Dharmasetu

{{Short description|Historical Indian ruler}}

Dharmasetu was an 8th-century Maharaja of Srivijaya. Under his reign, he successfully incorporated Pan Pan, a kingdom located in the north of the Malay Peninsula, into the Srivijayan sphere of influence before 775 CE.

At an old monastery of Nakhon Si Thammarat in modern-day Thailand, there is a stele indicating that Dharmasetu ordered the construction of three sanctuaries dedicated to Bodhisattvas Padmapani, Vajrapani, and Buddha in Ligor.{{cite book |last=Munoz|first=Paul Michel|title=Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula|publisher=Editions Didier Millet|year=2006|location=Singapore|isbn= 981-4155-67-5}}{{rp|130–131}}

The inscription further states that Dharmasetu was the head of the Sailendra dynasty that ruled Java. This is the first instance of a relationship known to have existed between Srivijaya and the Sailendra.{{rp|221–223}} Dewi Tara, the daughter of Dharmasetu, later married a member of the Sailendra dynasty by the name of Samaratunga who later assumed the throne of Srivijaya around 792.{{rp|175, 143–145}} The relationship between Srivijaya and the Sailendra became intimately close afterwards.

He was succeeded by his son-in-law Sangramadhananjaya around 782.{{rp|136}}

References