Sanfoqi

Who he is

Title

The court, or courts, that answer to the name San-fo-ch'i

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

Chinese notices under this name run: missions in 1028 (said by some to be Jambi's), 1077 to 1090 (one mission style 'Chola country of Sanfoqi', read by some as Kedah), Jambi and Palembang in 1079, Jambi in 1082 and 1088; Zhou Qufei (1178) praises its naval strength; and the Song court stops receiving its envoys in 1178. The Zhufan zhi (about 1225) lists fifteen dependencies and says it was still a great power at the start of the thirteenth century.

What it holds

• A name in the Chinese tribute system
• By tradition, the straits
• Nothing that can be drawn

How things stand that morning

Not known. The honest picture for the campaign: the name is still honoured on the China side; the Song stopped receiving envoys in 1178; the Mauli court at Jambi is the likeliest to answer for the name; Palembang, Kampar, Lamuri and the peninsular ports are listed under it only in a source of about 1225.

Places of note

• Jambi: Candidate court, per Wolters.
• Palembang: Old seat; listed as Pa-lin-fong among the fifteen in about 1225.
• Kedah (Pengkalan Bujang): 'Chola country of Sanfoqi' missions of 1077 to 1090, read by some as Kedah.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Chinese lists and hearsay; the physical evidence is of ports, not of a court.

On the map: Deliberately not drawn: the brief forbids a Srivijaya colour. The ports it names are on the records of the realms that hold them.

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