Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.s2.t2.138

v2.c13.s2.t2.138

We have seen above that several Hindu kingdoms flourished in Java as early as the fifth or sixth century A. D. But we do not possess any detailed knowledge of the history of the country till we come to the eighth century A. D. About the beginning of this century, a powerful kingdom was founded in central Java by king Sannāha. Some information about him and his successor is furnished by the Cangal inscription.¹ This record is engraved on a stone slab, which was discovered among the ruins of a Śaiva temple at Cangal, on the plateau of the Wukir Hill in Kedu. It contains twelve verses in Sanskrit. It begins by stating that a Śivaliṅga was set up in the Śaka year 654, i.e. 732 A. D., by a king named Sañjaya, son of Sannāha. Then, after an invocation of the gods Śiva (vv. 2-4), Brahmā (v. 5), and Viṣṇu (v. 6), it praises the island of Java (v. 7), and refers to its king Sanna or Sannāha who ruled righteously like Manu for a long time. He was succeeded by Sañjaya (vv. 8-12) who was ruling at the time the record was set up. Certain statements of the inscription have led scholars to think that the dynasty had recently emigrated to Java from a locality named Kuñjara-Kuñja in South India. The relationship between Sannāha and Sañjaya, although generally presumed to be that of father and son, cannot be regarded as absolutely certain on account of some lacuna in the record.