THE EMPIRE OF THE MAHARAJA. 25 



site in Southern Kedah), and Srivishaya itself. Again in 1068 

 another Chola king claims to have captured Kedah but restored it 

 to its ruler, and a few years later we find that Palembang has per- 

 suaded the Chinese Court that the Maharaja is the overlord and the 

 Chola his vassal ! From this period of conflict ending thus we may 

 perhaps infer that honours were divided, though it does not appear 

 that Palembang retaliated by a genuine strategical offensive in the 

 11th century, at any rate. 



It is not unlikely that the attacks on Ceylon in 1250 and be- 

 tween 1270 and 1275 attributed by the Ceylon chronicles to the 

 " Javaku " emanated from Palembang. Chao Ju Kua, wri ting 

 about 12 , 2 1 5, represents Palembang as having fifteen provinces or 

 dependencies, including Pahang, Trengganu, Kelantan, Langka- 

 suka, half a dozen more places less easily identified but of which 

 two have been definitely located in Lower Siam, and five others, 

 namely Palembang, Sunda, Ivompai, Lambri, and Ceylon, the last 

 named (like some of the others) sending a yearly tribute. 



But before the end of the 13th century the Palembang empire 

 seems to have broken up. Even in 1225 it showed signs of internal 

 decay, for the Chinese author just cited, after enumerating Kompai 

 among the dependencies, devotes a separate chapter to it in which 

 he expressly says : " Formerly it was a dependency of San-fo-ts'i, 

 but after a fight it set up a king of its own." Then there was 

 serious pressure from without. Perhaps we may include herein 

 the Javanese expedition of 1275 to " Malayu," though we do not 

 know precisely which part of Sumatra it was aimed at. There was 

 worse trouble in the extreme North of the Peninsula, where the 

 Malay forces were falling back before the growing Siamese kingdom 

 whose capital was then at Sukhodaya, far away to the North, near 

 the Lao country. The Mon chronicles speak of these conflicts at 

 some date not long before 1280, and the Chinese records say that 

 they had been going on for many years before 1295. The upshot 

 was that the northern outstations of Palembang in the Peninsula 

 were included in Lower Siam. About the same time Islam was 

 making its first and as yet peaceful conquests in Northern Sumatra, 

 and little places like Perlak, Pasai, and Samudra set up as in- 

 dependent states and made a bid for a share in the trade of the 

 Straits. 



iSomewhere about the same period, possibly a little earlier, 

 Singapore must also have become independent and begun to take 

 advantage of its unique position. For plainly the command of 

 the Straits so long exercised by Palembang rested not on nature 

 but on force : it was quite off the direct trade-route. 'So long as 

 by threats of what we should call piracy it could compel trading 

 ships to come into its ports and there pay toll, it did so, even as 

 late as the early part of the 13th century, as Chao Ju Kua tells 

 us. But already in his time it would seem that about a third of 

 the merchants from China put in at Ling-ya-mon (Straits of 

 Langgi, or I think more probably Singapore) before going on to 



Jour. Straits Branch 



