Dharmasraya

Dharmasraya lay in the upper Batang Hari country of central Sumatra, where river routes reached into the gold-bearing interior. It was a centre of the Malayu kingdom, known from inscriptions and Buddhist monuments near the river. Temples at Padang Roco and other sites preserve traces of a court whose connections extended across the sea to Java.

An inscription dated 1286 records the installation at Dharmasraya of an image of Amoghapasha, sent from Java on the orders of King Kertanagara. The inscription names the Malayu ruler Tribhuwanaraja Mauliwarmadewa and describes the rejoicing that accompanied the gift. In 1347 another inscription was carved on the image under Adityawarman, whose rule is also commemorated in the Minangkabau highlands. These stones illuminate the ties between courts on the two islands and the changing political centres of the Sumatran interior.