Military Power,Mahayana Buddhism and the Construction of Sri Vijaya Maritime Trade Pattern
From the 7th to the 14th century,Sri Vijaya,as a maritime power in the Sunda Islands of Indonesia,had an advan-tageous geographical location,controlling the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Sunda and connecting the East and West for trade.As the first ancient kingdom whose sphere of influence covered the entire Malay Peninsula,Sri Vijaya vigorously devel-oped maritime trade and established Mahayana Buddhism as the state religion.Buddhism,which had declined in India,once again flourished in Sri Vijaya,and Sri Vijaya became a worldwide center of Buddhism.Mahayana Buddhism has profoundly in-fluenced the political,economic and religious development of the Indonesian archipelago.George Coedès calls this phenomenon"Indianization".As one of the most powerful ancient kingdoms in Southeast Asia,Sri Vijaya's religious culture and maritime trade pattern have distinctive characteristics.Backed by its army,Sri Vijaya established a strong maritime trade network to guar-antee the control of the golden waterways of Malacca and the Sunda Strait by strengthening the control of the royal power and conquering territories to expand commodity production areas.At the same time,as the spiritual driving force to strengthen politi-cal power for the kingdom,Mahayana Buddhismhas also brought impetus for rulers to make changes and affected the construc-tion of Sri Vijaya's maritime trade pattern.From the perspective of religion and maritime trade patterns,Sri Vijaya is a characteris-tic symbol in the development of ancient civilizations in Southeast Asia.Sri Vijaya's regime lasted for about seven centuries and a half,which is rarely long among many ancient kingdoms in Indonesia.Not only did it establish hegemony in the Southeast Asian archipelago,but also established Mahayana Buddhism as the religion of the kingdom,"indianizing"its ruled archipelago.In terms of foreign relations,it maintains relatively close ties with India and China's Tang Dynasty,which provides important reference value for studying the"indianization"of Indonesia's ancient history and China's ancient Silk Road.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
