A brick temple city strung for about seven and a half kilometres along the north bank of the Batang Hari above Jambi, covering about twelve square kilometres: the English Wikipedia article counts eight sanctuaries excavated and about eighty unexcavated mounds.
Candi Gumpung, Candi Tinggi and Candi Kedaton are the surviving cores. It is dated by style to the seventh to the thirteenth century; its scale is the strongest argument that the Batang Hari, not the Musi, was the seat of the paramountcy in the later twelfth century. The English article puts its end at 1278, after Singhasari's attack, which is later than the date.
Who holds it
- Name
- The Mauli court and the Buddhist community of the temples: not known
- Title
- Lord or headman of Muara Jambi: the brick temple city on the north bank
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Lord in 1200
The Mauli court and the Buddhist community of the temples: not known
How things stand that morning
Standing and in use if the Malayu court still reigns; the religious and probably the administrative half of the capital. The temple foundation has its own record under the religious houses.
Council
No headman, judge or council is named in any source.
Communities
Buddhist monks of the temples; the court's household.
Fairs and markets
None known; trade follows the monsoon.
Militia
No source.
Walls and castle
No wall or citadel is known.
Trade and crafts
Temple craft and endowed villages; the brick works.
Places of note
- Candi Gumpung: One of the three surviving cores.
- Candi Tinggi: A surviving core.
- Candi Kedaton: A surviving core.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Fair: a standing monument of known extent and style; no excavation date or inscription fixes its state in 1200.
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
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.