Bujang Valley reminds us that our ancestors were vibrant people linked to the wider world through trade, culture and ideas.
IMAGINE a scene from about 1,500 years ago of a trading ship made of solid timber unfurling its large sails and departing from a port somewhere along the eastern coast of India.
Making its way southward on the stormy or placid waters of the Bay of Bengal, its sailors and passengers find rest weeks later among the cluster of islands now known as the Andaman and Nicobar.
Having restocked supplies and undertaken necessary repairs, it moves again, following the coastal outline of the Malay Peninsula that appears on the east.
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The vessel eventually reaches the southernmost point of the Andaman Sea where it meets the Strait of Malacca. It is then that the occupants of the ship spot the majestic landmark that they have long been waiting to see.
Rising faraway along the horizon on land is an imposing and unmistakably bulky mountain with a sharp peak looming as though welcoming their arrival into the strait.
Ancient iron smelting
For many, the mountain known as Gunung Jerai must have been sacred, and the voyage they were making akin to a pilgrimage.
But there was another important purpose for the ship, filled with merchants, prospectors, navigators and monks, to have made the long and difficult trip.
The land around the mountain was famed to be extremely rich in deposits of iron and other minerals.
In fact, the iron was so abundant and pure that it was mined and smelted at various sites locally to be exported to other parts of the world, including Persia, Arabia, India and possibly even the Mediterranean territories of Greece and Rome.
The area was spontaneously called Kattaaha, which is the Sanskrit word for a cauldron or heating pan.
Indeed, such furnaces were used by hundreds of labourers employed at these sites to heat and melt the raw excavated iron to be shaped into ingots suitable for shipment.
With mild adjustment in pronunciation over the centuries, the land of Kattaaha is now known as Kedah. And the vast basin south of Gunung Jerai that is most concentrated with ancient artefacts from that period is named the Bujang Valley.
For the native people who inhabited the sprawling settlements around the magnificent mountain, the environment there was as geographically fortuitous as it was spiritually fulfilling.
Near the base of the mountain the picturesque Sungai Merbok flowed from the wild inland into the Strait of Malacca.
The river and possibly its tributary, Sungai Bujang, provided ample depth and space for ships to berth and for cargoes to be loaded upon them from the jetties on their banks.
The Bujang must have been called thus due to the snake-like way in which the slender river wended across the land. The name was thus inspired from bhujanga, the Sanskrit word for a serpent.
Incredibly, many of these iron-smelting furnances have been discovered intact by archaeologists and local residents in recent years. There are also other astounding remnants of the population that flourished there in ancient times.
Most iconic ancient building
Scores of artefacts, including religious buildings, statues and inscriptions from the Hindu-Buddhist civilisation of that period, have been excavated in Kedah, as well as in Seberang Perai and Perak.
A fine collection of these precious items are on permanent display at the Bujang Valley Archaeological Museum in Merbok, along the southern foothill of Gunung Jerai. Behind the museum lies the most iconic ancient structure in Malaysia – the Candi Bukit Batu Pahat (see front cover pic).
This temple dates back to the period between the 7th and 12th centuries CE.
Today, only the concrete base of the candi, as such ancient religious buildings are called in Malay, remains.
The pillars and roof, made of wood, have not survived the ravages of time. But its architecture is still breathtaking to observe, what with the forested slope of the mountain in the background, as lush and naturally verdant as it was before.
Last month, in a poignant and symbolic reconnection of sorts with these forgotten ancients, members of the Malaysia-India Heritage Society conducted an expedition to the Bujang Valley.
It was an opportunity to experience for themselves the wonders of the age-old artefacts as they exist today.
Reflecting on the eye-opening trip, society president Prabhakaran Nair said the discoveries reminded them that the land was once part of a vibrant civilisation connected to the wider world through trade, culture and ideas.
“They stand as evidence that Malaysia’s history is ancient, cosmopolitan and deeply rooted in intercultural exchange,” he said.
“The discoveries remind us that human history has always been shaped by movement, encounter and exchange.”
“Long before the modern nation-state, peoples, traders and ideas have traversed lands, seas and frontiers, enriching civilisations through interaction and coexistence.”
Strategic maritime location
More specifically, Bujang Valley highlights the shared heritage and long civilisational links between Malaysia and India, Prabhakaran stressed.
“Such evidences of shared heritage are important in fostering cultural diplomacy as a pathway to mutual respect and understanding between nations,” he added.
Interestingly, it has been recorded that the prosperity of Kedah during that era occurred in tandem with a wave of advancements in related fields across the ancient world.
These include knowledge of oceanic navigation based on improved understanding of stellar astronomy and monsoon winds, and heightened mastery in the construction of large resilient ships.
Such factors made it possible for merchants, scholars and seafarers to traverse between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea via the Strait of Malacca, with Kedah having special geographical prominence along the route.
Dr Nasha Rodziadi Khaw, who heads the Centre for Global Archaeological Research in Universiti Sains Malaysia, explains that there was also a broader shift in global commerce from elite luxury goods towards bulk commodities such as ceramics, metals, forest products and beads.
“Ancient Kedah was well positioned to meet this demand, functioning as an entrepôt and a producer,” he said in a commentary in theSun on April 1.
“Historical sources across Asia attest to Ancient Kedah’s importance. Early Tamil literature refers to it as a source of valued goods while Sanskrit and Buddhist texts describe it as a prosperous port.
“Arab geographers between the ninth and 14th centuries CE knew Ancient Kedah, often called Kalah, as a key maritime stopover rich in tin and forest products. The merchants came from Persia, Arabia and India.”
The people of Kedah must have also been in contact with neighbouring settlements such as Kutai Martadipura in east Kalimantan, Sri Vijaya centred in Sumatra and the Khmers of Indochina.
These advanced civilisations that once inhabited the Southeast Asian region have disappeared, but their remnants continue to exist.
Unlike physically imposing landmarks such as those at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Borobudur in Java and Bagan in Myanmar, the Bujang Valley shows its significance in numerous small but richly important structures and artefacts.
They form a precious legacy of an enigmatic settlement once inhabited by the forebears of our landscape, and they must be protected and preserved at all costs for future generations to understand and appreciate the depths of our nation’s grand history.