the Sriwijaya Empire – Page 2 – Indo East Indies إندونيسيا

Sumpit · 2019-03-11T17:55:00Z

Before the mighty Majapahit, there was Srivijaya Srivijaya (also written Sri Vijaya, Indonesian: Sriwijaya, Thai: ศรีวิชัย or Ṣ̄rī wichạy , RTGS: Siwichai) was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia.The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months.The first inscription in which the name Srivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century, namely the Kedukan Bukit Inscription around Palembang in Sumatra, dated 16 June 682.Srivijaya was an important center for Buddhist expansion in the 8th to 12th centuries. In Sanskrit, sri (श्री) means "fortunate," "prosperous," or "happy" and vijaya (विजय) means "victorious" or "excellence".

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
So does this mean the Khmer Empire originally splintered from the Srivijayan empire? Interesting...

Well.., not quite. Khmer people are ancient race too just like Javanese and Malay Srivijayan. It was highly possible during the fall of Chenla kingdom, the land of Cambodia were fell under disunity and later, parts of it was conquered under Javanese domination. At that time Srivijaya-Sailendra were the formidable maritime navy force. It was mentioned in Cambodian chronicle about Java through their "Javaka (Zabaj) Legends".

Quote

The fame, glory and richness of the Maharaja of Javaka (Zabaj) reach far and wide. It was said that the Maharaja have vast territory; his islands are numerous and would take a lifetime to travel the whole of his archipelagic domain. He has gold and riches beyond imagination, ships and soldiers beyond compare.

One day in a fit of jealousy, the Khmer ruler made the following remark in court.

"I have one desire that I would like to satisfy," said the young ruler.

"What is that desire, O King," inquired his faithful councillor.

"I wish to see before me on a plate," remarked the monarch, "the head of the King of Zabaj."

"I do not wish, O King, that my sovereign should express such a desire,” answered the minister. “The Khmer and Zabaj have never manifested hatred towards each other, either in words or in acts. Zabaj has never done us any harm. What the King has said should not be repeated."

Angered by this sage advice, the Khmer ruler raised his voice and repeated his desire so that all of the generals and nobles who were present at court could hear him. Word of the young ruler’s impetuous outburst passed from mouth to mouth until it finally arrived at the court of the Maharaja of Zabaj. Upon hearing the words of the Khmer ruler, the Maharaja ordered his councillor to prepare a thousand ships for departure. When the fleet was ready, the Maharaja himself went aboard and announced to the crowd on shore that he would be making a pleasure trip amongst his islands. Once at sea, however, the Maharaja orders the armada to proceed to the capital of the Khmer ruler, where his troops took the Khmers by surprise, seized the city, and surrounded the palace. After the Khmer ruler had been captured, he was brought before the Maharaja of Zabaj.

"What caused you to form a desire which was not in your power to satisfy, which would not have given you happiness if you had realized it, and would not even have been justified if it had been easily realizable?" inquired the Maharaja of Zabaj.

Since the Khmer king had nothing to say in return, the Maharaja of Zabaj continued. "You have manifested the desire to see before you my head on a plate. If you also had wished to seize my country and my kingdom or even only to ravage a part of it, I would have done the same to you. But since you have only expressed the first of these desires, I am going to apply to you the treatment you wished to apply to me, and I will then return to my country without taking anything belonging to the Khmer, either of great or small value."

When the Maharaja returned to his own palace back home, beyond the gilded war gate, he seated himself on the throne. Rest in a golden pavilion surrounded by pools filled with gold coins. Set before him was a plate upon which rested the head of the former Khmer king, embalmed with honey and herbs to prevent it from decaying.

What they meant by Java at that time probably refer to Sailendra-Srivijayan empire. At that time Javan Sailendra and Sumatran Srivijaya merge. The power was held by Sailendra kings and the center court shifted to Java. Possibly the princes of Chenlas were taken as royal hostage in Javan court of Sailendra. Educated and groomed to be the official ruling agent-vassal of Java. Jayavarman II, the founder of Cambodian Angkor period was stayed in Java in his early youthful years, probably he witnessed the construction of Borobudur. Later Samaratungga the Maharaja of Java send him back to Cambodia to rule on his behalf. However Jayavarman II break the allegiance vow and proclaimed himself as Devaraja of Kambuja.

Jayavarman II is widely regarded as the king that set the foundation of Angkor period in Cambodian history, began with the grandiose consecration ritual conducted by Jayavarman II (reign 790-850) in 802 on sacred Mount Mahendraparvata, now known as Phnom Kulen near Angkor, to celebrate the independence of Kambuja from Javanese dominion. At that ceremony Prince Jayavarman II was proclaimed a universal monarch (Kamraten jagad ta Raja in Cambodian) or God King (Deva Raja in Sanskrit). The word "Kamraten" derived from Raten is similar with Javanese title "Ratu" which means "ruler". According to some sources, Jayavarman II had resided for some time in Java during the reign of Sailendras, or "The Lords of Mountains", hence the concept of Devaraja or God King was ostensibly imported from Java. At that time, Sailendras allegedly ruled over Java, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and parts of Cambodia.

There is some speculations about Jayavarman II origin, was he a Khmer prince held as royal hostage in Java, or even he was a Javanese governor himself that proclaimed independence from central govt in Java. Another oppinion pointed out that the toponim Java was probably means Cham, not Java. However the established historian theories did link Cambodia with ancient Java during Sailendras rule.

The Philippines' Laguna copperplate inscription did mention about Mdaη (Medang kingdom) in Java. And the script here ar similar to Javanese script too... Suggested the ancient link between Indonesia and Philippines.

Srivijaya legacy in Indonesia

Palembang Srivijayan style Bride

Modern Indonesian nationalists have also invoked Srivijaya along with Majapahit, as a source of pride in Indonesia's past greatness. Srivijaya has become the focus of national pride and regional identity, especially for the people of Palembang, South Sumatra province, and the Malay people as a whole. For the people of Palembang, Srivijaya has also become a source of artistic inspiration for Gending Sriwijaya song and traditional dance, as well as the glittering gilded Srivijayan style Palembang bride costume.