Upit I (788 Śaka)

Editor: Arlo Griffiths.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSIDENKUpitI.

Hand description:

Language: Old Javanese.

Repository: Nusantara Epigraphy (tfc-nusantara-epigraphy).

Version: (ac9645f), last modified (c937da2).

Edition

⟨1⟩ || svasti śaka-varṣātita 788 kārt(i)ka pañcadaśi kr̥ṣṇa-pakṣa vu⟨2⟩rukuṁ kalivuAn· soma tatkāla rake halaran· manusuk sĭ⟨3⟩ma Iy upit·

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ kārt(i)ka ⬦ kārt¿a?⟨i⟩ka S.

Translation by Arlo Griffiths

Hail! Elapsed Śaka year 788, [month of] Kārttika, fifteenth [tithi] of the waning fortnight, Vurukuṅ (of the 6-day cycle), Kalivuan (of the 5-day cycle), Monday (i.e., possibly, on 11 November 866): that was when the Lord of Halaran demarcated the sīma in Upit.

Commentary

There is a serious incoherence in the dating parameters, exposed at length by Sukarto (1975, p. 248, n. 5): “Curiously enough, the calendrical data provided in the inscription must contain an error, although the reading of the text is beyond any doubt. This is evident, as Drs. Boechari and myself have had occasion to ascertain from the tables published by Damais (1953: 255), which show that in 866 A.D. the 210-day wuku-cycle began on 21 July, whereas the month Kārtika falls in October-November. The date given in the inscription, 15 kṛṣṇapaksa of Kārtika 788 Śaka, is equivalent to 11 November, A.D. 866, since 1 Kārtika 788 = 13 October 866. But wu, ka, so, being the 9th day of the wuku-cycle, fell on 29 July 866. Since the relevant calculations show that a similar discrepancy, larger or smaller, would result for any other year that might be considered, the error must be contained in the wuku elements. In 866, the 11th November was the 114th day of this cycle, that is, according to Damais’ tables: Mawulu Kaliwuan Soma, two of the three terms in which are the same as those given in the inscription. It is most likely, therefore, that the author of the inscription erroneously wrote Wurukung instead of Mawulu, so that the correct date of the inscription is in fact 11 November 866. This solution was suggested by Dr. J. Noorduyn, who kindly made the necessary calculations with the aid of the new-moon tables of P. Hoang, …”.

Bibliography

Edited in Sukarto K. Atmodjo 1975. Re-edited here by Arlo Griffiths from photogrammetry.

Primary

[S] Sukarto K. Atmodjo, M. M. 1975. “The pillar inscription of Upit.” BKI 131 (2), pp. 247–253. DOI: 10.1163/22134379-90002667. [URL].

Secondary

Titi Surti Nastiti. 2018. “Watu sīma in Java: Marker stones as boundaries of privileged domains.” In: Writing for Eternity: A Survey of Epigraphy in Southeast Asia. Edited by Daniel Perret. Études thématiques 30. Paris: École française d'Extrême-Orient, pp. 189–221. Page 193.

Nakada, Kōzō. 1982. An inventory of the dated inscriptions in Java. Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 40. Tokyo: Toyo Bunko. Pages 82–83, items I-34.