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Southeast Asia: Ceylon and the countries of Indochina

For millennia, the relationship between the developed centers of world civilization and the barbarian periphery was rather complicated. Actually, the principle of the relationship was unambiguous: more developed cultural agricultural centers influenced the backward periphery, gradually drawing it into their orbit, stimulating the acceleration of the pace of social, political, economic and cultural development of its peoples. But this general principle worked differently under different conditions. In some cases, the near periphery was gradually annexed by an expanding empire; in others, a people that was energetically developing and possessing a passionary charge, having received an initial impetus for moving forward from others, then began to pursue an active policy and, in particular, invaded the zones of a thousand-year-old civilization, subjugating many ancient countries (Arabs, Mongols, etc.) . Finally, the third option was the gradual cumulation of useful borrowings and some acceleration at the expense of our own development without an active foreign policy, but taking into account mutual contacts and movements, migrations of peoples. This third path was typical for many peoples of the world, be it Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia or the Far East.

Southeast Asia is an interesting and in many ways unique region, a crossroads of many world routes, migration flows, and cultural influences. Perhaps, in this sense, it can only be compared with the Middle East region. But if the Middle Eastern lands were at one time the cradle of world civilization, if the origins of almost all the most ancient peoples of the world, the most important inventions and technological discoveries, are drawn to them in one way or another, then the situation with the Southeast Asian region is somewhat different, although in some ways it looks like.

The similarity is that, like the Middle East, Southeast Asia, at the dawn of the process of anthropogenesis, was the habitat of anthropoids: it was here that science discovered traces of archanthropes (Javanese Pithecanthropus) in the last century, and in the middle of the 20th century. made many other similar discoveries. If there are independent centers of the Neolithic revolution on Earth, other than the Middle East, then in Eurasia it is precisely the Southeast Asian one: here archaeologists have found traces of early agricultural cultures of almost greater antiquity than those of the Middle East. However, a significant difference is that agriculture in this region was represented by the cultivation of tubers and roots (especially taro and yams), but not cereals.

It would seem that the difference is not so great, the main thing is still in principle: the peoples who lived here, and quite independently, reached the art of growing plants and picking fruits! As, by the way, before the art of ceramics. And yet, this difference is not only colossal, but also in a sense fatal in terms of results: the cultivation of cereals led the swarming time of the Middle East region to the accumulation of excess product, which made possible the emergence of the primary centers of civilization and statehood, while the cultivation of tubers with their less useful properties did not lead to this (tubers, unlike grain, cannot be stored for a long time, especially in a hot climate, and this food is in many respects inferior to grain in its composition). And although a few decades ago, experts found traces of a very ancient culture of the Bronze Age in the caves of Thailand, which introduces a lot of new ideas about the development and distribution of bronze products, this did not play a decisive role in revising views on the place of the Southeast Asian region in world history. Neither local agriculture, nor - later - bronze products led here to the emergence of the most ancient centers of civilization and statehood, which would be comparable to those of the Middle East.

Quite early, as early as the 4th millennium BC, perhaps not without outside influence, the Southeast Asian peoples switched to the cultivation of cereals, in particular rice, but only relatively late, shortly before our era, the first proto-state formations. The reasons for such a delay in the development of a region that started so long ago and achieved so much in ancient times are not entirely clear. Perhaps the natural conditions, which were not very favorable for the formation of large political organisms, including the hot, tropical climate, played their role. Or the geographical environment with the predominance of mountainous regions with narrow and closed valleys, islands separated from each other played a role. But the fact remains: only shortly before the beginning of our era, the first proto-states formed in this region, which arose under the strong influence, and sometimes under the direct influence of Indian culture.

Indian cultural influence (Brahmanism, castes, Hinduism in the form of Shaivism and Vishnuism, then Buddhism) determined the social and political development of the proto-states and early states of the entire Southeast Asian region, both its peninsular part (Indo-China) and the island part, including Ceylon (although this the island in a strictly geographical sense is not included in Southeast Asia, according to historical destinies, it closely adjoins it, which we will take into account, not to mention the convenience of presentation). The impact of Indian culture was the most direct: many representatives of the ruling houses in the region traced their clan to immigrants from India and were very proud of it. AT religious beliefs and in the social structure, including caste division, this impact is visible, as they say, to the naked eye. But over time, influence from India weakened. On the other hand, other streams of cultural interaction intensified.

First of all, we mean China. The western regions of Indochina and especially Vietnam have been a zone of Chinese influence since the time of the Qin dynasty, when the first Vietnamese proto-states were subjugated by the Qin army and then for many centuries, despite the sometimes heroic resistance of the Vietnamese, remained under the rule of China. And even after Vietnam gained independence, Chinese influence in the region did not weaken. On the contrary, it has intensified. Even later, a third powerful stream of cultural influence appeared in the region - the Muslim one, which began to displace the Indian influence.

Thus, the countries and peoples of Southeast Asia were influenced by the three great Eastern civilizations. Naturally, this could not but leave its mark on the region and affect the complexity of the cultural and political situation. If, however, we add to what has been said that migration flows were constantly coming to Indo-China from the north and that this peninsula with its mountain ranges, narrow valleys, turbulent rivers and jungles was, as they say, nature itself was prepared for the existence of numerous disparate and ethnically closed groups here, then it will become obvious that the ethnic and linguistic situation in this region is rather complicated. Let us now turn to the history of the main countries and peoples of Indochina, touching upon Ceylon as well.

Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

Geographically, historically and culturally, Ceylon has always gravitated towards India. But he always had fairly close ties with Indochina. In particular, a large part of the cultural influence from India, which has already been mentioned, went precisely through Ceylon, which at the turn of our era became the recognized center of Buddhism that came there from India in its early Hinayana modification, Theravada Buddhism.

It is difficult to speak with accuracy about the first steps of statehood on this island. Legends tell that in the III century. BC. the local ruler sent an embassy to the court of Emperor Ashoka and that in response to Ceylon, the son of Ashoka, the Buddhist monk Mahinda, arrived, who converted the ruler of the island, his entourage, and then the entire local population to Buddhism. It is not clear how much these traditions correspond to the truth, but it is very likely that they somehow reflect it and that it was in the 3rd century. BC. under the influence of the flow of Buddhist migrants from India, who introduced the local population to Buddhism and other elements of Indian civilization, including rice cultivation, the first stable state formations arose on the island. In any case, it is quite certain that the state with its capital in Anuradhapura became Buddhist from its very inception, and Buddhist monasteries and monks played a huge role in it. Ceylon quickly became the sanctuary of Buddhism. A sprout from a sacred tree was solemnly planted here, under which, according to legend, the great Buddha once saw his sight. Some of the relics of the Buddha were brought here with all care and pomp. Here began the compilation of the written canon of Tripitaka Buddhism. And finally, it was in Ceylon in the first centuries of our era that the famous temple in Kandy was built, where, as the most valuable asset of the country, the tooth of the Buddha was kept, for the worship of which numerous pilgrims flocked from neighboring Buddhist countries.

All political history the first one and a half millennium (III century BC - XII century AD) was actively associated with the struggle to strengthen and defend the positions of Buddhism on the island. The assimilation of migrants from India with the native population laid the foundations of the Sinhalese ethnic group at the turn of our era. The Sinhalese rulers were, as a rule, zealous defenders of Buddhism. At the same time, the island was from time to time overwhelmed by waves of newcomers from South India, Tamil conquerors, with whom numerous Hindus arrived in Ceylon. Hinduism began to crowd out Buddhism, which caused numerous conflicts. New waves of migrants from India at the beginning of our era brought with them elements of Mahayana Buddhism, so that the religious situation in Ceylon became more and more complicated. On the whole, however, it came down to the fact that the religiously tinged strife between the local Sinhalese Buddhist population and the newcomer Hindu Tamil (the settling of the Tamils ​​in the north of the island turned some of its regions almost entirely into Tamil; independent Tamil states arose there from time to time) remained throughout the history of the country and survived, as you know, to the present day.

The capital of the country until the XI century. was Anuradhapura with its abundance of Buddhist temples and monasteries. Then, in connection with the conquest of Ceylon by the South Indian state of the Cholas and the proclamation of Hinduism in the form of Shaivism as the official religion, the capital was moved to the city of Polonnaruwa, the center of Hinduism. However, Buddhist monasteries, like Hindu temples, have always flourished in Ceylon. They had rich lands and other treasures at their disposal, they had tax immunity and had great prestige among the local population.

The political history of the island, as well as other countries of the East, was subject to the general laws of cyclical dynamics: periods of centralization and effective power of strong rulers were replaced by periods of decentralization and internecine struggle, after which strong centralized states reappeared, usually patronizing Buddhism (unless they were states founded by migrants from India). The head of state was considered the supreme owner of the land in the country, on whose behalf, in particular, donations and grants were made to monasteries and temples. Peasants paid rent-tax to the treasury or to monasteries and temples. There was a rather strong community, close in standard to the Indian (albeit without castes) community, whose affairs were in charge of the community council. Administratively, the country was divided into provinces, regions and counties.

In the XII-XV centuries. feudal separatist tendencies in Ceylon intensified noticeably, as a result of which only individual rulers and for a short time managed to unite the country, which had actually disintegrated into parts. The strongest and richest part of the island was the southwest, where an independent state of Kogte arose, the basis of whose income was the cultivation of coconut palms and cinnamon trees. The trade in cinnamon, which was carried out in transit through India, brought huge profits and served as one of the sources of the Europeans' ideas about India (they still did not suspect Ceylon at that time) as a country of spices. The desire to master the ways to the country of spices was, as mentioned, the most important incentive that contributed to the Great geographical discoveries of the XV-XVI centuries. The active initiators of these discoveries, the Portuguese, already at the very beginning of the 16th century. settled in the south-west of Ceylon, in Kotte, where they built Fort Colombo. Soon after this, the Portuguese subjugated the state of Kandy in the center of the island to their influence.

However, a series of uprisings and wars led to the retreat of the Portuguese at the end of the 16th century, and in the middle of the 17th century. they were finally expelled from Ceylon, but they were replaced by the Dutch, who seized the monopoly on the cinnamon trade. At the end of the XVIII century. The Dutch were also expelled, and the British took their place. Against the backdrop of these internecine wars of the colonialists, local politicians from among the Sinhalese and Tamil nobility were no longer able to protect the interests of the country and people. Since the beginning of the XIX century. Ceylon became an English colony, a breeding center for exported coffee and then tea.

The plantation economy significantly transformed the usual agrarian structure of the country. Many peasants were deprived of their land, and they themselves were turned into farm laborers working on plantations. Workers recruited there were sometimes brought to help them from India. However, the relatively rapid development of the country in the XIX century. led to the revival of national consciousness in it on new basis. And although the ideological base of nationalism continued to be mainly Buddhism, which is characteristic of Sri Lanka today, the country also arose in the middle of the 19th century. began to play a significant role secular national culture(newspapers in Sinhala and then Tamil, new literature), which contributed to the development of anti-colonial sentiments, and then political movements, groups, etc.

Burma

Although the territory of northern Burma has served as a footbridge between India and China since ancient times, statehood in Burma itself arose relatively late. Reliable data only testify that the most ancient natives of these places in the II millennium BC. were pushed back by the Monkhmers who came from the north and northeast, after which in the 1st millennium BC. Tibeto-Burman tribes began to arrive from the north in waves. The proto-state of Arakan in the south-west of Burma was apparently the oldest, and it is possible that the monks who arrived here from India at the turn of our era played a certain role in its emergence, who brought Buddhist relics with them, - so, in any case, they say legends. Later, approximately in the 4th century, in the center of modern Burma, the proto-state of Shrikshetra of the Burmese Pyu tribe arose, where Buddhism of the southern Hinayanic persuasion also quite obviously dominated. However, the Pyu were already familiar with Vishnuism, as evidenced by the stone sculptures of Vishnu that have survived from that time. In the south of Burma, the Mon state of Ramanades arose.

All these early state formations, especially Shrikshetra, played a certain role in the emergence of a more developed state, the kingdom of Pagan, which from the 11th century. united under its rule both the northern lands inhabited by the Burmese and the southern Burmese country of the Mons. Arakan also became vassal dependent on Pagan. The influence of Ceylon played a role in the fact that the southern Theravada Buddhism took a stronger position in Pagan (a special Shwezigon pagoda was built in order to solemnly place a copy of the Ceylon tooth of the Buddha from Kandy in it) than Mahayanistic Buddhism, which penetrated from the north, to a large extent burdened with elements of Tantrism with its sex magic.

The legendary founder of the kingdom Pagan Anoratha (1044-- 1077) did a lot to strengthen the state. Under him, as legends testify, the foundations of Burmese writing were laid on the basis of Pali graphics and the Mon alphabet, literature and various arts were developed, primarily in their Indianized mythological form. Apparently, China also had a certain influence on the culture of Pagan. Little is known about the internal socio-economic structure of Pagan society. But what is known is completely written off in the usual parameters: the country was dominated by power-property (supreme property) of the ruler on the land, there were vassal possessions of the big nobility, the apparatus of officials, as well as communal peasants who paid to the treasury or to the owner appointed by the treasury over them land, aristocrat and official, rent-tax.

The strengthening of the economic position of the nobility and the Buddhist church led at the end of the 12th century. to the weakening of the still unsettled centralized structure of the Pagan kingdom. The weakening state began to fall apart, and the invasion of the Mongols in the second half of the 13th century. hastened its collapse. In the XIV-XVI centuries. Several small states coexisted in Burma. In the middle of the XVI century. the Shan principality of Pegu briefly united Burma under its rule and even placed the large Thai state of Ayutthaya in vassal dependence on itself for 15 years. But at the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. the situation changed dramatically in connection with the appearance of the Portuguese in Burma, who developed a very vigorous activity including almost forcible Christianization of the local population. Indignation at pressure from the Portuguese colonialists, who enjoyed some support from the authorities, led to the death of the state of Pegu. It was replaced by a new state under the rule of the ruler of the principality of Ava, who managed to unite most of Burma around him. The Av state existed for over a hundred years, until the middle of the 18th century, and at times it was under strong pressure from Qing China, although it was still dominated by Portuguese, Indian, and a little later also by Dutch and English merchants who kept in their hands of all foreign and transit trade.

The socio-political structure in the late Middle Ages, in principle, remained the same as it was before. The ruler, the highest subject of power-property, relied on a fairly developed apparatus of power, which consisted of several central institutions and various administrative divisions. Myotuji rulers were considered officials and for their service they were entitled to part of the rent-tax from the areas they ruled. The rest went to the state treasury and was used to maintain the central apparatus, troops and other needs. There was a monastic land ownership, exempt from taxation. The rulers of the outlying principalities, populated mainly by non-Burmese tribes, enjoyed considerable autonomy.

The Buddhist church in Burma was officially dominant. The monasteries located throughout the country were here not only religious, but also educational and cultural centers, guardians of knowledge, norms and order. It was considered normal that every young man studied - if he studied at all - in the neighboring monastery and, naturally, first of all, the wisdom of Buddhism. Upon reaching adulthood, each Burmese spent many months, or even years, in the monastery, imbued with the spirit of Buddhism for life.

Almost the entire 18th century in Burma passed stormily. In the west, the ancient state of Arakan, which regained its independence, was strongly influenced by the Muslim colonized by the British Bengal. The complex relationship of Arakan with the Bengal Islamic rulers - and through them with the administration of the Mughal Empire, while it still existed - and with the British, who were clearly striving to expand their zone of influence at the expense of Burma, were aggravated by the need for a constant struggle with the Portuguese pirates and with their own neighbors - Burmese in Burma. The Av state, which existed until the middle of the 18th century, fell under the blows of one of the Mon rulers, after which the relations of the new state that developed as a result of this conquest with Qing China led to an armed conflict with Chinese troops. The almost incessant wars of the Burmese states with Siam were also fruitless, although very burdensome.

And yet, despite all the difficulties, in Burma in the XVIII century. there was a noticeable process of political integration, one of the manifestations of which was military-political successes: at the beginning of the 19th century. the Indian principalities of Assam and Manipur were annexed to Burma, though not for long. During the first Anglo-Burmese war of 1824---1826. not only these principalities, but also Arakan, were annexed by the British, as were the southern lands of Tenasserim. The annexation of Burmese lands was continued during the second (1852) and then third (1885) Anglo-Burmese wars, after which independent Burma ceased to exist. The colonization of Burma by the British led to significant changes in it. A market economy began to develop rapidly there, leading to the specialization of agricultural production, then also to the creation of a national economic community and, as a result, to the growth of national self-consciousness, to the realization of their own Burmese state identity. Despite the fact that colonialism brought the Burmese people the ruin of the farmers and the transformation of the country into an agrarian appendage of Great Britain, it indirectly contributed to the development of Burma, both economic and political. It is hardly worth exaggerating the degree of this development in the 19th, and even in the 20th century, especially if we bear in mind the preservation of tribal groups on the outskirts of the country that were at a low level of development. However, we must not forget that the introduction of colonial Burma to the world market, as well as the impact European culture, did not pass without a trace for this country and played a positive role in the events of the 20th century.

Thailand (Siam)

Apart from the already mentioned sensational finds of bronzes in the caves of Thailand, dating from very early antiquity, but so far not linked to any ethnic groups and the more compact and clearly fixed archaeological sites and cultures, one will have to admit that the earliest traces of urban life, civilization and statehood in Thailand date back only to the beginning of our era, when the Monkhmer tribes who migrated here shortly before that lived here. There are good reasons to believe that, as in the case of ancient Burma, the impetus for the creation of the first centers of statehood was the intensive penetration of Indian influence and, in particular, Hinayani Buddhism.

Little is known about the earliest Mon proto-states in the Menam basin. Chinese chronicles, for example, mention the independent state of Dvaravati in relation to the 7th century, and earlier inscriptions in Mon and Sanskrit suggest that this proto-state existed already in the 4th-6th centuries. and was originally a vassal of the Khmer state of Funan. From the VIII-IX centuries. The city of Lopburi (Lavapura) became the capital of the state, and the name of the state changed accordingly. Lopburi was in vassalage from the Khmers, from the XI century - from Cambodia. Another mon state in Thailand, Haripujaya, arose in the 8th-9th centuries. just north of Lopburi and waged incessant wars with him. After the actual subordination of Lopburi to Cambodia, Haripujaya began to wage wars with Cambodia.

While the Mons and Khmers were sorting out relations with each other in this way, the Tai tribes began to migrate from the north wave after wave to the south. Back in the 7th century these tribes, possibly mixed with the Tibeto-Burmese tribes, created the state of Nanzhao on the territory of modern South China (Yunnen province), which existed as an independent political entity until the invasion of the Mongols in the 13th century. and had a considerable impact both on the successful migration of Thai tribes to the south, and on the penetration of many elements there Chinese culture and political administration. Migrating in waves to the south and mixing with the local Mon-Khmer population, and then again layering on this previously mestizo basis, the Thai tribes in the XI-XII centuries. began to clearly predominate in Thailand both quantitatively and ethno-linguistically. The creation of several Thai state formations was the solid foundation on which in the 13th century. Thai leaders, taking advantage of the weakening of Khmer Cambodia, which was waging continuous wars with the Burmese Pagan, united within the framework of the newly emerged strong state of Sukhothai. It reached its peak under Ramkhamhaeng (1275-1317). The capture of Yunnan by the Mongols and the fall of the state of Nanzhao caused a new wave of Thai-Nanzhao migration, which strengthened the political position of Sukhothai, which expanded its territory, forcing the ancient Mon states of Lopburi and Haripujaya, as well as the Khmers, i.e. Cambodia, by that time already greatly weakened.

The rise of Sukhothai's influence was, however, short-lived. The internal weakness of this state (the ruler usually distributed to his sons a considerable part of the country's territory as hereditary destinies, which could not but lead to its feudal fragmentation; it is possible that this institution of destinies was borrowed from Chinese tradition) led to its disintegration after Ramkhamhaeng. As a result of the ensuing internecine struggle of the Thai rulers, one of them rose to the throne, founded the new capital of Ayutthaya and was crowned under the name of Ramathibodi 1 (1350-1369). Ramathibodi and the state of Ayutthaya created by him actively acted towards the unification of both all Thai lands and neighboring territories inhabited by Mons. From the 15th century Ayutthaya (Siam) has become one of the largest states in Indochina; even Cambodia was his vassal.

The structural weakness of the Sukhothai era was taken into account by the rulers of Ayutthaya. The new sovereigns of Siam isolated its strong points from the Chinese experience and used them with considerable success. The king was the supreme and sole manager of the land, the subject of power-property in the state, in relation to whom all landowners acted as taxpayers, contributing rent-tax to the treasury. The country was ruled by an extensive state apparatus, and officials, as a salary, received the right to collect a certain share of the rent-tax from the administered territories, strictly according to their rank and position. Peasants lived in communities and paid rent-tax to the treasury. Some of the peasants were assigned to the military department and paramilitary; there were their own forms of the military-administrative structure, as well as exercises and military training. Apparently, the strength and military successes of the Thais to a large extent depended on the activity of this part of the population, i.e. military settlers.

Centralized administration extended mainly to those areas of Siam where the Thais themselves lived. But there were also so-called outer provinces, ruled by special governors, most often princes of the blood. These provinces, populated mainly by the Nogai population, had a certain degree of autonomy. But ethnic differences between the ruling Thai elites and the oppressed foreigners led to a noticeable increase in feudal oppression: governors sometimes turned into autocratic feudal princelings who mercilessly exploited the local population, whose dependence on them turned into bondage (six months a year - labor for the master or in favor of treasury).

In the middle of the XVI century. Ayutthaya for a short time became dependent on the Burmese state of Pegu, which was then at the height of its power. This circumstance was used by the Khmers, who decided to oppose the weakened Siam. However, the Siamese found the strength to fight back. In 1584, a powerful independence movement began, and during the reign of Naresuan (1590-1605), the Burmese and Khmers were expelled from Ayutthaya. Moreover, the unification of all Thai lands was completed, which turned Siam into one of the largest powers in Indochina.

Like other countries in the region, Siam from the 16th century. became the object of colonial expansion by Portuguese, Dutch, English and especially French merchants. But the colonial pressure caused sharp resistance from the side of the central government, which had strengthened at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, just at that time. expel foreign traders and close the country to them. It must be said that the isolation of the country from European commercial and industrial capital contributed to a certain decline in the economy and caused an increase in the exploitation of the peasants by the old methods worked out earlier. Now almost all the peasants of Siam were obliged to work for the treasury for six months a year. In other words, the rate of rent-tax increased to 50%. At the same time, the bondage-dependent, especially from among the peoples ethnically alien to the Thais, turned into even more cruelly exploited, almost into slaves, which from time to time caused uprisings in the country, which often had a religious and mystical coloring and were usually led by Buddhists. Buddhism in Thailand, as in Burma, was the official state religion, and monasteries enjoyed considerable prestige, as did Buddhist monks.

The 18th century passed for Siam under the sign of wars with Vietnam and Burma, as well as in an effort to subdue the weakened Laos and Cambodia. Successes in these wars led to overcoming the internal crisis and contributed to some flourishing of Siam, including literature and art. A strong central government was able to establish and develop the economic ties of the country with outside world that at the beginning of the 19th century led to an increase in the role of commodity-money relations and the development of private property relations in Siam. This has become a kind of equivalent to the lack of regular relationships with colonial capital. Development through internal opportunities strengthened Siam and put this country in a special position on the Indochina peninsula. In the 19th century Siam was the only state independent of colonialism in Indochina. Of course, Siam was also gradually drawn into the world market, foreign traders and colonial capital also began to penetrate into it, but this country never became a colony of any of the powers, which noticeably distinguishes it from other countries of Southeast Asia.

Cambodia

The oldest state formation on the territory of Cambodia was Funan - an Indianized state, whose history is known mainly from Chinese chronicles. Everything that is known about Funan points to the Indian and Hindu-Buddhist political and cultural origins of this state, while it is difficult to say anything definite about the ethnic characteristics of the population. It is possible that even then the Khmers were one of the main local substrata, although it is possible that their role at that time was still small. The conquest of Funan by its northern neighbor Chenla, formerly its vassal, led in the middle of the 6th century. to the dominance of the Khmers, whose culture and writing developed on the Indo-Buddhist Sanskrit basis. It is believed that the name (Cambodia) was also of Indo-Iranian origin, by which the new state began to be called. A few inscriptions in Sanskrit and Khmer, as well as materials from Chinese sources, contain a lot of information about the early periods of the history of Cambodia, which was often visited by Chinese embassies (it is worth remembering that in these centuries China was the overlord of Vietnam and the Chinese often visited the Khmer state).

The information in question suggests that the structure of early Khmer Cambodia was typical of Eastern societies. The landowners were mostly peasants living in communities. There was a service estate. The flow of rent-tax went to the treasury. The state apparatus existed on the usual hierarchical bureaucratic basis. The dominant religion was Buddhism, although Hinduism also played a huge role. Even in mythology there are traces of the claims of the ruling house of Cambodia to be related to the legendary Hindu "lunar" and "solar" dynasties.

At the turn of the VII-VIII centuries. Cambodia broke up into several rival states, during the internecine struggle of which from the 9th century. Kambujadesh (Angkor Cambodia) began to gain strength with its deified rulers (deva-raja, i.e. the king-god), whose cult contributed a lot to the development of the construction of magnificent palace and temple complexes, the unsurpassed peak of which was the temples of Angkor, dominated by towers in the form of a linga , the Shaivist symbol of the ruler. Accordingly, a huge role in the country was played by the Hindu Brahmin priests, who now and then arrived in Cambodia. The ruler of the country was the supreme owner of everything, including land, i.e. the subject of power-property. Part of the land directly belonged to the court, a lot - to the priests and temples. Income from the rest went to the treasury. The communal peasants cultivated the land, but on the royal and temple lands, this was usually done by incomplete Khnyum. The administrative apparatus consisted of officials who received temporary service allotments for their service, who, as a rule, also processed khnyum. Since positions, especially in the highest ranks of officials, were hereditary, the official was close in status to a noble aristocrat with his hereditary, often developing into feudal rights.

The heyday of Angkor Cambodia came in the 11th century; from the 13th century it began to noticeably weaken, which was largely facilitated by the penetration of Buddhism in its southern Hinayana form from neighboring countries. The religious struggle between Hindu Shaivites and Buddhists led to the victory of Buddhism in Cambodia, which coincided in time with the weakening and disintegration of Cambujadesh. From the 14th century the almost theocratic power of the deified monarch is receding into the past. Hinayani Buddhism becomes the state religion. From the 15th century, when the Siamese sacked Angkor, Kambujadesh finally ceased to exist. True, soon Cambodia was recreated anew with the capital in Phnom Penh, but the greatness of the country, as well as its national pride - the temples of Angkor, are a thing of the past, history.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. Siam and Dai Viet (Vietnam) strongly pressed Cambodia. And although at times the Khmer managed to stand up for themselves, the power was no longer on their side. The struggle ended with the fact that in the XIX century. the rulers of Cambodia were forced to recognize the dual suzerainty of Siam and Vietnam and seek help against their overlords on the side, from the French, who did not fail to take advantage of this, which, as you know, led to the transformation of Cambodia into a colony of France.

Laos

The history of Laos developed in many respects in parallel with the Thai one: the Mon-Khmer and then the Thai-Lao layer was superimposed on the local aboriginal Austroasiatic ethno-lingual basis. But, unlike Thailand, cities and proto-states took shape here rather late, mainly under the influence of Khmer and even Thai cultures, and through them - Indo-Buddhism. This process was facilitated by all the same waves of Thai migration caused by the political events in Nanzhao in the 9th-13th centuries. In the XIII century. Northern Laos became part of the Thai state of Sukhothai, where Theravada Buddhism was the dominant religion. The southern regions of Laos at that time were under the influence of the Khmer states. In the XIV century. several Lao principalities united in the state of Lan Xang, whose first ruler Fa Ngun (1353--1373) expanded his possessions also at the expense of the northeastern regions of Thailand.

The administrative structure of Lan Xang, like the Thai one, which apparently absorbed a lot from the Chinese tradition through Nanzhao, was a hierarchical network of central and district administrators, each of whom controlled a certain department or district, while taking care of collecting rent-tax from the peasants, about carrying out the necessary public works. Apparently, the district chiefs were also in charge of the corresponding military formations. The Thai population was considered privileged; Basically, it was from him that warriors were recruited. Buddhist monks enjoyed great influence in the country. Numerous monasteries and temples were built, which were at the same time - as in Burma, Siam, Ceylon, Cambodia and other Buddhist countries - centers of education, literacy, culture.

In the XIV-XV centuries. Lan Xang waged long wars with Ayutthaya (Siam) for control over some Thai principalities. Then wars began with Dai Viet, and from the 16th century. - with Burma. These centuries were the heyday of the unified Lao state, its literature and culture. Lan Xang achieved its highest power during the reign of Sulign Wongea (1637-1694), but after his death, the state broke up into a number of principalities, of which Vientiane soon became the strongest, the rulers of which, relying on the support of the Burmese Ava state, competed with Thai Ayutthaya. The strengthening of Siam at the end of the 18th century. and the orientation towards him of the princes hostile to Vientiane led to the campaign of the Thais in Laos, which ended with the transformation of Laos for some time into a vassal of Siam. At the beginning of the XIX century. as a result of new wars with the strong Siamese state, Laos was defeated and dismembered. Most of its territory fell under the rule of Siam and Vietnam. After the Vietnamese-French wars in the 60s and 80s of the XIX century. Laos came under the strong influence of France, and then became its protectorate.

Vietnam

The most numerous of modern peoples Indochina are the Vietnamese, whose history, if we keep in mind statehood, also dates back to about the 3rd century. BC. The proto-states of Nam Viet (partially on the territory of the PRC) and Au Lak existed at that time, and it was then that they were conquered by the troops of Qin Shi Huang. True, shortly after the collapse of the Qin empire, the Qin commander proclaimed himself the ruler of North Vietnamese territory. Later, under U-di, in III BC. The North Vietnamese lands were again subordinated to China and, despite the sometimes heroic resistance to the invaders (the uprising of the Trung sisters in 40-43), they remained under the rule of the Chinese administration until the 10th century.

It is not surprising that North Vietnam, whose population was ethnically close to the ancient Chinese kingdom of Yue, culturally had to orient itself towards the Chinese empire, which could not but play its role in its historical fate. This left a noticeable imprint on the nature of socio-economic relations, and on the forms of political administration, and on the whole way of life of people. Ruled by Chinese governors, North Vietnam had a typical Chinese internal social structure. Communal peasants paid rent-tax to the treasury; due to its centralized redistribution, officials and a few Vietnamese nobility existed. Officials had office plots, aristocrats - hereditary, but with curtailed rights. These rights were significantly limited by the introduction in the country of administrative division according to the Chinese model, into regions and counties, regardless of the tribal or patrimonial territories that had developed over the centuries.

From the 6th century Mahayana Buddhism, which came there from China, began to play an important role in the north of Vietnam, but Chinese Confucianism with its education system and Chinese writing (hieroglyphics) became even more widespread. The Vietnamese were familiar - again through China - and with Taoism. In a word, North Vietnam during the first twelve centuries of its existence was closely connected with China and completely dependent on it politically and culturally. It was, in a sense, a remote periphery of the Chinese empire, which had almost no autonomy, although it was distinguished by the ethnic composition of the local population and, naturally, by some local features, its own traditions in the way of life, etc.

The South Vietnamese proto-state of Thiampa, which arose around the 2nd century, was a completely different entity. First of all, it, like the rest of Indochina at that time, was under the noticeable influence of Indian culture. The Tyamas (Laquiets) who were in the zone of Indo-Buddhist influence, respectively, led a different way of life, which was most noticeable in the sphere of culture and religion. Here Buddhism of the Hinayanist persuasion flourished and actually dominated, although Hinduism in its Shaivist form, close to that of the Khmers of the time of Angkor, also played a significant role. Only in the ninth century the first Mahayanist monasteries began to appear here, which marked the strengthening of northern influences. In general, Buddhist and Hindu monasteries and temples flourished in Tjampa. In the 5th century here (naturally, in the monasteries) local writing appeared on the South Indian graphic basis.

Relations with the north, i.e. with the Chinese rulers of North Vietnam, things developed in Thiampa in a complicated way and far from being in favor of the Thiams. There are even indications that in the 5th c. Tyampa formally recognized the sovereignty of China, which further increased the pressure on it from the north. In the X-XI centuries. the northern lands of Thiampa were captured by the Vietnamese rulers, who freed themselves from the power of China and waged a fierce internecine war with each other, and in the 12th century. The Tyams were noticeably pushed back by Angkor Cambodia. The invasion of the Mongol troops of Khubilai temporarily suspended internecine wars in Indochina, but from the 14th century. they broke out with renewed vigor and led to the fact that Tyampa became a vassal of the Vietnamese Annam.

The 10th century was a period of bitter civil strife for North Vietnam, which, as just mentioned, lasted quite a long time. The fall of the Tang Dynasty led to the liberation of North Vietnam from Chinese rule. First, the liberated Vietnam was led by the kings of the Khuk dynasty (906-923), then Ngo (939-965), after which the commander Dinh Bo Lin founded the Dinh dynasty (968-981) and gave the country the name Daikovet. He also carried out a number of reforms aimed at strengthening the power of the center (the creation of a regular army, a new administrative division) and against the internecine wars of the feudal-separatist-minded aristocracy. However, the reforms did not prevent the fact that after the death of Ding, power passed to Le Hoan, who founded the early Le dynasty (981-1009). It was Le who most seriously pressed the Tyams, adding part of their lands to Daikovet.

Against the backdrop of internecine wars, virtually independent large feudal clans (Sy-Kuans) strengthened in the country, whose estates sometimes competed in strength with the power of the center. It was from among them that new rulers continually emerged, founding new dynasties. Naturally, every next ruler did not like all this, so, having come to power, he sought to limit the possibilities of the big nobility. However, the complexity of the situation lay in the fact that weak sovereigns were forced to rely on the support of strong vassals to strengthen their own power, as a result of which the rulers could do little against the influential nobility. And yet attempts of this kind followed one after another. At first it was Digne's reforms. Then Le acted in the same direction, and succeeded in weakening the Sikuans so much that the sources almost ceased to mention them. Only as a result of this, a more or less favorable situation has developed in the country for the creation of a strong centralized state. Such a state was created in the 11th century. rulers of the new Li dynasty (1010--1225).

The Ly dynasty, which changed the name of the country to Dai Viet in 1069, divided it into 24 provinces headed by replaceable governors. The entire political administration was transformed according to the Chinese model: officials of different ranks with a clear hierarchy; central departments and provincial administrators; an examination system for filling administrative positions; Confucianism as the basis of administration and the entire way of life of the population; a regular army based on conscription, etc. The Chinese model was also the basis in the sphere of economics and social relations: the land was considered the property of the state, personified by the king; community members paid rent-tax to the treasury; officials lived off part of this rent; there was an insignificant layer of hereditary nobility (mainly relatives of kings), who had hereditary land holdings with limited rights; The Buddhist Church enjoyed considerable influence and property. Buddhism, Confucianism and local peasant beliefs and superstitions close to Taoism had a clear tendency to converge into a single syncretic folk religion - also on the Chinese model.

In a word, however strange it may seem, the political independence of Dai Viet from China not only did not lead to the liberation of the country from the influence of Chinese culture, which had taken root over the centuries of its domination in Vietnam, but, on the contrary, realized this influence even more clearly, especially in the political sphere. culture. In fact, the Vietnamese continued to live according to the standards that had developed before. This can be seen even in the example of the internal organization of the Vietnamese peasant communities, where there were full-fledged (local) and non-full-fledged (newcomers), who most often did not have their own land and found themselves in the position of tenants. This was also noticeably manifested in the organization of urban life (shop-guilds; the system of state monopolies and craft workshops, etc.).

The foreign policy of the Li dynasty in the 12th century. brought some success, especially in the fight against Tyams. The attempts made by the powerful Angkor Cambodia to oust Dai Viet were also successfully repulsed. But at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. the dynasty began to weaken, which one of the aristocrats, a relative of King Chan, did not fail to take advantage of. Based on the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the oppression of officials (it seems that the Vietnamese borrowed the dynastic cycle, along with the entire structure, from China), Chan in 1225 made a palace coup and declared himself the ruler of a new dynasty that lasted until 1400. In principle, the rulers of the Chan dynasty continued the same policy of strengthening the central government as their predecessors. But the political situation during the years of their reign was greatly complicated due to the invasion of the Mongols, which affected almost most of Indochina. Although the Chans created a strong army and a capable navy, it was not easy to resist the Mongols. Not only the army, but literally the whole people rose up against the invaders. The war went on for wear and tear, to a victorious end. And the Mongols, especially after the death of their commander Sagatu, were eventually forced to retreat. Under the terms of the peace treaty of 1289, the Chinese (Mongolian) Yuan dynasty was formally recognized as the overlord of Vietnam, but in fact Dai Viet remained independent. The commander-in-chief Tran Hung Dao, who achieved this success, is revered as a national hero to this day.

Resistance to the Mongols greatly weakened the country, undermined its economy. Famine and turmoil entailed in the XIV century. a series of peasant uprisings, and the weakening of administrative control and the army made it possible for the Tyams to try to recapture their northern territories. But the weakness of the dynasty was curtailed by the decisive hand of Ho Kui Li, who in 1371 headed the government and, in fact, concentrated all power in the country in his hands.

Ho carried out a number of important reforms, which amounted to a sharp limitation of the hereditary possessions of the nobility, to the reorganization of the army and the administrative apparatus, as well as to streamlining taxation in the interests of the communal peasantry. The reforms had some effect, but aroused strong opposition. The dissatisfied appealed to the rulers of Ming China, which was formally the overlord of Dai Viet. Ming troops invaded Dai Viet, and in 1407 Ho's reign was brought to an end. However, the Chinese troops were opposed by the patriotic Viet, led by Le Lon, who achieved the withdrawal of these troops and founded the Late Le dynasty (1428-1789).

Le Loi continued Ho's reforms. The land was registered in the country, the status of the community was restored, poor peasants received allotments. In the south, military settlements were created, where peasant warriors existed on preferential terms, but were in constant combat readiness to fight the Tyams. An administrative reform was carried out in the country, a new division into provinces and counties was created. Officials of the administrative apparatus received the right of strict control over the communities. The examination system was strengthened, as was the practice of conditional official land tenure of officials. All these measures significantly strengthened the power of the center and stabilized the structure as a whole, which contributed to the flourishing of the economy and culture. And finally, in 1471, the southern lands of Tyampa were finally annexed to the country.

From the 16th century the power of the rulers of the Le house began to weaken, and the major dignitaries Nguyen, Mak and Chinh began to compete for influence in the country. Their internecine struggle led to the actual division of Dai Viet into three parts. Soon, the most influential House of Poppies was pushed back by the combined efforts of the other two, after which a fierce struggle broke out between the Nguyen and Chinh, under the sign of which the entire 17th century passed. The northern part of the country, which was under the rule of Chiney, developed in the 17th century. quite successfully: privately owned farms, officially recognized among the community members and taxed accordingly, grew, handicraft production expanded, trade and mining industries developed. Chiney had a good army, including a fleet and even war elephants. The southern part of the country, where the Nguyen established themselves, also developed rapidly. Here, on the lands seized from the Tyams and Khmers, the Vietnamese who migrated from the north settled, who at the same time were provided with tax benefits. Communal ties weakened accordingly, and commodity-money relations and private landownership developed. A large colony of Chinese settlers, who fortified themselves in the Mekong Delta after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, to a large extent contributed to the acceleration of the development of South Vietnam, the growth of large cities there.

Both in the north and in the south of the country in the 17th century. a considerable number of Catholic missionaries appeared. If in China, Japan, even in Siam their activities were suppressed, then in Vietnam, on the contrary, they received a fairly wide scope. Apparently, the Vietnamese rulers considered Catholicism as a kind of weighty religious and cultural counterbalance to Chinese Confucianism, whose positions in the country were still predominant. One of the results of the successful activities of Catholic missionaries in Vietnam was that, along with Chinese hieroglyphic writing, which until then was almost exclusively used by the literate segments of the population, especially the official administration, all the bureaucracy, there was also a Vietnamese literary letter based on the Latin graphic alphabetic basis. This script received full support from the patriotic Vie-tov. It is not surprising that under such conditions the positions of the Catholic Church were strengthened. Converted to Christianity (Catholicism) in Vietnam already in the 17th century. numbered several hundred thousand. This growth even caused fears on the part of the authorities, which led to the closure of European trading posts in a number of cities in the country and to some limitation of the activities of the Catholic Church in Vietnam.

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South of China and east of India is the peninsular and insular region of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as Brunei and Singapore. In this territory, in the first centuries of the new era, an original civilization grew up, giving rise to large cities, giant temples, complex irrigation systems, as well as vast powerful states. The most famous of them is the power created by the Khmers on the lands of Cambodia with its capital in the heart of the jungle, in the Angkor region.

The civilization of Southeast Asia owes its origin and to a large extent its main features to the influence of India, in particular to Hinduism and Buddhism. Their impact was so strong that modern scholars call this civilization "Hindu-Buddhist."

ORIGIN OF THE HINDU-BUDDHI CIVILIZATION

History of Southeast Asia before the 2nd c. AD remains a blind spot in science. The earliest information about it is contained in the Chinese written sources of that time and the finds of archaeologists. In Chinese dynastic chronicles, states are mentioned whose rulers bore Indian names in Sanskrit, and the clergy were representatives of the highest caste - the Brahmins. Buddha images of the same style as at Amaravati on the Krishna River in South India, characteristic of the period between 150 and 250 AD, have been found in Thailand, Cambodia and Annam (Central Vietnam), and on the islands of Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

The earliest texts - in Sanskrit - have been found in West Java, East Kalimantan, northern Malaya and Cambodia. These inscriptions are written in an ancient alphabet from the time of the Pallavas, a Tamil dynasty that ruled from the 3rd to the 8th century. in Kanchipuram, southeast India. More recent times include evidence reflecting cultural influences from other parts of India. From the northeast came one of the branches of Buddhism - the Mahayana. It bore the imprint of the mystical, Hindu-influenced doctrine of Tantrism, which originated in the Buddhist monastery of Nalanda in Bihar. From the 11th century the authority of the Ceylon (Lankan) branch of Buddhism begins to affect. This branch of Buddhism - Hinayana (Theravada) - gradually replaced the Mahayana and Hinduism from Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

Ancient culture of Southeast Asia. Origin of the peoples of Southeast Asia. Little is known about the genesis and early migration of peoples who, under the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism, developed their own cultures. Today, the most civilized peoples inhabit the plains, especially the river valleys and deltaic lowlands, as well as the sea coasts. Economically relatively backward peoples lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle in the mountains and other elevated areas. The cultures of the Neolithic, as well as the Bronze Age and Iron Age, were brought to Southeast Asia by the Malay tribes from Southwest China, which are subdivided into Proto-Malay and Pre-Malay respectively. They became the ethnic substratum of the current population of the region. Both of these groups probably migrated down the river valleys towards the deltaic and coastal regions. The South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand and the Java Sea formed a kind of inland basin, contributing to the commonality of cultures of the peoples living on the coast and the banks of the rivers flowing into them.

material culture. The material well-being of the peoples of Southeast Asia was based on the cultivation of fruit trees, intensive rice cultivation and fishing. Artificial irrigation systems required a relatively high population density: irrigation facilities were built with the participation of large masses of people, organized either under the rule of a strong leader, or, in some cases, within rural communities. Apparently, the appearance of pile buildings and the use of domesticated buffalo for plowing the fields date back to this time.

There was also a “boat” civilizational culture, distinguished by an amazing variety of used vessels of different types and sizes. Many families spent their lives on their boats, and until recently, communication between settlements in Southeast Asia was carried out mainly by water. Especially high art of navigation was possessed by the inhabitants of the coasts, who made long-distance sea voyages.

Religion. The religion was a mixture of three elements: animalism, ancestor worship, and worship of local fertility gods. The water gods of fertility were especially revered in the form of a naga - a mythical cobra with several human heads. For the inhabitants of Southeast Asia, the world was filled with mysterious forces and spirits, ideas about which were reflected in dramatic mysteries and in works of art that have survived to this day. The construction of megaliths was associated with the cult of ancestors, in which the remains of dead leaders were placed.

penetration of Indian culture. The penetration of Hinduism and Buddhism into Southeast Asia, apparently, began even before the 2nd century BC. AD Hinduism was implanted by the rulers of local states, who sought to imitate the splendor of Indian courts. Buddhism was brought with them by mendicant Buddhist monks (bhiksu), who founded monasteries.

The rulers who adopted Hinduism invited Indian brahmins to perform rituals of deification of monarchs by identifying them with one of the highest Hindu gods - Shiva, Vishnu or Harihara, (a deity that combines the features of the first two). The new names of the rulers often indicated the gods with whom they were identified (Isanavarman - "Shiva's Favorite", Indravarman - "Indra's Favorite" and Jayavarman - "Favorite of Victory"). The widespread use of the suffix "-varman" in names seems to have its roots in the Pallavas. At first it was a ritual suffix of the Kshatriyas - the class (varna) of warriors and leaders in Ancient India, but later it lost its class meaning and was used to designate members ruling class. In addition to the Brahmins, the rulers had to invite specialists in the construction of appropriate sanctuaries for the worship of the god-king.

Gradually, Sanskrit became the sacred court language. Over time, the Indian script was adapted for the first literary works in local languages. Excellent examples of this are the earliest extant inscriptions in Javanese, Malay, Mon and Khmer.

To legitimize the rulers of Southeast Asia, the Brahmins used mythical images taken from epic poems. Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as from the Puranas (collections of religious myths and hymns) and other texts containing the mythical genealogy of the royal families of the Ganges region. They also imposed the system of government set forth in Arthashastra (Treatise on Politics and the State), Indian astrology and Indian calendars. The inhabitants of Southeast Asia themselves made an important contribution to this process, many of whom made a pilgrimage to India to study the sacred texts.

Early Shaivite inscriptions indicate that the state religion was based on the cult of the royal linga (phallic symbol), in which, it was believed, the magical power of the god-king was concentrated, which ensured the welfare of the state. Thus, the autochthonous cult of fertility was dressed in Indian clothes.

EARLY INDUISE STATES

Funan. The first royal courts known to historians under Indian influence appeared towards the end of the second century. AD in three areas: a) in the Mekong Delta, b) on the coast of modern Vietnam, south of Hue, and c) in the north of Malaya. The name “Funan”, by which the state located in the Mekong Delta is known, is found in Chinese sources and is a derivative of the ancient Khmer word “mountain”. For the Chinese, Funan meant the country of the "king of the hill." Chinese sources report that its ruling dynasty was founded by a Brahmin named Kaundinya, who married the leader of one of the local tribes. This legend was based on the local version of the Pallava dynastic myth, in which the founder of the clan was the princess Naga - the mythical nine-headed cobra, the goddess of water. Later, the Naga as a sacred symbol was adopted from Funan by the Khmers, and it became an indispensable attribute of the iconography of the Khmer capital of Angkor. It was believed that the prosperity of the country was supported by the nightly conjunction of the Khmer kings and the princess Naga.

In the first half of the 3rd c. Funan developed into a powerful empire under the rule of a king whose name is mentioned in Chinese chronicles as Fang Shiman. The ships of this monarch dominated the seas, and the states on the lands of the lower reaches of the Mekong up to the northern regions of the Malay Peninsula were his vassals. Fang Shiman took the title of maharaja, or "great ruler", sent one embassy to the court of Murunda in India, and another to China. A certain Kang Tai, whom the Chinese emperor sent with a return embassy, ​​left the first description of Funan. Its subsequent rulers expanded the territory of the state and its overseas trade. As follows from the surviving inscriptions, one of the tasks of the tsarist government was the development of irrigation. Large-scale works on the creation of irrigation systems were often associated with sanctuaries where traces of Vishnu were kept.

Like Rome in Europe, Funan left many elements of its culture as a legacy to the states that succeeded it, but in the middle of the 6th century. under the pressure of the Khmers gaining strength, the influence of Funan itself is waning. The Chinese called the Khmer state Chenla and reported that at first it was a vassal of Funan. No explanation for this name has been found. During the century preceding the accession to the throne of the Khmer king Jayavarman II in 802, Chinese sources mention two states: Chenla of the Earth and Chenla of the Water. Until now, little is known about their history. The name "Chenla" was mentioned long after the founding of the great Khmer city of Angkor.

Tyampa (Champa). The historical Vietnamese region of Annam is rich in archaeological sites of the people known as Chams (Chams). For the first time in history, they are mentioned as lin-i in the reports of the Chinese governor to the north of Nam Viet: a high-ranking official complained about the raids of the Chams. Until now, it remains unclear how Indian trends penetrated them. The earliest inscriptions, dated c. 400 AD, testify to the fact that their court religion was Shaivism. One of the inscriptions is related to the most ancient linga discovered in Southeast Asia.

The early history of the Chams is a continuous series of attempts to expand northward by both land and sea routes, which forced the Chinese to undertake punitive expeditions against them. The Vietnamese at that time inhabited the lands, the border of which in the south only slightly extended beyond the Tonkin region, which occupies the northern part of modern Vietnam. After the liberation from Chinese rule in 939, a long struggle began between the Vietnamese and the Chams for possession of lands south of Tonkin. Ultimately, after the fall of Tyampa in the 15th century. Vietnamese culture, which experienced a strong Chinese influence, supplanted the Hinduized Cham culture.

States on the Malay Peninsula. There is scant information about these states in Chinese sources. More valuable information is contained in inscriptions made in the most ancient Pallavic script, the earliest of which date back to the end of the 4th century BC.

Early Indonesian states. The earliest Java inscriptions known to us date back to about 450. They were made by the king of Taruma in West Java, Purnavarman, who began the construction of irrigation systems and erected a temple dedicated to the god Vishnu. In the east of Kalimantan, in the Kutei region, on the Mahakam River, dating back to the beginning of the 5th century were found. inscriptions of a certain king Mulavarman, but nothing is known about the further fate of his state. Chinese sources mention the existence of Hinduized states in Sumatra starting from the 5th century;

Inscriptions in Myanmar and Thailand. There is evidence that from the middle of the 4th c. in Arakan, on the western coast of Burma (Myanmar), north of the delta of the Irrawaddy River, the Chandra dynasty ruled, but this information is known only from inscriptions of a later period. At Shrikshetra, near present-day Pyu (Proma), in Central Myanmar, inscriptions have been found that probably date back to 500. Shrikshetra was the capital of the state of the Pyu people, who are believed to have been the vanguard of the Burmese (Myanmar) migrating into the country. The Pyu occupied the Irrawaddy valley as far north as Khalinji, near present-day Shuebo. To the east of them, from Chaushe to present-day Molamyine in the south, and in the Irrawaddy Valley, were the states of the Mons Pegu and Thaton. The Mons also inhabited the Menama Chao Phraya Valley (Thailand). The earliest discovered Mon inscriptions date back to about 600. They were found in Phrapaton, where the oldest known capital of the Mon state of Dvaravati, located in the basin of this river, was located. Subsequently, the Mons had a strong cultural influence on their kindred Khmers, as well as on the Burmese and Tai (Siamese), about whose history little is known until the 11th century.

Rise of Srivijaya State. After the fall of Funan in the 6th c. its place was taken by Srivijaya, which developed around Palembang, in the southeast of Sumatra. This vast trading empire owed its prosperity to the control of the Straits of Malacca and Sunda, as well as to the goodwill of China, where it sent numerous embassies. Srivijaya existed from the 7th to the 13th century. She did not leave behind such monumental monuments as are found in Central Java, but Palembang has long been an important center of education for the Mahayanists. In 671, in order to study Sanskrit grammar, he was visited by the Chinese Buddhist monk I Ching, who then went to India. After several years of study in Nalanda, he returned in 685 to Palembang, where he translated the Sanskrit texts into Chinese and left his description of the Buddhist religion of that time. The close ties of Srivijaya with the Indian regions of Bengal and Bihar explain the strong influence that Tantric Buddhism had on the rulers of the Indonesian states. In the 9th century Nalanda was visited by so many pilgrims from Sumatra that a special house was built for them.

THE AGE OF THE TEMPLE BUILDERS

In the period from 650 to 1250, wonderful works of art and architecture were created in the states of Southeast Asia, in no way inferior to the best world examples. Among the Chams, this flourishing in the artistic sphere began in the middle of the 7th century, when the Tang dynasty in China stopped the expansion of Tyampa to the north for a long time. Very little is known about significant changes in the lower Mekong region since the Khmer conquest of Funan. Sufficiently complete and reliable information on the history of this territory appears only from the time of the founding of the Khmer capital on the northern shore of Lake Sap (or Tonle Sap - “Great Lake”), founded in 802 by King Jayavarman II. But even earlier, those grandiose changes in art and architecture began, which eventually led to the creation of such masterpieces as the ensembles of Angkor. In Java, a similar process begins ca. 730 in its central regions, and on Burmese soil, in the state of Pagan, much later - approx. 1100. (However, on the site of the capital of the Pyu state Shrikshetra, the ruins of buildings of the 8th century have been preserved, which were the prototypes of the temples built later in Pagan.)

Javanese kingdoms. The historical information we have about these kingdoms is often inaccurate. The development of the art of Central Java was associated with two local dynasties: the Mahayanist Shailendra and the Shaivite Sanjaya. Information about these dynasties until the 8th c. missing. In Sanskrit, Shailendra means "king of the mountain", and it is possible that this indicates the connection of the dynasty with the "kings of the mountain" of Funani of an earlier period. Under Shailendra, wonderful Buddhist monuments and temple complexes were erected, of which the most impressive are the huge Borobudur ensemble and the Chandi (Hindu temple) Mendut. In the 9th century the construction of such structures in Java stops, but it begins in the state of Srivijaya. Probably, the Sanjaya dynasty prevailed in Central Java, and one of its rulers married a princess from the Shailendra dynasty. Her brother Balaputra fled to Sumatra, married a Srivijaya heiress and gave the name Shailendra to the Srivijaya dynasty.

An outstanding monument of the Sanjaya dynasty remains the magnificent Shaivite temple complex Lara Jonggrang in Prambanan, built at the beginning of the 10th century.

Shortly thereafter, for unknown reasons, the center of power moves to East Java. In Central Java, the construction of monumental architectural objects is being stopped. Nothing similar was created in East Java until the 13th century. On the other hand, it was an important period in the development of original Javanese literature. Sanskrit epic Mahabharata had a strong influence on Javanese literature and the wayang shadow theater, as well as on the sculptural reliefs that began to decorate East Javanese temples of a later period. One of the most famous works of ancient Javanese literature Arjunavivaha (Arjuna's wedding) is based on that contained in Mahabharata the story of the ascetic Arjuna. This poem was written by the court poet Mpu Kanwa in honor of the marriage of the most revered of the East Javanese kings Erlang (r. 1019-1049), presenting the king's life in allegorical form. The heyday of the Erlanga kingdom falls on a short period of decline in Srivijaya, when the Sumatran state was weakened by a war with the South Indian state of the Cholas.

In the next century, during the heyday of the East Javanese kingdom of Kediri, another masterpiece of Javanese literature was created - Bharathayuddha. It is also based on the Sanskrit epic, but in its spirit it is a purely Javanese work. The heyday of Kediri continued until 1222, when she became a vassal of another Javanese state - Singasari.

In the religious sphere, there was a close fusion of Buddhism and Hinduism, which by that time had absorbed local magical rites and the cult of ancestors. At that time, there was a custom according to which kings after death were identified with the god Vishnu. A magnificent expression of this tradition is the sculpture of King Erlang, originally installed in his mausoleum in Belahan and now kept in the Mojokert Museum. The cult that developed around her was a variation of the Javanese ancestor cult.

Khmer and Angkor Cambodia. Creation of the state. In 802, Jayavarman II founded the state of Kambujadesh (in the historical literature, Angkor Cambodia) in the area of ​​Lake. Sap (modern Cambodia). The choice of location was determined by a number of conditions that explained the power that the new empire achieved, which arose at the crossroads of sea and land routes. The lake abounded with fish, and the alluvial plain allowed for up to four crops a year with irrigation techniques developed by the Khmer. The richness of the forest was combined with the ability to extract sandstone and clay from the Dungrek mountain range, located to the north, necessary for the construction of gigantic architectural structures.

Jayavarman II spread the cult of the god-king among the Khmers, which formed the basis of the branched religious system developed by his successors. A linga was erected on the top of the mountain, and the brahmins, who became the high priests of the cult, through meditation began to identify the king with Shiva, and the linga became the receptacle of his sacred soul. The sanctuary, around which the capital grew, personified the mythical Hindu Mount Meru, the center of the universe, while the monarch, as the “king of the mountain,” declared himself the ruler of the universe.

Pre-Indian roots of the cult of the god-king. Closer examination reveals that under the cover of Hindu terminology and mythology, ideas and concepts that originated in a more early period. So, in Cambodia, Tyampa, Java and Bali, there was a belief that the erection of a temple-image fixes the essence, or the vital principle of the immortalized person in stone. The temple was built as a future tomb-sanctuary of the king, who, laying it down, left an inscription instructing his descendants to continue this tradition, and with it to maintain the established order - “dharma”. Thus, the ruler linked himself, his ancestors and descendants together in a single cult of ancestors. A remarkable example is Borobudur, the temple-mountain of the Shailendra dynasty in Central Java. This Buddhist monument, which includes hundreds of bas-relief images, is a real textbook of the Mahayanist trend in Buddhism, which developed in Nalanda, in Bihar, at the time when Borobudur was being built. However, its full name Bhumisambarabhudhara - the mountain of accumulation of virtue on the ten steps of the bodhisattva - has another meaning, which is revealed only with the ancestor cult. Each of the ten steps, with the exception of the lowest, symbolizes one of the Shailendras, the predecessors of the creator of the temple of King Indra. The lower step was deliberately left unfinished in anticipation of the death of the monarch and his transformation into a bothisattva, the future Buddha.

Khmer conquests. The kingdom of Jayavarman II was small. The construction of large reservoirs and a system of canals, which became the basis of the prosperity of the state, was started by Indravarman II (r. 877–889). Under him, the place of natural heights, from where the universal king showered blessings on the population of his miniature universe, is occupied by man-made temple-mountains. The first city of Angkor was founded by Yasovarman I (r. 889–900). Somewhat later, the Khmer capital was moved for a short time to Chzhok Gargyar (Kohker), northeast of Angkor, but already Rajendravarman II (r. 944-968) returned it back to Angkor, which since then remained the seat of the Khmer kings until 1432, when the city was completely abandoned.

Little has been studied about the history of the Khmer conquests. The first of the Khmer wars with Tyampa was fought in the reign of Rajendravarman II, but it did not bring visible success. In the 10th century Angkorian possessions probably extended up the Mekong valley to the border of China. Suryavarman I (r. 1002-1050) expanded his lands to the west, conquering the Mon state of Dvaravati, in the Menama Valley, and part of the Malay Peninsula, which is now part of Thailand. Since that time, the Mon influence on Khmer art and architecture has been clearly traced.

By the beginning of the 12th century. Khmer civilization and statehood reached its pinnacle. Suryavarman II (r. 1113-1150), under whom Angkorwat was built, which was the culmination of the development of temple-mountains, was the most powerful monarch in Khmer history. However, his endless wars against the Mons, Tai, Vietnamese and Cham did not produce lasting results. His unsuccessful campaign in Tyampa led to several retaliatory strikes, during one of which, in 1177, the Tyams unexpectedly captured and plundered Angkor. Jayavarman VII (r. 1181–1219) retaliated by occupying their country in 1203 and holding it until the end of his reign.

Jayavarman VII, the last of the Great Builders. Jayavarman VII carried out the most extravagant building project in Khmer history. He redesigned the capital, making it smaller in size, but at the same time turning it into the fortified city of Angkor Thom. In the center of the city stood the temple of Bayon, and around the perimeter monumental gates were built with towers crowned with gigantic heads with four colossal faces. It was already the time of the expansion of Mahayana Buddhism: in the central temple of Angkor Thom there was an image of Buddharaja - the king as the incarnation of Buddha, and in the radially located temples there were images with the names of the highest court nobles of Jayavarman, who thus joined the process of his deification. The faces on the towers were his portraits in the form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara - "the god who looks down", with compassion, at suffering humanity.

Even Suryavarman II replaced in Angkorwat Devaraja, the Shaivite god-king of his predecessors, Vishnuraja. In essence, there was a merging of the two cults, similar to what happened in East Java. Jayavarman VII, having approved the cult of Buddharaja, whose main temple was Bayon, took another step in this direction, just as it happened in contemporary Java, under the rulers of the state of Singasari. And just like in Java, Hindu and Buddhist elements intertwined with traditional Khmer magic and ancestor worship: mythology, terminology and rituals were Hindu, but expressed purely Khmer ideas about the universe. The cults were dedicated to the material prosperity of the country and the earthly salvation of people. Buddaraja's compassion was also expressed in the construction on the roads radiating from the capital, more than 100 hotels for pilgrims and the same number of hospitals open to all citizens.

The state could not endure such a policy, which constantly demanded forced laborers and soldiers, for a long time, and it ended with the death of Jayavarman. New grandiose buildings were no longer built. On the history of the Khmers in the remaining years of the 13th century. so little is known that it is difficult to judge the situation created after the death of Jayavarman VII. The Khmers had to leave Tyampu, and the lands in the upper reaches of the Menam passed to the Thai tribes. The Chinese traveler Zhou Daguan, who visited the area at the end of the century, wrote about the magnificent city and prosperous countryside. There is a new, extremely important point in his notes: Hinayana Buddhism became the religion of the people. Thus, the state religion of the god-king was to lose its significance.

Pagan: Mon-Burmese Synthesis. Rise of Pagan.great era Temple construction is associated among the Burmese with the city of Pagan, which united them into the first state, which existed from 1044 to 1287. The Burmese, who ruled in Pagan, migrated to the arid central part of the country from the Shan Highlands in the second half of the 9th century. At first they concentrated in the Chauskhe region, not far from modern Mandalay, and then settled in other lands, which they gave their name to. The earlier Mons were the first to grow rice and pulses in Myanmar. The Burmese adopted from them the technique of artificial irrigation, vital for Pagan. The foundations of the Hindu-Buddhist culture, including writing, were also adopted from the Mons.

The Pyu state Shrikshetra collapsed under the onslaught of Nanzhao, the Thai state in Yunnan, just before the arrival of the Burmese, while the Pyu people themselves gradually lost their identity and were assimilated. The Mon states of Lower Burma were subjugated by King Anorate (r. 1044–1077), the founder of Pagan. This led to an increase in Mon cultural influence in Pagan, where Hinayana Buddhism was the state religion. Pali became the canonical language, replacing Sanskrit. In essence, Pagan Buddhism was the same combination of Buddhism, Hinduism and local cults as in other places, but the official religion was Hinayana, which gradually took the leading position with the help of royal power.

Mon influence. Mon influence in Pagan becomes predominant under King Chanzit (r. 1084–1112). Under him, the temple of Ananda was built, the first and perhaps the most beautiful of the religious buildings. Unlike Angkor, then Bagan was not the center of an extensive irrigation network.

Before the end of Pagan's prosperity, which, as in the case of Angkor, fell in the first half of the 13th century, a change of cultures was observed, accompanied by a change in the language of inscriptions from Mon to Burmese. Much more important, however, were the shifts in local Buddhism that took place as a result of the development of ties with Ceylon (Sri Lanka). New trends were brought by Mon pilgrims who visited this island at the end of the 12th century. They culminated in a movement to purify the Hinayana according to orthodox teaching, which preached personal salvation through poverty, meditation, total detachment. Missionary monks spread this doctrine throughout the country and far beyond its borders.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA AFTER THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

The thirteenth century proved to be an important turning point in the history of the region. In Angkor and Pagan, the construction of huge temples ceased, and Hinayana Buddhism took over the minds of the people who inhabited the vassal possessions of these two centers. He was destined to gain a foothold on the religious map of the mainland of Southeast Asia. There were also major political changes. The maritime power of Srivijaya disappeared, although the available data do not give a clear picture of how this happened. After the conquest of China by Kublai Khan, the Mongols invaded Burma, Vietnam, Tyampa, and even penetrated Java. Pagan collapsed in 1287, even before the invasion of the Mongols, the same happened with the East Javanese state of Singasari in 1293.

Thai conquests. By the end of the 13th century. outside the islands, the Thai peoples come to the fore. The Shans, one of them, sought to establish control over Upper Burma, and the state of Sukhothai, founded by King Ramkhamhaeng (r. 1283–1317), subjugated the Mon-Khmer tribes inhabiting the western outskirts of Angkor Cambodia and adopted the Hinayana.

Thai expansion decisively changed the balance of power in the region. In 1350, Ayutthaya was founded, which marked the beginning of modern Thailand, and already in 1378 she conquered Sukhothai. Three years later, the state of Lan Xang arose in the middle and upper reaches of the Mekong. After 1350, under the pressure of the Thai tribes, the Khmer state quickly disintegrated. In 1431 they ravaged Angkor Thom, which as a result ceased to be the capital the following year. The Khmers moved the capital to the south, to Phnom Penh, but their state did not manage to revive its former power. In 1471, the Vietnamese captured Thiampa, and its Hindu-Buddhist culture gradually disappeared as the Vietnamese penetrated further south, into the Mekong Delta.

Burmese and Mon states. In Burma, the struggle between the Burmese and Thai tribes continued until the middle of the 16th century. and ended with a decisive victory for the Burmese. During this confrontation, Burmese culture took a big step forward. Ava, founded in 1364, became its center. To the south, the settled Mons, who gained freedom after the fall of Pagan, created their independent state of Pegu, which existed until 1539. Its capital was the city of the same name, and the ports of Syriam, Martaban and Bassein became centers of international trade. Pegu made an important contribution to the development of Burmese Buddhism through the extensive reforms carried out by the Mon king Dammazedi (1472–1492). Once again, Ceylon was the initiator of change. In 1472 the king sent a mission of monks and novices to the island to the Mahavihara monastery on the Kelani river. Upon their return, they consecrated the ordination center in Pegu, where all the monks were invited to undergo the rite in accordance with the Sri Lankan Hinayana rules. Dissent among the monks was strongly condemned, and orthodoxy was enforced everywhere.

Indonesia: sunset of Singasari and rise of Majapahit. The state of Singasari in East Java, which collapsed on the eve of the Mongol invasion in 1293, completed the process of religious unification. Kertanagara (r. 1268-1292), one of the most controversial figures in Indonesian history, introduced the cult of Shiva-Buddha, a mixture of indigenous magic and Tantrism, which developed the demonic aspects of the "Kalachakra" ("Wheel of Time"). For this cult, his followers held secret vigils. The purpose of the obscene rituals was to give the king the necessary magical abilities to fight the demonic forces threatening the kingdom: an internal schism and an external threat. Kertanagara tried to create under his leadership a confederation of the Indonesian islands to organize a rebuff to the Mongol invasion, the threat of which turned out to be real for Southeast Asia after the aggressive campaigns launched by Kublai Khan in 1264. The challenge thrown by Kertanagara did not go unanswered, and in 1293 the Mongol armada was sent against him. But even before her invasion of Java, one of the vassals of Kertanagara rebelled, who captured the capital, and killed the king himself when he, along with a group of close associates, performed secret tantric rituals. The confederation, or "holy alliance" as it was called, broke up. But the Mongol army, having defeated the forces of the usurper after its landing on the island, fell into the trap set by the direct heir of Kertanagara, Prince Vijaya, and was able to avoid defeat only by abandoning the intended goal and returning to their homeland. After that, Vijaya was crowned under the name of King Kertarajas.

Under Kertarajas, whose policy was a continuation of the expansionist line of Kertanagar, Majapahit became the new capital of the East Javanese kingdom. However, for many years the state was torn apart by civil strife. Majapahit owes its rise to the talent of the chief minister, Gaja Mada, who held this post from 1330 until the end of his life in 1364. Scholars disagree about how far Majapahit's conquests extended beyond Java. His power was undoubtedly recognized by the neighboring islands of Madura and Bali, but it is unlikely that Majapahit's possessions extended to the entire territory that in the first half of the 20th century. constituted the Netherlands Indies. The decline of the kingdom began shortly before the end of the 14th century, although in the next century it still maintains a dominant position in Java. However, with the strengthening of the Islamic Sultanate on the Malay Peninsula and the penetration of Islam into the northern regions of Java, the territory of Majapahit decreased. In the end, the state disappeared from the political arena in the first half of the 16th century, and its history in the 15th century. so vague that it gave rise to a lot of guesses about the reasons for the death of the state.

Monuments of Majapahit. While the reliefs on the buildings of Central Java are realistic, the reliefs of East Java depict heroes and their servants in the bizarre form of puppets of the “wayang” theater, as if belonging to the world of ancestral spirits. Most of Java's monuments are known as "chandi". This name, applied to temple-sanctuaries related to the dead, is derived from one of the names of the Hindu goddess of death, Durga. In Javanese folk tradition, however, these temples have taken on a slightly different meaning. They were Hindu-Buddhist only in outward appearance, and they were seen more as places of spirit release and resurrection, which clearly goes back to the local ancestor cult.

Bali. The conquest of Bali by Chief Minister Gaja Mada was a major milestone in the cultural life of the island. For hundreds of years, there was a form of Hindu-Buddhist culture, which later became completely Javanese. Among other things, Old Javanese literature had a strong influence on Balinese literature, into which it was incorporated. At present, it is Bali that remains the repository of Javanese literary works of the Hindu-Buddhist period, since in Java itself much of the historical heritage was lost as a result of subsequent Islamization.

Spread of Islam in Malaya and Indonesia. At the end of the 13th century in Southeast Asia, the results of the activities of Islamic preachers began to be felt. Marco Polo, who visited the Sumatran port of Perelak in 1292, noted that its population had already been converted to the religion of the Prophet. Under the influence of North Sumatra, the monarch of Malacca converted to Islam, with the strengthening of its power in the 15th century. Islam was adopted by the Malacca vassals in the mainland and in Sumatra. Trade relations of Malacca contributed to the penetration of Islam into the northern ports of Java and Brunei, on Kalimantan, whose rulers joined the ranks of supporters of the new faith. Just before the conquest of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511, the rulers of the Spice Islands (Moluccas) followed suit. By the end of the 16th century Most of the Indonesian rulers were already adherents of Islam, but in East Java the struggle between the defenders of the old faith in the old state of Pajajaran and the Muslim elite of the new state of Mataram continued into the 17th century. Bali has withstood all attempts at conversion and has retained its Hindu-Buddhist culture to the present day.

However, the adoption of Islam by the rulers did not mean the extension of this process to their subjects. The situation that was observed in former times, when Hinduism and Buddhism were introduced at the royal courts, was repeated with Islam. The adoption of Islam did not violate the integrity of the cultural history of Indonesia. Social relations were still determined by local "adat" (customary law). There were no mass conversions, there was no break in cultural life either. It's just that the Indonesian and Malay civilizations absorbed elements of Islam over the centuries, just as they absorbed elements of Hinduism and Buddhism earlier, and later - the beginnings of Western culture.

Spread of Hinayana Buddhism in Mainland Southeast Asia. In this territory, where the Hinayana occupied a leading position, in particular in Arakan, Burma, Siam (Thailand), Cambodia, Laos, a long process of interaction of cultures was also taking place. At the same time, their early traditional forms of religion showed amazing vitality, and Buddhism showed a magnificent spirit of tolerance. It is noteworthy that neither Islam nor Christianity left a noticeable mark on the peoples who professed the Hinayana. The most peculiar feature of this process of acculturation is not just a tolerant attitude towards animism, but actually its inclusion in Buddhist mythology. Pagoda festivals and national celebrations are excellent examples of this. Among them are New Year(tinjan or Water Festival) in April, the First Furrow ceremony in May, the Festival of Lights (tarinjut), usually in October, and the Swing Festival, celebrated in December or January, at harvest time. The New Year's Water Festival in these Buddhist countries marks the annual return of the king of spirits (among the Burmese “Taja Min”, among the Thai “Phra In”) to Earth, and the very moment of this return is determined by the Brahmins. Young boys and girls solemnly sprinkle water on the images of the Buddha. The Festival of Lights, which marks the end of the Buddhist Lent (and the monsoon season), is an even greater amalgam of Buddhism, Animism, and remnants of Hinduism. At this time, ritual meals are organized for the monks, who are given new robes. Buildings are decorated with illuminations and fireworks are arranged.

In Burma, the process of mixing beliefs took on an extreme form of celebration in the context of the legend of how Gautama Buddha ascended into the land of spirits in order to explain to his mother, who became their queen, the commandments of the teaching he created.

Orthodox Hinayana is essentially an atheistic doctrine that denies the existence of the spirit world. Nevertheless, in all the Hinayana-dominated countries of Southeast Asia, every phase of a person's life, from birth to death, from plowing to harvesting, is accompanied by rites of propitiation for the spirits. Everywhere there are numerous cult objects, where fresh offerings come. On the territory of the Shwezigon stupa, in Pagan, famous for its Buddhist relics, there are temples of the Thirty-seven nats (spirits), which testify to their respect for shrines.

Socio-economic conditions of the Hindu-Buddhist civilization. Information about the socio-economic conditions of life during the existence of the Hindu-Buddhist civilization is extremely fragmentary. This is due to the fact that only buildings made of brick and stone have survived to this day, while all dwellings, starting with the royal ones, built of wood, have long disappeared from the face of the earth. Inscriptions, a valuable potential source for the study of social relations, have not been studied enough. The latest methods of archaeological excavation and aerial photography can greatly help specialists, but so far the only successful attempt to analyze the economic system that gave rise to the boom in temple building has been undertaken by Bernard P. Groslier in Angkor. He described the city in detail as the center of a powerful system of reservoirs and canals, which provided constant irrigation and intensive cultivation of vast rice fields, but at the same time required a strictly centralized management of the life of a close-knit community. The Khmer created a government apparatus to suit their own needs, but the administrative structures of all the other leading states in the region were also based on the cult of water and fertility. Thus, the god-king among the Khmers, Chams, Burmese, Mons or Indonesians performed almost the same function everywhere, and their cities were most closely connected with the areas of irrigated rice cultivation. Even Pagan, located in the arid zone of Burma, owed its existence to the Chaushe irrigation network and was so located on the Ayeyarwaddy River to control the irrigation facilities downstream. Its fall at the end of the 13th century. was mainly due to the loss of control over Chauskh, and the fall of Angkor in the 15th century. was due to the destruction of its waterworks during the Siamese invasions.

Cities did not turn, however, into purely urban settlements. Aerial photographs show that Angkor was cut by channels and included cultivated land. It was a real garden city, in the center of which stood the palace city, the administrative heart of the country. A special quarter was assigned to merchants, and representatives of various countries had their own farmsteads. Around the city, along the banks of canals and rivers, there are villages, fields and plantations of fruit trees.

Local Varieties of Southeast Asian Culture. Throughout its early history various peoples Southeast Asia developed in a highly individual way. This is especially clearly seen in the patterns of fabrics, for example, on batiks - both made in Malaya and imported from India. The importer had to have an excellent idea of ​​the specific needs of the population of different areas, since what sold well in one of them might not be in demand in another. In all countries of the region, clothing consisted of the same elements: a long piece of cloth was wrapped around the hips, a shorter one was thrown over the shoulder, and a third was tied around the head. But between the Burmese “loungi”, the Khmer “kampot”, the Thai “panung”, and the Malay or Indonesian “sarong”, there were noticeable differences in patterns and style of wearing. The same applies to other types of costume. The official attire worn at the courts of the Burmese Ava and the Siamese Ayutthaya differed greatly from each other. Everything that came from abroad was quickly absorbed by the local culture. Thus, for example, the shadow theater borrowed from India merged with the Javanese puppet theater and acquired a completely distinct Javanese character. The Pali Jataka stories of Buddha's reincarnations, common in Burmese prose and drama, were completely Burmanized. Motives of Sanskrit epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata used everywhere: shadow theater, national literatures, other forms of art, in each case acquiring, however, local flavor and local interpretation. Similarly, traditional musical ensembles, called "gamelan" in Java, and related forms of dance and singing, were widespread throughout Southeast Asia, but had significant local characteristics.

Literature:
Hall D. History of Southeast Asia. M., 1958
Peoples of Southeast Asia. M., 1966
Bartold V.V. Works, vol. 6. M., 1966
History of Asia and Africa in the Middle Ages. M., 1968
Tatar-Mongols in Asia and Europe. M., 1970
Southeast Asia in world history. M., 1977
Southeast Asia: problems of regional community. M., 1977
Shpazhnikov S.A. Religion in Southeast Asia. M., 1980
Berzin E.O. Southeast Asia in the 13th–16th centuries M., 1982

For millennia, the relationship between the developed centers of world civilization and the barbarian periphery was complicated. Actually, the very principle of the relationship was unambiguous: more developed cultural agricultural centers usually influenced the backward periphery, gradually drawing it into their orbit, stimulating the acceleration of the sociopolitical, economic and cultural development of its peoples. However, this general principle worked differently under different conditions. In some cases, the near periphery was gradually annexed by a successfully expanding empire. In others, the energetically developing people, especially the nomads, having received a certain impetus to move forward, then began to pursue an active policy and, in particular, invaded the zones of a thousand-year-old civilization, subjugating foreign countries (Arabs, Mongols, etc.). Finally, the third option could be a gradual accumulation of useful borrowings and some acceleration at the expense of our own development without an active foreign policy, but taking into account mutual contacts and movements, migrations of peoples and diffusion of cultures. The third way was typical for many peoples of the world, be it Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia or the Far East.

Southeast Asia is an interesting and in many ways unique region, a crossroads of many world routes, migration flows and cultural influences. Perhaps, in this sense, it can only be compared with the Middle East region. But if the Middle Eastern lands were at one time the cradle of world civilization, if the origins of almost all the most ancient peoples of the world, the most important inventions and technological discoveries, are drawn to them in one way or another, then the situation with the Southeast Asian region is somewhat different, although somewhat similar . The similarity is that, like the Middle East, Southeast Asia, at the dawn of the process of anthropogenesis, was the habitat of anthropoids. It was here that science back in the early 1890s. discovered traces of archanthropes (Javanese Pithecanthropus), and at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries. made a number of other similar discoveries. In addition, if there are independent centers of the Neolithic revolution on Earth, in addition to the Middle East, then in Eurasia it is precisely the Southeast Asian one. Here, archaeologists have found traces of early agricultural cultures, perhaps more ancient than those of the Middle East. However, a significant difference is that agriculture in this region was represented by the cultivation of tubers and roots (especially taro and yams), but not cereals.

It would seem that the difference is not so great, because the main thing is still in principle. The peoples who lived here, and independently, reached the art of growing plants and picking fruits! As, by the way, before the art of pottery making (although there may be grounds for doubt). And yet this difference is not only colossal, but in a sense fatal in terms of results. The cultivation of cereals in its time led the Middle East region to the accumulation of excess product, which made it possible for the emergence of the primary centers of civilization and statehood, while the cultivation of tubers with their much less useful properties did not lead to this. Unlike grain, tubers cannot be stored for a long time, especially in a hot climate, and this food is in many respects inferior to grain in its composition. And although several decades ago, experts found traces of a very ancient culture of the Bronze Age in the caves of Thailand, which introduced a lot of new ideas about the development and distribution of bronze products, this did not play a decisive role in revising views on the place of the Southeast Asian region in world history. Neither local agriculture, nor - later - bronze products led here to the emergence of the most ancient centers of civilization and statehood, which would be comparable to those of the Middle East.

Quite early, as early as the 4th millennium BC, perhaps not without outside influence, the Southeast Asian peoples nevertheless switched to the cultivation of cereals, in particular rice, but only relatively late, shortly before our era, in this region the first proto-state formations began to emerge. The reasons for such a delay in the development of a region that started so long ago and achieved so much in ancient times are not entirely clear. Perhaps the natural conditions, which were not very favorable for the formation of large political organisms, including the hot tropical climate, played their role. Or the geographical environment with the predominance of mountainous regions with narrow and closed valleys, with islands separated from each other, affected. But the fact remains that only shortly before the beginning of our era, the first states emerged in this region under the strong influence, and sometimes even under the direct influence of Indian culture.

Indian cultural influence (Brahmanism, castes, Hinduism in the form of Shaivism and Vishnuism, then Buddhism) determined the social and political development of the proto-states and early states of the region, both its peninsular (Indo-China) and the island part, including Ceylon (although this island is in a strictly geographical sense is not included in Southeast Asia, in terms of historical destinies it closely adjoins it, which we will take into account, not to mention the convenience of presentation). The impact of Indian culture was most immediate. It is known that many ruling houses in the region they built their clan to immigrants from India and were very proud of it. In religious beliefs and socio-political structure, including caste division, this impact is visible, as they say, with the naked eye. Over time, the influence from India weakened, but other streams of cultural interaction intensified. First of all, we mean China. Eastern regions

Indochina and especially Vietnam have been a zone of Chinese influence since the Qin Dynasty, when the first Vietnamese proto-states were subjugated by the Qin army and then for many centuries, despite the sometimes heroic resistance of the Vietnamese, remained under the rule of China. And after Vietnam gained independence, Chinese influence in the region did not weaken, but, on the contrary, increased. It is worth recalling the Chinese migrants huaqiao and their role in the development of the economy and culture of the southeastern countries. Even later, a third powerful stream of cultural influence appeared in the region, the Muslim one, which began to decisively displace Indian influence.

Thus, the countries and peoples of Southeast Asia were under the influence of the three great eastern civilizations. Naturally, this could not but leave its mark on the region and affect the complexity of the cultural and political situation. If, moreover, we take into account that migration flows were constantly coming to Indo-China from the north and that this peninsula with its mountain ranges, narrow valleys, turbulent rivers and jungles was, as it were, prepared by nature itself for the existence of numerous scattered and closed population groups here, it becomes obvious that the ethnic, including linguistic, situation in this region is rather complicated. Let us now turn to the history of the main countries and peoples of Indochina, touching upon Ceylon as well.

SOUTH EAST ASIA CIVILIZATION
South of China and east of India is the peninsular and insular region of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as Brunei and Singapore. In this territory, in the first centuries of the new era, an original civilization grew up, giving rise to large cities, giant temples, complex irrigation systems, as well as vast powerful states. The most famous of them is the power created by the Khmers in the lands of Cambodia with its capital in the heart of the jungle, in the Angkor region. The civilization of Southeast Asia owes its origin and to a large extent its main features to the influence of India, in particular to Hinduism and Buddhism. Their impact was so strong that modern scholars call this civilization "Hindu-Buddhist". ORIGIN OF THE HINDU-BUDDHI CIVILIZATION
History of Southeast Asia before the 2nd c. AD remains a blind spot in science. The earliest information about it is contained in the Chinese written sources of that time and the finds of archaeologists. The Chinese dynastic chronicles mention states whose rulers bore Indian names in Sanskrit, and the clergy were representatives of the highest caste - the Brahmins. Buddha images of the same style as at Amaravati on the Krishna River in South India, characteristic of the period between 150 and 250 AD, have been found in Thailand, Cambodia and Annam (Central Vietnam), and on the islands of Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi. The earliest texts - in Sanskrit - have been found in West Java, East Kalimantan, northern Malaya and Cambodia. These inscriptions are written in the ancient alphabet of the Pallavas, a Tamil dynasty that ruled from the 3rd to the 8th century. in Kanchipuram, southeast India. More recent times include evidence reflecting cultural influences from other parts of India. One of the branches of Buddhism, the Mahayana, came from the northeast. It bore the imprint of the mystical, Hindu-influenced doctrine of Tantrism, which originated in the Buddhist monastery of Nalanda in Bihar. From the 11th century the authority of the Ceylon (Lankan) branch of Buddhism begins to affect. This branch of Buddhism - Hinayana (Theravada) - gradually replaced the Mahayana and Hinduism from Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
Ancient culture of Southeast Asia. Origin of the peoples of Southeast Asia. Little is known about the genesis and early migration of peoples who, under the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism, developed their own cultures. Today, the most civilized peoples inhabit the plains, especially the river valleys and deltaic lowlands, as well as the sea coasts. Economically relatively backward peoples lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle in the mountains and other elevated areas. The cultures of the Neolithic, as well as the Bronze Age and Iron Age, were brought to Southeast Asia by the Malay tribes from Southwest China, which are subdivided into Proto-Malay and Pre-Malay respectively. They became the ethnic substratum of the current population of the region. Both of these groups probably migrated down the river valleys towards the deltaic and coastal regions. The South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand and the Java Sea formed a kind of inland basin, contributing to the commonality of cultures of the peoples living on the coast and the banks of the rivers flowing into them.
material culture. The material well-being of the peoples of Southeast Asia was based on the cultivation of fruit trees, intensive rice cultivation and fishing. Artificial irrigation systems required a relatively high population density: irrigation facilities were built with the participation of large masses of people, organized either under the rule of a strong leader, or, in some cases, within rural communities. Apparently, the appearance of pile buildings and the use of domesticated buffalo for plowing the fields date back to this time. There was also a "boat" civilizational culture, distinguished by an amazing variety of used vessels of different types and sizes. Many families spent their lives on their boats, and until recently, communication between settlements in Southeast Asia was carried out mainly by water. Especially high art of navigation was possessed by the inhabitants of the coasts, who made long-distance sea voyages.
Religion. The religion was a mixture of three elements: animalism, ancestor worship, and worship of local fertility gods. The water gods of fertility were especially revered in the form of a naga - a mythical cobra with several human heads. For the inhabitants of Southeast Asia, the world was filled with mysterious forces and spirits, ideas about which were reflected in dramatic mysteries and in works of art that have survived to this day. The construction of megaliths was associated with the cult of ancestors, in which the remains of dead leaders were placed.
penetration of Indian culture. The penetration of Hinduism and Buddhism into Southeast Asia, apparently, began even before the 2nd century BC. AD Hinduism was implanted by the rulers of local states, who sought to imitate the splendor of Indian courts. Buddhism was brought with them by mendicant Buddhist monks (bhiksu), who founded monasteries. The rulers who adopted Hinduism invited Indian brahmins to perform rituals of deification of monarchs by identifying them with one of the highest Hindu gods - Shiva, Vishnu or Harihara, (a deity that combines the features of the first two). The new names of the rulers often indicated the gods with whom they were identified (Isanavarman - "Shiva's Favorite", Indravarman - "Indra's Favorite" and Jayavarman - "Victory Favorite"). The widespread use of the suffix "-varman" in names seems to have its roots in the Pallavas. At first it was a ritual suffix of the Kshatriyas - the class (varna) of warriors and leaders in Ancient India, but later it lost its class meaning and was used to designate members of the ruling class. In addition to the Brahmins, the rulers had to invite specialists in the construction of appropriate sanctuaries for the worship of the god-king. Gradually, Sanskrit became the sacred court language. Over time, the Indian script was adapted for the first literary works in local languages. Excellent examples of this are the earliest extant inscriptions in Javanese, Malay, Mon and Khmer. To legitimize the rulers of Southeast Asia, the Brahmins used mythical images taken from the epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as from the Puranas (collections of religious myths and hymns) and other texts containing the mythical genealogy of the royal families of the Ganges region. They also promoted the system of government set forth in the Arthashastra (Treatise on Politics and State), Indian astrology and Indian calendars. The inhabitants of Southeast Asia themselves made an important contribution to this process, many of whom made a pilgrimage to India to study the sacred texts. Early Shaivite inscriptions indicate that the state religion was based on the cult of the royal linga (phallic symbol), in which, it was believed, the magical power of the god-king was concentrated, which ensured the welfare of the state. Thus, the autochthonous cult of fertility was dressed in Indian clothes.
EARLY INDUISE STATES
Funan. The first royal courts known to historians under Indian influence appeared towards the end of the second century. AD in three areas: a) in the Mekong Delta, b) on the coast of modern Vietnam, south of Hue, and c) in the north of Malaya. The name "Funan", by which the state located in the Mekong Delta is known, is found in Chinese sources and is a derivative of the ancient Khmer word "mountain". For the Chinese, Funan meant the country of the "king of the hill". Chinese sources report that its ruling dynasty was founded by a Brahmin named Kaundinya, who married the leader of one of the local tribes. This legend was based on the local version of the Pallava dynastic myth, in which the founder of the clan was the princess Naga - the mythical nine-headed cobra, the goddess of water. Later, the Naga as a sacred symbol was adopted from Funan by the Khmers, and it became an indispensable attribute of the iconography of the Khmer capital of Angkor. It was believed that the prosperity of the country was supported by the nightly conjunction of the Khmer kings and the princess Naga. In the first half of the 3rd c. Funan developed into a powerful empire under the rule of a king whose name is mentioned in Chinese chronicles as Fang Shiman. The ships of this monarch dominated the seas, and the states on the lands of the lower Mekong up to the northern regions of the Malay Peninsula were his vassals. Fang Shiman took the title of maharaja, or "great ruler", sent one embassy to the court of Murunda in India, and another to China. A certain Kang Tai, whom the Chinese emperor sent with a return embassy, ​​left the first description of Funan. Its subsequent rulers expanded the territory of the state and its overseas trade. As follows from the surviving inscriptions, one of the tasks of the tsarist government was the development of irrigation. Large-scale works on the creation of irrigation systems were often associated with sanctuaries where traces of Vishnu were kept. Like Rome in Europe, Funan left many elements of its culture as a legacy to the states that succeeded it, but in the middle of the 6th century. under the pressure of the Khmers gaining strength, the influence of Funan itself is waning. The Chinese called the Khmer state Chenla and reported that at first it was a vassal of Funan. No explanation for this name has been found. During the century preceding the accession to the throne of the Khmer king Jayavarman II in 802, Chinese sources mention two states: Chenla of the Earth and Chenla of the Water. Until now, little is known about their history. The name "Chenla" was mentioned long after the founding of the great Khmer city of Angkor.
Tyampa (Champa). The historical Vietnamese region of Annam is rich in archaeological sites of the people known as Chams (Chams). For the first time in history, they are mentioned as lin-i in the reports of the Chinese governor to the north of Nam Viet: a high-ranking official complained about the raids of the Chams. Until now, it remains unclear how Indian trends penetrated them. The earliest inscriptions, dated c. 400 AD, testify to the fact that their court religion was Shaivism. One of the inscriptions is related to the most ancient linga discovered in Southeast Asia. The early history of the Chams is a continuous series of attempts to expand northward by both land and sea routes, which forced the Chinese to undertake punitive expeditions against them. The Vietnamese at that time inhabited the lands, the border of which in the south only slightly extended beyond the Tonkin region, which occupies the northern part of modern Vietnam. After the liberation from Chinese rule in 939, a long struggle began between the Vietnamese and the Chams for possession of lands south of Tonkin. Ultimately, after the fall of Tyampa in the 15th century. Vietnamese culture, which experienced a strong Chinese influence, supplanted the Hinduized Cham culture.
States on the Malay Peninsula. There is scant information about these states in Chinese sources. More valuable information is contained in inscriptions made in the most ancient Pallavic script, the earliest of which date back to the end of the 4th century BC.
Early Indonesian states. The earliest Java inscriptions known to us date back to about 450. They were made by the king of Taruma in West Java, Purnavarman, who began the construction of irrigation systems and erected a temple dedicated to the god Vishnu. In the east of Kalimantan, in the Kutei region, on the Mahakam River, dating back to the beginning of the 5th century were found. inscriptions of a certain king Mulavarman, but nothing is known about the further fate of his state. Chinese sources mention the existence of Hinduized states in Sumatra starting from the 5th century;

Inscriptions in Myanmar and Thailand. There is evidence that from the middle of the 4th c. in Arakan, on the western coast of Burma (Myanmar), north of the river delta. Irrawaddy, ruled by the Chandra dynasty, but this information is known only from inscriptions of a later period. At Shrikshetra, near present-day Pyu (Proma), in Central Myanmar, inscriptions have been found that probably date back to 500. Shrikshetra was the capital of the state of the Pyu people, who are believed to have been the vanguard of the Burmese (Myanmar) migrating into the country. The Pyu occupied the Irrawaddy valley as far north as Khalinji, near present-day Shuebo. To the east of them, from Chaushe to present-day Molamyine in the south, and in the Irrawaddy Valley, were the states of the Mons Pegu and Thaton. The Mons also inhabited the Menama Chao Phraya Valley (Thailand). The earliest discovered Mon inscriptions date back to about 600. They were found in Phrapaton, where the oldest known capital of the Mon state of Dvaravati, located in the basin of this river, was located. Subsequently, the Mons had a strong cultural influence on their kindred Khmers, as well as on the Burmese and Tai (Siamese), about whose history little is known until the 11th century.
Rise of Srivijaya State. After the fall of Funan in the 6th c. its place was taken by Srivijaya, which developed around Palembang, in the southeast of Sumatra. This vast trading empire owed its prosperity to the control of the Straits of Malacca and Sunda, as well as to the goodwill of China, where it sent numerous embassies. Srivijaya existed from the 7th to the 13th century. She did not leave behind such monumental monuments as are found in Central Java, but Palembang has long been an important center of education for the Mahayanists. In 671, in order to study Sanskrit grammar, he was visited by the Chinese Buddhist monk I Ching, who then went to India. After several years of study in Nalanda, he returned in 685 to Palembang, where he translated the Sanskrit texts into Chinese and left his description of the Buddhist religion of that time. The close ties of Srivijaya with the Indian regions of Bengal and Bihar explain the strong influence that Tantric Buddhism had on the rulers of the Indonesian states. In the 9th century Nalanda was visited by so many pilgrims from Sumatra that a special house was built for them.
THE AGE OF THE TEMPLE BUILDERS
In the period from 650 to 1250, wonderful works of art and architecture were created in the states of Southeast Asia, in no way inferior to the best world examples. Among the Chams, this flourishing in the artistic sphere began in the middle of the 7th century, when the Tang dynasty in China stopped the expansion of Tyampa to the north for a long time. Very little is known about significant changes in the lower Mekong region since the Khmer conquest of Funan. Sufficiently complete and reliable information on the history of this territory appears only from the time of the founding of the Khmer capital on the northern shore of Lake Sap (or Tonle Sap - "Great Lake"), founded in 802 by King Jayavarman II. But even earlier, those grandiose changes in art and architecture began, which eventually led to the creation of such masterpieces as the ensembles of Angkor. In Java, a similar process begins ca. 730 in its central regions, and on Burmese soil, in the state of Pagan, much later - approx. 1100. (However, on the site of the capital of the Pyu state Shrikshetra, the ruins of buildings of the 8th century have been preserved, which were the prototypes of the temples built later in Pagan.)
Javanese kingdoms. The historical information we have about these kingdoms is often inaccurate. The development of the art of Central Java was associated with two local dynasties: the Mahayanist Shailendra and the Shaivite Sanjaya. Information about these dynasties until the 8th c. missing. In Sanskrit, Shailendra means "king of the mountain", and it is possible that this indicates the dynasty's connections with the "kings of the mountain" of Funani of an earlier period. Under Shailendra, wonderful Buddhist monuments and temple complexes were erected, of which the most impressive are the huge Borobudur ensemble and the Chandi (Hindu temple) Mendut. In the 9th century the construction of such structures in Java stops, but it begins in the state of Srivijaya. Probably, the Sanjaya dynasty prevailed in Central Java, and one of its rulers married a princess from the Shailendra dynasty. Her brother Balaputra fled to Sumatra, married a Srivijaya heiress and gave the name Shailendra to the Srivijaya dynasty. An outstanding monument of the Sanjaya dynasty remains the magnificent Shaivite temple complex Lara Jonggrang in Prambanan, built at the beginning of the 10th century. Shortly thereafter, for unknown reasons, the center of power moves to East Java. In Central Java, the construction of monumental architectural objects is being stopped. Nothing similar was created in East Java until the 13th century. On the other hand, it was an important period in the development of original Javanese literature. The Sanskrit epic Mahabharata had a strong influence on Javanese literature and the wayang shadow theater, as well as on the sculptural reliefs that began to decorate East Javanese temples of a later period. Arjunavivaha (The Marriage of Arjuna), one of the most famous works of ancient Javanese literature, is based on the story of the ascetic Arjuna contained in the Mahabharata. This poem was written by the court poet Mpu Kanwa in honor of the marriage of the most revered of the East Javanese kings, Erlang (r. 1019-1049), presenting the king's life in allegorical form. The heyday of the Erlanga kingdom falls on a short period of decline in Srivijaya, when the Sumatran state was weakened by a war with the South Indian state of the Cholas. In the next century, during the heyday of the East Javanese kingdom of Kediri, another masterpiece of Javanese literature, Bharathayuddha, was created. It is also based on the Sanskrit epic, but in its spirit it is a purely Javanese work. The heyday of Kediri continued until 1222, when she became a vassal of another Javanese state - Singasari. In the religious sphere, there was a close fusion of Buddhism and Hinduism, which by that time had absorbed local magical rites and the cult of ancestors. At that time, there was a custom according to which kings after death were identified with the god Vishnu. A magnificent expression of this tradition is the sculpture of King Erlang, originally installed in his mausoleum in Belahan and now kept in the Mojokert Museum. The cult that developed around her was a variation of the Javanese ancestor cult.
Khmer and Angkor Cambodia.
Creation of the state. In 802, Jayavarman II founded the state of Kambujadesh (in the historical literature, Angkor Cambodia) in the area of ​​Lake. Sap (modern Cambodia). The choice of location was determined by a number of conditions that explained the power that the new empire achieved, which arose at the crossroads of sea and land routes. The lake abounded with fish, and the alluvial plain allowed for up to four crops a year with irrigation techniques developed by the Khmer. The richness of the forest was combined with the ability to extract sandstone and clay from the Dungrek mountain range, located to the north, necessary for the construction of gigantic architectural structures. Jayavarman II spread the cult of the god-king among the Khmers, which formed the basis of the branched religious system developed by his successors. A linga was erected on the top of the mountain, and the brahmins, who became the high priests of the cult, through meditation began to identify the king with Shiva, and the linga became the receptacle of his sacred soul. The sanctuary, around which the capital grew, personified the mythical Hindu Mount Meru, the center of the universe, while the monarch, as the "king of the mountain", declared himself the ruler of the universe.

Pre-Indian roots of the cult of the god-king. Closer examination reveals that under the cover of Hindu terminology and mythology, ideas and concepts that originated in an earlier period were hidden. So, in Cambodia, Tyampa, Java and Bali, there was a belief that the erection of a temple-image fixes the essence, or the vital principle of the immortalized person in stone. The temple was built as a future tomb-sanctuary of the king, who, laying it down, left an inscription instructing his descendants to continue this tradition, and with it to maintain the established order - "dharma". Thus, the ruler linked himself, his ancestors and descendants together in a single cult of ancestors. A remarkable example is Borobudur, the temple-mountain of the Shailendra dynasty in Central Java. This Buddhist monument, which includes hundreds of bas-relief images, is a real textbook of the Mahayanist trend in Buddhism, which developed in Nalanda, in Bihar, at the time when Borobudur was being built. However, its full name Bhumisambarabhudhara - the mountain of accumulation of virtue on the ten steps of a bodhisattva - has another meaning, which is revealed only in view of the ancestor cult. Each of the ten steps, with the exception of the lowest, symbolizes one of the Shailendras, the predecessors of the creator of the temple of King Indra. The lower step was deliberately left unfinished in anticipation of the death of the monarch and his transformation into a bothisattva, the future Buddha.
Khmer conquests. The kingdom of Jayavarman II was small. The construction of large reservoirs and a system of canals, which became the basis of the prosperity of the state, was started by Indravarman II (r. 877-889). Under him, the place of natural heights, from where the universal king showered blessings on the population of his miniature universe, is occupied by man-made temple-mountains. The first city of Angkor was founded by Yasovarman I (r. 889-900). Somewhat later, the Khmer capital was moved for a short time to Chzhok Gargyar (Kohker), northeast of Angkor, but already Rajendravarman II (r. 944-968) returned it back to Angkor, which since then remained the seat of the Khmer kings until 1432, when the city was completely abandoned. Little has been studied about the history of the Khmer conquests. The first of the Khmer wars with Tyampa was fought in the reign of Rajendravarman II, but it did not bring visible success. In the 10th century Angkorian possessions probably extended up the Mekong valley to the border of China. Suryavarman I (r. 1002-1050) expanded his lands to the west, conquering the Mon state of Dvaravati, in the Menama Valley, and part of the Malay Peninsula, which is now part of Thailand. Since that time, the Mon influence on Khmer art and architecture has been clearly traced. By the beginning of the 12th century. Khmer civilization and statehood reached its pinnacle. Suryavarman II (r. 1113-1150), under whom Angkorwat was built, which was the culmination of the development of temple-mountains, was the most powerful monarch in Khmer history. However, his endless wars against the Mons, Tai, Vietnamese and Cham did not produce lasting results. His unsuccessful campaign in Tyampa led to several retaliatory strikes, during one of which, in 1177, the Tyams unexpectedly captured and plundered Angkor. Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-1219) retaliated by occupying their country in 1203 and holding it until the end of his reign. Jayavarman VII, the last of the Great Builders. Jayavarman VII carried out the most extravagant building project in Khmer history. He redesigned the capital, making it smaller in size, but at the same time turning it into the fortified city of Angkor Thom. In the center of the city stood the temple of Bayon, and around the perimeter monumental gates were built with towers crowned with gigantic heads with four colossal faces. It was already the time of the expansion of Mahayana Buddhism: in the central temple of Angkor Thom there was an image of Buddharaja - the king as the incarnation of Buddha, and in the radially located temples there were images with the names of the highest court nobles of Jayavarman, who thus joined the process of his deification. The faces on the towers were his portraits in the form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara - "the god who looks down", with compassion, at suffering humanity. Even Suryavarman II replaced in Angkorwat Devaraja, the Shaivite god-king of his predecessors, Vishnuraja. In essence, there was a merging of the two cults, similar to what happened in East Java. Jayavarman VII, having approved the cult of Buddharaja, whose main temple was Bayon, took another step in this direction, just as it happened in contemporary Java, under the rulers of the state of Singasari. And just like in Java, Hindu and Buddhist elements intertwined with traditional Khmer magic and ancestor worship: mythology, terminology and rituals were Hindu, but expressed purely Khmer ideas about the universe. The cults were dedicated to the material prosperity of the country and the earthly salvation of people. Buddaraja's compassion was also expressed in the construction on the roads radiating from the capital, more than 100 hotels for pilgrims and the same number of hospitals open to all subjects. The state could not endure such a policy, which constantly demanded forced laborers and soldiers, for a long time, and it ended with the death of Jayavarman. New grandiose buildings were no longer built. On the history of the Khmers in the remaining years of the 13th century. so little is known that it is difficult to judge the situation created after the death of Jayavarman VII. The Khmers had to leave Tyampu, and the lands in the upper reaches of the Menam passed to the Thai tribes. The Chinese traveler Zhou Daguan, who visited the area at the end of the century, wrote about the magnificent city and prosperous countryside. There is a new, extremely important point in his notes: Hinayana Buddhism became the religion of the people. Thus, the state religion of the god-king was to lose its significance.

Pagan: Mon-Burmese Synthesis. Rise of Pagan. The great era of temple building among the Burmese is associated with the city of Pagan, which united them into the first state that existed from 1044 to 1287. The Burmese, who ruled in Pagan, migrated to the arid central part of the country from the Shan Highlands in the second half of the 9th century. At first they concentrated in the Chauskhe region, not far from modern Mandalay, and then settled in other lands, which they gave their name to. The earlier Mons were the first to grow rice and pulses in Myanmar. The Burmese adopted from them the technique of artificial irrigation, vital for Pagan. The foundations of the Hindu-Buddhist culture, including writing, were also adopted from the Mons. The Pyu state Shrikshetra collapsed under the onslaught of Nanzhao, the Thai state in Yunnan, just before the arrival of the Burmese, while the Pyu people themselves gradually lost their identity and were assimilated. The Mon states of Lower Burma were conquered by King Anorate (r. 1044-1077), the founder of Pagan. This led to an increase in Mon cultural influence in Pagan, where Hinayana Buddhism was the state religion. Pali became the canonical language, replacing Sanskrit. In essence, Pagan Buddhism was the same combination of Buddhism, Hinduism and local cults as in other places, but the official religion was Hinayana, which gradually took the leading position with the help of royal power.
Mon influence. Mon influence in Pagan becomes predominant under King Chanzit (r. 1084-1112). Under him, the temple of Ananda was built, the first and perhaps the most beautiful of the religious buildings. Unlike Angkor, then Bagan was not the center of an extensive irrigation network. Before the end of Pagan's prosperity, which, as in the case of Angkor, fell in the first half of the 13th century, a change of cultures was observed, accompanied by a change in the language of inscriptions from Mon to Burmese. Much more important, however, were the shifts in local Buddhism that took place as a result of the development of ties with Ceylon (Sri Lanka). New trends were brought by Mon pilgrims who visited this island at the end of the 12th century. They culminated in a movement to purify the Hinayana according to the orthodox teaching, which preached personal salvation through poverty, meditation, total detachment. Missionary monks spread this doctrine throughout the country and far beyond its borders.
SOUTH-EAST ASIA AFTER THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
The thirteenth century proved to be an important turning point in the history of the region. In Angkor and Pagan, the construction of huge temples ceased, and Hinayana Buddhism took over the minds of the people who inhabited the vassal possessions of these two centers. He was destined to gain a foothold on the religious map of the mainland of Southeast Asia. There were also major political changes. The maritime power of Srivijaya disappeared, although the available data do not give a clear picture of how this happened. After the conquest of China by Kublai Khan, the Mongols invaded Burma, Vietnam, Tyampa, and even penetrated Java. Pagan collapsed in 1287, even before the invasion of the Mongols, the same happened with the East Javanese state of Singasari in 1293.
Thai conquests. By the end of the 13th century. outside the islands, the Thai peoples come to the fore. The Shans, one of them, sought to establish control over Upper Burma, and the state of Sukhothai, founded by King Ramkhamhaeng (r. 1283-1317), subjugated the Mon-Khmer tribes inhabiting the western outskirts of Angkor Cambodia and adopted the Hinayana. Thai expansion decisively changed the balance of power in the region. In 1350, Ayutthaya was founded, which marked the beginning of modern Thailand, and already in 1378 she conquered Sukhothai. Three years later, the state of Lan Xang arose in the middle and upper reaches of the Mekong. After 1350, under the pressure of the Thai tribes, the Khmer state quickly disintegrated. In 1431 they ravaged Angkor Thom, which as a result ceased to be the capital the following year. The Khmers moved the capital to the south, to Phnom Penh, but their state did not manage to revive its former power. In 1471, the Vietnamese captured Thiampa, and its Hindu-Buddhist culture gradually disappeared as the Vietnamese penetrated further south, into the Mekong Delta.

Burmese and Mon states. In Burma, the struggle between the Burmese and Thai tribes continued until the middle of the 16th century. and ended with a decisive victory for the Burmese. During this confrontation, Burmese culture took a big step forward. Ava, founded in 1364, became its center. To the south, the settled Mons, who gained freedom after the fall of Pagan, created their independent state of Pegu, which existed until 1539. Its capital was the city of the same name, and the ports of Syriam, Martaban and Bassein became centers of international trade. Pegu made an important contribution to the development of Burmese Buddhism through the extensive reforms carried out by the Mon king Dammazedi (1472-1492). Once again, Ceylon was the initiator of change. In 1472 the king sent a mission of monks and novices to the island to the Mahavihara monastery on the Kelani river. Upon their return, they consecrated the ordination center in Pegu, where all the monks were invited to undergo the rite in accordance with the Sri Lankan Hinayana rules. Dissent among the monks was strongly condemned, and orthodoxy was enforced everywhere.
Indonesia: sunset of Singasari and rise of Majapahit. The state of Singasari in East Java, which collapsed on the eve of the Mongol invasion in 1293, completed the process of religious unification. Kertanagara (r. 1268-1292), one of the most controversial figures in Indonesian history, introduced the cult of Shiva-Buddha, a mixture of local magic and Tantrism, which developed the demonic aspects of the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time). For this cult, his followers held secret vigils. The purpose of the obscene rituals was to give the king the necessary magical abilities to fight the demonic forces threatening the kingdom: an internal schism and an external threat. Kertanagara tried to create under his leadership a confederation of the Indonesian islands to organize a rebuff to the Mongol invasion, the threat of which turned out to be real for Southeast Asia after the aggressive campaigns launched by Kublai Khan in 1264. The challenge thrown by Kertanagara did not go unanswered, and in 1293 the Mongol armada was sent against him. But even before her invasion of Java, one of the vassals of Kertanagara rebelled, who captured the capital, and killed the king himself when he, together with a group of close associates, performed secret tantric rituals. The confederation, or "holy alliance" as it was called, broke up. But the Mongol army, having defeated the forces of the usurper after its landing on the island, fell into the trap set by the direct heir of Kertanagara, Prince Vijaya, and was able to avoid defeat only by abandoning the intended goal and returning to their homeland. After that, Vijaya was crowned under the name of King Kertarajas. Under Kertarajas, whose policy was a continuation of the expansionist line of Kertanagara, Majapahit became the new capital of the East Javanese kingdom. However, for many years the state was torn apart by civil strife. Majapahit owes its rise to the talent of the chief minister, Gaja Mada, who held this post from 1330 until the end of his life in 1364. Scholars disagree about how far Majapahit's conquests extended beyond Java. His power was undoubtedly recognized by the neighboring islands of Madura and Bali, but it is unlikely that Majapahit's possessions extended to the entire territory that in the first half of the 20th century. constituted the Netherlands Indies. The decline of the kingdom began shortly before the end of the 14th century, although in the next century it still retains its dominant position in Java. However, with the strengthening of the Islamic Sultanate on the Malay Peninsula and the penetration of Islam into the northern regions of Java, the territory of Majapahit decreased. In the end, the state disappeared from the political arena in the first half of the 16th century, and its history in the 15th century. so vague that it gave rise to a lot of guesses about the reasons for the death of the state.
Monuments of Majapahit. While the reliefs on buildings in Central Java are realistic, in reliefs in East Java, heroes and their servants are depicted in the bizarre form of puppets of the "wayang" theater, as if belonging to the world of ancestral spirits. Most of Java's monuments are known as "chandi". This name, applied to temple-sanctuaries related to the dead, is derived from one of the names of the Hindu goddess of death, Durga. In Javanese folk tradition, however, these temples have taken on a slightly different meaning. They were Hindu-Buddhist only in outward appearance, and they were seen more as places of spirit release and resurrection, which clearly goes back to the local ancestor cult.
Bali. The conquest of Bali by Chief Minister Gaja Mada was a major milestone in the cultural life of the island. For hundreds of years, there was a form of Hindu-Buddhist culture, which later became completely Javanese. Among other things, Old Javanese literature had a strong influence on Balinese literature, into which it was incorporated. At present, it is Bali that remains the repository of Javanese literary works of the Hindu-Buddhist period, since in Java itself much of the historical heritage was lost as a result of subsequent Islamization.
Spread of Islam in Malaya and Indonesia. At the end of the 13th century in Southeast Asia, the results of the activities of Islamic preachers began to be felt. Marco Polo, who visited the Sumatran port of Perelak in 1292, noted that its population had already been converted to the religion of the Prophet. Under the influence of North Sumatra, the monarch of Malacca converted to Islam, with the strengthening of its power in the 15th century. Islam was adopted by the Malacca vassals in the mainland and in Sumatra. Trade relations of Malacca contributed to the penetration of Islam into the northern ports of Java and Brunei, on Kalimantan, whose rulers joined the ranks of supporters of the new faith. Just before the conquest of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511, the rulers of the Spice Islands (Moluccas) followed suit. By the end of the 16th century Most of the Indonesian rulers were already adherents of Islam, but in East Java the struggle between the defenders of the old faith in the old state of Pajajaran and the Muslim elite of the new state of Mataram continued into the 17th century. Bali has withstood all attempts at conversion and has retained its Hindu-Buddhist culture to the present day. However, the adoption of Islam by the rulers did not mean the extension of this process to their subjects. The situation that was observed in former times, when Hinduism and Buddhism were introduced at the royal courts, was repeated with Islam. The adoption of Islam did not violate the integrity of the cultural history of Indonesia. Social relations were still determined by local "adat" (customary law). There were no mass conversions, there was no break in cultural life either. It's just that the Indonesian and Malay civilizations absorbed elements of Islam for centuries, just as they absorbed elements of Hinduism and Buddhism earlier, and later - the beginnings of Western culture.

Spread of Hinayana Buddhism in Mainland Southeast Asia. In this territory, where the Hinayana occupied a leading position, in particular in Arakan, Burma, Siam (Thailand), Cambodia, Laos, a long process of interaction of cultures was also taking place. At the same time, their early traditional forms of religion showed amazing vitality, and Buddhism - a magnificent spirit of tolerance. It is noteworthy that neither Islam nor Christianity left a noticeable mark on the peoples who professed the Hinayana. The most peculiar feature of this process of acculturation is not just a tolerant attitude towards animism, but actually its inclusion in Buddhist mythology. Pagoda festivals and national celebrations are excellent examples of this. Among these are the New Year (tinjan or Water Festival) in April, the First Furrow ceremony in May, the Festival of Lights (tarinjut), usually in October, and the Swing Festival, celebrated in December or January, at harvest time. The New Year's Water Festival in these Buddhist countries marks the annual return of the king of spirits (the Burmese "Taja Min", the Tai "Phra In") to Earth, and the very moment of this return is determined by the Brahmins. Young boys and girls solemnly sprinkle water on the images of the Buddha. The Festival of Lights, which marks the end of the Buddhist Lent (and the monsoon season), is an even greater amalgam of Buddhism, Animism, and remnants of Hinduism. At this time, ritual meals are organized for the monks, who are given new robes. Buildings are decorated with illuminations and fireworks are arranged. In Burma, the process of mixing beliefs took on an extreme form of celebration in the context of the legend of how Gautama Buddha ascended into the land of spirits in order to explain to his mother, who became their queen, the commandments of the teaching he created. Orthodox Hinayana is essentially an atheistic doctrine that denies the existence of the spirit world. Nevertheless, in all the Hinayana-dominated countries of Southeast Asia, every phase of a person's life, from birth to death, from plowing to harvesting, is accompanied by rites of propitiation for the spirits. Everywhere there are numerous cult objects, where fresh offerings come. On the territory of the Shwezigon stupa, in Pagan, famous for its Buddhist relics, there are temples of the Thirty-seven nats (spirits), which testify to their respect for shrines.
Socio-economic conditions of the Hindu-Buddhist civilization. Information about the socio-economic conditions of life during the existence of the Hindu-Buddhist civilization is extremely fragmentary. This is due to the fact that only buildings made of brick and stone have survived to this day, while all dwellings, starting with the royal ones, built of wood, have long disappeared from the face of the earth. Inscriptions, a valuable potential source for the study of social relations, have not been studied enough. The latest methods of archaeological excavation and aerial photography can greatly help specialists, but so far the only successful attempt to analyze the economic system that gave rise to the boom in temple building has been undertaken by Bernard P. Groslier in Angkor. He described the city in detail as the center of a powerful system of reservoirs and canals, which provided constant irrigation and intensive cultivation of vast rice fields, but at the same time required a strictly centralized management of the life of a close-knit community. The Khmer created a government apparatus to suit their own needs, but the administrative structures of all the other leading states in the region were also based on the cult of water and fertility. Thus, the god-king among the Khmers, Chams, Burmese, Mons or Indonesians performed almost the same function everywhere, and their cities were most closely connected with the areas of irrigated rice cultivation. Even Pagan, located in the arid zone of Burma, owed its existence to the Chaushe irrigation network and was so located on the Ayeyarwaddy River to control the irrigation facilities downstream. Its fall at the end of the 13th century. was mainly due to the loss of control over Chauskh, and the fall of Angkor in the 15th century. was due to the destruction of its waterworks during the Siamese invasions. Cities did not turn, however, into purely urban settlements. Aerial photographs show that Angkor was cut by channels and included cultivated land. It was a real garden city, in the center of which stood the palace city, the administrative heart of the country. A special quarter was assigned to merchants, and representatives of various countries had their own farmsteads. Around the city, along the banks of canals and rivers, there are villages, fields and plantations of fruit trees.
Local varieties of culture in Southeast Asia. Throughout their early history, the various peoples of Southeast Asia developed highly individually. This is especially clearly visible in the designs of fabrics, for example, on batiks - both made in Malaya and imported from India. The importer had to have an excellent idea of ​​the specific needs of the population of different areas, since what sold well in one of them might not be in demand in another. In all countries of the region, clothing consisted of the same elements: a long piece of cloth was wrapped around the hips, a shorter one was thrown over the shoulder, and a third was tied around the head. But between the Burmese "loungi", the Khmer "kampot", the Thai "panung" and the Malay or Indonesian "sarong", there were noticeable differences in patterns and style of wearing. The same applies to other types of costume. The official attire worn at the courts of the Burmese Ava and the Siamese Ayutthaya differed greatly from each other. Everything that came from abroad was quickly absorbed by the local culture. Thus, for example, the shadow theater borrowed from India merged with the Javanese puppet theater and acquired a completely distinct Javanese character. The Pali Jataka stories of Buddha's reincarnations, common in Burmese prose and drama, were completely Burmanized. The motifs of the Sanskrit epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata were used everywhere: in the shadow theater, national literatures, other forms of art, in each case, however, acquiring a local flavor and local interpretation. Similarly, traditional musical ensembles, called "gamelan" in Java, and related forms of dance and singing, were widespread throughout Southeast Asia, but had significant local characteristics.
LITERATURE
Hall D. History of Southeast Asia. M., 1958 Peoples of Southeast Asia. M., 1966 Bartold V.V. Works, vol. 6. M., 1966 History of Asia and Africa in the Middle Ages. M., 1968 Tatar-Mongols in Asia and Europe. M., 1970 Southeast Asia in world history. M., 1977 Southeast Asia: problems of regional community. M., 1977 Shpazhnikov S.A. Religion in Southeast Asia. M., 1980 Berzin E.O. Southeast Asia in the 13th-16th centuries M., 1982

Collier Encyclopedia. - Open society. 2000 .