page_title: St. Anne's Church, Bukit Mertajam
section_title: Cherok Tokun Relics
hierarchical_section_title: St. Anne's Church, Bukit Mertajam / Cherok Tokun Relics
caption_attribution_description: English: Mahanavika Buddhagupta stone inscription, 5th century CE, Indian Museum, Kolkota
context_page_description: St Anne's Church, Bukit Mertajam is a Roman Catholic church located in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia. It is one of the parishes in the Diocese of Penang. Its annual celebration of the feast of St Anne regularly attracts over 100,000 pilgrims from Malaysia as well as neighbouring countries like Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia. The celebrations lasts for 10 days, and includes the actual feast day on 26 July.
context_section_description: Cherok Tokun Relics are ancient inscriptions on a rock in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. Also called Batu Bersurat Cherok Tokun, it is the only ancient megalith in Penang, Malaysia, as recognised by the Malaysian Department of Museum and Antiquities. The granite megalith is located at the foot of Bukit Mertajam, within the compound of the St Anne Church. To reach it, walk across the driveway from the new St Anne Church.
  The Cherok Tokun Ancient Inscriptions were first documented by Colonel James Low, a British army officer, in 1845. In his log, Low recorded his disappointment of not finding a more spectacular ruin, expecting to find an ancient temple ruin. He documented what he made out to be "a group of seven inscriptions". The inscriptions were believed to be in pre-Pallava script and written in Sanskrit. One of the inscriptions mentions Mahanavika Budhagupta and give the Buddhist creed Ajnanac-ciyate Karmma... They were attributed to the ancient Kingdom of Kadaaram, which flourished in northern Malaysia in the 5th to 6th centuries. However, according to J Laidlay, who translated the text in 1848, the inscription was Pali, not Sanskrit.
  The Museum and Antiquities Department built a shed over the megalith in 1973. It was the first and only ancient relic in Penang to be gazetted. By that time, the megalith was already covered with graffiti added by latter-day visitors, including an inscription by Colonel Low himself.
caption: Rubbing of the Mahanavika Buddhagupta stone inscription, 5th century CE, Indian Museum, Kolkota
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