A Buddhist Civilization by the Batanghari
A THOUSAND years ago, the Batanghari River brought globalization to all corners of Sumatra. Scores of ancient cultural sites were found along the rivers bank. Stretching as far as 7.5 kilometers, the Jambi estuary (Muara Jambi) is the largest. Seven hundred years later, some of the sites still lie buried underground and in the jungles, but seven sites of almost 70 temples have been restored. Tempo reporter Kurie Suditomo reports from the location.
November 28, 2006
In the morning a white mist hangs over the Batang Hari, which was then wider and deeper than ever. Prolonged floods have inundated everything here and the houses and the fields are deeply submerged in the water. Large branches of trees, pieces of wood and sods of grass drift along the river in an endless cavalcade; sometimes whole trees are carried down to the sea serenely, stately, almost gently.(F.M. Schnitger, Batanghari, 1936)
EARLY one mornin
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