Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c10.59

c10.59

The four inscriptions of Pūrṇa-varman in Java do not specifically refer to any religion, but the fact that he paid a fee (*dakṣiṇā*) of a thousand cows to the Brāhmaṇas shows that he was a follower of the Brāhmaṇical religion. Fortunately, we have more positive evidence regarding the state of religion in Java. The Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien, who stayed in that island for five months on his return journey to China in A.D. 414-5, observes that "various forms of error and Brāhmanism are flourishing, while Buddhism in it is not worth mentioning." But that Buddhism soon made its influence felt in Java appears clearly from the story of Guṇavarman preserved in a Chinese text called "Biography of Monks" compiled in A.D. 519. Guṇavarman belonged to an Indian royal family but adopted the life of a Buddhist monk and visited Ceylon, Java and China. In Java he converted the king's mother to Buddhism and she persuaded her son to adopt the same faith. It is said that about this time Java was attacked by hostile troops and the king asked Guṇavarman whether it would be contrary to Buddhist law if he fought against his enemy. Guṇavarman replied that it was the duty of everybody to punish the robbers. The king then went to fight and obtained a great victory. Gradually the religion was spread throughout the kingdom.