Gangga Negara

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6th century Buddha statues (left) found at Ipoh. 9th century Hindu priest teacher statue found at Jalong, Perak.
6th century Buddha statues (left) found at Ipoh. 9th century Hindu priest teacher statue found at Jalong, Perak.

Gangga Negara is believed to be a lost Hindu Malay kingdom mentioned in the Malay Annals that covered present day Beruas, Dinding and Manjung in the state of Perak, Malaysia with Raja Gangga Shah Johan as one of its kings. Researchers believe that the kingdom was centered at Beruas and it collapsed after an attack by King Rajendra Chola I of Coromandel, South India, between 1025 and 1026. Another Malay annals Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa known as Kedah Annals, Gangga Negara may have been founded by Merong Mahawangsa's son Raja Ganjil Sarjuna of Kedah, allegedly a descendant of Alexander the Great or by the Khmer royalties no later than the 2nd century.

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[edit] Origin

A photo taken from the National History Museum of Kuala Lumpur. An 8th-9th century bronze standing 8-armed Buddhist Avalokitesvara statue found at Anglo Oriental, Bidor, Perak tin mine in year 1936. 79cm height.
A photo taken from the National History Museum of Kuala Lumpur. An 8th-9th century bronze standing 8-armed Buddhist Avalokitesvara statue found at Anglo Oriental, Bidor, Perak tin mine in year 1936. 79cm height.

Gangga Negara means "a city on the Ganges" in Sanskrit, the name derived from Ganganagar in northwest India where the Kambuja peoples inhabited. The Kambujas are Indo-Iranian Aryan clan of Indo-European family, originally localized in Pamirs and Badakshan. Commonly known as Hindu traders, they built their colonies in Southeast Asia around 2000 years ago at the Mekong valley and also at the Malay archipelago in Funan, Chenla, Champa, Khmer, Angkor, Langkasuka, Sailendra, Srivijaya, etc. Historians found the Kambuja traders travelled from Gujarat to Sri Lanka and to Ligor (Nakhon Sri Thammarat) of northern Malay peninsular, overland to Thailand and Cambodia.

This article is part of
the History of Malaysia series

Prehistoric Malaysia (60,000–2,000 BCE)
Gangga Negara (2nd–11th century CE)
Langkasuka (2nd–14th century)
Pan Pan (3rd–5th century)
Srivijaya (3rd century–1400)
Kedah Sultanate (1136–present)
Malacca Sultanate (1402–1511)
Sulu Sultanate (1450–1899)
Johor Sultanate (1528–current)
Jementah Civil War (1879)
White Rajahs (1841–1946)
British Malaya (1874–1946)
Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824
Burney Treaty (1826)
Straits Settlements (1826–1946)
Larut War (1861–1874)
Klang War (1867–1874)
Pangkor Treaty of 1874
Federated Malay States (1895–1946)
Unfederated Malay States (19th century–1946)
Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909
Battle of Penang (1914)
North Borneo (1882–1963)
Mat Salleh Rebellion (1896–1900)
World War II (1941–1945)
Battle of Malaya (1941–42)
Parit Sulong Massacre (1942)
Battle of Singapore (1942)
Syburi (1942–1945)
Battle of North Borneo (1945)
Sandakan Death Marches (1945)
Malayan Union (1946–1948)
Federation of Malaya (1948–1963)
Malayan Emergency (1948–1960)
Bukit Kepong Incident (1950)
Independence Day (1957)
Federation of Malaysia (1963–present)
Operation Coldstore (1963)
Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation (1962–1966)
Brunei Revolt (1962–1966)
Singapore in Malaysia (1963–1965)
1964 Race Riots (1964)
Communist Insurgency War (1967-1989)
May 13 Incident (1969)
New Economic Policy (1971–1990)
Operation Lalang (1987)
1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis (1987–88)
Asian financial crisis (1997–98)
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[edit] Beruas

The first research into the Beruas kingdom was conducted by Colonel James Low in 1849 and a century later, by HG Qlaritch-Males. According to the Museum and Antiquities Department, both researchers agreed that the Gangga Negara kingdom existed but could not ascertain the exact site. For years, villagers had unearthed artefacts, including tombstones with inscriptions that indicated that Beruas could have been the starting point for the spread of Islam in Peninsular Malaysia. Most of the artefacts, believed to be from the ancient kingdoms, are today displayed at the Beruas Museum dated back to the 5th and the 6th century. Artefacts on display include a 128kg cannon, swords, kris, coins, tin ingots, pottery from the Ming Dynasty and various eras, and large jars. Through these artifacts, it has been postulated that Pengkalan (Ipoh), Kinta Valley, Tanjung Rambutan, Bidor and Sungai Siput were part of the kingdom. Artifacts also suggest that the kingdom's center might have shifted several times. Gangga Negara was renamed to Beruas after the establishment of Islam there.

[edit] Beruas tree

The district of Beruas has found some royal Acehnese gravestones and this evidence has it linked to another historical source that a prince from Aceh of Sumatra rested at Beruas tree (Pokok Bruas), his name was Malik. History of Pasai did mentioned a Malik ul Salih whom was the first local Hindu Malay king to convert to Islam in 1267. Today the beruas trees have become extinct but can still be found in the nearby villages of Pengkalan Baru and Batang Kubu.

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