FOREWORD

am happy

to

be allowed the

few words
Culture
derived

&
its

study of Civilization of Sumatra, (said to have name from the word 'Samudra' Sumudra
to this excellent

Sumutra
the

Sumatra).
Giri of

The
is

author of this volume

Swami Sadananda
culture
its

an enthusiastic student of
has
visited

Greater India and

love

and

studied
is

monuments with

and admiration and

anxious to infuse his enthusiasm and interest in

this

into fascinating field of Indianistic culture He has written a the hearts of his brother Indians.

the newspapers and journals giving very interesting descriptions of the religious and artisscries of articles in
tic

culture of Siam, Java,

and Cambodia.

In this
into
a
little

little

volume he has made an excursion

for

known, and

that account,

very

fascinating by some scholars that

field of

Indonesian Culture.

It is believed

Sumatra rather than Java was

the original focus and centre of expansion of Indian civilization in Indonesia, while others believe that the
centre of Indonesian culture
Sri-vijaya) in the

was

at

Caiya (Jaya

Malaya

State.

In fact upto about the ninth century Indian Culture was spread over an unified Java-Sumatra-

ii

Malay complex
Sri-vijaya,

having

its

cultural

and

political

centre of gravity in the famous Sailendra located either in Sumatra or

Empire of in Lower

Siam.

The
dynasty

records
of

of

the
afford

Song dynasty and Liang

very interesting though of the state of things in Sumatra tantalizing glimpses before the rise of the Sailendra Kings, who were

China

devoted patrons of Buddhism. The kings ruling in Sumatra before the sixth century were Hindu-

Brahminical in names and beliefs as appear to be suggested by the records of embassies sent from

Sumatra

to

China
of the

"In the reign of the Emperor

Hiao-Wou
of the

Song dynasty (454-464) the king

country Che-p'o-lo-na-lien-t'o (Srivara- narensent a high official of the name of Tchou Lieu-t'o dra) articles (Rudra, the Indian) to present valuable
of gold and silver," After the death of this king his son P'i-ye-po-mo (Vijayavarman) sent to China his

ambassador named Pi-yuan-po-mo (Vijana-Varman?). About this time Sumatra, or some part of it was known as Kandari or Kandali (in Chinese
transcrip-

tion

Kan-t'o-li).
It
is

a well

known

fact

that the earlier waves of

Indian Colonization in further India were Hinduistic

in colour

and texture and the

in all

later currents

were pre-

dominantly Buddhistic

parts of Indonesia.

Si

When
to

found so few Buddhists "that

Fa-hien visited Java (in 413 A.D.) he it is not worth while

It

mention them".

was the

visit of

Gunavarman

the exiled prince of Kashmir (c. 424 A.D.) which gave the impetus of the growth of Buddhist Culture So that when in Java, Sumatra, and other places.
Yi-tsing
visited

amazed
place.

at the

Sn-vijaya (671-672 A.D.) he learning of the Buddhist priests of the

was

In fact within a few years, Sumatra became the most famous centre of Buddhist learning and no Buddhist priest could be said to have completed his

education unless he had studied at this important centre of Buddhist theology. The famous Indian

monk, Atisa otherwise

called Dipankara-Srijnana of the Vikramsila monastery of Bihar spent ten years in Sumatra in order to complete his studies in the pure

doctrine of the Sarvastivadins under Acarya CandraPriest of Suvarnadvipa. kirti, the

High

In fact for several centuries India and Sumatra

were
ing

in close

and intimate contact.

And

it

is

allur-

study this cultural unity in the ancient remnants of the monuments of Sumatra and in the
to

It is a written records of Chinese history. long forof Indian history that Swami gotten and lost page Sadananda recovers for us in this interesting booklet.

He
all its

was inspired

to

in study Indonesian culture

Dr. Suniti phases by

Kumar

Chatterjee and

it

is

that his studies are a matter of great gratification

based on direct contact and experience derived from visits to that great island. It is to be hoped that this

book
social

will

and

help to revive interest in a resumption of relation with the inhabitants of spiritual

Sumatra

can justly claim to be near kinsmen of Indians through a common heritage of Culture which has been the glory of India and of Indonesia.

who

acknowledgements arc due to the Dutch Resident and Soetan Mangaradja Pintar of
Grateful

Goenoengtoca (Padang Lawas) given to Swami Sadananda

the Biara Temple.
tion at

for courteous facilities

to
visit

The

study Indian Merchants' Associa-

and

have earned cordial thanks by their kind help and hospitality without which the Swami's sojourn to Sumatra would not have been possible.
has taken considerable pains in the manuscript of the author and carefully revising
in

Medan

Mr. K. C. De,
it

giving

a literary

form which

testifies to his abi-

lity

singular distinction. In reading through the proofs Mr. Salil Kumar Bancrjcc M.A., B.L., has rendered valuable help of
it is

as a scholar of

which

a pleasure to record our

acknowledgment.

O. C. GANGOLY
2,

Ashutosh Mukhcrjcc Road,

Calcutta 6th

May,

1938.

SUVARNADWIPA
Among
the world's islands, Sumatra, claims to

be one of the big five. She has an area of 180,000 sq. The mountain cord, which precipitates miles.
sharply towards the
axially

West

Coast, traverses the island

mate.

and temporizes the rigours of a tropical cliThere are some active craters and the Mt.

Ophir, one of the volcanic peaks (which perhaps lent its name to a coastal town from where King
Solomon's traders used to
height of 10,000
island
feet.

collect bullion) reaches

The

northern half of the

which
to

lies

above the Equator stretches almost

the south-eastern-most projection of the parallel mainland on the other side of the Straits of Malacca,
so that Selensing (Shailendrasingha?), the peninsular settlement of the Hindus lay, via Singapore (Tumawithin an easy of Jambi and Palemsik),

compass

bang (Srivijaya), the Aryan colonies on Sumatra. The plains slope gently towards the east and are watered by
a number of
rivers

navigable enough for largish boats

SUVARNADW1PA
to

penetrate

into

inland
indigo,

areas,

where

areca-nuts,
rice,

cocoanuts,
rubber,

coffee,

maize,
tea

palm-trees,
are

spices,

sugarcane,

and tobacco

pro-

Gold and copper mines there plenty. might have been, but were long exhausted. Of the aborigines the Achines in the north, deduced
in

sturdy opposition to the Dutch; courageous, obdurate and of a nomadic infor their
clination,

serve a

mention

means
animals.

they love to roam about unrestrained, their of livelihood being chiefly hunting wild

They were

conversant with fire-arms before

are
still

primitive in agricultural pursuits. Their features suggest a strong negroid

the

Dutch came, but

but
their

element,
classed

height

is

against

their

being

with the

pygmy

races of the

Andamans and

elsewhere.

The

Bataks attract, however, the notice of

many
lies

travellers for several reasons.

Their land, which

in the centre,

around the shores of the Lake Toba

and

its

island of Samosir,

was
is

inaccessible

from the

north for centuries.

trader

There

a reference of a Chinese

exploring into their wild haunts in the iyth Century and the next representative of a civilised race to reach them was Dr. Van der Tuuk in A.D.

1863

These Bataks had an

Page two

evil

reputation of being canni-

Suvarnaclwtpa

Batak

girl

SVVARNADW1PA
balistic

and the Dutch had

this horrible

to exert

authority to

make

give up persisted the first decade of the present century. Moreupto over where there were no roads but foot-tracks, which

them

propensity which

were often

lost in the

dense tropical jungle there are

today fine motor-highways leading from

Medan
are

right

down

Padang Sibloga. perhaps some of the very few Indians who have so far ventured into the Batakland in the modern era. The trip
is

to

via

But we

lovely

one

for its

everchanging panorama of gor-

geous mountains, canyons and thickly-wooded passes where some of the hair-pin bends almost take the
breath

away and can be only negotiated by a driver accustomed to them. The beautiful lake Toba with
its

of Samosir entrenched large island

all

round by

firte

sky-reaching trees that grow on high hills is really a recompense for the trouble we take to reach the

Batak haunts

These people who

are divided into four

groups

owing

to

their dialectal differences

are of a Proto-

Malayan stock, which originally migrated from Cambodia through Malay and on its arrival at
Sumatra,
settlers.
it

fused a good deal with negroid earlylater into at least indirect

That they came

contact with the Aryans can be guessed from the

Page three

SUVAENADWIPA
presence
of a

number

of Sanskrit words like Guru,

Devata

etc., as

worship.

well as from certain images of Hindu Whether on the decline of the Aryan in-

fluence they reverted or not to the man-eating trait of their negrito forbears on one hand and to animism

with their curiously blended devotion to spirits and ancestors derived from their Indonesian parents on
the other,
phers,

we

leave to

but the

the researches of ethnograrevival of this awful characteristic

indirectly

might have been

rated cult of the

fomented by a degeneTantrists.
trait,

Mahayana

Yet, save and except this savage

preserves
ture.

the Bataks

many

indications of a highly-evolved cul-

Their
horses
iron

agricultural
are

methods,
in

cattle-breeding
island),

(Batak

famous

the

housebrass

building,

weapons,
trinkets,

lamps,

silver

copper decorated

ornaments,

bamboo

utensils,

pottery and intricate that they attained a remarkable carvings, prove standard of living unnoticed among other savages.

baked

and

glazed

wood-

all

Perhaps the Arab traders were responsible for the

introduction of
rifles

and gun-powder and some of

the Bataks are so intimately conversant with the firearm mechanism that they often undertake and

execute creditable repair works.

Page four

SUVARNADW1PA
which they cultivate in with implements mostly abundance on the upland made of bamboo. Sharpened bamboo sticks are used
Rice
is

their

staple food,

digging up the ground into clods, crushed into fine dust by heavy flails.
in

which
cleft

are

bam-

spreading furrowed with the help of a handrectangular plots The only iron tool used in agriculture is plough.
the

boo pocket

is

utilised

tor

seeds into the

sharp scythe needed for reaping the crop. Though bullocks or buffaloes are seldom employed

on the farmland yet methods used in stamping paddy are the same as in Bengal After the whole process is
completed, the grain is gathered barns built close to one's house.
Residential quarters are often
into

picturesque

large

enough

to

eight families. Houses (which served as forts in old days) are raised three to six feet

hold as

many

as

above the ground by means of poles driven into brick

piles;

heavy
is

cross-bars

wedged

into these poles sup-

port the

wooden frame-work
tastefully decorated

of the plastered wall,

which
house

with exquisite carvings

and coloured wicker-weave.

is

The

entrance

to

the

often

artistically

marked by gable fronts holding up thatched roofs where camel-hump tops end
shaded animal-horns.

in crescents of

The

access to

Page

five

SUVARNADWIPA
gained by a staircase (built underneath) the in the flooring o leading through a trap-door or the bachelor's room. There is sometimes stranger's
is

the house

a verandah-like projection of bamboo, which serves occasions. as a platform to musicians on festive

sewer runs through the house, on either side of which are kitchens with stone slabs for ovens fitted with
racks for holding bamboo utensils., These are differwhich serve the Bataks as recepently sized cylinders

well as cooking, storing and eating food as furnitures of houseOther tumblers for drinking. hold utility are rare.
tacles for

The
cotton

fabric for

wear

is

made by the
country.

grown

in their

own

people with Here the art of

weaving and the mechanism employed in producing cloth vary little from what are in vogue in other
eastern countries.

Gut-string bows twang monotonously as ginned cotton fly about into fleece and spinning wheels groan unceasingly as they transform
the staple into yarns amidst the gossips of

women.

Looms can be handled

that are utilised in

both sexes and dyes deftly by

the fabric are obtained
like

staining

from vegetable origin

printed
foreign countries.
Page
six

indigo; only

some

of the

dress-materials

are

perhaps

obtained

from

SUVARNADWIPA

Women

affect

large head-gears

of coloured cloth in

a peculiar style; these are either pinned to their hair with silver clasps and are adorned with large beads or

Their ear-rings are enormous; these are generally made of copper but now
are
in a curious knot.

worn

and again

silver

pendants are seen too.

The more

affluent have gold necklets galled 'Brahmanis', from which it is not difficult to guess the source of their
inspiration.
silver

The

fair

sex

may

adorn their waist with

but children who seldom cover their girdles body generally have a thin precious metal girdle round their stomach. The 'Punjabi looking long
1

shirts

which

men

put on

in addition to their

sarongs

are sometimes bedecked with pieces of looking-glasses and their head-covers have the appearance of a
'pugrie'

without a

tail.

Some

of the men-folk put

on

wickered hats to protect themselves against the hot sun while working in the field. It is the turban of the
priest or the witch doctor,

which has a

sanctified

bearing, because of

its

being a gift from their com-

mon

legendary ancestor Singamangraja.

The
settled

under the Dutch

Bataks were a fighting race before they to the more peaceful life.

Slings, lances with sharp copper tips, bows, arrows,

guns, powder-pouches, and caribou hide small shields

Page seven

SUVARNADWIPA
were
paraphernalia of war. carried ivory-handled swords and knives while the untheir

usual

Chiefs

derlords

Generals displayed copper-hiked daggers. held batons blessed by clan-gurus for the extermination

of

enemies
amulets
darts.

whereas
for

common

soldiers

carried
foe's

charmed

protection

against

the

poisoned were used

village

in

Sometimes heavy wooden maces hand-to-hand engagements and the

to arrest the progress of the in-

approach was 'mined' with fine bamboo spikes

hidden in the grass

vading army who generally were bare-footed. As an ordinary protective measure high mud-walls were built as ramparts round the village.
Fishing, both as a sport and as a living, is indulged in by the Bataks, who live close to such expanses of water as the Lake Toba. made out Light canoes,
of hollowed

and these

palm trunks, are manned by fishermen, look like some saurians with a raised hood.
lines are

Hooks and

sometimes resorted

nets are cast to land a big haul. landing nets and some of the tribes use long sharp knives to finish the capture, while in water.

but mostly Women have light

to,

Deer-hunting and pig-sticking (with the help

of a
to

pointed

bamboo

lance) often prove so interesting

Batak adults that they spend most of the day in

Page eight

5.

SUVARNADW1PA
jungles.

They
games
Bataks

often

lay

traps

both

for

aquatic

and

land

which,

however,

are

not

very
their

ingenious.

The
violins

certainly

love

music,
flutes,

for,

orchestra consists of

gongs, drums,

anklongs,
are

and

mostly

queer attuned to

looking
strange

mandolins
forms
of

which

snake-dances

which include writhing motions of the entire body while hands and legs twist into curious figures.

Mouth

organs are
in

left to lovers

who

serenade their
are

lady-loves

their

off-hours

while

billets-doux

composed on decorated bamboo cylinders. Children play with pop-guns, tops and balls woven with
rattan-strips

whereas

the

adults

amuse themselves

with games of dice and chess; card-playing probably appears unknown to them. Their common beverage
palm-toddy, which they drink out of bamboo Deli tobacco is available to them but opiumcups.
is

smoking (with Chinese-looking pipes and has had a check under the Dutch.

lighters)

Drugs are generally made of crude vegetable syrups and love potions are not unknown either.
Gurus probably had a thriving income from magic or charmed drinks, which were supposed to do
almost impossible things, but these have diminished
Page nine

SUVARNADW1PA
owing
to

missionary work,

who

have done great

converted

ser-

vices to the

community by
are
still

erecting a leper asylum.

The

Bataks

now

being

to

Christianity but they

for display their liking

forefathers.

animism and ancestor-worship imbibed frcm their The Hindu Gods are revered but spirits
that are supposed to live in desolate places are feared
their
far
is

and

protection

against

evil-doing
are

through priestcraft. they moral persuasion of their witch doctors and gurus it would be hard to gauge, but among superstitious
people there is always a tendency to revert to their old and the Batak ideas at the slightest contretemps, Christians are no exception.

How

sought under the

They used

to

bodies after a while, burn the

bury their dead, exhume the same with a show of

an iron vessel which

pomp and

collect the ashes in

they would send floating down the mid-stream. This alone did not constitute their respect for the

dead and

it is

the festivities

our belief that they copied a good deal of a Buddhist funeral and there must

have been some elaborate ceremonies connected with

the worship of the dead which are now lost to us. On the shore of the Lake Toba there is a place called Prapat, which, if of Sanskrit origin, would
Page ten

SUVARNADWIPA
mean water
is indeed very Sibloga from scenic point of view but to us the pleasant lands, where the Minangkabau race has

fall

The

trip

to

Padang high its abode was

naturally

more

attractive.

We

were
resi-

shown
dent

a courteously by Mr. G. Hoetagaloeng of this beautiful coast town Sibloga.

in a hurry

As

we were
built

we had
which

to refuse
is

with thanks

his hospitality.

Fort-de-Kock

one of the Dutch

a

clean

towns

has

military

base

and the

air-route

from Pakan Baroe

may

be reached

from here by road. This Pakan Baroe has some Hindu relics which would be of great interest
to

the historian but at present they require proper

cataloguing.

judge precisely how far the physiographical conditions of Sumatra have affected ethnic distribution

To

and

localisation,

or to celebrate

how

far racial

com-

plexities

tually altered

have been somatically temporized and intellecwould be extremely difficult and there is

always a possibility of a grave error in the final verdict, unless corroboration trom an independent source
is

available.

We

Sumatra formed

a connected

know, when in a pre-historic era mass with the mainland

was easy and a number of races and some of these early settlers
Page eleven

of Asia, migration

might have

settled

SUVARNADW1PA
might have, for reasons unknown, altogether disLower Siam appeared from the face of the globe.
and Malay have
all

traces of lithic evolution in

far

almost

so phases; yet session of any stone-age evidences,

we have not been put

which
of
are

into poslikely
to

indicate

any

particular

period

the

prc-historic

occupation of this island. What we have at our disposal, however, are so unique that we hardly

human

know which

race to connect

them with.

We

refer to

the stone effigies of the Batoe Sankar caves.

Could
on stone
they
re-

cave-man possibly execute such

as

fine details

these display?

What

tribe of

men do

present? Large heads are covered with closely clipped curled hair, which remains clear off the wide
eyes bulge on either side of pug-noses, under which thick lips part in an expression of wonder or horror; flat but ears from which enorforeheads;
largish

mous pendants

(or

flowers?)

hang

against

flabby

cheeks; necks are short while backs are bent forward

under a heavy burden, so

much

so that shoulders are

propped up against it; yet hands are held akimbo with both palms folded together; a posture which would remind a moderner of the cringing hawker,

who would
stock at the
Page twelve

be just pleased
first

to

get rid of his heavy

opportunity.

Snvarnadivtpa

Minangkabau

girl

SUVARNADW1PA
The same puzzle, but to a less itself to us, when we attempt to trace
history
of
all

degree, presents

the evolutionary of the Bataks and aborigines, specially

former according to some mixture of the ethnographers, represents an earlier

the Minangkabaus.

The

Proto-Negroids and the Proto-Australoids, yet their reverence for the dead and their worship of spirits

and ancestors would link them culturally with the

Mongoloids. The Minangkabaus, who certainly migrated from the maritime regions of Chekiang and
Fukien, passed through

Malay where

number

of

them

settled

down and
east-coast

Mon-khmers, Sumatra via

fused with the Polynesian while the rest gained access to Central
rivers

Hence

arose

the

legend of the Minangkabau's being the parent-tribe of the Malayans, to which the fact that the Hindu Shailendras hailed first from to dominate

Palembang

over the Srivijaya empire of the Peninsula lent an The Minangkabaus have not impressive colouring.

only retained their Mongoloid eyes and flattened noses but have preserved much of the animistic and
the
Spirit

worshipping
in

traditions

of

the

ancient

Oceanians

They

of their being converted to Islamism. spite are tall and the women-folk possess a majestic
to the

mien which renders them comparable

women
thirteen

Page

SUVARNADW1PA
of

modern Turkey and not

sisters

to

their Borkha-covered

Indian

who

are lost

behind the labyrinth of the

speculation regarding the Minangkabaus; they lived much closer to the Aryan settlers yet the Hindu influence on them is less
seraglio.

There has been

much

than on the Bataks; also their queer matriarchal from the structure of bespeaks of their isolation
felt

society

outer world at a certain stage of evolution for a conrules the hearth and hers siderable while.

Woman
is

on any question has a similar appearance to that of the Bataks but less artistic is really a
i>

the only voice that

affairs.

authoritative

of social

The house which

barrack of married

and

visit

the

women, whose husbands may come inmates but must not make a long stay.

Property devolves on woman while man has just a pittance in the form of a small share in his own family
heirlooms.

These

latter are,

however, kept under the

surveillance of the oldest

A man
own

male member of the family.

has no opinion to offer on the marriage of his children, but will be listened to when his sister
advice on

asks for his

her children's

affairs.

His

physical superiority has left agriculture, house-building, cattle-tending etc. to him and while he plays on flutes or violins a batch of women will dance to the

tune, gorgeously attired; their festival head-gears have

Page fourteen

SUVARNADW1PA
the
look of
similar

bonnets

affected

by the

i6th

century European

women,

while their embroidered

imitaSarongs with heavy waist bands are probably an

tion of the court dress of the Shailendra ladies.

The Dutch
tribes of
soil,

authorities complain that

none of the

Sumatra, owing to the extreme fertility of would work more than it is necessary for raising

sufficient

As they are crop for annual consumption. too indolent, the benign Hague government was forced
and the
extensive
a certain
coolies

to sanction the importation of the Javanese

Chinese

for

intensive

as

well as

agriculture.

For

large-scale

production

amount
is
ib

of nigger-driving is essential, which, when it based on legal contracts between capital and labour, supposed to rush the output and the wage-earning

indexes to a higher level. The ethics or the psychoeffects of the logical system are much the same, be it
instituted
in

Assam

tea-gardens,

Korean condensed
areas

milk

factories,

New

Orleans
is

cotton

or

in
at,

European mines.
for,
is

There

nothing to grumble

it

not natural to expect adequate returns for

initial

outlays and current expenses in any organisaThe Dutch system has all the ameliorative tion?.
of

features

present day labour control ideas. There are doctors to attend the invalid; clean food and
Page
fifteen

the

SUVARNADWIPA
healthy barracks along with regular wages leave
for criticism.
little

The want

of

philosophic

calm

on

the part of the worker is perhaps responsible for their non-observance of disciplinary action of the authority.

The

with in our rapid aborigines being dealt

now be allowed to speak survey of Sumatra, we may a few words on the activities of a third race which
created an

West

unprecedented glamour whether in the or in the East and which like those of the ancient

Egyptians are

now

reduced to a few stone inscriptions

they came to settle down at Jambi or Palembang and thence to Selensing we can only guess, but spread they did, not only intellectually

and monuments.

How

and

culturally,

but

politically

as well,

in

all

the

is-

lands of the archipelago and the South-eastern Asia which to-day is better described as Further or Greater
India.

They were
of

parts

India

the Aryans, who came from all but the Dakshinapatha contributed

perhaps a larger share in colonisation and perforce enIn the followjoyed a larger return from commerce.
ing lines

we

shall just give a

few dates chronologically

arranged so that it may develop into a well-linked There are records of events but story of the past.
identification
difficult.

of

places

and

persons

is

extremely

Page sixteen

S/i

varnadwipa.

Mahakala
(By courtesy of Netherlands Indies

SUVAKNADWIPA
speak of old chroniclers who perhaps never stirred out of their home, even traders who actually

Not

to

visited

distant

knowledge
tion.

Men

display a deplorable lack of regarding their accurate geographic situaloved to indulge in hyperin those

lands

days

picturesque, but extremely vague of describing places and people, which often gives rise to serious confusion as to their identification in our age of precision. Dynastic designations and often personal styles of the monarch were made to denote the realm he ruled The Empire of the Mahaboles
a

and had

manner

days stood for the Hindu domination in the Further India but the Si-li-ma-ha-la of the
raja in the ancient

Chinese records of 1424 A.D. referred to the third Sultan of Malacca. Thus the source, the nationality
of the writer
sifted before

and the period

able to

all

have

to

be carefully

the fragments piece together The classical long-forgotten incidents into history. instance that of the Srivijaya in the Far-East, which, were it not for the indefatigable researches of M. Coedes would still be over as the name of a
of

we are

passed

ruler.
etc.,
all
its

Yet

San-bo-tsai,

Shi-li-fo-She Zabaj,

Sarbaza

had
in

hinted at the great empire which probably round Palembang first nucleus in the territory

Suvarnadwipa.
2

We

may

cite a

host of references
Page seventeen

SUVARNADW1PA
to this Srivijaya relating to the activities of her several her final exit from the history of the sovereigns and World, but we have to maintain silence without fur-

ther authoritative collation as to

what preceded

her,

whether the Shailendras were her actual founders or

hundred years a they merely extended for eight

liant

bril-

programme
of

of

some equally

glorious ancestors.

Many
some

are the allusions to her sister island of Java,

which

at least could be
specially

applicable

to her
to

with
the

greater truth,

when
monks Hindu

she

lies

closer

Indo-Chinese trade-route round the

Possibly the Buddhist who still retained her
Jess to

straits of

Malacca.

hesitated to visit her,

beliefs

and liked

still

make any mention

of her in their

memoranda.

This can be judged from the fact that as soon as Sumatra changed her religious ideals to the principles
of Lord Tathagata we find the Chinese visiting her at length. describing
It

and

pure speculation, for that Sumatra was mentionexample, say definitely ed as Suvarnabhumi in the It would be
to

would be

therefore

contested that the

original

Ramayana. work of Valmiki con-

tained no reference to her.

At

the same time,

if

Ophir, the gold-exporting town, could be identified

beyond doubt with any port on the

Page eighteen

east coast of

Statue of a

ffinale

Paclang Lawas
(13

y courtesy

of Netherlands

Arth&ologital Service)

SUVARNADW1PA
Sumatra, from where bullion, ivory, apes (kapim) and
(tukim) went to the court of the king Solomon, we could definitely assert that this island
peacocks

came under the

in

1000 B.C.

sway of the Aryans at least That the Hindus often embarked on

cultural

ocean-borne enterprise, whether for the greed of gold

or from a sheer spirit of adventure, may be substantiated by the Rigveda which happens to be much
older composition than the Chapter on the wealthiest Hebrew king in the Old Testament. In 414 A.D.

there

is

no doubt that Fa-hien was marooned

he says
so.

in Ya-va-

di, for

Yet the Sumatra

a

coast
If

was within
the tempest

a shorter reach of his boat than Java.

smooth voyage probably he would have never missed his visit to Java, where only
had abated and allowed
the

Brahmans

flourished.
to

Just

as

much

as

Yuen

in the say except paint Sasamka deepest black, Fa-hien was too down-hearted at the fewness of co-religionists. Within a decade of his

Chwang had

little

departure,

Gunavarman, an ex-prince of Kashmir, renounced his crown for monk's bowl, and came to

convert the people of Cho-po to Hinayanism. Either the older religion of Java was fast losing its grip over
the people or this Kashmiri was a good theologian, for, He soon converted enough people to have left the
Page nineteen

SUVARNADWIPA
place, apparently
satisfied

with his work, for China,

where, in Nanking, he died in 429 ever certain that Hinduism held its

A.D.

It

is

how-

own

in Sumatra

during the 5th century, which

another hundred years at
least.

it

continued to do for

By 671 A.D. both

of

the Buddhist Schools had

Malayan A.D., we are able to gather that 684 inscription the Vajrayana Buddhism was already prevalent among the Srivijaya rulers of Sumatra, and the Mahayanists
have captured Melayu under the guidance of one Dharmapala, but their Tantrism did not effloresce until the advent of Wajrabodhi in
start

established themselves in Sumatra;

from

from the

seemed

to

711 A.D. Of him, we only know that he was a Dakshini Vikshu and came to Sumatra on a Persian
boat.

The Mulasaraswatiwadanikaya
Mahayana

School, to

which

our diarist I-tsing belonged, must have

of the mass, while the

won

the heart

creed remained a
scholars

court cult.
or I-tsing
in

Sumatra possessed good Sanskrit could not have gained enough

in six

proficiency

grammar
1

months and proceeded

to take

up

ten-years course at the University of Nalanda,

where

08 Dwarapanditas must have severely tested his before he could reach the innermost knowledge,
the
circle.

On

his

way

to

Tamralipti he visited

all

the

Page twenty

SVVARNADWIPA
it was not until Malayan ports of the Srivijaya and He spent 685 A.D. that he could regain Sumatra.

another four years in copying probably all the available sacred treatises, but the task was too great for one

man.

He went

to

China and returned

to

Sumatra

in

691 A.D. with four compatriots to help

him

in writ-

ing up the religious tracts of the island and in 711 A.D. long after he had found his way back to the
land of his forefathers, he translated the Hastananda
Shastra
scholars

of

Sakyakirti,
his

one of

the

twelve

erudite

of

day

who

could

be classed with

Jnanabhadra of Java.

The Mahayana Tantrism was

That
strong impetus by there was a
close
spiritual

really

given

one of the Pala kings of Bengal.

alliance

between

Bengali Buddhists and their Sumatran brothers could be first gleaned from the fact that on the 2ist of

Day

Kartika of the 39th year

of

Devapaladeva,

son

of
five

Paramasaugata
for the villages

Sri

Dharmapaladeva,

granted

Nalanda
of

upkeep of a certain monastery near at the request of Balaputradeva, the ruler

Isle,

whose mother, Tara was the daughter of Dharmasetu of Java. It is possible to infer from Kalasan inscription (778 A.D.) that the
the
father of this Balaputradeva

Golden

was one Panangkran,

who

Page twenty-one

SUVARNADWIPA
showed enough military ability to be described Samaragra, in which case, Sanjaya, whose arms
his
as
all

neighbours felt, would be the paternal grandfather of Tara was certainly the wife Balaputradeva.

of

Panangkran and Dharmasetu of Keluraka and Kalasan petrographs was a Mahayanist Buddhist but

beyond the fact that Dharmapala and Dharmasetu were almost contemporaneous, nothing further should
be
deduced.
so

To make him
that

Pala

monarch

of

Balaputradeva Devapaladeva Bengal could be cousins would be stretching imagination a little too far. Because Dharmasetu claims his descent from the lunar race, there
is

and

no reason

to believe

that he was a Kshattriya, in whom only the Kuru It is an blood flowed. epithet which should be taken
at
its

face-value, that

is

to

say,

it

is

an adjunct

to

glorify

the race from which the donor Balaputradeva

The name Tara' itself is suggestive of the host of gods and goddesses that built up the Mahayanist cosmogony, which on the decline of Buddhism
had sprung.
carjie

to

be

included

in

the
of

Dasamahavidya
the

of

the
ruler,

Saktas.

From

the

date
that

Bengal

Pala
ruled

we may deduce
in

in

Sumatra sometimes

Balaputradeva the middle of the ninth

century

A.D.

Page twenty-two

SUVAENADWIPA
The year 980 A.D. saw the birth o one of the most learned Bengali, whose profound knowledge of the esoteric doctrines of Buddhism made him the head
of the
rities

Nalanda University; while the Tibetan authoheld out invitations to him more than once to
Sumatra expressed her greatest
the flowers of her
desire

visit their land,

to see

him among

Mahayana School.
Bengal, which has

He may
to

be a mere

name

to-day

in

to secure materials

from Nepal, Tibet and Palembang write a biography of this great scholar, but he is
revered in countries where the Tantric School of
its

still

the Buddhists continues to draw votaries to

fold.

Dipamkara was probably born at Vajrayogini when the Mahayana cult had its exponents all over the Gangetic delta. His exceptional
Atisha
Sri-Jnana
abilities

marked him out from

his

soon spread outside Bengal as

youth and his fame one of the greatest ex-

ponents of the secret teachings of certain Buddhist monks, who were more or less responsible for the conceptions such as Avalokitesvara, Hariti, Tara and a crowd of Buddhist gods and goddesses in spite of the fact that in the system of Lord Buddha God Himself

had no

place.

Dharmakirti,

who

according

to

Nepalese

Punthi, was a Sumatran prince and was initiated into

Page twenty-three

SUVARNADW1PA
the

Mahayana Tantrism by
to his

Sri

Ratna at Bodh-Gaya,
soon
achieved
the

went back
arrival of

country

and

highest position

among

the Sumatran monks.

On

monk Dipamkara, he showed this Bengali and proall the courtesy due to his vast knowledge some of the most bably it was the latter who taught
hidden practices of Tantra to the Sumatran monks. If it were otherwise, Dharmakirti's, and not Dipamkara's

name would have been engraved on Sangklion

a

which probably served as plate, the figure of Yamari (the enemy

memorial

tablet to

of Death) with eight

hands, twenty-four eyes and vested with a garland of human skulls hanging around the neck. It

would appear perhaps revolting

tic

present aesthenotions of the civilised world, just as much as the figure of Amoghapasa at Padang Chandi or the Maha-

to the

kalamurti of the same place would create unsympathetic comments from 'nice-minded' In the inspeople.
cription

Dipamkara which shows that he still lived in the appears memory of the Sumatrans just a few years before the Sri-

of

Amoghapasa

too, the

name

of

vijayas

were swept off by the continuous attacks of the Bilwa Tikta monarch.

The
tion for a

figure

of

Amoghapasa
It is

deserves our attena

moment.

really

conception of the

Page twenty-four

Sitvarnadwipa

Vishnu

Sri vi

jay a

(By courtesy of Netherlands Inches

SUVARNADW1PA
Adyasakti with her attendants or Yoginis who form the chakra with her. She represents destruction in
the sense that creation follows immediately from annihilation;
in

early Buddhist idea,

birth

and rebirth

move come
ed.

in a

and metempsychosis is the direct outcycle of karma and only ceases with it, when the
of mental conceptions,
rites

greatest

Nirvanam,

is

attain-

The

that

came

to

be connected with the

Tantrism, one of which was necessarily the construction of a concrete

were

all,

thought-form like Amoghapasa, not single one excepted, primarily and funda-

mentally related to certain yogic practices necessary for setting mind free from the trammels of materia-

The gruesome aspect of the whole thoughts. science of the Tan trie worship disappears, when all
listic

and horrid things are given their true meanings which only the initiated have the right to know when they prove themwords apparently related
to

gross

selves, after severe tests free

Hence when we
of the statue of
last

learn

from

Adityavarman, (perhaps Shailendras of Sumatra) that the Lord of Matanis gini removing her loneliness, it is not to sexual The word Kama has a pleasure which is alluded to.
It

carnal thoughts. the inscription at the back one of the

all

from

peculiar significance.

may mean

lust

and

it

may

Page twenty-five

SUVARNADW1PA
mean an
ardent introspective hope for final salvation. had really mastered all the agamas
self-control

If Adityavarman and practised the

necessary

for the

puridid,

fication of thoughts,

which we do not doubt he

he must have been one of the greatest Yogins of his When we talk of the Tantras and their pracage.
tices

we may
by

well bear in our

mind
It
is

the cautions
possible

advocated

'Mr.

Avalon'.

that

Matangini was really a woman of the hill tribe but was married to an aryanised monarch of Palembang,

which only

leads to the conclusion that fusion

with

the indigenous element was never at an end in the Far East.

The
period, the
installation

Mahakalamurti

marks

the

transition

waning
of

popular Buddhism, the slow Buddhist devas among the Hindu

of
final
latter,

Pantheon and the

emergence of the Hinduised

too,

Buddhism.

The

finally disappears

into

all-embracing Aryan religion of India; but not before dual devataship such as the early conceptions of Siva-

Buddha had

their chance.

The Lord

of destruction

is

one of the members of the Hindu Trinity, but

He

represents the renunciation of material pleasure as well, an idea which the Lord Tathagata and Christ so

eagerly advocated.
Page twenty-six

The same

cyclic conception

of

SUVARNADWIPA
life

of
of

by the skulls at the base the Mahakala image which has the enigmatic smile an ageless wisdom. Both the hands of the figure
is

and death

represented

are well-amuleted

and folded

in

yogic mudras, the

it is head-gear is Buddhistic in appearance and closed or very hard to say if the statue has the eyes The attire is rather peculiar; the pyjama-like open. fold with a dangling end of the cummerband is rather

suggestive of a

non-Hindu

inspiration.

The

face

and the figure represents betrays Mongoloid features a stumpy human specimen, whereas the Matangini
has the stature of a

tempts person. us to ask the scholars of eastern if AdityaHistory, varman married a lady of the Minangkabau race.

tall

It

almost

pure Hinduism in Sumatra mostly in Padang country. The Rakshasa

There

are

still

some

traces of

on the wall of the Biara Temple has rather

feature.

a pleasant

Probably
a

it

really

represents

dancing
as well as

Yaksha with

mace

(?) in

one hand.

The head
in a

shows beautiful

curls of hair

and the arms

cloth

ankles have ornaments.

central

The

which hangs

pleat

is

secured to the waist

by

a jewelled belt.

The temple itself is in a senile state, even the central dome has lost the spire. It stood on a square base
and the whole architecture
is

remarkable in one sense

Page twenty-seven

SUVARNADWIPA
only;
bricks

that

is,

the entire structure consists of burnt

cemented together closely while figures into the brick with a sharp chisel, as were the figures on the walls of the Mi-Son palace in Champa.

were cut

There

a fine murti, well-proportioned and carefully executed with minute details, placed outside the ruins
is

of another

Temple which has a too-suspiciously close with upturned palms to be appearance of a Buddha identified with a Hindu deity.

When we
times

we mean

of the olden speak of political Sumatra the pre-Srivijaya kingdom and the

Shilendra monarchy.

Of

the

first,

it is

mostly guess-

work.
in

Leaving

aside the

vague references to

Sumatra

the pre-Christ literature,

we may be
itself

allowed to

begin with Kantoli, which in

Kantoli
the
is

tive as to its geographical position.

would be speculaThis kingdom of

supposed to have sent beautiful presents to

in return created

Hsiau-Wu emperor, who

him

an

independent ruler with the title 'Sri Iswara Narendra\ This happened in 460 A.D. and fortylater,

two years
Iswara

Gautama Subhadra,
dreamt
of

a successor to the

Narendra,

the

then

Celestial

Emperor on the 8th of April and so vivid was his dream that he had a picture of his overlord, drawn
from the memory
Page twenty-eight
in the

morning.

The wonderful

Suvarnadwipa

&va
(liy

Srivijaya

tourtesy of Netherlands Indies

Arc haologi cal Scrvic e)

SUVARNADWIPA
point in the whole incident was that his court painter who was despatched post haste to the Chinese capital

brought back an exact replica drawn from life. This clever adulation was perhaps appreciated by the
Seigneur of China who probably compensated the envoys with the most valuable presents his empire
could produce. Seventeen years later his son Priyavarman sent an epistle to the Chinese court, where
his

extreme piety

as a

Buddhist must have made

in less

deep impression. in 564 A.D. to be

vion and for the
of the Srivijaya.

Yet

than half a century,

get to

precise,

Kantoli vanishes into obli-

first

time

we

know

the

name

have already detailed, what ing the visit of the Chinese scholar
version

We

work

Tantrism by

regardthe conI-tsing, of Dharmapala and the introduction of But before the Javanese, Wajrabodhi.

we know

conquest of Sumatra, the Shailendras or the Mountain kings had already created an empire, which included
the
districts
if all

of

Lower Siam, Malay, Sumatra and

to fifteen different territories.

Java and
sessions

the small islands are included, her pos-

would number

Of

course,

the Shailendras did not consolidate the

whole power under one central authority for long but upto the rise of the Banka revolt in the yth century,
Page twenty-nine

SVVARNADWIPA
park was commemorated in another inscription, must have held the reins of the whole of Srivijaya authority in one hand. But

King

Jayansa,

whose

gift

of a

within a couple of centuries, probably owing to outside invasions, if not, due to internecine war, there
branches of the Shailendras, at least appear to be three two, one with Java as the centre of his activities, the
other with Palembang. This split is indicated in the Pala Copper grant at Nalanda in 1921. Hence we are at a loss

dug up

to determine, unless the

Chinese records

specifically

mention the 'country of origin', which branch of the Shailendras were responsible for gifts and envoys to
the Imperial Court, when the common monarchical These designations the 'Sri-vijayas' are spoken of.
friendly missions serious troubles

were never interrupted, except when

prevented their continuance.

from 671
sadorial

to

741 A.D.

we have

proofs

of this
it
is

exchange of presents

and

on record

that a Shailendra Yuvaraja visited the Imperial Court in 724 A.D. and was confirmed in the title personally of 'Sri Indravarman' after 17 years by the Emperor's

proclamation. The second half of the ninth century is commemorated by Balaputra's request of Devapaladeva to
Page
thirty

SUVARNADW1PA
build a monastery in Nalanda. The Chinese mission resumed in the rirst decade of the 9th century, when

according

to

Ibn-at-Fakih,

Malay

continued

its

government under the same banner

Sumatra.
Srivijaya

as the island of

All sorts of people used to flock to the traded under royal control, ports which

camphor, sandal (Agastya himself preferred the Harichandana of the Indian Archipelago to that of the Dakshinapatha), ivory, aloes and sappan wood. Tin,

ebony
and

and

spices

Srivijaya export to
India.

made the bulk of the Europe, (the Near East), Arabia

perhaps
officer of

An

envoy, probably an

the

army

of the
title
is

Srivijaya received in

905 A.D. a high-sounding from the head of the Tung dynasty. There
record of the Si-li-wu-ya king sending in
gifts

960 and

962 A.D.,
tail

to the

Imperial seat.

The chamari
and
bridles,

(included in the

list

of Chinese presents), white

porcelain, silver wares, silk thread, saddles

all

display

the

height of
attained.

splendour

the

Sumatran
gifts

Court must have

was repeated

in

971,

The exchange of 972 and 974 A.D. The

pre-

sents that included ivory, rose water, Srivijaya sent dates, peaches, white sugar, glass phials and coral trees and most of these were the luxury articles the

Page thirty-one

SUVARNADWIPA
wealthy Sumatrans used to enjoy. The cargo of perfumes and drugs which had to be taken to Canton

owing

storm in 980 A.D. tells us that the Hindu colonists must have learned the art of manufacturing
to a

the same from the mother country where according to Vatsayan there were some 74000 'Scent-articles' in

These presents which went from Ha-chi (which may stand for some king Ajit or Raja Sri) were again repeated in 983 A.D. and this time the
vogue.
list

included

cotton

cloth,

crystal

and

rhinoceros

horns.

Sanskrit culture seemed to have flourished

more

and more from the

literature

nth

century
in

A.D.
Pali

for

Buddhist

which was mainly

was probably

taught along with Sanskrit by scholars such as Pandit Wimalaseri to Chinese students like Fah Yu (963 A.D.).
lar

More books came

owing
to

to

be composed in popuintroduction
of

Sanskrit

the

the

Tantras.

The Sumatran
in books

Shailendras were the

practice

first

to break

away from the wide

script

of

employing Pallava

and petrographs.
in

The

Pallava types

were so well known

Champa, Cambodia, Lower

Siam, Malaya, Sumatra and Java, that the Chinese appellation for Further India was 'Kouen Louen'.
Page thirty-two

Snvarnadwipti

Brahma

Srivijaya

(Ry courtesy of Netherlands Indies

SUVARNADW1PA
The Sumatrans
language for the
is

substituted

Sanskrit

as

the

court

common Proto-Malayan

mixture of

the Dravidianised Sanskrit (which in Dakshinapatha

called

Of
could

grand Stupas at Takocs Moeroes and at Tanjong

the

Tamil). course neither they nor their Malayan cousins build half as as the Javanese. The

Medan

in

Padang

highlands are

some

of the

few extant

archi-

they have still to their credit. Artistically they were far behind the Javanese people, but as rulers and conquerors they were perhaps more
tectural evidences

vigorous.

By 775 A.D
this
is

the Lower Siam was in their

hands and

repeated three times in

proved by the word 'Srivijaya' being an inscription found there.

years,

In

another hundred
controlled
all

Malay was

subjugated.

They

the trade of their

in the habit of

territory.

One

of the Princes

was

storing gold bricks

in a tank near his a brick

"This
a
tall

bably the

is

palace saying each time he threw Of course this protreasury! story, the teller being a compatriot of
is

my

composer of
that the

the 'Arabian

Nights'.

But we
of the

know
richest

in Sriyij'aya

848 A.D. was one

was probably

maritime power, whose 'barbarous' Sanskrit

inscriptions

of the Tantric
It

intentional.

was an attempt
3

to veil the

double entendres which

Page
thirty-three

SUVARNADW1PA
profusely of the unbelievers; similar reasons curiosity cabalistic writings of the Near East.
Possibly, the

the Tantric literature

used to ward

off idle

prompted

ponsible for among the elite of

traders

were primarily resthe introduction of wine and slave women

colonists

Arab
the

Srivijaya

and one of these

of bucolic debaudeplores bitterly the absence chery in countries like Cambodia. The downfall of the was engineered by
Srivijaya

internal

tion at

Conscripluxury and the royal indolence. the time of war probably did not work accord-

ing to the scheme drawn out during peaceful days. Petty jealousies, the want of proper control of distant

growth of competitive ports, and the reputed accumulation of gold, all were sowers of dissensions and disrupture. So long the Srivijaya monpossessions, the

archs could

command
to
all

cracy was bound

different
Srivijayas,

powerful navy, their thalassoThere were really three prosper.

a

attacks

in

different

ages against the

discredited, while

who grew more and more

they were being shorn of their possessions. From the nor first two assaults which were neither systematic
continuous, the Shailendras had time to recuperate but from the third they could hardly have enough resources left to revive their

power.

Page thirty-four

SUVARNADWIPA
Thus
Srivijaya

could

not

only

repulse,

but

took offensive against their aggressors

Dharmaswanga

between (992-1007) A.D. and came out victorious. The years 1005-90 must have been prosperous to
them.
but

They
the

could resume their relations with China

after

1035 A.D.
Srivijaya

Rajendra Chola

began

to

destroy

possessions piecemeal.

But,

even then, the Shailendras had a chance to at regain least some and create a shadow of the former prestige
Srivijaya
after the

passing away of Rajendra Chola

and

his successor.
It

with his queen-mother, his Prime Minister, Gaja Mada and Admiral Nala who did not allow any respite to the Srivijayas. Thus
ruler

was Bilwa Tikta

passed
levied

away

a house of

magnificient

rulers

who

never

heavy direct taxes, who always looked after the welfare of their people by not raising extravagant vain solid commercial glorious monuments, but by
enterprises,

the

facilities of

which were extended

to all

that traded in their ports.

Page

thirty-five

APPENDIX
Quite a number of bronze casts have been collected from Palcmbang and its environments from which
the

Hindu

trinity appears to be in great evidence in the

religious

life

of the ancient
to

was reputed

be the

Suma trans. Palembang home of the Shailendras. original

And
to all

these casts bear witness to the of tolerance spirit sects. There arc at present very little materials
to
is

which enable us
but
it

assign

any

to these particular date,

figures, probable that they are older than similar objects found in Java. In spite of the ravages of time the Sumatran figures display beautiful work-

manship and even, if the technique was borrowed from India the Mongoloid features of three originally
of

the great adaptability of the Hinduised force under the Shailendras. These three

them bespeak

of

one of Siva, one of Vishnu and one of Brahma which are absent from the display certain peculiarities The last one has profourth, representing Siva.
figures,

nounced Aryan physiognomy;

Page
thirty-six

it

is

the figure of a

SUVARNADWIPA
whose Yajnopavita has taken the healthy Brahmin, one of the special shape of an entwined snake emblem of the Lord Siva, which however is not seen
on
its

Sumatran counter-part.

The head

has

an

elaborate coiffure of plaited hair at the base of

which
to

there

is

a grand crown; the cords that tie the

crown

the temple are flung on either shoulders like epauBroad shoulders add an unspeakable dignity lettes.

and long eyes do not From the cars Jiang large round rings, which slant. touch the neck. Lips are locked in a benevolent, and
to the figure.

The

nose,

its trait

Necklet adorns enigmatic Buddhistic smile. the upper chest above the Brahmanic cordon. Save
not,
for these

ornaments there

is

no cover
draped
in

for the

upper

body, while lower part which reach the ankles.

leted

is

pleated cloth
all

The

four arms are

amu-

and have

bracelets,

while the palms have the

usual

emblems

in their

grip.

Like the Sumatran Siva this Aryan Siva has a girdle below the navel pit but the latter is much more
elaborately clothed, while two of its hands fold across the chest in mudra. There is between two

Yogic arms a tuft of cloth purporting to be the Uttaria. right Moreover all the three figures of the Sumatran trinity
have a background, rectangular in shape but rounded
Page thirty-seven

SUVAKNADWIPA
at top besides their usual divine carriers,

which show
the Indian
are

that

the

Sumatrans

closely

conform
these

tx>

artistic

canons.

Except

that

Bahanas

rather grotesque in appearance, nothing of distinction of these figures. has attached itself to

any

That Tantrism was deeply rooted

Sumatra from the north
to the south

in

all

parts

of

may

be gathered

from the recent findings of Dr. F. M. Schnitger during his excavations around the region of the Biara Temple. The various idols and statues indicate, the
fact

that

this

Tantrism of north Sumatra was

but
gradually

of

Buddhistic

origin,

degraded form of spirit-worship any resemblance to the philosophic preachings of the

merged into a which bore hardly

Aryan

colonists of old.

Om

Namab

Sivaya

Page thirty-eight