SEMBAH HYANG

THE REALM OF HYANG

The morning was gloomy, the temperature was colder than usual, thick dark clouds are being violently blown by the wind, thunders roar for miles, the oceans are raging and the tress are shaking, but the rain is yet to fall.

It is monsoon season in Palembang, a populous city located in the south of Sumatran Island. Thousands of traditional Malay wooden houses are scattered all across the land surrounded by thick forest facing the great Musi River. During this season, the city is lifeless, as if the people had abandoned it. 

The climate during this season is catastrophic, to some extent, deadly. Warm tropical climate that provides warmth to the atmosphere creates a perfect condition for monstrous hurricane storm to appear, capable of great inflicting great destruction. Seems suicidal to live in such a fragile looking building in a tropical region that homes the world's most devastating hurricane. 

The houses looks fragile as if it can be hammered flat by a raging hurricanes in just a matter of seconds. However, what appears to be a simple structure is actually complex in nature. It is made out of strong and highly resistant wood, with some plant fiber to tighten the structure, and some stones to build a staircase leading to its front door. It involves no nails, no bolts, and no iron at all, yet, its highly durable. Requiring only sophisticated carpentry skills and complex assembly technique to construct it. It might not be as strong as a stone structure, but it can easily withstand against any hurricane storm for years.

That is the common traditional Malay house for thousands of years that spreads throughout the the Malay realm spanning from Champa, to Cambodia, Tanah Sari (modern day Tenasserim - Myanmar and Thailand), Langkasuka (modern day Thailand), Kedah Tua (Old Kedah), Kalathana (Ancient Kelantan), Sumatra, Java, Brunei, Kutai Kertanegara, Tondo (modern day Philippine) and as far as Formosa (modern day Taiwan). The Malays are obsessed with their houses, and their woodwork is an art. Though they are an incredible stonemasons capable of constructing magnificent structure such as Borobodur, Kalasan, Sewu, Prambanan, and many other. Yet, they still prefer the traditional wooden house, even for the royal family.

The year is 990 AD, the Malay realm's political landscape is as stormy as the hurricane. Two formidable polity is at constant war for centuries, one based in Sumatra, the other is in eastern Java. The Sumatran is home to the ancient Srivijayan empire, an empire founded by the great Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa ("Dapunta" is a Malay term for an Emperor) around 650 AD in Palembang, Sumatra. During this period, most of the Malays adheres to the religion of Buddhism and Hinduism, they adopted the Sanskrit script, loaning numerous words and names into their vocabulary. Making it a normal practice for the Malays to name their child, kingdoms and even empires using Sanskrit names.

The Srivijayan empire started as a Kedatuan ("kedatuan" a Malay word for kingdom) in southern Sumatra. It was all due to Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa's influence, political, military, trading and tactical prowess that contributed to the rapid expansion of the empire. What started as a small Kedatuan soon managed to extend its power regionally by conquering various neighboring kingdoms. By the year 800 AD, Srivijaya had absorbed the whole Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Tenasserim, South Cambodia, Western and Central Java, Eastern Borneo and Tondo into its mandala (a bond of several kingships where the Srivijayan sits at the apex), becoming the undisputed South East Asian superpower. After conquering the ancient kingdom of Tarumanagara and Kalingga situated in western and central Java, the Srivijayan Empire relocated its capital from Palembang to Mataram in Central Java. The move was initiated by Raja Dharmasetu hailing from the Sailendra Dynasty, a dynasty that was established by Dapunta Hyang Selendra that originated from the kingdom of Sribuja in western Sumatra.

Under the Sailendra dynasty, the Srivijayan proved to be stronger in term of its political influence as they managed to conquer larger regions, controls vital seas and channels and established more trading ports through out the realm. They are able to achieve such feat by the help of their military and maritime might, as throughout the history, they have been the master of both warfare. Kingdoms by kingdoms falls to the strength of the Srivijayan power, for centuries the Srivijayan Empire plays an integral role in controlling the political landscape of South East Asia, at the same time they indirectly spreads the usage of the Malay language eventually becoming the lingua franca of this region.