Balaputradewa was the

maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great Monarch, king" or "high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Em ...

Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the ...

in the 9th century CE as well as the former head of the

Sailendra The Shailendra dynasty (, derived from Sanskrit combined words ''Śaila'' and ''Indra'', meaning "King of the Mountain", also spelled Sailendra, Syailendra or Selendra) was the name of a notable Indianised dynasty that emerged in 8th-century ...

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

. He was the youngest son of the preceding Sailendran maharaja, Samaratunga, through marriage with Dewi Tara who was in turn the daughter of another maharaja, Dharmasetu of Srivijaya." De Casparis proposed that in 856 Balaputra was defeated by Pikatan, whereupon Balaputra retreated to Srivijaya, the country of his mother, to become the first Sailandra ruler of Srivijaya. Thus in the late 9th century Srivijaya was ruled by a Buddhist Sailendra ruler, while Java was ruled by Pikatan and his successors, who patronized Siva" (cf. De Casparis, 1956; Hall, 1985:111).

Early life

Samaratunga died when Balaputra was a boy. As a young heir to the throne, his authority in Central Java was frequently challenged by local landlords. An extended family member by the name of Garung forced Balaputra to accept his tutorship. Garung was part of the

Sanjaya Dynasty The Sanjaya dynasty () was an ancient Javanese dynasty that ruled the Mataram kingdom in Java during the first millennium CE. The dynasty was an active promoter of Hinduism in ancient Java. Origin and formation According to the Canggal inscr ...

and was related to Balaputra through marriage of Garung's son, Rakai Pikatan to

Pramodhawardhani Pramodhawardhani (also known as Çrī Kahulunnan or Çrī Sanjiwana) was the queen consort of king Rakai Pikatan (r. 838-850) of Medang Kingdom in 9th century Central Java. She was the daughter of Sailendran king Samaratungga (r. 812—833). H ...

, Balaputra's sister. During the regency of Garung, the Javanese political landscape was relatively peaceful. The regency ended in 832 when Garung disappeared.

Sri Maharaja of Suvarnadvipa, King of Srivijaya

Around 852, Rakai Pikatan of Sanjaya began garnering influence from the local nobles. This worried Balaputra and he tried to suppress Rakai Pikatan in order to regain control. His effort failed miserably however, due to his inexperience. The Sailendras were eventually forced to leave Java for

Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. Palemban ...

, the seat of Srivijaya as well as the home of Balaputra's mother, Tara. Balaputra's defeat by Jatiningrat (Pikatan) was recorded in the

Shivagrha inscription The Shivagrha inscription is an inscription from the Mataram Kingdom of Central Java, dated in ''chandrasengkala'' (chronogram) ''”Wwalung Gunung sang wiku”'', that is, the year 856 CE (or 778 in the native Saka Calendar). The inscription was ...

that recorded that Balaputra had constructed a fortress made of hundreds of heaped stones for his refuge. With the retreat, Central Java fell into the hands of Sanjaya, ending the Sailendra's rule over the area. The Sanjayas later founded the

Mataram Kingdom The Mataram Kingdom (, jv, ꦩꦠꦫꦩ꧀, ) was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu–Buddhism, Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries. It was based in Central Java, and later in East Java. Established b ...

and continued to rule Java until Srivijaya reasserted its dominance over the island in the 11th century. Soon after he left Java, Balaputra became the ruler of Srivijaya. While the record on Balaputra is scarce, it is known through the Nalanda inscription that he ordered the construction of a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

Nalanda Nalanda (, ) was a renowned '' mahavihara'' ( Buddhist monastic university) in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India.India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. He also sent an ambassador to China.

References

Shailendra dynasty Srivijaya Indonesian Buddhist monarchs 9th-century Indonesian people {{Indonesia-bio-stub