Herald Van Der Linde

Majapahit was a 14th century Javanese empire that shaped Southeast Asia as it is today. It’s a fantastic story with eccentric kings, bloody family feuds and a war with Kublai Khan. Like SEA today, it had to navigate tricky geopolitics. And…available at bookstores now.

The Bumiayu temple are all Shaivite & date from 8th century, during the height of the Srivijaya thalassocrasy. The biggest temple, No. 3, is octagonal and in it were found fragments of a demon's head, statues of two female torsos wearing a skull-shaped necklace, an image of a woman holding a snake and several statues of the owl (ulūka) representing night, death, esoteric knowledge, and the parrot (śuka) representing day, desire, esoteric speech. That iconography is unmistakably Bhairavi/Chamunda territory, wrathful tantric goddesses closely associated with Bhairava Shiva and with the tantric rites of the cremation-ground.

The powerful Srivijaya confederation of South-east Asian Sea Lords had its centre in Palembang in Sumatra, a rich riverine port perched on wooden piles emerging from the River Musi, deep in the jungle. From the fifth century, the sea lords of Srivijaya had sailed out to control the Straits of Malacca and establish a series of ports and dependencies stretching around the region. They bound themselves to their raja with magical rituals preserved here on the massive Telaga Batu inscription. It involved the pouring of water over a massive sculpture of a fearsome many-headed naga-serpent. The water, which flowed down over the inscription, was then drunk with a vow that the lords’ entrails would rot if they should break their oath. On the other hand, if the lords remained faithful, each would receive not only a secret formula for the final Buddhist liberation of his soul but also the pledge, ‘You will not be swallowed [by snakes] with your children and wives.’

The many overgrown brick monasteries of Muaro Jambi are an extraordinary material record of that lost Buddhist world.

William Dalrymple wins Mark Lynton History Prize for book on ancient India "Dalrymple's 'The Golden Road' is a perspective-shifting book that places India at the centre of ancient Asian history. After Dalrymple, it will be difficult to discuss the Silk Road without also considering the importance of the Golden Road, which spread India's influence west and east," read The judges' citation. mybs.in/2g4eXXm

@ShivamSethi01 Exactly. I said that it originated in India but that the earliest depictions are seen in SE Asia.

@HeraldLinde What is the hurry for ascribing Indian innovations to others? Given the extremely close engagment between India and South East Asia at the time, this development would have likely happened in India and travelled outwards, rather than the other way round

The “zero” originated in India where initially it was depicted as a dot. It is in SE Asia where we find the oldest zero as we know it; a round circle. Such as here, on the bottom of the Kota Kapur inscription in Indonesia. It mentions the year 608 Saka, which is 683 CE.

@HadithFajri @KueBoludarMusa Benar

@HeraldLinde @KueBoludarMusa Culture of learning in Monsoon Asia, as Prof Iwan Pranoto describes.

@abledoc Thx. So the idea of the zero existed for a long time before we find it written as we know it today. As you mention, Bhramagupta put it on paper.

Pingala’s Chanda Shastra which describes binary numbers, combinatorics (3rd Century BC) and gives algorithms generating and classifying Sanskrit poetic meters (identical to modern mathematical algorithms) imply the existence of zero and even place value system applied to binary numbers! Therefore zero and place value system is ancient. What Brahmagupta did was explicitly define the algebraic identities involving zero and including it in a mathematical treatise.

@KangRendra @timmymalachi 🙏 menarik!

@HeraldLinde @timmymalachi Seratus tahun setelahnya, tahun 709 Śaka, angka 0 dengan model bulatan ini diteruskan dalam penulisan Aksara Kawi (Jawa Kuna) Era Mḍang di Prasasti Disunuh (temuan Ngadirejo Temanggung)

@shipoast 🙏

@HeraldLinde Loved your book! Thanks for sharing.

@miftah1143 @wonderfulid @indotravel Great pictures

@HeraldLinde @wonderfulid @indotravel

Muara Jambi in Sumatra deserves to be on every traveler’s shortlist. Already in c700 it was a major Buddhist learning centre. On e-bike, zip along jungle paths between temples and orchards in this vast complex. And, you’re never far from small warungs with tasty local food.

@_fajarprasetyo Ayo, ikut!

wishlist main ke sini

@malikarrahiem @wonderfulid @indotravel Yeah, the e-bikes are real fun!

@HeraldLinde @wonderfulid @indotravel I was there on February. Impressive experience. Driving the E-bike made the trips more fun.

@hey_louie @wonderfulid @indotravel It’s an absolutely fantastic place. A new museum will open soon. Major piece is a headless prajnaparamita. I saw here there.

@HeraldLinde @wonderfulid @indotravel Always wanted to visit Muara Jambi. It’s on my list!

The remains of Koto Mahligai founded c680CE, one of the main teaching monasteries of Srivijaya, of the sort praised by the monk Yijing as the best place for Chinese Buddhists to learn Sanskrit. Now Candi Muaro Jambi in Sumatra.

Packed house at the Majapahit talk at the Indonesia’s National Museum yesterday! We did a deep dive into how women shaped politics back in the day 💫 #Majapahit #MuseumNasionalIndonesia #WomenInHistory #IndonesianHistory #Indonesia #HistoryTalk #CultureVibes

Thanks Mas Heru @HeraldLinde acaranya seru banget. Kisah Majapahit diceritain apik banget kayak Game of Thrones!

Greenland was probably discovered accidentally by a Viking sailor from Iceland blown off course in a storm. Gunnbjorn, son of Ulf the Crow, sighted land when driven westwards over the ocean. On his return to Iceland, he told others of what they’d seen, and the news of a great land to the west began to circulate. This coincided with a local drama in the west of the country, when a sentence of outlawry—exile literally beyond the law—was pronounced on a hot tempered serial killer called Erík the Red, as a result of a series of killings in a local blood feud. A difficult, violent, but intrepid man, with limited options, Erík decided to try his luck in these new lands and in 985 AD sailed there with a small group of followers. According to the Saga of the Greenlanders: “In the summer in which Erík the Red set off to colonize Greenland, twenty-five ships sailed from Breidafjord [in Iceland], but only fourteen reached there.”

Pirates, monks, merchants & epic maritime empires! 🌊⚔️ Kicked off the day diving into 1,500 years of connected history across #Indonesia, #SEAsia & #India with @DalrympleWill —Srivijaya, Majapahit, spice routes & ancient Asia’s Game of Thrones. Live at Jaipur Lit Fest 2026!