The name Java is probably the Sanskrit Yava used in the sense of grain, especially millet.  In the Ramayana[371] the monkeys of Hanuman are bidden to seek for Sita in various places including Yava-dvipa, which contains seven kingdoms and produces gold and silver.  Others translate these last words as referring to another or two other islands known as Gold and Silver Land.  It is probable that the poet did not distinguish clearly between Java and Sumatra.  He goes on to say that beyond Java is the peak called Sisira.  This is possibly the same as the Yavakoti mentioned in 499 A.D. by the Indian astronomer Aryabhatta.

Since the Ramayana is a product of gradual growth it is not easy to assign a definite date to this passage, but it is probably not later than the first or second century A.D. and an early date is rendered probable by the fact that the Alexandrian Geographer Ptolemy (c. 130 A.D.) mentions[372] [Greek:  Nesos Iabadiou e Sabadiou] and by various notices collected from inscriptions and from Chinese historians.  The annals of the Liang Dynasty (502-556 A.D.) in speaking of the countries of the Southern Ocean say that in the reign of Hsuan Ti (73-49 B.C.) the Romans and Indians sent envoys to China by that route,[373] thus indicating that the Archipelago was frequented by Hindus.  The same work describes under the name of Lang-ya-hsiu a country which professed Buddhism and used the Sanskrit language and states that “the people say that their country was established more than 400 years ago."[374] Lang-ya-hsiu has been located by some in Java by others in the Malay Peninsula, but even on the latter supposition this testimony to Indian influence in the Far East is still important.  An inscription found at Kedah in the Malay Peninsula is believed to be older than 400 A.D.[375] No more definite accounts are forthcoming before the fifth or sixth century.  Fa-Hsien[376] relates how in 418 he returned to China from India by sea and “arrived at a country called Ya-va-di.”  “In this country” he says “heretics and Brahmans flourish but the law of Buddha hardly deserves mentioning."[377] Three inscriptions found in west Java in the district of Buitenzorg are referred for palaeographic reasons to about 400 A.D.  They are all in Sanskrit and eulogize a prince named Purnavarman, who appears to have been a Vishnuite.  The name of his capital is deciphered as Naruma or Taruma.  In 435 according to the Liu Sung annals[378] a king of Ja-va-da named Shih-li-pa-da-do-a-la-pa-mo sent tribute to China.  The king’s name probably represents a Sanskrit title beginning with Sri-Pada and it is noticeable that two footprints are carved on the stones which bear Purnavarman’s inscriptions.  Also Sanskrit inscriptions found at Koetei on the east coast of Borneo and considered to be not later than the fifth century record the piety and gifts to Brahmans of a King Mulavarman and mention his father and grandfather.[379]