The
birth of the Malay empire, Sri Vijaya,
as a great power in SE Asia began in
the economic and political vacuum left
by the fall of
Funan.
The
Khmers,
who had taken over the territory of
Funan, did not take on Funan's former
role as middle man in the China-India
trade. Sri Vijaya took up the mantle
as commercial intermediary between Asia's
two great powers.
Sri
Vijaya's capital was the city of Palembang,
on southern Sumatra's east coast.
It's location gave it access to the
region's two strategic waterways:
the Straits of Malacca and the Sunda
Straits. Sri Vijaya provided an excellent
port for ships riding the monsoon
winds to the region from India to
trade with Chinese merchants. Sri
Vijaya promoted trade in the region
by putting down piracy. And the Sri
Vijayan navy forced ships to stop
at the empire's ports and pay taxes
on their cargo.
Palembang
was visited by the Chinese Buddhist
pilgrim I-Ching in 671 AD. In his
notes on Palembang, I-Ching recorded
that no less than 35 ships stopped
in Palembang from Persia alone while
he was there.
I-Ching
had good reason to be in Sri Vijaya.
Palembang had become a center for
Buddhist studies. I-Ching brought
many Buddhist manuscripts back from
India to China. He stopped in Palembang
both on his way to India and on his
return trip. On his way back to China,
I-Ching spent four years in Palembang
and used the scholarly community there
to help him translate the Pali and
Sanskrit texts into Chinese. The city
at the time had more than 1000 monks
in its Buddhist monasteries.
So
that it could enforce its monopoly
on trade traveling through the region,
Sri Vijaya expanded its territory.
At its peak the Malay empire controlled
parts of southern Thailand, Peninsular
Malaysia, West Java, and the western
portions of Borneo.
Sri
Vijaya faced competition from various
Javanese kingdoms over the 640 years
of its rule. Indian displeasure with
its behavior resulted in brief intervention
by the Cholas of South Indian in the
11th century. But it was the
Kediri
Kingdom
of Java which finally ended the regional
dominance of Sri Vijaya in 1290 AD.
While
it receives little attention from
modern Western historians, Sri Vijaya
was one of the longest lasting empires
in human history. From it's founding
in about 650 to it's defeat by the
Javanese in 1290, Sri Vijaya controlled
the Straits of Malacca for 640 years.
By way of comparison:
The
Duration of Great Empires
| China's
T'ang Dynasty |
618
AD to 907 AD |
289
years |
| The
British Empire |
Captured
Madras in 1639
Disolved in 1949 |
300
years |
| China's
Han Dynasty |
206
BC to 220 AD |
426
years |
| Rome |
Began
acquiring territory outside
Italyin 146 BC, at the end of
the Punic Wars
Fell in 476 AD |
541
years |
| The
Angkor-Khmer Empire |
Founded
in 889 AD
Angkor Abandoned in 1434 AD |
545
years |
| The
Ottoman Empire |
Founded
in 1326 AD
Ended in WWI |
592
years |
| Sri
Vijaya |
Founded
about 650 AD
Defeated by the Javanese in
1290 AD |
640
years |
Islam
came to the Malays of Sri Vijaya in
the 13th century. While Gujarati merchants
were common visitors to SE Asia, it
is more likely that Islam was introduced
by traders and merchants from India's
Coromandel coast. The Shafi'i school
of Islam, predominant in Indonesia
today, was the leading school on the
Coromandel coast at the time; the
Gujaratis, on the other hand, were
Hanafi Muslims.
After
the defeat of Sri Vijaya by the Javanese
in 1290, the commercial role of Sri
Vijaya in the region fell first to the
Javanese kingdom of Kediri and the to
Majaphit
before the Malays regained their status
as commercial intermediary for the region
through the success of
Malacca
as a port city.
