Srivijaya
Wikipedia ↗Chapters that mention this person or place (3)
Where Did the Name Melayu Come From?
The first time the name "Melayu" was recorded in writing, it did not refer to an ethnicity — it referred to a place by a river in Sumatra
In 671, a Chinese Buddhist monk took a ship down south to obtain scriptures. He stayed in a place called "Srivijaya" for half a year, before switching ships for his next stop — a place called "Malayu" (Melayu). This is the earliest known written record of the name "Melayu", and it referred to a place, not a group of people. Fourteen years later, he passed through again on his way back. When he sat down to write his book, every time he mentioned that place name, he added a note: it is no longer called by this name.
Where Are the Earliest Old Malay Inscriptions?
In 683, a stone was erected outside Palembang. The script came from southern India, but the language recorded was Old Malay.
In May 683, someone erected a stone on the banks of the Tatang River outside Palembang. It is one of the earliest known Old Malay inscriptions with a clear date. It used the Pallava script brought from southern India, but instead of recording Sanskrit, it recorded Old Malay. Together with three other inscriptions from the same period — Talang Tuwo, Kota Kapur, Telaga Batu — they form a set of written archives: what kind of state Srivijaya was, what it used to govern, and what its organizational chart looked like. On the Malay Peninsula, the same language waited more than 600 years before it was left on a stone.
What Was Srivijaya and Why Did Palembang Matter?
From the seventh to the eleventh century, how a maritime power relying on taxes rose and fell
Behind the stones erected by the river in Palembang lies a regime. Srivijaya, also written as Sanfoqi in Chinese historical records, was the power that gripped the Strait of Malacca from the seventh to the eleventh century. It didn't rely on military conquest for expansion — it relied on collecting taxes: passing merchant ships had to traverse its waters, and it earned its keep. In 1025, the Chola dynasty of southern India sent a fleet on an expedition; the king was captured, and the capital was sacked. But three years later, Srivijaya had already resumed tribute to China. What this expedition left behind, and what it didn't — this is a story about the difference between "punishment" and "conquest."