ofthe SAME TREE

two months. While in Palembang, he commented that “it [Malayu] is now
changed into Sribhoga [Sriwijaya] or Bhoga [Wijaya].” 14
Like Gantoli before it, Sriwijaya became an entrepot dependent upon
the international trade flowing through the Straits of Melaka. Because of the
mangrove swamps on the coast, the center of Sriwijaya was located some distance
inland on the Musi River in Palembang. Vital to its success as a polity
was its control over the upriver areas, which form one of the largest river
basins in the archipelago. It is this extensive network of communities linked
by the Musi and its many tributaries that led Wolters to characterize the polity
as a “paddle culture.” 15 Through exchange arrangements with the interior
Orang Asli and upriver groups, Sriwijaya was able to provide gold, rattans,
gaharuwood, and oleoresins that were in high demand in the international
marketplace.
Much more is known about Sriwijaya than any of its predecessors because
of the coincidence of Yiching’s visit and its association with a number of stone
inscriptions. The inscriptions were found at Kedukan Bukit (Palembang, 683
CE), Sabokingking (near Telaga Batu in Palembang, undated), Talang Tuwo
(Palembang, 684 CE), Karang Brahi (upper Batang Hari in Jambi, undated),
Kota Kapur (Bangka, 686 CE), Palas Pasemah (South Lampung, undated),
Karanganyar (Central Lampung, contemporaneous with Palas Pasemah), and
Boom Baru (Palembang, undated). Also found were a number of fragments,
plus numerous stones inscribed with the single word “sidda.” All these inscriptions,
plus another from Ligor written in Sanskrit in 775, use the Pallava script
in a style associated with south India and Sri Lanka in the same period. The
absence of any clear local differentiation in the Sumatran inscriptions may
indicate a recent borrowing, 16 and could imply that a previous indigenous or
Indian script had been superseded or that Sriwijaya was in the early stages of
literacy.
The inscriptions fall into two general types: imprecations or oaths and
commemorations of royal gifts and victories. Inscriptions of the first type
containing similar imprecation formulae and almost identical texts were
found at Palas Pasemah, Karanganyar, Karang Brahi, Kota Kapur, and Boom
Baru. The Telaga Batu or Sabokingking inscription is longer and is directed
specifically to royal personages, officials, and various groups within the realm.
As in the first Cham inscription from the fourth century, its central feature
is the threat of supernatural punishment to those who fail to abide by their
oaths. 17 Of the second type the oldest and most detailed is the Kedukan Bukit
inscription, which celebrated a victorious expedition that resulted in power
and wealth for Sriwijaya. Coedès believes that the inscription commemorates
the founding of a dynasty because in Indianized Southeast Asia the establishment
of a kingdom or a dynasty was often accompanied by magical prac-
54 Chapter 2