Sri Lankan Buddhist Consecration Rituals in Southeast Asia? The Case of the ‘Site 16’ of Kedah (ca. 9th-10th Century CE)

Anna A. Ślączka

In 1936, several ancient sites of Kedah were excavated by H.T. Quaritch Wales and his team. One of them was the so-called Site 16, a ruined laterite structure, possibly a temple. In association with the structure, the excavations resulted in unearthing a bronze casket containing several objects, among them miniature figures of animals made of various metals and miniature tools and weapons. The structure and the associated finds were tentatively dated by Wales to the 9th or 10th century CE. The excavated objects are, without any doubt, traces of a consecration ritual performed for the structure. While such traces are not uncommon in Southeast Asia and have been discovered in numerous Buddhist and Hindu sites, the finds of Site 16 are, to my knowledge, unique in the region and suggest a specific link with the Buddhist sites of Sri Lanka. In the first part of my paper, I will analyze the objects unearthed in Site 16. I will then compare them with surprisingly similar finds from several Sri Lankan Buddhist sites from approximately the same period. Based on this comparison, I will attempt to better date Site 16 and to address the possible reasons for the similarities between the finds, including reexamination of contacts between specific Buddhist centers of South and Southeast Asia.