Borobudur Essay

Borobudur, the largest Buddhist structure in the world built by the Sailendra dynasty

The Sailendra dynasty leaders had further maintained close relations, including marriage alliances with the Srivijaya kingdom in Sumatra. The mutual association between the two kingdoms ensured that Srivijaya had no need to fear the emergence of a Javanese rival kingdoms and that the Sailendra had access to the international market for trading.

The Sailendra period was characterized by peaceful co-existence and cooperation but towards the middle of the 9th century relations had deteriorated. Around 852 the Sanjaya ruler of Pikatan had defeated Balaputra, the brother of the Sailendra monarch Samaratunga and princess Tara. This ended the Sailendra presence in Java and Balaputra retreated to the Srivijaya kingdom in Sumatra, where he became the

He is was destined to be the founder of the great empire after the Mongol’s unsuccessful conquest. The Majapahit empire became the greatest ever of all the states in insular Southeast Asia, claiming political control over the most of the archipelago. Gajah Mada, the patih (prime minister) was the most remarkable figure in Indonesian history before the Dutch conquest. He united the archipelago through direct conquest. It extended over to Champa, Thailand and Cambodia. The period marked the golden age of the Javanese history, known as literary and cultural efflorescence.

The Majapahit glory lasted only about seventy-five years, although the state lingered on until it was slowly liquidated by the advance of Islam. The Majapahit was the last great Hindu kingdom of Southeast Asia. A war of succession weakened the kingdom and Majapahit had sunk to being just one of a number of small Javanese states whose glory had become only a distant memory.