Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c9.11

c9.11

It is clear from this inscription that Śrī-Vijaya, whose imperial career began in the last quarter of the seventh century A.D., had in course of the next century extended her political supremacy over the Malay Peninsula, as far at least as the Bay of Bandon, more than a thousand miles away. But it is not merely the long distance or extent of territory that invests the conquest of Ligor with importance. As already noted above, this region offered a short land-route across the Malay Peninsula from Bay of Bengal to the China Sea and thus served as an important trade-route between India and South-east Asia. Śrī-Vijaya already controlled the two all-sea routes of this trade passing through the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait. The possession of Ligor enabled her to control all the possible routes of the trade between eastern and western countries. This gives us a key to the imperial policy of Śrī-Vijaya which sent a military expedition to Java in 686, and established political supremacy in the Isthmus of Kra by 775 A.D. As hinted by I-tsing, Śrī-Vijaya was a great naval power, and this no doubt dictated the policy of controlling the trade-routes and supplied means to execute it.