The Kedukan Bukit Inscription was discovered by the Dutchman M. Batenburg on 29 November 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, South Sumatra, on the banks of the River Tatang, a tributary of the River Musi. Barring the potentially earlier (but undated) Dong Yen Chau inscription, it is the oldest surviving specimen of the Malay language, in a form known as Old Malay. It is a small stone of 45 by 80 cm. This inscription is dated the year 605 Saka (683 AD) and contains numerous Sanskrit words.
Famous quotes containing the word inscription:
“The oft-repeated Roman story is written in still legible characters in every quarter of the Old World, and but today, perchance, a new coin is dug up whose inscription repeats and confirms their fame. Some “Judæa Capta,” with a woman mourning under a palm tree, with silent argument and demonstration confirms the pages of history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)