Sanskrit inscriptions in Maritime Southeast Asia

A good number of inscriptions written in Sanskrit language have been found in maritime Southeast Asia, notably in Malaysia and Indonesia. "Early inscriptions written in Indian languages and scripts abound in Southeast Asia. [...] The fact that southern Indian languages didn't travel eastwards along with the script further suggests that the main carriers of ideas from the southeast coast of India to the east - and the main users in Southeast Asia of religious texts written in Sanskrit and Pali - were Southeast Asians themselves. The spread of these north Indian sacred languages thus provides no specific evidence for any movements of South Asian individuals or groups to Southeast Asia.

Notable inscriptions

Kutai inscriptions

The oldest known inscriptions in Indonesia are the Kutai inscriptions, or the Muarakaman inscriptions, which are those on seven stone pillars, or yupa (“sacrificial posts”), found in the eastern part of Borneo, in the area of Kutai, East Kalimantan province. They are written in the early Pallava script, in the Sanskrit language, and commemorate sacrifices held by a king called Mulavarman. Based on palaeographical grounds, they have been dated to the second half of the 4th century AD. They attest to the emergence of an Indianized state in the Indonesian archipelago prior to AD 400, and hence Old Kutai Kingdom (Kutai Kuno) is the earliest known Indianized polity in Indonesia.

In addition to Mulavarman, the reigning king, the inscriptions mention the names of his father Asvavarman and his grandfather Kundungga. It is generally agreed that Kundungga is not a Sanskrit name, but one of native origin. The fact that his son Asvavarman is the first of the line to bear a Sanskrit name indicates that he was probably also the first to adhere to Hinduism.