SRIVIJAYA EMPIRE

Throughout the broad study of history, we have encountered so many features and
interesting events which have greatly aroused our affective state. It is because of the
reason that some of the events have due importance and contribution to what we have
today. From those areas of interests, we have tackled about the study of Southeast Asia
wherein our beloved country, Philippines, has been included in this wondrous region.
Indonesia is one of the rich countries of Southeast Asia. Do you know why? It’s
because it’s filled with rich diversities such as cultures, traditions, beliefs and many other
aspects. At this point, I am going to mainly focus on what is known as “Srivijaya Empire”.
The term “Srivijaya” comes from the two words “Sri” which means “shining or radiant” and
“vijaya” which means “victory/excellence”. This empire is very popular particularly in terms
of religion, trade and commerce. Before its discoveries on 1920s, no modern historians
and even Indonesians have known that there is Srivijaya Empire which took place in the
past but let’s give credits and acknowledgement to the French scholar and epigraphist
George Coedes who published his interpretations and discoveries in Dutch and
Indonesian newspapers. From this, we learned that this empire is indeed a maritime and
commercial kingdom or shall I say that its livelihood will vary on waters or the control of
international sea trade. Moreover, it was flourished between the 7th and 13 centuries in
the place of what is the modern-day Indonesia. This was originated in Palembang on the
island of Sumatra and later, its influence has been extended in the neighboring lands
particularly on the Strait of Malacca. As being stated earlier that its focus is on sea trade,
therefore, we couldn’t be surprised that it established trade relations not just in the Malay
archipelago but also with China and India. Because of its richness, it called the attention
of its rivals such as Chola, an Indian maritime kingdom. Because of it, Srivijaya had lost
its control of Java and unfortunately, Palembang was invaded around the year 1025.
From this time, other territories have been absorbed by other kingdoms such as Majapahit
Empire. On the other hand, Srivijaya’s relations with China had been intensely supported
by each other. As testified by the artifacts of history, it was noted how these two kingdoms
sent ambassadors to visit their places such as in the case of the Chinese monk, I-Tsing
wherein he wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for six months in order to translate the
Sanskrit and Chinese scriptures. Lastly, the kingdom ceased to exist between 1200 and
1300 due to some factors including the expansion of Majapahit expire in Java.
As a concluding line, I just want to emphasize that everything in this world has its
own ending. Therefore, we are subjected to either a good or a tragic ending. Despite of
the fact how powerful are the kingdoms of the past, we can still say that they had been
defeated. Even in the life of Babylonians through the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar, the
empire was defeated by the Persians even it’s already powerful. On the other hand, no
matter how fierce, powerful, rich and famous we are in this world, we must always think
that we must face ending. Life is unstable. Unconsciously, it will just eventually pass by.