File:4th century Sanskrit Yupa inscriptions of Mulavarman, Kutei East Kalimantan, Indonesia.jpg

English: This image shows one yupa pillar (Vedic ritual pillar) with prashasti-style Sanskrit inscriptions in Tamil Grantha script found in Kutei, eastern Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia.

The different Yupa pillars and all three inscriptions shown above are attributed to king Mulavarman era and dated to the 4th century.

These are now preserved in the Badan Layanan Umum Museum Nasional Indonesia in Jakarta.

These yupa pillars are significant given the context in which they were historically created and their location:

1. They are some of the oldest known Sanskrit inscriptions in southeast Asia
2. Given the excellent Sanskrit poetry in Tamil Grantha script and Anustubh meter as evidenced in these inscriptions, they suggest that Tamil Hindu traders and priests were already well established in Indonesia between 350 and 400 CE
3. The inscription praises Mulavarman for three Hindu ethical values repeatedly mentioned in Vedic literature, namely "self restraint, strength of conviction, and austerity" – which suggests that these Vedic ideas were in vogue with the Tamils for them to be using it to praise a king in the Indonesian islands
4. One of the inscription mentions Mulavarman performing Bahusuvarnaka sacrifice, which is a Vedic sacrificial ritual. Given that Vedic ritual was conducted by Tamil Hindu priests in Indonesia in the 4th century, it implies that Vedic rituals had arrived in Tamil Hindu kingdoms at least by the 4th century, likely considerably before for Tamil priests to have mastered the Vedic procedures and their descendants to have migrated to Indonesia and performed them for king Mulavarman (a native who had adopted a Hindu name). This, in combination with Sangam literature, suggests that Sanskrit and the Vedas had been adopted in south India long before the 4th century.
5. The inscriptions mention "gift of cattle" and "gift of lands" to the priests, in a style and language that mirrors in prashasti-genre inscriptions found all over India in the first half of the 1st millennium.

For a scholarly discussion of Yupa pillars and inscriptions of Mulavarman, please see publications such as: J. Ph. VOGEL, THE YUPA INSCRIPTIONS OF KING MULAVARMAN, FROM KOETEI (EAST BORNEO)

Notes:

The 2-D ink impressions photographed and included in the collage above were created and published in September 1880. Thus, it is in public domain and also covered by Wikimedia Commons PD-Art guidelines. Any rights I have as a photographer, I herewith donate it to the public domain thru Wikimedia Commons.