Sanjaya Dynasty - Relations With Sailendra

Relations With Sailendra

It appears that the Sañjaya dynasty then was forced to the north of Java by the Sailendra dynasty, which emerged around 778. The evidence for this event is based on the Kalasan inscription. During this period, the Sañjaya dynasty existed next to Sailendra dynasty in Central Java, and much of the period was characterized by peaceful co-existence and cooperation.

There are some theories regarding the Sañjaya-Sailendra relationship. Some scholars suggested that there is no such things as Sanjaya dynasty, since there was only one dynasty called Sailendra that ruled central Java. This theory was proposed by Poerbatjaraka and suggested that there was only one kingdom and one dynasty; the kingdom is called Medang with the capital in Mataram area, and the ruling dynasty is Sailendra. He holds that Sanjaya and all of his offsprings were belongs to Sailendra family that initially were Shivaist.

The association of Sailendra with Mahayana Buddhism began after the conversion of Raja Sankhara (Rakai Panaraban or Panangkaran) to buddhism. The later Sailendran kings, successors of Panangkaran become Mahayana Buddhist too and gave Buddhism royal patronage in Java until the end of Samaratungga reign. This theory was based on Raja Sankhara Inscription (now missing), Sojomerto inscriptions and Carita Parahyangan manuscript. Shivaist Hindu gain royal patronage again since the reign of Pikatan, well until the end of the Medang kingdom.

Another evidence pointed that Sailendra family was using old Malay language in some of their inscriptions, which suggested Sailendra dynasty's foreign origin in Sumatra and their connections with Srivijaya. This theory holds that the Sailendras, with their strong connections to Srivijaya, managed to gain control of Central Java and imposing overlordship on the Rakais (local Javanese lords) including the Sañjaya, thus making the kings of Mataram Sañjaya as their vassals. The center of the dynasty court seems to be located in South Kedu (around Magelang, North of Yogyakarta).