Dharmasraya: Kingdom on the Batanghari River

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Bhairawa, the frightening giant of a statue, is a centerpiece exhibit at the Jakarta National Museum, the spiritual symbol of King Adityawarman, ruler of the 14th century Kingdom of Dharmasraya in Sumatra.

Not much is known about Dharmasraya. It’s mentioned only in the inscriptions in Amoghapasa and Negarakertagama manuscripts. Dharmasraya is believed to have been a powerful kingdom, so much so that the Javanese Kingdom of Singasari sought its assistance to drive out Kublai Khan’s Mongol invaders.

Tempo’s Febriyanti recently traveled to Padang Roco on the bank of the Batanghari River, believed to be the site of the Kingdom of Dharmasraya and where the Bhairawa statue was found. Her report is complemented with an article on Ulrich Kozok, a German-born scholar who discovered an old manuscript that lifts a little of the mystery surrounding the existence of Dharmasraya.

. tempo : 173167508368.

THE bank of the Batanghari River, Padang Roco, in the West Sumatra district of Dharmasraya is where Bhairawa, 4.41 meters in height and 4 tons in weight used to stand, a fearsome statue of what is believed to be a representation of King Adityawarman.

The giant statue, its four feet trampling on human skulls, was removed from the site in 1935 by the Dutch East Indies government to Kebun Margasatwa in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra.

Two years later t

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