Amongst the finds that renowned archaeologist Horace Geoffrey “H.G.” Quaritch Wales discovered in 1936 in the Bujang Valley was the Bukit Choras temple site.
Wales then dated it to the 4th century CE based on the shape of the type of mold used to make the basement of the structure (Wales 1940:7).
However, a recent excavation and research works conducted by the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) Centre for Global Archaeological Research (CGAR) and the National Heritage Department (NHD) that took place between 28 August and 12 September 2023 have discovered two near-perfect statues and an ancient inscription using the Pallava script.
According to The Star, USM CGAR senior lecturer Dr Nasha Rodziadi Khaw, who led the excavation works, said the finds from the temple site could date back to around the eighth or ninth century AD, which is the same as most of the temple sites in the Bujang Valley, and the development period of the Srivijaya Empire.
“The uniqueness of the temple at this archaeological site is firstly how it has been preserved, we can see that the condition of the walls in the north, west and south areas are well-preserved.
“Secondly, we found two human-sized structures made out of stucco… and the discovery of stucco has not been reported in the Bujang Valley but only in Sumatra and Java,” Nasha said at a press conference on Friday, 22 September 2023.
Nasha said based on preliminary research, there is a similarity between the temple architecture in Bukit Choras and that of temples in West Java and Sumatra, at the same time raising questions about the cultural relationship between Kedah Tua and other sites in South-East Asia.
He said the Bukit Choras Archaeological Site is considered to be special due to its isolated position north of Gunung Jerai, whereas the other archaeological sites in the Bujang Valley are mostly situated south of Gunung Jerai in the areas around Sungai Merbok and Sungai Muda.
He, however, said his team still needed time to do more research, perhaps over several years, and this must be done on-site before any conclusion can be made about the ancient site.
He also hoped his team can provide more information and data to add value to the history of Kedah Tua.
He added that the temple is also the biggest ever found in the Bujang Valley and it had interesting architecture.
What is more interesting is that the Pallava inscription used a 7th to 8th century CE script, but because it is believed to have been deposited at the temple during its construction, the inscription itself is much older than the temple.
Therefore, it would not be surprising if, upon completion of studies several years from now, the temple is found to have existed only between the 9th or 10th century CE, in consistence with the area’s trade with the Chola kingdom.
Similarly, an outlier sample caused the initial dating of the Sungai Batu site at 788 BCE, only to be later confirmed by the former director of USM CGAR Datuk Dr Mokhtar Saidin to have existed around the 1st and 2nd centuries CE.
The Bukit Choras temple is said to be the largest temple discovered in the Bujang Valley. Although not as large as the Borobudur and Angkor temples, it would certainly be an archaeo-tourism attraction for visitors to the area.
We certainly hope for more discoveries to be found when excavation works continue in the near future.
Copy and paste: 21 January 2024 > 9 Rejab 1445H: 2.11. am
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