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Rahsia Empayar Melayu Sriwijaya
"Di Laut Champa (Laut China Selatan) adalah empayar sang Maharaja, raja seluruh kepulauan yang berkuasa atas kerajaan tanpa batas dan mempunyai pasukan tak terhitung banyaknya. Bahkan kapal yang paling terpantas tidak dapat menyelesaikan dalam masa dua tahun mengelilingi pulau-pulau yang berada di bawah pengaruhnya. Wilayah raja ini menghasilkan segala macam rempah dan aromatik dan tiada kerajaan lain (sebagaimana empayar ini) mampu mendapatkan banyak kekayaan dari bumi." - Al- Masudi
Empayar Melayu Srivijaya, nama yang dilupakan oleh umat Melayu. Rahsianya tenggelam dalam lipatan sejarah. Melaka lebih didendangkan kalau bicara tentang sejarah Melayu sehingga terlupa akan satu lagi empayar yang maha agung. Empayar yang maharajanya bermandi-manda dalam limpahan jongkong emas. Empayar luas merangkumi seluruh kepulauan. Pelabuhannya masyhur, menarik jutaan dagangan.
Buku ini mengajak umat Melayu untuk kembali mengenang sejarah silam yang dilupakan. Srivijaya yang berdiri sejak abad ke-6, ada rahsia yang menanti anak cucu untuk disingkapkan. Ada perjalanan panjang dalam meneroka sejarah yang tenggelam. Ayuh, ikuti kami mengembara menyelami riwayat sebuah tamadun agung yang pernah bangsa kita dirikan dalam buku ini.
Empayar Melayu Srivijaya, nama yang dilupakan oleh umat Melayu. Rahsianya tenggelam dalam lipatan sejarah. Melaka lebih didendangkan kalau bicara tentang sejarah Melayu sehingga terlupa akan satu lagi empayar yang maha agung. Empayar yang maharajanya bermandi-manda dalam limpahan jongkong emas. Empayar luas merangkumi seluruh kepulauan. Pelabuhannya masyhur, menarik jutaan dagangan.
Buku ini mengajak umat Melayu untuk kembali mengenang sejarah silam yang dilupakan. Srivijaya yang berdiri sejak abad ke-6, ada rahsia yang menanti anak cucu untuk disingkapkan. Ada perjalanan panjang dalam meneroka sejarah yang tenggelam. Ayuh, ikuti kami mengembara menyelami riwayat sebuah tamadun agung yang pernah bangsa kita dirikan dalam buku ini.
264 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 8, 2021
Sejarah Sriwijaya yang segelap sejarah Melaka juga bagi aku. Tetapi membaca buku ini sungguh mempesonakan, di sebabkan dengan asal usul yang tidak diketahui, sistem pemerintahan, perdagangan yang berjaya, ketenteraan yang ramai dan gagah dan pusat penyebaraan agama Buddha yang tersohor.
Bagi aku, buku ini himpunan seluruh buku mengenai sejarah silam, gelap dan bebas mengenai Sriwijaya. Setiap bab ditulis dengan indah, mudah difahami dan diberikan kesimpulan oleh penulis sendiri. Tapi aku tak faham Bab Empat : Pelabuhan Utama. Tajuk mengenai pelabuhan tetapi macam di cerita benda lain je. Hahaha.
Baca lah wahai bangsa Melayu. Ini sejarah kau yang asli. Ingat lah kisah cerita Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa itu. Biar bersemangat hidup kau nanti. Biar kau tahu yang bangsa kau itu sudah bijaksana, kuat dan hebat sejak dahulu kala lagi.
Buat penulis, Abdullah Sidek. Terima kasih, boh.
Bagi aku, buku ini himpunan seluruh buku mengenai sejarah silam, gelap dan bebas mengenai Sriwijaya. Setiap bab ditulis dengan indah, mudah difahami dan diberikan kesimpulan oleh penulis sendiri. Tapi aku tak faham Bab Empat : Pelabuhan Utama. Tajuk mengenai pelabuhan tetapi macam di cerita benda lain je. Hahaha.
Baca lah wahai bangsa Melayu. Ini sejarah kau yang asli. Ingat lah kisah cerita Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa itu. Biar bersemangat hidup kau nanti. Biar kau tahu yang bangsa kau itu sudah bijaksana, kuat dan hebat sejak dahulu kala lagi.
Buat penulis, Abdullah Sidek. Terima kasih, boh.
December 6, 2025
This is an unexpectedly concise and informative work, elucidating on the shadowy Malayan kingdom of Sriwijaya. It is extremely difficult in current times to differentiate between the works of reaction and polemic, with the ones definitive and authoritative. But the author again resisted the temptation, and put out a succinctly informative and veritable work, using multiple sources from both local and Orientalists.
Sriwijaya is an elusive kingdom, that researchers are still debating on the exact location of its epicentre. It is not as in the case of Rome or Mecca, which exact rise and fall in its history could be pinpointed; rather it is as mysterious as finding the biblical cities. We have to reconstruct everything using every arsenal of information; from Chinese chronicles down to archaeological evidences. Even then, we have to employ deductive reasoning to come to a reasonable conclusion.
From I-Ching records, we can safely say that the centre of Sriwijaya kingdom was in Palembang, Sumatra. And from Chinese court records, we could estimate the rise of the kingdom in the late 650-670's, as it was during these period Sriwijaya envoys paid tribute to the Emperor; and these could only done by sovereign states. We could also surmise that due to the inland nature of Palembang, the location is not ideal for development, thus conquests of entrepots along the Malaccan Straits were inevitable. Rapid expansion to the neighbouring slightly-more ancient kingdom of Malayu initiated, followed by submission of Kedah Tua, Kelantan, Ghari and Funan. Thus, Sriwijaya can thrive and develop from the bounty provided by dense trading activities in these key ports.
What propels the expansion of Sriwijaya, to my opinion, is the natural desire by burgeoning kingdom who developed concrete law and order, intensified by it being a hotspot for Buddhists scholars and monks. Sriwijaya while not as industrious in building the candis, or Buddhist worship-temples, their rule could also be described as religious in temperament, as shown by the priest-like denotation of their kings. The expansion of Sriwijaya might as well as a secular osmosis, a sequelae from religious consolidation.
Sriwijaya kings ruled under a feudal system; which each datus ruled their own mandala (or fiefs), while the "Dapunta" or the maharaja ruled his own mandala. The totality of the mandalas, or bhumi submitted to the rule of the Dapunta. Sriwijaya thrives economically by conquering key ports within the Archipelago, aside from enjoying the prestige of becoming a centre of Buddhist learning and under the protection of the Imperial Son of Heaven.
The lifetime of an empire followed a more or less determined template: that power gradient necessitates an osmotic expansion, expansion leads to prosperity, prosperity promotes further gradient, expansion creates over-stretching, over-stretching leads to disintegration. From the top, expansion of the royal houses, aside from causing the inevitable birth of a pack of weak rulers, it would also provide a surplus of royal princes which would lead to bickering. Either it would lead to transient succession of princes as in the Roman Third Century crisis, or spiralled down to Ottoman fratricide. The only ameliorating way would be the Diocletian jettison of dividing the empire to crown princes. Sriwijaya inevitably splits into two; the Sumatran and the Javan dynasty known as the Sailendra, which in turns warred against each other. Reactions against newly converted Perlak Shiite kingdom and perhaps greed caused increased taxation and control over trade. Which inevitably incite the wrath of the Indian kingdom of Chola, whose merchants heavily dependent to the Sriwijaya as the conduit between East and West. Chola invaded, leaving Sriwijaya weak and famished economically. Peripheral states rebelled and declared themselves dependent. Leaving Sriwijaya isolated in its already isolated capital of Palembang, causing it to be invaded by the revived first enemy of the kingdom, Malayu.
A great work.
Sriwijaya is an elusive kingdom, that researchers are still debating on the exact location of its epicentre. It is not as in the case of Rome or Mecca, which exact rise and fall in its history could be pinpointed; rather it is as mysterious as finding the biblical cities. We have to reconstruct everything using every arsenal of information; from Chinese chronicles down to archaeological evidences. Even then, we have to employ deductive reasoning to come to a reasonable conclusion.
From I-Ching records, we can safely say that the centre of Sriwijaya kingdom was in Palembang, Sumatra. And from Chinese court records, we could estimate the rise of the kingdom in the late 650-670's, as it was during these period Sriwijaya envoys paid tribute to the Emperor; and these could only done by sovereign states. We could also surmise that due to the inland nature of Palembang, the location is not ideal for development, thus conquests of entrepots along the Malaccan Straits were inevitable. Rapid expansion to the neighbouring slightly-more ancient kingdom of Malayu initiated, followed by submission of Kedah Tua, Kelantan, Ghari and Funan. Thus, Sriwijaya can thrive and develop from the bounty provided by dense trading activities in these key ports.
What propels the expansion of Sriwijaya, to my opinion, is the natural desire by burgeoning kingdom who developed concrete law and order, intensified by it being a hotspot for Buddhists scholars and monks. Sriwijaya while not as industrious in building the candis, or Buddhist worship-temples, their rule could also be described as religious in temperament, as shown by the priest-like denotation of their kings. The expansion of Sriwijaya might as well as a secular osmosis, a sequelae from religious consolidation.
Sriwijaya kings ruled under a feudal system; which each datus ruled their own mandala (or fiefs), while the "Dapunta" or the maharaja ruled his own mandala. The totality of the mandalas, or bhumi submitted to the rule of the Dapunta. Sriwijaya thrives economically by conquering key ports within the Archipelago, aside from enjoying the prestige of becoming a centre of Buddhist learning and under the protection of the Imperial Son of Heaven.
The lifetime of an empire followed a more or less determined template: that power gradient necessitates an osmotic expansion, expansion leads to prosperity, prosperity promotes further gradient, expansion creates over-stretching, over-stretching leads to disintegration. From the top, expansion of the royal houses, aside from causing the inevitable birth of a pack of weak rulers, it would also provide a surplus of royal princes which would lead to bickering. Either it would lead to transient succession of princes as in the Roman Third Century crisis, or spiralled down to Ottoman fratricide. The only ameliorating way would be the Diocletian jettison of dividing the empire to crown princes. Sriwijaya inevitably splits into two; the Sumatran and the Javan dynasty known as the Sailendra, which in turns warred against each other. Reactions against newly converted Perlak Shiite kingdom and perhaps greed caused increased taxation and control over trade. Which inevitably incite the wrath of the Indian kingdom of Chola, whose merchants heavily dependent to the Sriwijaya as the conduit between East and West. Chola invaded, leaving Sriwijaya weak and famished economically. Peripheral states rebelled and declared themselves dependent. Leaving Sriwijaya isolated in its already isolated capital of Palembang, causing it to be invaded by the revived first enemy of the kingdom, Malayu.
A great work.
March 18, 2022
Luas. Terlalu banyak pendapat. Terlalu banyak bayanga. Sumber mungkin agak terhad. Batu batu bersurat yang dijumpai ada serpihannya hilang. Tetapi segala maklmuat yang ditulis oleh penulis amat berkesan untuk kita yang meminati sejarah.
Jujur, terpaksa membaca dalam keadaan yang diam untuk memahami konteks kali ini. Kerana Sriwijaya merupakan kerajaan Agung selepas Funan. Keluasan kerajaan ini peh 🔥🔥🔥
Terima kasih penulis
Jujur, terpaksa membaca dalam keadaan yang diam untuk memahami konteks kali ini. Kerana Sriwijaya merupakan kerajaan Agung selepas Funan. Keluasan kerajaan ini peh 🔥🔥🔥
Terima kasih penulis
December 12, 2021
Sejarah kerajaan Melayu selalunya tertumpu dan berputar sekitar kepada kerajaan Melaka (Parameswara) dan kerajaan Melayu semasa kedatangan British. Bila sebut sahaja sejarah Melayu, sudah tentunya 'Melaka' sahaja, seolah-olah orang Melayu baru muncul pada waktu tersebut. Jarang orang membicarakan kerajaan Sriwijaya, apatah lagi untuk mengangkat Tamadun Sungai Batu yang disahkan wujud sebelum Masihi lagi.
Apa yang saya dapat simpulkan daripada kerajaan Sriwijaya ini, orang Melayu kini sendiri tidak mahu atau malu untuk mengakui bahawa Sriwijaya ini adalah nenek moyang mereka pada suatu ketika dahulu adalah disebabkan fahaman agama Buddha dan Hindu yang dianutinya. Fahaman agama ini seolah-olah menjadi satu halangan besar yang menyebabkan Sriwijaya ini tidak diangkat segah sepertimana kerajaan Melaka walaupun di sana juga lebih banyak mengangkat monumen tinggalan Portugis.
Apa yang saya dapat simpulkan daripada kerajaan Sriwijaya ini, orang Melayu kini sendiri tidak mahu atau malu untuk mengakui bahawa Sriwijaya ini adalah nenek moyang mereka pada suatu ketika dahulu adalah disebabkan fahaman agama Buddha dan Hindu yang dianutinya. Fahaman agama ini seolah-olah menjadi satu halangan besar yang menyebabkan Sriwijaya ini tidak diangkat segah sepertimana kerajaan Melaka walaupun di sana juga lebih banyak mengangkat monumen tinggalan Portugis.
October 23, 2025
Menarik kupasan dan ringkasan dapatan kajian daripada tokoh-tokoh yang mengkaji bab Sriwijaya oleh penulis. Ini membuatkan kita lebih memahami dan bangga dengan sejarah bangsa kita.
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