Dvaravati, Si Thep, and Wendan.
The aim of this article is to better define the historical position of Wendan (Land Zhenla), an 8th-century kingdom known from Chinese sources, which had a capital in northeastern Thailand. The material evidence from Thailand, primarily in the form of Buddhist boundary stones, will not yield a coherent story until it is studied more deeply, with careful attention to issues of chronology. Architectural ruins in the Angkor region show that temple building (in contrast to what some have previously thought) fell off dramatically in about the second quarter of the 8th century, consistent with the hypothesis that the area fell under the domination of Wendan. For evidence that Angkor-region craftsmen were taken north by Wendan, it is necessary to look at sculpture and monumental remains taken from or remaining in Si Thep, a city likely to have stood west of Wendan’s political center. Evidence from the Delta region (“Water Zhenla”), finally, dating from the second half of the 8th century, reveals contact with Si Thep in this period and also indicates that at least some of the craftsmen who worked on Mt. Kulen (probably beginning prior to Jayavarman II’s coronation in 802) were likely to have been brought from this region.
Arts of Ancient Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea
Once a strategic trading post that channeled the flow of riches and ideas among countries situated along the South China Sea and places as far away as India and Rome, Viet Nam has a fascinating history and an artistic heritage to match it. This lavishly produced catalogue will help introduce English-speaking audiences to Viet Nam's amazing body of artwork, ranging from the first millennium B.C. to the 18th century. The authors begin by discussing, for example, the elegant burial jars, iron axes, bronze artifacts, and jewelry of the early Sa Huynh culture; the bronze ritual drums of the Dong Son; and the jeweled gold pieces, excavated from the walled center of Oc Eo in the kingdom of Fu Nan. New scholarship investigates the trade in gold and Chinese ceramics between Cham and the Philippine kingdom of Butuan. The final section is devoted to art from Hoi An, once a major international port. Of note are the ceramic wares produced in northern and central Viet Nam from the 16th to 18th century.
The Śaiva Religion among the Khmers (Part I)
Alexis SandersonLa religion civaite chez les Khmers (1re partie) Des trois religions d'origine indienne - civaisme, vishnouisme pāncarātrika et bouddhisme mahāyāna - qui ont prospere au sein des elites dirigeantes et sacerdotales des Khmers jusqu'au XIVe siecle, le civaisme fut predominant. En attestent la « civaisation » du territoire operee par la creation d'un grand nombre de Śiva locaux portant les noms de prototypes indiens - un phenomene que l'on n'observe pas dans les deux autres traditions-, le role du Śiva Bhadreśvara de Vat Phu comme divinite nationale et protecteur du monarque, les marques de l'institutionnalisation du civaisme comme religion d'Etat ainsi que les traces des incursions civaites dans le vishnouisme et le bouddhisme khmers.Le civaisme indien n'etait ni statique, ni homogene, et le civaisme khmer reflete au moins partiellement cette diversite et cette evolution. Des inscriptions du VIIe siecle attestent la presence de civaites pācupata de l'Atimārga, et nous constatons, quand les temoignages epigraphiques reapparaissent, du IXe au XIVe siecle, qu'ils ont cede la place a des civaites du Mantramārga suivant les systemes rituels Saiddhāntika et Varna. Les temoignages de la presence chez les Khmers de toutes ces traditions, ainsi que de celle duŚivadharma des laics, seront examines dans la seconde partie de cette etude. Mais les differences entre l'Atimārga et le Mantramārga portent sur des details techniques de la pratique des inities officiant dans les nombreux sites civaites des Khmers. Elles n'ont laisse aucune trace dans les aspects publics de la religion que donne a voir la gamme iconographique des formes de Śiva et des divinites secondaires dans les temples civaites. Ce programme iconographique, qui concerne les laics plutot que la communaute des inities, n'avait de place ni dans l'Atimārga ni dans le Mantramārga. Il a sa propre histoire, qu'aucun des deux systemes ne chercha a modifier. La richesse des temoignages iconographiques et epigraphiques khmers est, en ce domaine comme en d'autres, tres instructive non seulement pour qui etudie les cultures d'origine indienne hors de l'Inde, mais aussi pour qui cherche a elucider l'histoire des religions en Inde meme.