According to Ven Dhammika, the inscriptions are oldest archelogical evidence of Buddhism within the close vicinity around Singapore. It is found on the Indonesian Island of Karimun Besar which is about 2 hours boat ride from Singapore.
On the 9th March, we took an early morning boat ride to Karimun. The main town on the island is Tanjung Balai. The inscriptions are found within a granite quarry in the northern part of the island they called Pasir Panjang. According to the locals, the granite is exported to Singapore as material for construction.
We charted 2 MPVs for the return trip from the ferry terminal at Tanjung Balai to the quarry and it cost us S$100 (S$50 per vehicle). The drive is about 45 min.
This is the shrine housing the inscriptions
Ven Dhammika examining the inscriptions
A fresh water pool which Ven Dhammika speculated was the reason that ships might stopped at this part of the island.
Some one in the group came up with the idea of pouring water over the stone which made the inscriptions showed up more clearly.
This is the foot print near the inscription which was probably the foot print mentioned in the inscription.
Offerings at the inscriptions. Apparently, there are people who come here and pray at the inscriptions.
For information on what the inscription says, refer to Ven Dhammika's blog.
To get there, take a ferry from the Harbour Front Ferry Terminal to Tanjung Balai (Pulau Karmun Besar). There are 2 ferry companies that have regular ferry services there: Indofalcon and Sindo ferry. You can do it comfortably as a day trip, taking the 8am ferry there and return with the 4pm ferry operated by Indofalcon. Tanjung Balai is a very laid back town. Not much to do there, but there are quite a few hotels there if you want to stay the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment