Mauli king

Who he is

Name

Srimat Trailokyaraja Maulibhusana Warmadewa (as spelled on the Grahi pedestal; the Wikipedia article on Melayu writes 'Maulibhusana Warmadewa')

Title

Maharaja of Malayu

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

Mauli line. Wives, sons, brothers and ministers are not named in any source. The only later kings recorded are Tribhuwanaraja Mauli Warmadewa (1286) and Akarendrawarman (about 1316 to 1347, as the Wikipedia infobox gives it).

Confidence

low

Order cut in Old Khmer on the base of a bronze Buddha at Wat Hua Wiang, Chaiya, Saka 1105 (1183): the maharaja commands, his mahasenapati Galanai executes. The title 'Trailokyaraja' (lord of the three worlds) and the name 'Maulibhusana' (crest-jewel) are the whole of what we know of him.

Overlord

None named.

What it holds

• The harbour of Jambi and the Batang Hari delta
• Muara Jambi, the temple city
• Tolls on river and strait traffic
• A claim on the gold road to Dharmasraya and on the Kampar and Indragiri mouths

Allies and rivals

Grahi's commander (loyal in 1183); Palembang; the rulers of Tambralinga, Kedah and Langkasuka are not shown to answer him.

How things stand that morning

He is the only named ruler of the strait-and-river world of the late twelfth century, and an order of his in 1183 was carried out at Chaiya on the Isthmus, a sea journey and a portage away. That shows what a Mauli king claimed, not what he held in 1200.

Wealth

Gold of the Minangkabau washings, forest goods, tolls and imported ceramics.

Military

Boats; the Orang Laut as pilots and escort if they are on his side (not shown for 1200).

Threats

• Death without an heir (unknown)
• The loss of the Chinese connection after 1178
• Javanese ambition, which belongs to the next century

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1286A statue of Amoghapasa arrives at Dharmasraya for King Tribhuwanaraja Mauli Warmadewa.Depends on: Singhasari's reach (Singhasari does not exist before 1222). Stopped by: No Singhasari.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One inscription and a seventeen-year gap; Chinese silence after 1088 or 1178.

On the map: The king's own ground only; claims are on the realm record.

Primary sources for Malayu

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
• The Leiden grants of Rajaraja I and Kulottunga I concerning the Srivijaya vihara at Nagapattinam, The Chola chancery (Rajaraja I, Rajendra I, Kulottunga I) (the Larger plates about 1005 to 1014 (completed under Rajendra I); the Smaller plates 1090). Background documents for the relations between the Cholas and the Malay world. Read online
• The Grahi (Chaiya) Buddha inscription and the Tambralinga records, Various (the officers of Grahi and the kings of Tambralinga), edited by George Coedes (the Chaiya bronze Buddha inscription 1183; the Nakhon Si Thammarat records 13th century; edited 1929, revised 1961). The peninsula in 1200 has one near-contemporary dated text: the Old Khmer inscription on the base of a bronze Buddha from Wat Hua Wiang at Chaiya, dated 1183, which records the image's casting by order of the mahasenapati Galanai, governor of Grahi, under the king Srimat Trailokyaraja Maulibhusanavarmadeva, a name that is argued to be either a Malayu (Srivijaya) overlord or a local king.
• A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
• Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online
• The Description of the Country, called the Nagarakretagama, Mpu Prapanca (1365 at the Majapahit court). A Majapahit court poem of 1365 listed here only for its retrospect. Read online