the Sriwijaya Empire

Yes I agree haha. Unfortunately to my knowledge it doesn't exist.

What about this great Hindu temple complex? It's almost identical to that art. (Sailendra dynasty)

Or this Buddhist temple (Guinness names this temple the world's largest Buddha temple)



Samaratungga was the head of the Sailendra dynasty who ruled Central Java and Srivijaya in the 8th and the 9th century. He was the successor of King Indra, and his name was mentioned in Karangtengah inscription dated 824 CE as the constructor of a sacred buddhist building called Venuvana (Sankrit: bamboo forest) to place the cremated ashes of his predecessor King Indra of Sailendra. During his administration, he initiated the construction of a massive Buddhist monument Borobudur. Samaratungga married Dewi Tara, the princess of Srivijayan ruler Dharmasetu, which created close political alliance between the Sailendras and Srivijaya.

Under the reign of Samaratungga too, Jayavarman II was appointed as the governor of Indrapura in the Mekong delta. Jayavarman later revoked his allegiance to the Sailedras and Srivijaya to form the Khmer Empire.

Well, the Srivijayan period did not produce a lot of monuments in Sumatra.

However..., during the Srivijaya episode in Central Java, they produced great temples such as Kalasan, Mendut, Borobudur and Sewu (Manjusrigrha). Srivijayas of Sumatra and Sailendras of Java foster alliance through royal marriages, as the result their descendants are both have Srivijayan and Sailendran bloods. The King of Sailendras such as Dharmasetu, Indra and Samaratungga were also the Maharaja of Srivijaya, ruling both Java and Sumatra. During this Sailendra period it was suggested that the center of Srivijaya shifted to Central Java. The city of Srivijaya in Palembang remain as the main trade center, while the court shifted to inland Central Java in Medang Mataram Kingdom.

During this Sailendra interlude, the Srivijaya aesthetical achievements and its refined taste reach its peak.

In southern Thailand there are temples that was reconstructed in Sevichai (Srivijaya) style, which actually the architectural style of Central Java period (circa 8th to 9th century) 

Srivijaya-period stupa of Hindu-Buddhist style. Muang Boran, Thailand

Compared with this....

Candi Pawon temple, near Borobudur, Sailendra art, Central Java 

Examine this Avalokiteshvara statue:

Bronze Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, Srivijaya style, from Chaya. Bangkok National Museum, Thailand

Compared with Sailendra art of 9th century Central Java

Avalokiteshvara bas relief in Candi Plaosan

See the similarities..?
It is called Sailendra-Srivijaya art... circa 7th to 9th century AD
Srivijaya art is none other than Sailendra Java art...

Originally Posted by Easy772 

I know I said this in the other thread already, but Visayans in the Philippines get their name and culture from the Srivijayan empire 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_...te_Inscription

Kenneth Scott Latourette, notes that the Vishaya established trading outposts in
Taiwan. It makes it easy to suppose then that some of them migrated to the Philippines and
settled in what is now the Visayas. So where was their first settlement? Probably in Cebu.
Possibly not Bohol because some native arts there resemble the Bukidnon's in Mindanao. Negros
likewise had sizable remnants of the Bukidnons until recently. Panay has a large population of
Karay-as and Aklanons who may antedate the Visayans. Among its neighbors, Cebu seems to
have had a Visayan identity for the longest time.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...vaZX50De6l7wfQ

The Buddhism that was being spread from India was mixed up heavily with Hinduism, as it preceded the Theravada purifications that were coming. Because of this Indian influence and inspiration a Indianized kingdom with maharajahs began to emerge at a trading port in southern Sumatra on the way from the Bay of Bengal to the Gulf of Thailand.

The name of the port was Palembang. As well as being an important port it was also an important religious center as well. It was an entrepôt for the spread of religious ideas between India and China. As early as the 7th century it was visited by Chinese and Indian devotees to study doctrines and copy manuscripts in institutions that rivaled those in India. Due to the importance of Palembang as a cultural and trade center wealth began to accumulate.

I-Tsing was quite a major factor to the cultural diffusion of Srivijaya. I-ching brought a lot of Indian manuscript from India to China. On his way to India and back to China, he stopped in Srivijaya. His first arrival was in 671 AD where he spent six months in Srivijaya and he studied the sanskrit before he left for India. On his way back to China, I-Ching returned to Srivijaya and translated the sanskrit Buddhist text into Chinese with the assistance of the Buddhist monks. The reasons why I-ching decided to stay in Srivijaya was because Palembang was the center of Buddhism at that time and according to I-ching's notes, it showed that there were more than a thousand monks in the city. In I-ching's notes on Palembang, it stated that no less than 35 ships landed in Palembang from Persia. It was I-ching who shared to the Chinese and rest of the world about the economy, art and religion of the Srivijayan Kingdom.
I-Ching
I-ching was not the only person who contributed to the cultural difffusion of Srivijaya. A buddhist teacher, Atisha Dipankar, also did by reintroducing Buddhism to Tibet after traveling through India and Srivijaya. During his stop in Sumatra, Atisha managed to learn steps of Training the Mind or lojong. Later on, he passed down this knowledge to India and Tibet later on.