Balaputradewa was the

maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

of Srivijaya in the 9th century CE as well as the former head of the

Sailendra The Shailendra dynasty (, derived from Sanskrit combined words ''Śaila'' and ''Indra'', meaning "King of the Mountain", also spelled Sailendra, Syailendra or Selendra) was the name of a notable Indianised dynasty that emerged in 8th-century ...

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

. He was the youngest son of the preceding Sailendran maharaja,

Samaratunga Samaratungga was the head of the Sailendra dynasty who ruled Mataram Kingdom and Srivijaya in the 8th and the 9th century. He was the successor of King Indra, and his name was mentioned in Karangtengah inscription dated 824 CE as the constructor o ...

, through marriage with

Dewi Tara Dewi may refer to either a Welsh or Southeast Asian name. Neither is pronounced as "dewy". Welsh name Dewi (, also or ) is an alternate or diminutive form of the Welsh masculine given name Dafydd ("David"). It is most famously borne by the p ...

who was in turn the daughter of another maharaja,

Dharmasetu Dharmasetu was an 8th-century maharaja of Srivijaya. Under his reign, he successfully incorporated Pan Pan, a kingdom located in the north of the Malay Peninsula, into the Srivijayan sphere of influence before 775 AD. At an old monastery of Nakhon ...

of Srivijaya." De Casparis proposed that in 856 Balaputra was defeated by Pikatan, whereupon Balaputra retreated to Srivijaya, the country of his mother, to become the first Sailandra ruler of Srivijaya. Thus in the late 9th century Srivijaya was ruled by a Buddhist Sailendra ruler, while Java was ruled by Pikatan and his successors, who patronized Siva" (cf. De Casparis, 1956; Hall, 1985:111).

Early life

Samaratunga died when Balaputra was a boy. As a young heir to the throne, his authority in Central Java was frequently challenged by local landlords. An extended family member by the name of Garung forced Balaputra to accept his tutorship. Garung was part of the

Sanjaya Dynasty The Sanjaya dynasty () was an ancient Javanese dynasty that ruled the Mataram kingdom in Java during the first millennium CE. The dynasty was an active promoter of Hinduism in ancient Java. Origin and formation According to the Canggal insc ...

and was related to Balaputra through marriage of Garung's son,

Rakai Pikatan Rakai Pikatan was a king of the Sanjaya dynasty Mataram Kingdom in Central Java who built the Prambanan temple, dedicated to Shiva, which was completed in 856 AD. Rakai Pikatan was also called Mpu Manuku. The monarch of the Mataram Kingdom before ...

Pramodhawardhani Pramodhawardhani (also known as Çrī Kahulunnan or Çrī Sanjiwana) was the queen consort of king Rakai Pikatan (r. 838-850) of Medang Kingdom in 9th century Central Java. She was the daughter of Sailendran king Samaratungga (r. 812—833). He ...

, Balaputra's sister. During the regency of Garung, the Javanese political landscape was relatively peaceful. The regency ended in 832 when Garung disappeared.

Sri Maharaja of Suvarnadvipa, King of Srivijaya

Around 852, Rakai Pikatan of Sanjaya began garnering influence from the local nobles. This worried Balaputra and he tried to suppress Rakai Pikatan in order to regain control. His effort failed miserably however, due to his inexperience. The Sailendras were eventually forced to leave Java for Palembang, the seat of Srivijaya as well as the home of Balaputra's mother, Tara. Balaputra's defeat by Jatiningrat (Pikatan) was recorded in the

Shivagrha inscription The Shivagrha inscription is an inscription from the Mataram Kingdom of Central Java, dated in ''chandrasengkala'' (chronogram) ''”Wwalung Gunung sang wiku”'', that is, the year 856 CE (or 778 in the native Saka Calendar). The inscription was ...

that recorded that Balaputra had constructed a fortress made of hundreds of heaped stones for his refuge. With the retreat, Central Java fell into the hands of Sanjaya, ending the Sailendra's rule over the area. The Sanjayas later founded the

Mataram Kingdom The Mataram Kingdom (, jv, ꦩꦠꦫꦩ꧀, ) was a Javanese Hindu–Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries. It was based in Central Java, and later in East Java. Established by King Sanjaya, the kingdom was rule ...

and continued to rule Java until Srivijaya reasserted its dominance over the island in the 11th century. Soon after he left Java, Balaputra became the ruler of Srivijaya. While the record on Balaputra is scarce, it is known through the

Nalanda inscription The Nalanda Copper-plate of Devapaladeva is an ancient Buddhist inscription located in Nalanda, within the present day Bihar state of Northeastern India. It has been dated to 860 CE. The inscription talks about king Devapaladeva of Pala Empire, B ...

that he ordered the construction of a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

in Nalanda,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He also sent an ambassador to China.

References

Shailendra dynasty Srivijaya Indonesian Buddhist monarchs 9th-century Indonesian people {{Indonesia-bio-stub