Latest / The Srivijaya Empire: Southeast Asia's Forgotten Maritime Superpower — Fexingo History / Srivijaya's Buddhist Universities: Muaro Jambi and the Nalanda Connection
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Srivijaya as a maritime trading empire — its ships, its trade routes, its control of the Strait of Malacca. But there's another side to this empire that's just as impressive: it was a major center of Buddhist learning. Think of Srivijaya as a kind of Southeast Asian Oxford or Nalanda — a place where monks from China, India, and the archipelago came to study. Luna: I didn't realize Srivijaya had universities. I thought the big Buddhist center was Nalanda in India. Lucas: Nalanda was absolutely the most famous, but Srivijaya had its own major institutions. The most important was at Muaro Jambi, on the Batang Hari River in eastern Sumatra. This was a huge complex — we're talking over 80 hectares, with multiple temples, assembly halls, and monasteries. It was a walled city of learning. And it's not just an archaeological site; we have textual evidence from Chinese pilgrims who studied there. Luna: Like Yijing? I remember you mentioned him before. Lucas: Exactly. Yijing is our best source. He was a Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to India in the 7th century to study and collect scriptures. But he didn't just go straight to India. He stopped in Srivijaya — what he called Shilifoshi — and ended up staying for about seven years. He studied Sanskrit there, and he also translated texts. In his records, he praises the Srivijayan monks as highly learned and says the standards of scholarship were on par with those in India. He even recommended that Chinese monks stop in Srivijaya before going to Nalanda, to prepare themselves. Luna: So Srivijaya was like a prep school for Nalanda? Lucas: In a way, yes. But it was more than that. Srivijaya's maharajas actively sponsored Buddhist learning. The Sailendra king Balaputradewa — we talked about him before — funded the construction of a monastery at Nalanda itself. There's a copper-plate inscription from Nalanda, dated to around 860 CE, that records Balaputradewa's request to the king of Bengal to build a monastery for Srivijayan monks studying there. He also donated villages to support it. So Srivijaya was both sending monks to Nalanda and receiving them at home. Luna: What were they studying at Muaro Jambi? Lucas: The curriculum was heavily focused on Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. They studied texts like the Abhidharmakosa — a key treatise on Buddhist metaphysics. They also studied logic, grammar, and the monastic code, the Vinaya. Yijing mentions that the Srivijayan monks were particularly skilled in the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition, which was a school of monastic discipline. And the language of instruction was Sanskrit. So students had to master that first. Luna: That's a serious education. How many students were there? Lucas: We don't have exact numbers, but the complex at Muaro Jambi could have housed hundreds, maybe over a thousand monks at its peak. There were multiple temples — some still standing today, like Candi Tinggi and Candi Gumpung. And there are man-made ponds and canals, which were used for ritual bathing and daily life. The site was inhabited from around the 7th century up until the 13th or 14th, so it had a long run. Luna: And this was all supported by the Srivijayan rulers? Lucas: Absolutely. The maharajas saw themselves as protectors of the Buddha's dharma. They donated land, built monasteries, and sent gifts to foreign institutions. This was part of their legitimacy — being a Buddhist king meant patronizing the sangha, the monastic community. And it also had practical benefits: educated monks could serve as diplomats, translators, and advisors. Yijing himself translated texts while in Srivijaya with the help of local monks. Luna: So the empire's wealth from trade was funding this intellectual network. Lucas: Exactly. The same trade routes that brought spices, camphor, and gold also brought books, teachers, and pilgrims. Srivijaya was perfectly positioned on the maritime Silk Road, so it became a natural meeting point for scholars from China, India, and the Malay world. And the rulers invested that commercial wealth into building an intellectual infrastructure. It's a great example of how trade and culture reinforce each other. Luna: Did any of this learning survive after Srivijaya declined? Lucas: Some of it filtered into the Buddhist traditions of mainland Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand and Cambodia. But a lot was lost. The Muaro Jambi complex was abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle. It wasn't until the 20th century that archaeologists really began excavating it. Even today, only a fraction of the site has been uncovered. There's still so much we don't know about the day-to-day life of those monastic communities. Luna: It makes you wonder what else is buried out there. Lucas: It does. And here's something that connects back to how we produce this show. We try to bring you these stories without interrupting them with ads. That's a deliberate choice — we want the history to stand on its own. If you appreciate that approach, and if you'd like to help us keep doing it, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a simple way to say 'keep going.' No pressure, but it helps. Luna: Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it. Anyway, getting back to Muaro Jambi — you mentioned that Yijing studied there. Did he write about his time there? Lucas: He did. He left two major works: the Nanhai Jigui Neifa Zhuan, which is a record of Buddhism in the Southern Seas, and the Datang Xiyu Qiufa Gaoseng Zhuan, a biography of eminent monks who traveled to the West. In those, he describes Srivijaya as a place where 'the multitude of monks number more than a thousand, and their minds are set on study and good works.' He also notes that the king of Srivijaya personally supported the monastery. Luna: So it wasn't just a school — it was a royal project. Lucas: Very much so. And this royal patronage extended beyond Muaro Jambi. There were other learning centers in the empire, like in Palembang itself. But Muaro Jambi is the best preserved and the most impressive. It shows that Srivijaya wasn't just a commercial empire; it was a place where ideas were exchanged and developed. It was a node in a broader Buddhist intellectual network that stretched from Afghanistan to Japan. Luna: That changes how I think about Srivijaya. It's not just about ships and trade goods. Lucas: Exactly. And that's one of the things I love about this history — it forces us to see Southeast Asia as a center of civilization, not just a crossroads. The monks at Muaro Jambi were engaged in serious philosophical work. They were debating, translating, and commenting on texts that would shape Buddhism across Asia. And they did it in a place that was also a bustling port city, full of merchants from China, India, and the Middle East. Luna: So the scholars were rubbing shoulders with traders? Lucas: Absolutely. The monastery at Muaro Jambi wasn't isolated. It was connected to the riverine trade network. Boats coming up the Batang Hari would bring supplies, visitors, and news from across the Indian Ocean. So the monks were part of a cosmopolitan world. And that probably influenced their thinking — they were exposed to different Buddhist traditions, different philosophical schools, and different cultures. Luna: That kind of cross-pollination is rare in history, isn't it? Lucas: It is, and it's one reason Srivijaya was so successful. The empire's strength wasn't just military or economic; it was also cultural. By becoming a center of Buddhist learning, Srivijaya attracted the best minds of the age. And those minds, in turn, helped legitimize the rulers and spread the empire's influence. It's a virtuous cycle — and one that we can still see echoes of today, in the Buddhist traditions of Southeast Asia. Luna: I'd love to know more about what Yijing actually studied there. Lucas: Yijing was focused on the Vinaya, the monastic rules. He wanted to bring back authentic texts to China. In Srivijaya, he found teachers who could explain the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya in detail. He also studied Sanskrit grammar — that was essential for translation. He mentions studying the Siddham script, which was used for writing Sanskrit in East Asia. So his curriculum was rigorous: language, philosophy, and law. Luna: How long did it take to become a fully trained monk? Lucas: It varied, but typically a monk would spend years in study. The basic ordination required memorizing a set of texts and understanding the precepts. Advanced study could take a decade or more. Yijing himself spent about seven years in Srivijaya before moving on to Nalanda, where he stayed for another ten years. So he invested almost two decades in his education. That's the kind of commitment that shows how valuable this learning was. Luna: And all of that happened because Srivijaya provided the space for it. Lucas: Exactly. The empire created the conditions — peace, patronage, and a cosmopolitan environment — where scholarship could flourish. That's a legacy that often gets overlooked when we talk about empires. But for Srivijaya, it was central to its identity. And it's a reminder that power isn't just about armies and taxes. Sometimes it's about ideas. Luna: Well said. Thanks for bringing this to light.