Vaishnava Suvarnabhumi Nusantara

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Vaishnavism of Suvarnabhumi and Nusantara (Indonesia)

Indonesia once was part of The Greater India or Suvarnabhumi. The Hindus for centuries called her Dvipantara, “the islands between”, perhaps extended from Jambudvipa (modern Indian subcontinent) to Astralaya (Australia in archaic Javanese). The Indonesians, especially Javanese and Balinese Hindus, also use the name Nusantara for this magnificent archipelago, which has same meaning as Dvipantara in Kavi language (a Sanskritized Ancient Javanese language, may be seven out of ten words was Sanskrit). Indonesia has a long history of Vedic civilization for more than 1500 years (according to archaeological findings). She continued as the greatest Hindu/ Vedic country in Southeast Asia until the fall of the last Hindu Empire of Bilvatikta (Majapahit) and emergences of Islamic kingdom and Sultanates on late 13th century. Today Indonesia is one of the biggest Moslem countries, with the Moslems majority more than 85%. But the deep rooted Vedic practices from centuries weren’t easily ceased and remain as traditional native’s customs scattered here and there throughout Indonesian Archipelago.