|
The civilization in the
Indian Subcontinent had
been highly developed
since ancient time. When
trades became flourished
between the East and the
West, the Indian traders
sailed to this region to
establish Indian trading
posts in order to
collect goods and
products during the off
monsoon season. These
traders brought with
them their civilization,
cultures, philosophy and
religions, which were
mostly appreciated and
adopted by the less
developed indigenous
people.
The Indian post was
somewhat unlike the
"colony" during the
colonial period, as it
was rarely meant to
involve in politics of
the native land. The
Indians were concerned
mainly in trading and in
collecting goods from
the local to sell in
distant lands.
The excavation at Eo Oc,
a Funanese main port
lying in South Vietnam
today, revealed that the
region was one of the
prominent transitory
points between the West
and the East, and the
trading connection
between the two distant
continents was well
established. The
unearthed artifacts at
Eo Oc disclosed those
goods originated from as
far as the Roman Empire
in the West and the
Chinese civilization in
the Far East.
During those days, the
indigenous people were
far less civilized than
the Indian travelers and
it was not surprising to
find that they accepted
many aspects from their
foreign folks by which
they deemed to be better
and beneficial. One of
these aspects were the
religious and cultural
elements of the Indian
civilization. The
natives adopted Hinduism
as their religion and
its gods Shiva and
Vishnu were revered as
their supreme gods. It
was also found that the
Brahmins, a learned
caste of India, were
invited into the royal
courts to help in
administration during
the Funan period (1st
century - 613 A.D) which
was a predecessor of the
Khmer civilization. In
addition to the
religious belief, the
natives also learned the
engineering skills such
as the irrigation system
as well as stone carving
from the Indian
Brahmins.
The extensive activities
of Indian trading in the
region seem to have
ceased after the fall of
the Roman Empire in 5th
century, however, its
relics were passed on to
the next generations.
When the Khmer
civilization evolved in
early 9th century, the
Khmer inherited several
elements from its
predecessor as well as
those from the Indian
civilization. Its first
king Jayavarman II
crowned himself as a
deva-raja or "god-king"
in 802 A.D, and his
regime was more or less
a replica of the
successful Indian
monarchy. Numerous
impressive temples and
monuments were built
throughout the empire in
successive centuries in
order to praise the
Hindu gods. These
monuments are
collectively known to us
as the Angkor Temples
(or Khmer temples), and
the most famous ones are
the Angkor Wat and the
Angkor Thom (Bayon),
both of which resided on
the vast plain of
Siemreap in Cambodia.
The process through
which the Indian
civilization had
asserted a great
influence upon another
civilization was termed
by the historians as
"Indianization".
However, the Khmer had
never been fully
Indianized as the term
suggested. Although the
Khmer adopted many
aspects of Indian
cultural and religious
elements, the way of
Indian life did not
penetrate deeply into
the root of Khmer
civilization which was
consisted of the laymen
who still maintained
their own way of
life-style. |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment