Tugu inscription

Have you ever seen a big, round stone? The Tugu inscription is like a giant, smooth egg made of stone! It's about as tall as a small grown-up, and it has special carvings on it. These carvings are like a secret code that tells us about things that happened a VERY long time ago in a place called Indonesia. It's like a history book, but made of rock!

This stone tells us about a king named Purnawarman. He was a very important leader a super long time ago, around the year 450! He ordered his people to do some amazing work. They dug and changed two big rivers, the Chandrabhaga and the Gomati. This was to help stop floods when it rained a lot and to bring water to the farms when it was dry.

Digging and changing rivers might sound strange, but it was super important! Imagine if your town flooded every time it rained – that would be terrible! The king wanted to protect his people. Also, when it was hot and dry, they needed water for their crops to grow. So, these river projects were like building giant water slides and sprinklers for the whole kingdom!

This amazing stone wasn't always in a museum. It was found in a village called Tugu. Later, people decided it was so special that it needed to be kept safe. So, they moved it to a big museum in Indonesia called the National Museum of Indonesia. Now, lots of people can visit and learn the stories the stone has to tell!