page_title: History of Malaysia
section_title: Kedah
hierarchical_section_title: History of Malaysia / Early Indianised Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms / Indianised Hindu Malay kingdoms (3rd century to 7th century) / Kedah
caption_attribution_description: Built in 6th century A.D, Candi Bukit Batu Pahat is the most well-known ancient Hindu temple found in Bujang Valley, Kedah, Malaysia
context_page_description: Malaysia is located on a strategic sea-lane that exposes it to global trade and various cultures. Strictly, the name "Malaysia" is a modern concept, created in the second half of the 20th century. However, contemporary Malaysia regards the entire history of Malaya and Borneo, spanning thousands of years back to Prehistoric times, as its own history, and as such it is treated in this page.
  An early western account of the area is seen in Ptolemy's book Geographia, which mentions a "Golden Khersonese," now identified as the Malay Peninsula. Hinduism and Buddhism from India and China dominated early regional history, reaching their peak during the reign of the Sumatra-based Srivijaya civilisation, whose influence extended through Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula and much of Borneo from the 7th to the 13th centuries.
  Although Muslims had passed through the Malay Peninsula as early as the 10th century, it was not until the 14th century that Islam first firmly established itself. The adoption of Islam in the 14th century saw the rise of a number of sultanates, the most prominent of which were the Sultanate of Malacca and the Sultanate of Brunei.
context_section_description: Ptolemy, a Greek geographer, astronomer, and astrologer, had written about Golden Chersonese, which indicates trade with India and China has existed since the 1st century AD.,
  As early as the 1st century AD, Southeast Asia was the place of a network of coastal city-states, the center of which was the ancient Khmer Funan kingdom in the south of what is now Vietnam. This network encompassed the southern part of the Indochinese peninsula and the western part of the Malay archipelago. These coastal cities had a continuous trade as well as tributary relations with China from a very early period, at the same time being in constant contact with Indian traders. They seem to have shared a common indigenous culture.
  Gradually, the rulers of the western part of the archipelago adopted Indian cultural and political models e.g. proof of such Indian influence on Indonesian art in the 5th century. Three inscriptions found in Palembang (South Sumatra) and on Bangka Island, written in a form of Malay and in an alphabet derived from the Pallava script, are proof that the archipelago had definitely adopted Indian models while maintaining their indigenous language and social system. These inscriptions reveal the existence of a Dapunta Hyang (lord) of Srivijaya who led an expedition against his enemies and who curses those who will not obey his law.
  Being on the maritime route between China and South India, the Malay peninsula was involved in this trade The Bujang Valley, being strategically located at the northwest entrance of the Strait of Malacca as well as facing the Bay of Bengal, was continuously frequented by Chinese and south Indian traders. Such was proven by the discovery of trade ceramics, sculptures, inscriptions and monuments dated from the 5th to 14th century CE.
  The Bujang Valley was continuously administered by different thalassocratical powers including Funan, Srivijaya, and Majapahit before the trade declined.
  In Kedah there are remains showing Buddhist and Hindu influences which have been known for about a century now from the discoveries reported by Col. Low and has recently been subjected to a fairly exhaustive investigation by Dr. Quaritch Wales. Dr. Wales investigated no fewer than thirty sites roundabout Kedah.
  An inscribed stone bar, rectangular in shape, bears the ye-dharmma formula in Pallava script of the 7th century, thus proclaiming the Buddhist character of the shrine near the find-spot (site I) of which only the basement survives. It is inscribed on three faces in Pallava script of the 6th century, possibly earlier.
  Except for the Cherok Tokkun Inscription which was engraved on a large boulder, other inscriptions discovered in Bujang Valley are comparatively small in size and probably were brought in by Buddhist pilgrimage or traders.
caption: Built in 6th century A.D, Candi Bukit Batu Pahat is the most well-known ancient Hindu temple found in Bujang Valley, Kedah, Malaysia.
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