The Kota Kapur (Western Bangka) Inscription.
By C. O. Blagden.
In Part 67 of the Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië Professor Kern has edited and discussed the above-named document, which though discovered some 21 years ago had not previously been explained. It is on a stone pillar which was removed to the Batavia Museum shortly after its discovery. The writing, which is well preserved, is in an early Southern form of the Indian alphabet presenting no serious difficulty to the decipherer. The language is an archaic form of speech allied to Malay. The date, given in the inscription itself, falls probably in the year 608 Saka expired (A.D. 686-7); but the first of the numeral figures in which it is expressed is somewhat doubtful. The form of the alphabet generally is however quite consistent with this relatively high antiquity, and assuming the date to be correctly read, this inscription ranks among the oldest Indonesian records that have been discovered hitherto.
The interpretation offers many difficulties, for there are a number of words in the inscription which have not been identified with modern equivalents. But the general purport is pretty clear and amounts, in short, to this. Sri Wijaya, ruler of a country named Parāwis, wherever that may have been, after having as it appears punished or raided the rebellious land of Jāwa (which may be Java or else some part of Sumatra, perhaps), sets up this inscription to warn his subjects against treason, disobedience, and various other offences (including sundry forms of evil-working charms, poisoning, etc.). On those who do such things or who damage the inscribed stone he invokes a deadly curse. On his loyal and faithful subjects of the land of Parāwis he calls down various blessings.
The chief interest, however, of the document consists in the language in which it is framed. I extract a number of words by way of illustration, most of which may be readily compared with Malay. Of the spelling I need only say that n = our ng; ñ = our ny; s is a Sanskrit sibilant pronounced like the English sh; h = final h.
Nouns (simple): hamba, kāyet (= kait, "hook"), uran (= orang), sumpah, dātu (=dato’), wā̄tu (= batu), tuwa (= tuba), wulan (= bulan); (in phrases): di dalanña (=di-dalam-nya), wanuaña (= běnua-nya); (compound): kasīhan (= "love-charm"), kadatuan (="kingdom"), parsumpahan. Note the use of the formatives -an, ka—an, and par—an (modern kĕ—an, and pĕr—an). The prefix ka- is also used by itself, like the kĕ- of the modern kĕhĕndak, kĕkaseh.
