Kedah Tua, an ancient Hindu/Buddhist settlement on the coastal areas around Sungai Merbok in the Bujang Valley, is an archaeological treasure that has not been given its due as a significant part of the history of Tanah Melayu.
It has, however, been left to recede into the recesses of public consciousness and regarded merely as a relic of the past.
The impact and immensity of these archaeological treasures are overlooked, and their memory is consigned to the pages of a few publications, relegated as an academic concern. It is pertinent that we resurrect their memory as a significant part of our history and their role as an entrepot trading, economic, and cultural centre before the emergence of Malacca.
Ancient Kedah or Kedah Tua covered a vast coastal area of Kedah, encompassing Bukit Choras, Gunung Jerai, and the valleys of the Merbok River, Bujang River, Muda River, and Cherok Tok Kun. It also encompassed the adjacent parts of modern-day southern Thailand, such as Takuapa, Phang-nga, and Trang.
These early coastal settlements and ports, with easy access to fresh water and raw materials, which formed a loose confederation, were a maritime power and predecessor to the Malacca Sultanate as an international trade centre. It was already bustling in entrepot trade with Chinese, Indian, Arabian, and Persian traders.
This whole region was renamed Bujang Valley (Lembah Bujang) by the Malaysian Department of Museum and Antiquities in the 1970s.
Seafarers and traders from India, Indochina, and China had contacted settlements along the Malay Peninsula since the 5th century BC. There are various Indian records – Sanskrit literature, Buddhist manuscripts, Chola inscriptions, and Tamil poems – that testify to their presence in Kedah Tua.
In the Tamil records, Bujang Valley was referred to as Kadaram, Kidaram, and Kazhagam. While Sanskrit records refer to Bujang Valley as Kataha. Arab/Persian records recognised Bujang Valley as Kalah, a trading settlement trading in tin, forest products, spices, and Indian swords. They mentioned Bujang Valley as part of the Srivijaya Empire. Chinese sources recorded its presence from the 2nd century BCE, mentioning Bujang Valley in the Weng-Hsien Tung-Pao and I-Tsing travel reports.
Bujang Valley was a port city trading in iron, beads, ceramics, forest, and agricultural products. From the 2nd to the 14th century, it was the centre of trade and industry. Its diverse economic activities included the iron industry, brick and pottery making, and domestic and foreign trading.
Bujang Valley was then a bay and a natural port/harbour (Telok Kedah) with sandy coastal areas irrigated by Sungai Muda, Sungai Bujang, and Sungai Merbok Kecil. From the 14th to 15th century, Bujang Valley’s status as a centre of commerce and trading declined because of the lowering of the sea level, which resulted in the receding shoreline, sedimentation, and silting of the port area, thus cutting off access to the ancient settlements.
The inhabitants at that time were composed of indigenous people combined with temporary foreign traders from India, China, Arabia, Java, Sumatra, and Indochina who sojourned for six months in Bujang Valley for the change in monsoon winds to return to their home countries. Local chieftains, including merchants, aristocrats, and dynastic rulers, formed the political administration of Bujang Valley. They acted as intermediaries between the foreign traders and the inland indigenous people.
Most of the 184 archaeological sites in Bujang Valley are located in the estuaries and riverbanks of Sungai Bujang, Muda River, and Sungai Batu, which were economic and commercial centres. The archaeological sites at Bujang Valley are divided into four main groups, namely, Sungai Muda Complex, Sungai Bujang Complex, Sungai Batu Complex, and Bukit Batu Pahat and Bukit Choras Complex. Other archaeological sites located on elevated areas include Bukit Gajah Mati, Bukit Kecil, Bukit Meriam, Bukit Choras, Bukit Pendiat, Bukit Batu Lintang, Bukit Penjara, and Gunung Jerai.
Almost all these archaeological sites reflect the dominance of the Hindu/Buddhist religion, serving as testimony to the Indian influence in Southeast Asia, especially through trade, which brought with it Indian culture and religion. Sculptures excavated depict Hindu gods and Buddhist cults with images of Buddha (Bukit Choras), Ganesha, Durga, and the representation of Lingga-Yoni. Lingga is the abstract symbol of Shiva. Inscriptions in Sanskrit and ancient Javanese script testify to the Hindu/Buddhist religion.
The Hindu traders built their temples and other places of worship to serve them during their sojourn here while waiting for the change in the monsoon that would enable them to return home. Some of the indigenous people in the coastal settlements were influenced by the Hindu/Buddhist religion, while the inland indigenous people remained unaffected and maintained their animistic beliefs.
These temples have their own architectural characteristics. The candis or temples (from the Sanskrit word Candikagraha, meaning temple of the Goddess Candika-Durga) were built following the guidelines of Manasara and Mayamata Silpasastra, which are compilations of treaties concerning the construction of temples and buildings.
These candis and other places of worship were constructed by the Indian traders using local labour and materials. The coastal temple sites are now landlocked because of the shifting river beds and sedimentation. The Candi Batu Pahat is the best preserved of these temple sites.
Kedah Tua is an important historical legacy that should not be buried under religious-political schism. It should be recognised as a significant part of the history of Tanah Melayu, where a plurality of religious beliefs and ethnicities existed in the then economic and trading centre of Kedah Tua (Bujang Valley).
One must recognise the sterling efforts of the researchers of the Centre for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, for keeping the memory of Kedah Tua alive through their continuing excavation, teachings, and publications.
But much more must be done, especially by the Kedah State authorities and the National Department of Heritage, to promote the archaeological sites of Bujang Valley as an educational and tourism product in the context of Southeast Asia’s archaeological diaspora.
