Latest / The Srivijaya Empire: Southeast Asia's Forgotten Maritime Superpower — Fexingo History / Srivijaya's Women of Power: Queens and Trade in Southeast Asia
Transcript
- Lucas: So far in this series, we've talked a lot about Srivijaya's maharajas, its monks, its warriors — but we haven't really touched on the women who shaped the empire. And that's a gap, because in early Southeast Asian societies, women often held significant economic power. Luna: I've always wondered about that. Were there queens, or were women more behind the scenes? Lucas: Both, actually. Let's start with a famous example from the 7th century — Queen Shima of Kalingga, a kingdom on the north coast of Java that was contemporary with early Srivijaya. She's mentioned in Chinese sources, and she's legendary for her strict enforcement of law. There's a story that she once had her own son executed for accidentally stealing a fruit, to prove that no one was above the law. Luna: That's extreme. But it tells you something about how she ruled. Lucas: Exactly. And Kalingga was a major trading partner with China, exporting camphor, tortoiseshell, and ivory. Queen Shima controlled that trade directly. Chinese records describe her kingdom as rich and well-governed. She's not alone, either. In Srivijaya itself, the Chinese monk Yijing mentions that when he visited Palembang in the 670s, he was hosted by the Srivijayan king, but he also notes that the queen consort was a devout Buddhist who patronized monasteries. Luna: So the queen had her own influence, separate from the king. Lucas: Yes, and that pattern continues. In the 8th century, the Tang dynasty records mention that the kingdom of Shilifoshi — that's Srivijaya — sent envoys led by a woman. In 724, a Srivijayan queen named something like 'mo ho sin' in Chinese transcription sent gifts of ivory, frankincense, and slaves to the Tang court. This suggests that women could act as diplomatic agents. Luna: I'd love to know her real name. The Chinese transcription probably mangled it. Lucas: Almost certainly. We don't have the original Malay. But beyond royalty, ordinary women in Srivijaya had unusual economic freedom for the time. In Malay maritime societies, men were often away at sea for months, trading or fishing. Women managed the household, but also ran local markets, negotiated prices, and even owned property. The 7th-century Chinese account of the 'Kunlun' people — which probably refers to Malays — notes that women conducted business while men stayed home. Luna: Wait, that's the opposite of what you'd expect. Lucas: It shocked the Chinese observers, too. In Tang China, women were largely confined to domestic roles, but here they saw women openly trading in ports. Archaeological evidence supports this: at Muaro Jambi, the Buddhist temple complex in Sumatra, excavations of female burials have uncovered gold jewelry, bronze mirrors, and glass beads — signs of wealth and status. These weren't just queens; these were merchant women, probably involved in the spice and camphor trade. Luna: So women were accumulating their own wealth, not just as part of a family. Lucas: Exactly. And there's another dimension: Buddhist nuns. Yijing's travelogue mentions that when he traveled from China to India, he was accompanied by a group of nuns. Some of them were from Srivijaya. One in particular, named Jnanavati, is recorded as having studied at Nalanda, the great Buddhist university in India. She became a respected teacher there. That's remarkable — a woman from Sumatra becoming a scholar in India in the 7th century. Luna: We did an episode on Jnanavati before, but I didn't realize she was part of this bigger pattern of women in Srivijaya. Lucas: Right, she's not an isolated case. Yijing lists several Srivijayan nuns who traveled to China and India. They were following the same route as the monks, seeking Buddhist texts and ordination. And they were sponsored by the Srivijayan court — the king saw it as a pious investment. So women were not just passive recipients of religion; they were active participants in the Buddhist network that connected Southeast Asia to India and China. Luna: It makes you rethink the whole image of a male-dominated empire. Lucas: Absolutely. One of the problems with writing history is that we rely on sources written by men — Chinese officials, Arab travelers, Indian monks. They tended to focus on kings and battles. But if you read between the lines, you see women everywhere: running trade, managing temples, even leading diplomacy. The Srivijayan empire was not just a story of maharajas and admirals; it was built on the labor and expertise of women as well. Luna: And I guess that's something we forget when we think of ancient empires as purely patriarchal. Lucas: For sure. And it's a reminder that history is always more complicated than the simple narratives we inherit. Which is partly why we do this show — to dig into those complexities. And speaking of that, if you're someone who values this kind of deep dive, and you've been coming along with us through these conversations about Southeast Asia, we want to mention that we deliberately don't run ads on these episodes. Not because we don't need support, but because we think the listening experience is better without interruptions. Luna: Yeah, no sponsored segments about meal kits or mattresses. Just history. Lucas: Exactly. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to help us keep going, and we appreciate anyone who does. Now, back to Srivijaya. There's one more aspect I want to touch on: how women's roles changed as the empire declined. Luna: Did they lose status after Srivijaya fell? Lucas: It's hard to say definitively, but in the post-Srivijaya period, when Islam spread through Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, women's public roles did seem to contract. However, even in the 13th century, Marco Polo noted that in the port of Perlak, women conducted all the trade while men were away. So the tradition persisted in some places. And in the Srivijayan heartland, the legacy of female economic power may have influenced later Malay sultanates, where queens like the sultanahs of Aceh in the 17th century ruled openly. Luna: So it's not a straight line from equality to oppression — it's more like waves. Lucas: Exactly. History doesn't move in one direction. And for Srivijaya, the evidence suggests that women were integral to its success. From Queen Shima's justice to the nuns at Nalanda, from the gold-laden merchants at Muaro Jambi to the envoys who sailed to Tang China — they were all part of the fabric of this maritime empire. We just have to look for them. Luna: It's a good reminder to always ask: where are the women in this story? Lucas: Right. And often, if you look, they're there.