possessed the capacity to design and build structures from bricks following the Hinduism-Buddhism philosophy. The technology in producing brick blocks -starting from selecting the material, molding, heating, and applying construction techniques- is considered as unique knowledge and skills of the people in that age.

(iii) To be a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared

The Muarajambi Temple Compound Site is evidence of a civilization that was built in the age of the ancient Malay Kingdom around the 7th Century AD up to the 14th Century (in the Hinduism-Buddhism era in Jambi).

(iv) Be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates significant stages in traditional human settlement, land use, or water management that represents cultural values or the interaction of a culture (or cultures), or the interaction of humans with nature, especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

From the architectural stand point, the Muarajambi temple compound are typical structures built in the age of the Hinduism-Buddhism era in Sumatera around the 7th Century AD up to the 14th Century AD. There were at least 82 ruins of ancient buildings that were discovered in this site. Seven of them have been exposed and have been given intensive conservation treatment, namely the Gumpung, Tinggi I, Tinggi II, Kembar Batu, Astano, Gedong I and Gedong II, and the Kedaton Temple.

source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5465/

Muarajambi Temple compound on world heritage tentative list

2009-12-15T14:50:00.004+07:00

The Muarajambi Temple Compound Site is located in the Muarajambi Village, in the District of Maro Sebo, Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi Province. From Jambi city, the site is less than 40 kilo-meters and can be reached by land transportation or through the river in one hour. The site is spread along 7.5 kilo-meters of the riverbanks of Batanghari River in which old canals or man-made rivers are positioned to connect the Batanghari River with the site. Through these ancient canals that circulate the site, people could reach the temple compounds. In the Muarajambi Temple Compound Site that covers an area of 2062 hectares, there were at least 82 ruins of ancient buildings made of brick construction. Seven of these ancient temples have been given intensive conservation treatment; meanwhile the remaining structures are covered with primary and secondary vegetation, and surrounded by the local community plantation of Sumatran endemic plants (planted by the local people known as Menapo). The seven temple compounds are the Gumpung, Tinggi I, Tinggi II, Kembar Batu, Astano, Gedong I and Gedong II, and the Kedaton Temple. In addition to that conservation treatment, several of the ancient canals and the old ponds that were previously covered with water vegetation have been cleared and are now restored to normal, such as the ancient canals in Jambi River and the Telago Rajo Pond.

Based on archaeology research and historical sources, the Muarajambi Temple Compound Site was once the centre for worship and education of the Buddhist religion in the period of the Ancient Malay Kingdom in the 7th - 14th century AD.

Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5465/

Muarajambi Archaeological Site

2009-12-11T10:33:00.003+07:00

MUARAJAMBI is located on Batanghari riverside, around 22 kilometers eastern Jambi city, exactly in Muarajambi village, Marosebo sub-district, Muaro Jambi regency.

The name of Muarajambi first appeared in western literature on a report written by a navy officer from United Kingdom named S.C. Crooke in 1883. The officer was assigned by colonial governance center in Madras, India to do mapping (survey) on hydrology and to record regions along the Batanghari River for military concern.

In his record, Crooke mentioned that he saw ruins of brick construction in the Muarajambi forest. He also reported finding of a stone elephant sculpture. As an evidence of the visit, Crooke brought a sculpture head having curly hair like a wig belongs to judge in England to Penang Island, Malaysia.

Crooke’s description about the sculpture hair model may figure Buddha sculpture having its hair chiseled like that. He also wrote about the host villagers’ conviction saying that Muarajambi has ever been a capital of an ancient kingdom (Anderson, 1971: 396). Beside the relics in Muarajambi, Crooke also revealed his witness about Hindu sculptures – he means Buddhists – found in Jambi city.

The Crooke shallow information then enriched by T. Adam, a Dutchman visiting Jambi in 1921. He mentioned some sculptures that he recognized as elephant sculpture, standing Buddha, an object like a mortar and a stone throne or padmasana.

Adam also saw brick construction ruins in Muarajambi, though his attention was more on Candi Stano (Astano = grave) in the hind village which structure was partially seen. Similar to Crooke, Adam did not mention other archaeological heritage except construction and statue (1921:194 – 197). Since he only recorded findings within the village and was not going further into jungle.

Thirteen years later, F.M. Schnitger visited Muarajambi. He repeated what Adam did by collecting additional information about names of new temples, they are Gumpung, Tinggi, Gunung Perak, Gudang Garem, Gedong I and Gedong II (Schnitger, 1937:6; 1964:19).

During his stay in Muarajambi, Schnitger did excavation in the inner part of some temples. Though, the found artifacts have not been reported in his writing. It should be noted that Schnitger is the first scholar relating the Muarajambi Site to ancient Malay (Mo-lo-yeu) mentioned in Chinese manuscript XVII century. He went through a small river called Melayu in western part of Muarajambi village as basic argumentation.

In 1954, this site was researched by archaeologist of Indonesia. At that time, the research was conducted by Department of Education and Culture team lead by R. Soekmono. Crooke, Adam and Schnitger records are used as reference. The team took new photos to enrich the existing collection (Soekmono, 1984: 15-16). They assumed there is relation between this site and Sriwijaya kingdom, without leaving further explanation.

For about 20 years, the attention against the Muarajambi Site practically stopped. Then in 1975, restoration was started by Directorate of History and Archaeology, Department of Education and Culture. During forest sweeping mission, the workers in the field successfully showed large seven temples area: Kotomahligai, Kedaton, Gedong I and II, Gumpung, Tinggi, Kembarbatu, dan Astano.

A 10x120 meter pound was also found on the southern Candi Tinggi , which the host villager called Telagorajo. Surprisingly, the name of Gudang Garem and Gunung Perak as reported by Schnitger was not known by the villagers.

Archaeological information of Muarajambi Site is more complete after Bakosurtanal (National Survey and Mapping Coordination Board) did aerial photo on the temples area in 1985. This photograph has produced an accurate basic map consisting information about distribution of ancient building, canal system, and the site micro physic area data. It is visibly on the map that the Muarajambi Site has canal system which is made encircling natural levee.

Apparently there are more temples than initially seven temples known after the finding of about 40 more menapo. Menapo is a hill of bricks originally the ruins of building or narrow yard surrounded by trench made by ancient people.

Of the photograph, it is identified that the Batanghari River stream moved into southern part of the site which was previously nearby. The villagers’ houses in Muarajambi village are at present built on a new natural levee which is not as old as the Muarajambi Site.

Through the research since 1972 to 1995, National Archaeological Research Centre concluded Muarajambi has ever been multitude settlement. Thousands fragments of ceramic found during the research, excluding ceramics found together with other cultural articles after the restoration and paths making.

The Site occupant had admitted writing. This is shown on finding of some short inscriptions written on old Javanese which are revealed on the brick surface. Amongst are read as si, ma, ya, hra, hu, or ka. Some are not singular letter, but short word like nanaya (Suhadi, 1985: 259).

The effort to identify age of the temples applying paleography became more complete after finding of inscribed golden plaque from both temples areas. Boechari summarized relative age of both areas started from IX to XII century (Boechari, 1985:238).

The Boechari’s summary similar to Abu Ridho analysis applying Chinese ceramic as the research object. The observation against formal aspect of the ceramics (form, material, style and color) has lead to a summary that the majority is from China since XI to XIV century.

In less number, there were ceramics from Southeast Asia, namely Thailand, Khmer (Cambodia) and Myanmar (Burma) made of porcelain or stoneware. The ceramics from Southeast Asia are younger than the ceramics from China, as they are there since XIII century and after (Ridho, 1995).

Apparently, it is found that not all imported ceramics are made of porcelain or stone. There are many ceramic ruins made of shard. The material color is brown reddish or yellow reddish, thin, hard, and soft surface. The shard burning is done in high temperature over or almost 1.000 Celsius.

Abu Ridlo predicted the shards are from Thailand, particularly Satingpra in Southern part of the country which is known as one of the most important shard producer within Southeast Asia. The shapes are mostly in form of vessel or high-necked vase.

This characteristic differs to local shard ceramic which surface is rough, yellowish or yellow brownish, thick, fragile and often has decoration like ocher red lines. The local ceramics are also found in form of vessel, cooking pot, traditional oil lamp, pitcher or crock. In addition to those shapes, concave cap fragments and stove were also found.

Few white and broken white earthenware shards with turquoise glazing were also found in Muarajambi. This fragile and thick earthenware vessels are not local or China product, but are from West Asia, namely Persia or Iran.

In VIII – XII century, trading between China and Iran were through land and sea routes. Sumatera was one of port for ships from both countries during their journey. The trader from both Persia and China might stop by Muarajambi bringing the glazed shards to exchange with local commodity.

In addition to the ceramics, Muarajambi Site also brought to finding of some small beads made of stone and glass. The stone are chalcedony made of orange white cornelian, and agate stone with white and black lines forming lining. The shapes are miscellaneous, tetragonal double cone, spherical and oval.

Glass beads discovered during the surface excavation and survey are in various colors: light red, red brownish, yellow, green, green yellowish, and blue. Finding of glass fragments in the form of conglomeration of hundreds black beads nearby Candi Astano becoming indication that the Muarajambi community has ever produced beads.

This prediction is reasonable as the Puslitarkenas research in 1987 surrounding the temple found hundreds stone, glass and terracotta beads either broken or intact. In the same time, some glass trickle remains, combustion residue, curdled beads clod and crucible which indicate glass processing activities (Hardiati, 1988: 229).

Gold coin, gold ring and other gold jewelry scraps were also discovered, as well as artifacts found in Muarajambi Site in different occasion. Gold artifacts were mostly discovered in peripih of main building of Candi Gumpung and ancillary buildings in Candi Tinggi and Kembarbatu.

The gold metals are in form of thin plaques, some others are made like jewelry. In the same time, small red, purple and blue jewels were also found. Two purple stone have inscription written on siddham (prenagari).

Only few bronze articles were found in Muarajambi Site and were not intact. Among the found bronze statue remains are part of wrist with chakra motif chiseled on the foot. The wrist is confirmed coming from Buddhist statue (Utomo, 1984: 72-73)

Other bronze artifact finding was giant bronze vessel in 1994 in eastern Candi Kedaton. This vessel is the only big bronze artifact which is discovered fully. The height is 67 centimeters, diameter 78 centimeters, and weight 250 kilograms. The function has not yet identified. Considering that the discovery nearby temple, the bronze vessel is suspected having connection with religious ceremonies.

The nearby ancient buildings location in Muarajambi enabled the host community mobility. This is reflected from the distance between the temple buildings and menapo which is around 300 meter far. The finding of thousands ceramic artifacts surrounding the temple impressed the host community concentration living nearby the temple area (Rangkuti and Rosita, 1988).

Watching the concentrated finding of archaeological sites, many experts then connecting the Muarajambi Site to ancient Malay Kingdom as what Schnitger revealed. This prediction is reasonable after identifying no other sites in Jambi having such concentrated archaeological heritage except Muarajambi.

The length of sites which is more than seven kilometers and the width of 200 – 400 meter becoming adequate reason to predict the important role of the Site in the ancient time. More support either from individual or organization is required to discover the bunch of archaeological heritage in Muarajambi.

Yet, so far there has no expert surely identify the site as governance centre of the ancient Malay kingdom, unless connecting it to the kingdom based on its age.

The writing by Junus Satrio Atmodjo
Translated by : The blogger...