ofthe SAME TREE

entrepot. Finally, it was the sea people’s intimate knowledge of the treacherous
waters at the southern entrance of the Straits of Melaka and their prowess
at sea that assured the safety of foreign ships trading at the entrepot. 59 Earlier
studies depict Sriwijaya as an “empire” created and maintained by force. Such
a view is now generally rejected because the nature of the seascape and landscape
would have limited the efficacy of any punitive expedition. The major
Sumatran rivers flow from the interior highlands to the east coast through
heavy forests. Along the banks of these rivers and their many tributaries lived
scattered communities, who used these waterways and the short land passages
connecting them as their principal access to the outside world. Until the recent
past, the Malayu lived by fishing, some farming, collecting of jungle products,
and trade. At or near the edges of the thick jungles were dispersed communities
(officially termed Suku Terasing, “Isolated Ethnic Groups,” by the current
Indonesian government), who were collectors of forest products and were
the major suppliers of rattan, aromatic woods, and resins. The lower reaches
of the rivers, the coasts, and the many islands off southeast Sumatra formed
another part of the Sriwijayan landscape and were home to the Orang Laut
(sea people). They collected sea products for the China market and used their
navigational skills and familiarity with seas around the southern entrance of
the straits to bring passing traders to Sriwijaya and to harass those from rival
ports. The Orang Laut formed the bulk of the Sriwijayan fleet and provided
vital information on the movement of ships through the Straits of Melaka.
Faced with this type of natural and human environment in Sriwijaya, the
use of force would have been limited because recalcitrant subjects could simply
disappear into the impenetrable forests or escape to the many islands off
the coast until the punitive expedition left. In such a polity, force would not
be a primary instrument in achieving a convergence of interests among the
constituent parts. Even though the inscriptions refer to military expeditions,
much bloodshed, and even an expedition of twenty thousand men, the threat
of the imprecation or water oath would probably have been equally if not
more effective in retaining the loyalty of the ordinary people. 60 Collectively,
the inscriptions reveal the practice of Perfection Path Mahayana Buddhism,
which teaches that magical powers from mantras and yantras can be used to
defeat enemies and to reach Enlightenment. 61
The royal word, “boosted by additional supernatural power,” was therefore
an important feature of early polities. 62 Through the judicious placement
of religious symbols and royal inscriptions containing fearsome oaths (“royal
words”), the threat of supernatural punishment of disloyal subjects was available
as a last resort when gentle persuasion failed. The Karang Berahi and the
Kota Kapur inscriptions threaten the use of force to punish those disloyal,
along with their families and clans. 63 Perhaps for this reason, the Kota Kapur
62 Chapter 2