South East Asia

The Khmer empire in South-East Asia was a major political force during the initial half a millennium or so of its existence. Its emergence, though, was at least as long in the making. By the time the Sa Huỳnh culture of central and southern Vietnam was fading, around the beginning of the third century AD, regional coastal areas had already entered the early historical record. The kings of Nam Viet took Vietnam out of the fading Iron Age and into the medieval period.

To the south of the Sa Huỳnh, the Óc Eo culture flourished as the archaeological expression of the kingdom of Funan. This state prospered for several centuries, but it may have been the usurpation of the Funanese throne by Rudravarman in AD 514 which resulted in discontent becoming apparent in the provinces.

A movement was directed by one Bhavavarman, seemingly a noble in the middle Mekong region, but perhaps related to some extent to the king himself via the latter's mother. Bhavavarman and his successor and fellow movement leader, Chitrasena (Chenla), managed to form a principality of their own - Chen-La - removing their territory from Funan's control. Two and-a-half centuries later Jayavarman II, a ruler of Lower Chen-La, asserted his independence, in 802.

He united his state with the Upper Chen-La which was ruled by his wife, Jayendrabha, and with other rival fiefdoms such as Ampil Rolum, Canasapura, and Vyadhapura. On the plain near the site of the future Angkor, he built his new capital of Harlharalaya.

With strong support from Aninditapura, he was declared the universal monarch, chakravartin ('supreme king of kings' - effectively high king over many minor kings) on the Kulen Hills. Jayavarman II brought under his rule much of what is now Cambodia, southern Thailand, southern Laos, and much of south-western Vietnam, forging the beginnings of the Khmer empire.

Often referred to as the kingdom of Angkor after its capital, and sometimes the kingdom of Yashodharapura, after the original name for Angkor, the state was also known as Kambuja (the origin of today's Cambodia). The contemporary Tang continued to refer to the land as Chen-La, but also referred to the empire as Kan-pu-che or Kan-p'u-che. Angkor did not receive that particular name until the sixteenth century, a Sanskrit word for 'city'.

The early empire was neighboured to the east by Champa, to the north-east by the Tang-controlled Annam protectorate, to the north by Lao tribes, to the north-west by the Mon state of Haripunjaya, to the west by the Mon state of Dvāravatī, and to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea.

The Khmer had arrived in modern Cambodia no later than by about 2000 BC. They still make up about ninety-five percent of the country's population, making it remarkably homogeneous for the region. Ethnically, they were related to the Mons who inhabited what is now lower Burma, with legendary ancestors in the form of Kambu, a wise hermit who was also claimed by Chen-La, and Mera, a celestial nymph.

The Khmer empire continued to expand until around AD 1200. It controlled nearly all of South-East Asia, including the isthmus of Kra and part of northern Malaysia. The empire's decline began when the Mongol invasion of India in the thirteenth century cut off regular contact with that region. The rise of the Thai state of Sukhothai accelerated the empire's decline.

By about 1340 the Khmer empire began to be referred to as the kingdom of Kambuja (Cambodia). Its formal end came with defeat by Lan Na and the abandonment of Angkor. A lesser kingdom of Cambodia continued in its place, but administered from Phnom Penh. Cambodia was thereafter usually controlled by its neighbours.

The king was central to the empire's government, but he was not an absolute monarch. He was bound by the rules of his caste and by cultural customs. Nevertheless, he was the protector of social order and religion (Hinduism). He was also the owner of all land, which was his to distribute.

The aristocracy formed the government, with members of the royal family holding great offices of state. Officials were appointed to administer every level of society down to the village level. While little is known about peasant life, it is thought that great numbers of them were needed to maintain sanctuaries and monasteries and to furnish forced, unpaid labour. An enormous number of slaves was also employed, with inscriptions listing their names.

Religion changed from Sivaism, which is dedicated to the worship of Shiva and which predominated in the ninth and tenth centuries, to Vishnunism or a devotion to Vishnu. Buddhism had a smaller degree of representation.

Several versions of the Annals of Ayutthaya and the Royal Cambodian Chronicles, as well as Chinese works and inscriptions at Angkor Wat, all help to provide names and the dates of kings and events. It should be noted, however, that these sources are not always reliable and are sometimes contradictory.

Far East Kingdoms

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