Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c9.15

c9.15

It was tacitly assumed that the two inscriptions A and B on the two sides of the stele really formed parts of one and the same record, and the conclusion was naturally drawn that the Śailendra Mahārāja named Viṣṇu and the king of Śrī-Vijaya were one and the same person. It was consequently held that the Śailendras were the rulers of Śrī-Vijaya and the mighty empire founded by them was really a development of that of Śrī-Vijaya which formed its nucleus. The history of the Śailendras exercising supremacy over Malay Peninsula, Java and most of the islands of the Archipelago, was thus regarded as a continuous narrative from the foundation of their power in Śrī-Vijaya in Sumatra in the seventh century A.D. No problem concering the origin of the Śailendras or their home-province therefore exercised the minds of the scholars.