Preserving the Remnants of Past Glory
The people of Danau Lamo village, Maro Sebo district, Muaro Jambi regency, work to excavate and restore the Kedaton temple complex, which is part of the Jambi Muaro site, Thursday (24/8). According to research, the building was the worship and learning center of the religion of Buddhism from the 9th to 11th century.
Solimin, 39, was anxious upon hearing the news from his neighbors. After chopping down old durian trees in Solimin’s field, seven workers suffered from high fever at their homes. Solimin knew this would happen. He had warned the woodcutters to be careful. They should have heeded the warning.
“At this field, you cannot talk as you please and you must not harbor any bad intentions,” he said recently.
At the field, considered sacred by the people of Danau Lamo village, Maro Sebo district, Muaro Jambi regency, people are told to watch over their thoughts and deeds. Each and every old tree there is believed to have a connection with the past.
Solimin said that the woodcutters had asked for his permission to chop down the trees and sell the wood.
However, Solimin alleged that they might not have checked on their surroundings before doing their work. Around the plot of land where the durian trees grew, there are heaps of soil filled with ancient bricks in the form of buildings. “There is menapo around here,” Solimin said while pointing at the heaps of huge bricks at the spot where the durian trees had stood.
The villagers call the heaps of bricks menapo. It means mounds in the form of a structure. Some say that the menapo used to be part of an ancient temple.
Historians have suggested that the term menapo might have been derived from the term mandapa, meaning “structure” or “temple.”
Solimin said that the elders had always warned everyone to be careful in the field. They can farm and grow crops but must stop working if their hoes hit bricks in the ground. “It means that there is menapo at the location. Stop working and just leave it there,” he said.
In the past, locals’ respect of menapo made it so they were used to growing durian and duku (Lansium parasiticum) without using hoes. People would just insert the sprouts into the ground near the surface and the plants would flourish even if there was menapo underneath them.
Huge complex
The result of ongoing research by the Palembang archaeology agency and the Jambi cultural heritage preservation agency since 2008 has revealed stunning facts. The durian farms owned by Solimin and other locals used to be a vihara and part of a complex of megastructures that functioned as a center for Buddhist teachings in the past.
It can even be said that it is the location of the largest Buddhist school in all of Nusantara. It spans 3,100 hectares along the Batanghari River. There are hundreds of temples and menapo beneath its soil. Only around a dozen temples can be excavated and restored. Other than Kedaton, there are also the Gumpung and Tinggi temples that are alleged to have been part of the temple complex’s core.
Kedaton is one of the temples that has been successfully restored by the archaeological teams from the central and regional governments. It is 200x220 square meters and is surrounded by 16 yards and a canal that surrounds the entire area known as Kedaton Temple.
An interesting finding of the research at Kedaton Temple was the presence of 16 yards that gave a sense of how the complex functioned and how huge the teaching activities must have been. Each of the yards had a specific function. There was a specific yard for sanctification activities. There were also specific yards for gathering, meditating and worshipping. Exactly at the center of the complex, there was a main temple.
The presence of many yards provided a sense of how the monks were divided between the prospective ones, the beginners and the seniors. There was also a separation between male and female monks. “There were regulations in the teaching of Buddhism. In order to reach the next level, monks needed to go through an ordination ceremony. Before they passed the ceremony, they could not enter the most sacred yard in the middle, the one nearest to the main temple,” Palembang archaeology agency researcher Retno Purwanti said.
At the center of the temple complex, researchers found some sort of an altar. There, they found terracotta candle holders. Retno said that the findings reaffirmed archeologists’ conclusion on the presence of a sanctification process before a monk can enter the main yard.
Based on the results of a research on charcoal samples, the team of archaeologists concluded that Kedaton Temple was constructed in several stages in the eighth and ninth centuries. This theory was strengthened by the findings of ceramics and earthenware. “We found ceramics from China from the eras of the Tang and Sung dynasties,” Retno said.
Despite newer civilizations having resided at the temple’s site for centuries, the temples and menapo in the Kedaton complex were still relatively intact when they were found. The research, excavation and restoration processes were relatively easy.
Locals deeply respect and preserve all local archaeological findings.
Solimin said that there had been many offers from collectors who often came to the village to buy the archaeological artifacts.
However, he refused to sell to them. “I will not sell this. Everything here must stay securely in its place. This is for our safety, as well,” Solimin said.
Locals let researchers and university students come to their farms for research purposes free of charge. Villager Sukri, 54, said that he had asked his neighbors to participate in preserving the archaeological findings. Every time they find items they believe to be ancient, they report it to the archaeology officer. Locals also often help during excavations.
Some 60 locals are involved in restoring Kedaton Temple this year. Some of them have participated in all excavation and restoration projects. “We deeply understand how to take care of and manage these temples,” Sukri said.
Solimin and Sukri said that they had high hopes that the government would not just involve them in short projects. “If possible, we wish to be recruited as temple caretakers,” he said.
The locals’ perseverance in preserving Muaro Jambi’s archaeological remnants must be appreciated.
Temple management must be carried out together with efforts to improve locals’ welfare. Remnants of past glory should not be destroyed by mere economic matters.
