Pannai

Pannai was a polity associated with the river country of northeastern Sumatra. An inscription of the South Indian ruler Rajendra Chola I names it among the places struck during his eleventh-century campaign against Srivijaya. Farther inland, the Padang Lawas plain contains brick Buddhist monuments, including the Bahal temples, that scholars have connected with Pannai. Rivers flowing from this interior toward the Malacca Strait gave access to a world of maritime trade.