LAND-BASED AGRICULTURAL KINGDOMSDean Ruffel R. Flandez

Khmer

Sailendra

(Mataram)

Pagan (Burma)

CONTENTS

Southeast Asia Today

KHMERThe Khmer Empire was one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalized parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Malaysia.

HistoryJayavarman II is widely regarded as the king that set the foundation of Angkor period in Cambodian history, began with the grandiose consecration ritual conducted by Jayavarman II (reign 790-850) in 802 on sacred Mount Mahendraparvata, now known as Phnom Kulen, to celebrate the independence of Kambuja from Javanese dominion.

Jayavarman II seems to have left no inscriptions of his own, and the monuments that can be dated to his reign were small and hastily built.

HistoryJayavarman's real accomplishment was less tangible and lasted longer, for he appears to have established what came to be called Kambuja-desa, a confident, self-aware kingdom that superseded and came to control a range of smaller states. He was Cambodia's first nationally oriented king.

HistoryLike their counterparts in medieval Europe, Cambodian kings were far removed from ordinary people. The king was perceived primarily in religious terms, and he assured the fertility of the soil and the well-being of the kingdom through the rituals he performed. In exchange for his protection, the people were subject to intermittent military service and corvée duty and were also called on to provide labour without payment for Buddhist and Hindu religious foundations and for local elites.

HistoryToward the end of the 9th century, soon after Jayavarman II's death, the Cambodian capital shifted to the northern shores of the Tonle Sap, near present-day Phumĭ Rôluŏs.

HistoryIndravarman I (ruled 877–c. 890) constructed a large reservoir and several temples there, including a pyramidical structure called the Bakong—the first Cambodian temple to be built primarily of stone rather than brick.

HistoryIndravarman's son and successor, Yaśovarman I (ruled c. 890–c. 910), moved the capital again, this time closer to Siĕmréab, to a location that subsequently became Angkor—a name derived from the Sanskrit word nagara, meaning “city”—which has become one of the world's most-celebrated archaeological sites, as well as the popular name for Cambodia's medieval civilization.

HistoryThe city that Yaśovarman founded, Yaśodharapura, retained that name and remained Cambodia's capital until it was abandoned in the 16th century. His temple mountain, now called Bakheng (literally “Mighty Ancestor”), was built on a natural hill that overlooked a teeming city, the more distant rice-growing plain, and the Tonle Sap.

HistoryAfter several decades of warfare, dislocations, and disorder—Yaśodharapura itself was abandoned for nearly 30 years—Rajendravarman II (ruled 944–968) restored the capital and set in motion a period of peace and prosperity that lasted nearly a century.

HistoryDuring the reign of his successor, Jayavarman V (968–c. 1000), the rose-coloured sandstone shrine of Banteai Srei—arguably the loveliest temple at Angkor—was built on the outskirts of the capital under the patronage of a wealthy priestly family, one of whose members had been Jayavarman's teacher.

HistoryIn Yaśodharapura itself, Jayavarman V began work on the imposing temple mountain now called Ta Keo, which was completed under his successor, Suryavarman I (ruled c. 1004–c. 1050). Suryavarman I, an innovative and demanding monarch, was a usurper with links to princely families in what is now northeastern Thailand.

HistorySuryavarman I extended the Khmer empire westward into present-day Thailand, where he constructed the large mountaintop temple known as Preah Vihear. During his reign the number of cities ruled from Yaśodharapura grew from roughly 20 to nearly 50, and foreign trade increased, along with tighter central bureaucratic control.

HistorySuryavarman II (ruled 1113–c. 1150)Although he probably was not descended from the earlier king of that name. Like his namesake predecessor, Suryavarman II was a formidable military campaigner.

HistorySuryavarman's major accomplishment, from a modern perspective, was the Angkor Wat temple complex, still the largest religious structure in the world and one of the most beautiful. The temple, which eventually became his tomb and probably was an astronomical observatory as well, was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.

HistoryYaśovarman II (ruled 1160–66)During his reign, several temples begun under Suryavarman were completed. Yaśovarman was overthrown by one of his officials after returning from a military campaign in Thailand. In the aftermath of the coup, a Cambodian prince, later to rule under the name of Jayavarman VII (1181–c. 1220), hurried home from Champa.

HistoryHe arrived too late, and for the next 10 years he bided his time as the usurper lost control and Angkor was invaded and occupied by the Chams. In 1177, heading an army of his own, the prince attacked Angkor and defeated the Cham forces. The battles are vividly depicted in the bas-reliefs of his temple mountain, the Bayon. To forestall further Cham attacks, Jayavarman annexed the Cham capital, and Angkor controlled Champa until Jayavarman's death.

HistoryAfter Jayavarman's death (about 1220), few stone monuments were erected at Angkor, and very few inscriptions were incised. Little by little, the Khmer empire began to contract. Jayavarman's campaigns neutralized Champa as a threat to Angkor, but, by the early 13th century, vigorous new kingdoms in what is now northern Thailand became powerful enough to throw off Angkorean domination, as did some Tai principalities in the south.

SAILENDRA

- a dynasty that flourished in Java from about 750 to 850 after the fall of the Funan kingdom of mainland Southeast Asia.

SAILENDRAIt was marked by a great cultural renaissance associated with the introduction of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and it attained a high level of artistic expression in the many temples and monuments built under its rule. During the reign of one of its kings, the famous stupa of Borobuḍur (q.v.) was built.

HistoryThe Sailendras are considered to be a Thalassocracy and ruled the maritime Southeast Asia, however they also relied on agriculture pursuits through intensive rice cultivation on the Kedu Plain of Central Java. The dynasty appeared to be the ruling family of both Medang Kingdom of Central Java for some period and Srivijaya in Sumatra.

HistoryAround 852 the Sanjaya ruler Pikatan had defeated Balaputra, the offspring of the Sailendra monarch Samaratunga and princess Tara. This ended the Sailendra presence in Java and Balaputra retreated to the Srivijaya kingdom in Sumatra, where he became the paramount ruler.From Sumatra, the Sailendras also maintained overseas relations with the Chola kingdom in Southern India

History

HistoryKing Sanjaya of Mataram (AD 732 — 746) or in complete stylized name known as Rakai Mataram Sang Ratu Sanjaya (King Sanjaya Rakai (lord) of Mataram) was the founder of Mataram Kingdom during the eighth century.

PAGAN(BURMA)Another group of Tibeto-Burman speakers had become established in the northern dry zone. They were centered on the small settlement of Pagan on the Irrawaddy River.

HistoryBy the mid-9th century, Pagan had emerged as the capital of a powerful kingdom that would unify Myanmar and would inaugurate the Burman domination of the country that has continued to the present day.

HistoryDuring the 8th and 9th centuries the kingdom of Nanchao became the dominant power in southwestern China; it was populated by speakers of Lolo (or Yi), a Tibeto-Burman language. Nanchao mounted a series of raids on the cities of mainland Southeast Asia in the early decades of the 9th century and even captured Hanoi in 861.

HistoryThe Mon and Khmer cities held firm, but the Pyu capital of Halingyi fell. The Burmans moved into this political vacuum, establishing Pagan as their capital city in 849.

HistoryNanchao acted as a buffer against Chinese power to the north and allowed the infant Burman kingdom to grow. The Burmans learned much from the Pyu, but they were still cut off from the trade revenues of southern Myanmar.

HistoryIn 1044 Anawrahta came to the throne at Pagan and began the unification process in Myanmar that would recur in cyclic fashion until the British conquered the country in 1886. Anawrahta first strengthened his defenses on the north—the “front door” of Myanmar—and created alliances through marriage with the neighbouring Shan to the east.

HistoryHe declared himself the champion of Theravāda Buddhism and used that ideology to justify his conquest of southern Myanmar, which was accomplished with the defeat of the Mon city of Thaton in 1057.

HistoryBy the mid-11th century the core of modern-day Myanmar had been united into a single kingdom centred at Pagan, and Myanmar's longest-surviving dynasty had been established. Anawrahta's work was continued by his great commander Kyanzittha (ruled 1084–c. 1112) and by another great ruler, Alaungsithu (ruled c. 1112–c. 1167).

HistoryPagan's consolidation of the Irrawaddy valley southward to the ports of southern Myanmar divided most of mainland Southeast Asia into two great empires, Khmer and Burman. Anawrahta's dynasty of kings lasted until the 13th century. By that time, their great temples had been built, and their message of Theravāda Buddhism had been carried not only to the Shan but also to the Khmer.

HistoryCenturies of temple building and of donations of land and manpower to the tax-exempt sangha (monkhood), however, had diverted much of the state's most valuable resources. Yet, the legitimacy of state and society depended on continued patronage of the sangha.

History

History

HistoryAs a result, Pagan had been weakened by the end of the 13th century, precisely when the Mongols threatened. Pagan had lost its northern buffer in the early 1250s when Nanchao was destroyed and subjugated by the Mongols under Kublai Khan. The Mongols demanded submission by and tribute from Pagan, which refused to comply. It is not clear if the Mongol armies actually reached Pagan, but by 1300 Pagan no longer was the centre of power in Myanmar.

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