Ancient Southeast Asia

Article filed by Anup Mukherjee on Thu 18th Nov 2004. Print Version
Category: Civilisation 1114 words, 4 images 5:34 min. to read

Ancient Southeast Asia
© Anup Mukherjee i3pep.org

A version of this essay was published in the Encyclopedia of World Environmental History (Routledge)

The present countries of Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Philippines form South East Asia. In geographical terms, the South East Asia is the region that stretches from the eastern ridges of the Himalayas to the chain of islands and archipelagos that exist to the southeast of the continent. The region exists between 28° N and 10° S of the equator. Part of the region is on mainland Asia while the rest exists on islands that are usually small with exception of some bigger ones like Borneo, New Guinea etc. The region that lies on the mainland Asia has a tropical climate with seasonal monsoon during the rainy season. The other parts that mostly lie on the equatorial climate zone that is hot, humid and wet. In this equatorial region though there are no monsoons per se in this region, there are distinct rainy and dry seasons

The region is interspersed with river valleys, lakes, mountains, islands and seacoasts. Such a habitation has given a distinctive way of life to the people and communities residing in this region. As the region is hot and humid it was ideal for wet rice cultivation. This resulted in concentration of population in the plains and river valleys where the rice cultivation was practiced. This also led to emergence of social stratification in the communities. The easy navigation through the seas led to development of contacts with the external world. It led to trade and introduction of cultures and religion from outside. Trade was an impetus, particularly because these lands also produced spices. This led to wealth creation and was important for emergence of large political societies in form of kingdoms.

Ancient times in Southeast Asia can be seen in the perspective of the movement of the people into this region, development of kingdoms and empires, shift from animism and adaptation of the cultural elements like religion from outside; and also adaptation of local materials for construction of magnificent temples and pagodas.

People:
The early population belonged to various tribes and there were scattered centres of cultures with diverse linguistic patterns. These were mostly animistic and believed in totemism. The most important occupation was related to agriculture, fishing, hunting, animal husbandry, and collection of forest products for the market. Forest products were important aspect of the economy, because of the presence of rich rainforests in the region.

In Malaysia the oldest known human habitation have been found from the Niah caves of Sarawak that dates back to 35,000 BCE. Other archaeological remains also exist in form of stone tools and implements. By 2500 BCE, the group of Proto-Malays migrated from China to this area. Later on another ethnic group emerged, the Deutero-Malays, which had mastery over iron technology. In northern Thailand, the earliest known communities are the Ban-Chiang that is dated to 3,000 BCE. In Burma the earliest known people were the Mons who came from the central Asian region and settled along the Thanlwin and Sittoung rivers during the period before the Christian Era. Later, the Pyu came from Tibet and then the Bamars who settled along the Irrawaddy.

Polity:
The Indo-Chinese peninsula was known as the Suvarna-bhumi and Suvarna-dvipa. It was a place of that produced spices, gold and minerals. The kingdom in Annam was called Champa, the ruins of which are found at Trakieu. The people were accordingly called Cham. Influence of Hinduism led to formation of empires like the Sri-Vijaya, Malayu, Mataram, and Majapahit in Indonesia. Sumatra was the centre of kingdom of Sri-Vijaya (Palembang) founded in fourth century CE. An inscription from Ligor in Malay Peninsula of 775 CE refers to the power of Sri-Vijaya upto the Bay of Bandon. Burma saw the emergence of Pyu kingdoms (100BC- 840 CE) and Bagan kingdom (849-1287 CE) Thailand went through different phases. Political origins of Thai people can be traced back to China during 650 BCE. Later on its southern area formed part of Kambuja. Its main development was the formation of Sukhothai kingdom during 1238 CE. in central Thailand. It was later eclipsed by kingdom of Ayutthaya.

Religion and Monuments:
The local resources and the raw materials were transformed into the material aspects of culture. Hindu and Buddhist temples were constructed where these influences became strong. The art and architecture of the South East Asia was greatly influenced from India.

In Myanmar, excavations at Prome, Pegu and Pagan have revealed ancient artefacts. Prome is the site of old stupas and temples. During the early Christian era, Mahayana Buddhism was followed. Inscriptions from Prome have also revealed Sanskrit along side the old Pyu language. The ancient Burmese temples and pagodas were influenced in its style of sculpture, terracotta and architecture from the Bengal region and the alluvial plains of north India. Here, the finest example of architecture is the Ananda temple, which is a Buddhist temple built by Kyanzittha.

In Java, these structure go by the name Chandi, and most of them being temples built in uniform pattern. At Barabudur, there is a Siva temple named Chandi Banon. The Lara-Jongrang is group of Brahmanical temples. Among the Buddhist temples of Java, the most magnificent is the temple at Barabudur constructed during 750-850 CE under the patronage of Sailendra rulers.

At Kambuja is the famous Vishnu temple of Angkor Vat. There are also many temple complexes at Angkor Thom, the capital city built by Jaya Varman VII. There are important group of temples at Champa viz. Dong Duong, Po-nagar, Myson- the last two being Saivite.

Conclusions:
We thus find that the emergence of civilisation in Southeast Asia during the ancient period was influenced by the physical and environmental factors. These areas of habitation emerged in the regions of river plains and the delta regions. These meant agriculture and trade. Myanmar had the Irrawady, while in Thailand it was the habitation around the Chao Phraya River. And the Mekong River fed the Indo-China region. At the same time, mountains were important as they also formed places of habitation of the primitive tribes. Thus we find a symbiotic relation between the habitations, pattern of subsistence, material culture, trade, and religion that were symbiotically related to the environmental factors.