Srivijaya, the Shailendras and Bharat

What defines it

1. 01

   Kedukan Bukit inscription, 682 CE

2. 02

   Yijing studies at Srivijaya on the way to Nalanda

3. 03

   Balaputradeva’s monastery at Nalanda (Devapala’s copper plate)

4. 04

   Chudamani Vihara at Nagapattinam (Larger Leiden plates)

01A kingdom on the strait

The Kedukan Bukit stone of 682 CE, in Old Malay written in a South Indian script, records a siddhayatra, a victorious expedition, by the ruler Dapunta Hyang with an army of thousands. The Chinese monk Yijing stopped at Srivijaya in 671 on his way to Nalanda and later lived there for years copying texts. He advised Chinese pilgrims to learn Sanskrit grammar in Srivijaya before going on to India.

02A monastery at Nalanda

The Nalanda copper plate of the Pala king Devapala records that Balaputradeva, a Shailendra king of Suvarnadvipa, built a monastery at Nalanda, and that Devapala at his request granted five villages for its upkeep. The Shailendras of central Java were the builders of Borobudur, completed around the early 9th century, whose galleries carve Indian ships with outriggers and sails.

03The vihara at Nagapattinam

The Larger Leiden copper plates record that the Shailendra king Maravijayottungavarman, lord of Kataha and Srivijaya, built the Chudamani Vihara at Nagapattinam, and that Rajaraja Chola I granted a village to it, a grant confirmed by Rajendra. Friendship turned to war in 1025, when Rajendra’s fleet struck Srivijaya’s ports.

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