Lembah Bujang Civilization

The Lembah Bujang is an alluvial valley that descends from Gunong Jerai, stretches southward toward the Muda River and rolls gently to meet the Straits of Malacca in a westerly direction.

This is the Lembah Bujang where dozens of excavated ‘candi’ point to the existence of a powerful trading kingdom form as early as the 4th century AD.

The valley was said to be location of the earliest Malay kingdom known in several names: Kataha, and Kadaram.

It was visited by Chinese missionary in 671 AD and he called the place: Chieh-Cha.

It is a prehistoric settlement at Sungai Muda then developed into a landfall for ships from India, and that by the 7th century it had evolved into an entrepot.

Between the fifth and the early eleventh century, Sungai Mas in the Lembah Bujang was the center of Kedah. Buddhist inscriptions found in the valley are evidence of Indian contact from the fifth to the sixth centuries.

During the 7th and 8th centuries, Kedah paid tribute to the Srivijaya Empire of Sumatra, but later fell under the influence of the Siamese until the 15th century, when the rise of Malacca led to the Islamisation of the area.
Lembah Bujang Civilization