By Dr. Naresha Duraiswamy
The Sri Lanka Guardian, April 3, 2014
(April 3, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Cambodian history
illustrates the interplay of economics and ideology in defining the fate
of a nation. A vibrant South East Asian empire that selectively adopted
Indian civilizational norms and institutions expanded over a 1,300 year
period before it witnessed a steady 700 year decline.
Background: The Indianized Khmers and their predecessors were the
foremost power in mainland South East Asia between the 1st and 13th
centuries of the Common Era (CE). Hinduism and later Buddhism
flourished. The Khmer empire included the southern half of what is today
Vietnam, North East/North Thailand and Laos. It stretched to the
borders of Burma and the Malay peninsula. The civilizational interplay
of Cambodia and classical-era India should be of interest to any student
of Hindu history.
The early kingdoms of Funan, Chenla and Champa in the first millennium
of the common era were the precursors of the Khmer empire. The
Cambodians adopted Indic traditions in the 1st century CE via the
maritime trade centers in what is today Vietnam. These ports were
situated on the lucrative trade routes between India, the Indonesian
archipelago and China. The Hinduized Kingdom of Funan, reportedly
established by the Brahmin Kaundinya, dominated Indo-China between the
first and sixth centuries CE. There were trade links with the Gupta
Empire and later the Pallava Kingdom. Indonesian influence was
significant. The Saivite and Vaishnavite Hindu traditions had left their
imprint.
The Khmer subsequently moved up the Mekong river in
part to avoid Indonesian naval domination. The expansion of irrigated
wet rice agriculture complimented the earlier maritime trade.
Authoritarian kings legitimized their rule using social concepts
borrowed from India. Jayavarman II unified the Khmer in 802 CE forming
the Angkor Empire. Having declared himself a Devaraja or God King, he
embarked on military conquest. A succession of strong kings followed
until the 1200s CE. The consolidation of the state was linked to the
economic surplus and religion. There were huge investments in irrigated
agriculture, temple construction and the military. Periods of tumult
alternated with empire-building. Cambodia traded with India, China, the
Indonesian archipelago and Mon dynasty Burma. An era of unparalleled
prosperity had emerged.
Civilizational Momentum: Kampuchea was a hydraulic civilization. A
centralized bureaucracy administered a vast irrigation network. The
King's control over water resources and the agrarian surplus resulted in
immense wealth. Successive rulers invested their resources in a huge
and expensive campaign of construction, one that was legitimized by
Brahmanic ritual. The capital of Angkor may well have been the largest
pre-industrial city in the world with an urban area of 1,150 square
miles and a population of a million. This was a time when the biggest
towns in Christian West Europe did not exceed twenty five thousand
residents. Angkor may have also been the world's busiest city at that
time situated at the center of a vibrant overland and riverine trade
network.
The temple of Banteay Srei, dedicated to the God Shiva and constructed
in 967 CE by a courtier to King Jayavarman V, was noted for its
intricate three dimensional stone carvings depicting scenes from the
Mahabharata and Ramayana. Suryavarman commissioned the construction of
Angkor Wat in 1112 CE in honor of the God Vishnu. This remains the
largest religious structure in the world to this day. The artistic
workmanship is sophisticated with scenes from the battle of Kurukshetra,
the Battle of Lanka, the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, and the Battle
between the gods and demons carved on its wall panels. The Hindu epics
were portrayed in stone, literature, theater and dance. The temple
towers dominated the surrounding countryside flanked by irrigated paddy
fields, palmyra palms and banyan trees.
The assimilation of Indic concepts stimulated the Khmer people. It was a
time of civilizational efflorescence where new traditions and ideas
were adopted. The ruling dynasties were Hinduized. Cambodia adopted
Indic traditions of administration, aesthetics, architecture, calendar,
court ceremony, economy, jurisprudence, literature, religion, statecraft
and theater. The Dharma Shastras, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the
Saivite Tamil hymns left their imprint. The Khmer alphabet was derived
from the Pallava grantha script. The Cambodian new year coincided with
the start of the Hindu solar calendar.
The Khmer empire reached its zenith in the 12th century CE. It annexed
neighboring states and controlled mainland South East Asia. It dominated
the South China Sea. In 1181 CE, Jayavarman VII adopted Mahayana
Buddhism and commissioned the construction of the Bayon in near by
Angkor Thom dedicated to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara. The Mongol
army invaded soon thereafter. Kampuchea was able to buy them off with
its enormous wealth. But its military prowess had begun to decline.
Change and Cataclysm: The unceasing military campaigns and the expensive
program of temple building and public works led to a fiscal deficit.
The increased taxation drained the peasant population. Deforestation
linked to increased rice cultivation and construction undermined the
irrigated agriculture economy. It silted the man-made water ways and
disrupted the complex irrigation system. The land witnessed an
ecological and infrastructure breakdown. The elaborate court ceremony
centered on the Brahmanic concept of the God King or Deva Raja had
exhausted its capacity to provide meaning to a tired people.
The Khmer populace adopted the simplicity of Theravada/Hinayana or
southern Buddhism in 1295 CE under Indravarman III. Sinhalese influence
was felt at a time when Sri Lanka itself had come under attack from
Magha of Kalinga. The Pali canon supplanted the Sanskrit texts. Buddhist
iconography was retrofitted into parts of Angkor Wat at a subsequent
date. Sri Lanka helped transform Cambodia into a Theravada Buddhist
land. Was this loss of Hindu civilizational momentum due to the
disruption of trade and intellectual links with India given the Turkic
invasions of the Indian south? Or was it due to the start of the gradual
Islamization of the ports of Sumatra and peninsula Malaya on account of
Bengali, Gujarati and Arab traders in the aftermath of the Chola
decimation of the Sri Vijaya maritime confederacy? Or were there other
factors at play? Had Hinduism lost the capacity to renew itself in
changed South East Asian circumstances?
What is clear however is that this civilizational shift coincided with
Cambodia's period of terminal decline. The dark ages had commenced. The
Thai in the west and the Vietnamese in the east annexed large swathes of
Kampuchean territory. The Thai annexed the present North East Thailand
and Laos. Thailand, unlike Cambodia, had become a vibrant power with its
adoption of Theravada Buddhism in the 13th century CE once again under
Sinhalese influence.
While the Thai also assimilated the Hinduized Khmer classicism, they
continued with their incursions, plunder and annexation of Khmer
territory. The Thai state sacked the Cambodian capitals in 1432 and
1594. Tens of thousands of Khmer peasants, scholars and artists were
marched back to Thailand as slaves.
The Vietnamese meanwhile expanded southwards to incorporate what it
today the southern half of Vietnam and the Mekong Delta, originally
Khmer. The much reduced Khmers became pawns in a Thai-Vietnamese chess
game. Thailand and Vietnam agreed to a joint suzerainty of Cambodia in
1845.
Cambodia was relegated to a backwater. It continues to be overshadowed
by its two more powerful neighbors whose policies helped define its sad
history in the 1970s and 1980s when millions perished. The Khmer often
retreat into an anti-Vietnamese and anti-Thai zenophobia as witnessed in
the recent emotive dispute over control of the classical-era Saivite
Hindu Khmer temple of Preah Vihear on the Thai border.
One only hopes that the 700 year period of decline will reverse itself
and Cambodia were to reclaim its past grandeur and enlightenment. May
Vishnu of Angkor Wat revive that deeply fractured and traumatized land.
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