The Srivijaya Period

The Srivijaya Period, generally dated from around 650 to 1288 CE, refers to the era dominated by the Srivijaya maritime empire, centered on the island of Sumatra in what is now Indonesia, which controlled the strategically vital Strait of Malacca and grew wealthy taxing and provisioning the sea trade passing between China, India and the wider Indian Ocean world. Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, including the monk Yijing, who studied at Srivijaya's capital Palembang on his way to and from India in the late seventh century, describe it as a major center of Buddhist learning and scholarship, rivaling major universities elsewhere in Asia. The empire's wealth is reflected in monumental architecture across the wider region under its cultural influence, including the massive Buddhist monument of Borobudur on nearby Java, though Borobudur was built under the related Sailendra dynasty rather than Srivijaya itself. Srivijaya's dominance was seriously damaged by raids from the South Indian Chola empire in the eleventh century and gradually eclipsed over the following two centuries by rising regional rivals, including the Javanese Majapahit empire, as the era closed.