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No. 36.]
NOTE ON SAILENDRA KINGS MENTIONED IN LEIDEN PLATES.
283
As noted above, the evidence of the Leiden Plates fully supports the view that the Sailēndra kings were rulers of Kaţāha or Kadāra (var. Kidāra) and subsequently extended their suzerainty over Sri-Vijaya.
The Chinese references to the two embassies from San-fo-ts'i quoted above, taken along with the data supplied by the Plates, leave no doubt that king Chūlāmanivarman died sumetime between A.D. 1005 and 1008. The fact that although the formal grant in the Tamil portion was drawn up in the 23rd year of Rājarāja I, yet mention is only made of Chūlāmapivarman and not his son, might be taken to indicate that the former died in A.D. 1007-8. But this is somewhat problematical. In any case Chūlāmanivarman died shortly after A.D. 1005 and this explains the discrepancy noted by the Editor on pp. 228-29 above. It is obvious that soon after the Grant was made in A.D. 1005 by Rajarāja I, and while the construction of the Vihāra was still in progress, king Chūlāmaņivarman died, and the work begun by him was completed by his son and successor.
The learned Editor has discussed at length the problem how the ruler of Kaţāha came to erect a Buddhist Vibära at Negapatam in the heart of the distant Chõla dominion, and how the powerful Chola king came to grant the entire revenues of a village for the upkeep of a palli in it' (p. 230 above).
The early history of the Sailēndras and the Nalanda Charter of Dēvapäls of the year 391 offer an easy solution to this problem.
It is most likely that the Sailēndra dynasty originally migrated from India; there is at least no doubt that they kept up an intimate intercourse with India and received their religious in piration from this country. We learn from Hiuen Tsang and I-tsing that even as early as the seventh century A.D. there was a regular religious intercourse between India and Malayasia. The Kelurak inscription, mentioned above, shows that the guru or preceptor of the Sailēndra kings in A.D. 778, was a resident of Gauda (Bengal). About the middle of the ninth century A.D. the Sailēndra king established a Vihāra at Nälanda, and at his request king Dēvapāla of Bengal granted five villages for its upkeep. The Leiden Plates obviously describe a transaction which is exactly similar to what we find in the NālandĀ Charter of Dēvapäla, and, as in this charter, the villages must have been granted by Rājarāja at the request of the Sailēndra king. In the smaller Leiden Plates also, we find that at the express request of the king of Kidāra, communicated by his envoys, the Chola king Kulõttunga exempted these villages from taxes. In the Larger Leiden Plates there is no express mention of this request, but such a request must be presumed, not only on the above analogies, but also from verse 38 of the Sanskrit portion which may be rendered into English as follows: “This lord of Kaţāhs......thus prays to all future kings :- protect (ye) for ever this my charity". The reference to the grant as my charity can only be taken to mean that it was at his request, and on his behalf, that the village was granted by the Chõļa king. The two persons who composed and executed the edict are mentioned in vv. 39-42, and it is not clear whether their master (tasya rājno s.e., ' of that king'), mentioned in v. 40, refers to the Chola king or king of Kaţäha. But the verses 43-44 definitely say that on the direction of that lord of Kaţāba, Tuvavūravāp Aņukkan caused to be made (this)
1 Above Vol. XVII, p. 310. The Editor of this inscription has added some notes on the evasivo race of the Bailēndras" (p. 312). But they are neither adequate nor sourate. His statement that the Sailendras ruled over Sumatra and Java in the seventh century A.D. (p. 313) is not warranted by any evidence known to me. His other remarks need not be disoussed here in detail, but the readers are referred to the articles mentioned in p.si 2.2 for a general review of the subject. I may note that he pointed out the reeemblance between the rola Charter and the Leiden Plates, and took the word 'atenpata ' in this inscription in the senso in wbiak Ikan token it.
