Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c22.117

v2.c22.117

Part II of Vol. II will deal with law, society, art, religion, literature and the economic condition of the Suvarṇadvīpa as the author informs us in his Preface. The present part is divided into four Books :—Book I dealing with the Dawn of Hindu Colonisation discusses such questions as Pre-Hindu Civilisation in Malayasia, Hindu Colonisation in Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Bali. It also deals with Hindu civilisation in the Suvarṇadvīpa upto the end of the 7th century A. D. Book II dealing with the Śailendra Empire upto the end of the 10th century A. D. describes the struggle between the Śailendra's and the Coḷas as also the decline and fall of the Śailendra Empire. Book III dealing with the Rise and Fall of the Indo-Javanese Empire consisting of the Kingdoms of Matarām, Kaḍiri, the dynasty of Singhasāri etc. Book IV dealing with the downfall of Hindu Kingdoms in Suvarṇadvīpa, comprising Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo and the Bali island. Incidentally Dr. Majumdar discusses the political theory and public administration in Java (pp. 429-436) and refers to three old-Javanese prose texts on the political theory and public administration viz. (1) Kāmandaka, also known as Rājanīti in which characters from the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata are cited as illustrations of the political principles, Yudiṣṭhira being held up as an ideal; (2) Indraloka, in which Bhagavan Indraloka gives lessons on politics to his pupil Kumārayajña; (3) Nitipraya describes the duties of a king towards his enemy. This book is in the form of a communication by Viṣṇu to Vyāsa. The high and noble political ideal contained in the above texts shows the influence of the Indian political theory but the actual system of administration could be determined only from the inscriptions which refer to a body of seven officials, five of whom were Śaivaite and two Buddhist. The administration though bureaucratic was highly organized and efficient as we know from the History of Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A. D.) which records the impressions of a foreign observer about the form of government then current.