Episode 32: Southeast Asia – Indian and Islamic Influences

Foundations of Eastern Civilization

Dr Craig Benjamin (2013)

Film Review

According to Benjamin, Buddhism, Islam and other aspects of Indian culture reached Southeast Asia via the “Maritime Silk Road.” Buddhism first reached the islands of Java and Sumatra between 100 and 200 BC, traveling on to the smaller Southeast Asian Islands and Indonesia.

Soon Malayan, Cambodia and Vietnam came to be ruled by Indian-style kings who called themselves “raja” and used Sanskrit for official documents. Many of these rulers converted to either Buddhism or Hinduism, though they refused to adopt the Hindu caste system.

Funan, a prosperous former state centered in Vietnam’s Mekong River Valley, was the first Southeast Asian kingom to enthusiastically embrace Hinduism and Indian culture. Funan controlled the isthmus of Kra (on the Malay Peninsula), which meant they controlled all the sea trade to more eastern states.

During the 6th century AD, Cham and Khmer invaded Funan, establishing the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya in the 11th century. This powerful state controlled all Southeast Asian sea trade 400 years, when they were invaded and occupied by the South Indian Chola Empire.

Following the collapse of Srivijaya, Angkor, Singsari and Maja dominated Southeast Asian trade until the 16th century.

The Khmer state of Angkor (889 -1231 AD), the most prominent, initially adopted the prevailing Hindu religion. However in the 12th and 13th century, it became Buddhist and built phenomenal temples currently listed as UNESCO heritage sites. In 1231, it was invaded by the Thai, the temples abandoned and overgrown.

The collapse of Srivijaya also coincided with by major Muslim missionary activity (facilitated by an  influx of Muslim trade) in Southeast Asia.** Mass Muslim conversions started on the north coast of Sumatra, and spread first to Malaya, then to Java and the Celebes Island and eventually to Mindanao in the Philippines.

Muslim in Southeast Asia differed significantly from other areas of Asia, in that women enjoyed more equality in the family and in public. Historically many prominent Southeast Asian traders were women, and inheritance passed through the female line.

*By the 8th century, the Muslim Abbasid Caliphate was equal in size to the Tang Empire (at the time the two largest empires in Eurasia).

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