Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c9.32

c9.32

Having discussed this general question we may now go back to the historical accounts of the Śailendra kings as given in the Nālandā charter. The first Śailendra king mentioned in this charter is referred to as the ruler of Yava-bhūmi or Java. His proper name is not mentioned, but we are told that it meant "tormentor of brave foes." The original Sanskrit expression for this, '*vīra-vairi-mathana*,' immediately recalls the epithet "*vairi-vara-vīra-vimardana*" applied to the Śailendra king Dharaṇīndra in the Kelurak Inscription, dated 778 A.D., and the two may be regarded as identical. As the date of this inscription is only removed by three years from that of Kalasan Inscription issued by the Śailendra king Mahārāja Paṇaṁkaraṇa, he and Dharaṇīndra may be regarded as the same person, the former being the indigenous, and the latter the coronation name. We may thus hold that Paṇaṁkaraṇa Dharaṇīndra of the Śailendra dynasty was king of Java between 778 and 782 A.D. and he was also probably the Śailendra king referred to in Inscription B at Ligor in Malay Peninsula incised shortly after 775 A.D. Whether Paṇaṁkaraṇa first ousted the king of Śrī-Vijaya from Malay Peninsula and then extended his authority to Java, or the case was just the reverse, cannot be decided, and both views may be regarded as equally probable. But there can be hardly any doubt that henceforth Java became the real seat of authority. This seems to follow from the pointed reference to the first king as the ruler of *Yava-bhūmipāla*, and is more definitely proved by the great Buddhist monuments of the Śailendra dynasty in Java like Barabuḍur and Chaṇḍi Mendut to which reference will be made later. It may also be noted that in Javanese inscriptions the name of Paṇaṁkaraṇa heads the list of a series of kings, entitled Mahārāja, who ruled in Central Java after Sañjaya, whose known date is A.D. 732.