Bukit Siguntang Print
Written by Djoko   
Wednesday, 04 October 2006 06:27

Bukit Siguntang is the name of a famous historical site in Palembang, seated at a hill about 25 m above sea level, the highest point in Palembang. From this site historians found Indonesia's oldest inscription containing importance information from.

The Bukit Siguntang inscription, found at Bukit Siguntang site, dating back from 604 in the Saka era.  From this inscription historians made hypothesis that the Sriwijaya Kingdom was centered here. The original Bukit Siguntang inscription is now in the collection of the National Museum in Jakarta.

Bukit Siguntang now seems like a city park, with shady trees and several two stories halls with reliefs illustrating the tale of the Sriwijaya Empire, as told in the inscription. It also contains seven tombs of historical figures of ancient Palembang:

  1. Raja Sigentar Alam
  2. Puteri Kembang Dadar
  3. Puteri Rambut Selako
  4. Panglima Raja Batu Api
  5. Panglima Bagus Sekuning
  6. Panglima Bagus Karang
  7. Panglima Tuan Djundjungan.

Bukit Siguntang is the site where Palembang's Buddhist community celebrates Waisak annually.

Bukit Siguntang is also favorite destination for Malaysian tourists, due to its supposed historical links with Parameswara, who fled from Sriwijaya to Tumasik (Singapore) when the kingdom was attacked by Majapahit from Java in 1511. Prameswara then came to Malaka, married with the daughter of Malaccan dignitary founded the Malacca kingdom, and was it first king, setting the stage for the later establishment of Malaysia.

 

Last Updated on Friday, 18 January 2008 20:28