The Colas c18.48

c18.48

'Now, the annals of the Song (dynasty of China) mention, in 1003 and 1008, two embassies from the country of San-fo-tsi, the first sent by the king Sseu-li-tchoulo-wou-ni-fo-ma-tiao-houa and the second by the king Sseu-li-ma-lo-pi. It is not necessary to be a sinologue to recognise in the first name a magnificent transcription of Śrī-Cūḷāmaṇi-varmadēva, and in the second the transcription of the first syllables of *Śrī-Māravi* jayōttunga-varman'¹⁰⁷ (Coedès). As these two monarchs are exactly those mentioned in the larger Leyden grant, we may conclude that the kings of the San-fo-tsi of the Chinese annals were the rulers of Kaḍāram and Śrī Vijaya. San-fo-tsi was first used by the Chinese writers of the Song period for the place called Che-li-fo-che or Fo-che in the earlier literature of China; all Chinese writers have identified this name with Palembang, on the eastern coast of Sumatra. And Coedès has shown good reason for restoring the name San-fo-tsi, Che-li-fo-che, into Śrī Vijaya, rather than the usual but meaningless form Śrībhōja.¹⁰⁸ It thus becomes clear that Śrī Vijaya, which is the first among the places taken by Rājēndra from the king of Kaḍāram, is the name of the kingdom of Palembang in Sumatra. The great part played by this kingdom from about the eighth to the thirteenth century a.d., in the affairs of the Malay peninsula and Archipelago, and the relations of Southern India with this important kingdom still await full elucidation. The epigraphs of Rājēndra's reign which narrate his invasion of Kaḍāram and Śrī Vijaya furnish much welcome information on the affairs of the kingdom at the beginning of the eleventh century. Writing towards the close of the twelfth century a.d. or the beginning of the thirteenth,¹⁰⁹ Chau Ju-kua gives a list of fifteen *chou* (provinces or towns) over which the rule of San-fo-tsi extended;¹¹⁰ and as Coedès has observed, there is a partial coincidence between this list and that of Rājēndra's inscriptions.¹¹¹ The identification of Kaḍāram presents more difficulty; this may be discussed after we have dealt with the other places.