1 Aung-Thwin, Michael, ‘Continuing, re-emerging, and emerging trends in the field of Southeast Asian history’, TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 1, 1 (2013): 98 Google Scholar.

2 Ibid.

3 A strong advocate of ‘sectarian affiliations’ is Piriya Krairiksh who has recently attempted to trace art styles in Thailand in such a manner. His arguments, however, are confusing and problematic in many cases; see Revire, Nicolas, ‘Book review of The roots of Thai art, by Piriya Krairiksh (English trans. by Narisa Chakrabongse), Bangkok, River Books, 2012’, Journal of the Siam Society 101 (2013): 233–42Google Scholar.

4 I am thinking here of the ‘Dong Son’ bronze drum tradition as evidence for early regional interaction and exchanges in Southeast Asia spanning up to 25 centuries. For a recent study, see Calò, Ambra, The distribution of bronze drums in early Southeast Asia: Trade routes and cultural spheres (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2009)Google Scholar. See also Ferlus, Michel, ‘Linguistic evidence of the trans-peninsular trade route from North Vietnam to the Gulf of Thailand (3rd–8th centuries)’, Mon-Khmer Studies 41 (2012): 10–19 Google Scholar.

5 See Before Siam: Essays in art and archaeology, ed. Revire, Nicolas and Murphy, Stephen A. (Bangkok: River Books; Siam Society, 2014)Google Scholar.

6 Bronkhorst, Johannes, Buddhism in the shadow of Brahmanism (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 99–113 Google Scholar. It should be borne in mind that Śiva and Viṣṇu, as well as Harihara, are distinctly Hindu devotional gods appearing when bhakti was in the ascendancy and are not known in the early Vedic literature as they are in later Hinduism.

7 See, for example, Cœdès, George, The Indianized states of Southeast Asia (Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1968), p. 76 Google Scholar, and Hall, Kenneth R., Maritime trade and state development in early Southeast Asia (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1985), p. 60 Google Scholar.

8 For recent discussions on Dvāravatī sources, see Skilling, Peter, ‘Dvāravatī: Recent revelations and research’, in Dedications to Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra on her 80th birthday, ed. Baker, Chris (Bangkok: Siam Society, 2003), pp. 87–112 Google Scholar, and Jacques, Claude, ‘Dvāravatī, un royaume sans histoire’, in Dvāravatī: aux sources du bouddhisme en Thaïlande, ed. Baptiste, Pierre and Zéphir, Thierry (Paris: Musée Guimet, 2009), pp. 27–9Google Scholar.

9 See Quaritch Wales, H.G., Dvāravatī: The earliest kingdom of Siam (6th to 11th century A.D.) (London: B. Quaritch, 1969)Google Scholar, and Vallibhotama, Srisakra, ‘Political and cultural continuities at Dvaravati sites’, in Southeast Asia in the 9th–14th centuries, ed. Marr, David G. and Milner, Anthony C. (Singapore: ISEAS, 1986), pp. 229–38Google Scholar.

10 Trongjai Hutangkura, ‘Reconsidering the palaeo-shoreline in the lower central plain of Thailand’, in Revire and Murphy, Before Siam, pp. 57–64, fig. 17.

11 See Vickery, Michael, Society, economics, and politics in pre-Angkor Cambodia: The 7th–8th centuries (Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco; Toyo Bunko, 1998), p. 43 Google Scholar; also Vickery, , ‘Where and what was Chenla?’, in Recherches nouvelles sur le Cambodge, ed. Bizot, François (Paris: EFEO, 1994), pp. 197–212 Google Scholar.

12 See Cœdès, George, ‘Études cambodgiennes XVIII: L'extension du Cambodge vers le sud-ouest au VII^e siècle (nouvelles inscriptions de Chantaboun)’, Bulletin de l’École française d'Extrême-Orient (BEFEO) 24, 3–4 (1924): 352–8Google Scholar, and Michel Lorrillard, ‘Pre-Angkorian communities in the middle Mekong valley (Laos and adjacent areas)’, in Revire and Murphy, Before Siam, pp. 186–215. See also Higham, this vol.

13 For a recent attempt, see Antelme, Michel, ‘Quelques nouvelles pistes de recherche sur l’étymologie du nom Tchen-La’, Péninsule 61, 2 (2010): 11–43 Google Scholar.

14 See Jacques, Claude, ‘“Funan”, “Zhenla”: The reality concealed by these Chinese views of Indochina’, in Early South East Asia: Essays in archaeology, history and historical geography, ed. Smith, Ralph B. and Watson, William (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 371–9Google Scholar; also William Aspell, ‘Southeast Asia in the Suishu: A translation of Memoir 47 with notes and commentary’, ARI Working Paper no. 208, Sept. 2013, www.ari.nus.edu.sg/pub/wps.htm.

15 Brown, Robert L., The Dvāravatī wheels of the law and the Indianization of South East Asia (Leiden: Brill, 1996), pp. 19–41 Google Scholar. See also Wolters, Oliver W., ‘North-western Cambodia in the seventh century’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 37, 2 (1974): 355–84Google Scholar.

16 See Dupont, Pierre, ‘Études sur l'Indochine ancienne. I. La dislocation du Tchen-la et la formation du Cambodge angkorien (VII^e–IX^e siècle)’, BEFEO 43, 1 (1943): 17–55 Google Scholar; Hoshino, Tatsuo, ‘Wen Dan and its neighbours: The central Mekong valley in the seventh and eighth centuries’, in Breaking new ground in Lao history: Essays on the seventh to twentieth centuries, ed. Ngaosrivathana, Mayoury and Breazale, Kennon (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2002), pp. 25–72 Google Scholar, and Woodward, Hiram, ‘Dvaravati, Si Thep, and Wendan’, Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 30 (2010): 87–97 Google Scholar.

17 Vickery, Society, economics, and politics, pp. 379–404; also Wolters, ‘North-western Cambodia’. For more on the Pre-Angkorian poñ rulers, see Heng, this vol.

18 See among others, Dupont, Pierre, L'archéologie mône de Dvāravatī (Paris: EFEO, 1959)Google Scholar; Cœdès, George, ‘Les Môns de Dvāravatī’, in Essays offered to G.H. Luce by his colleagues and friends in honour of his seventy-fifth birthday. Vol. I: Papers on Asian history, religion, languages, literature, music folklore, and anthropology, ed. Shin, Ba, Boisselier, Jean and Griswold, Alexander B. (Ascona: Artibus Asiae Supplementum, 23, 1966), pp. 112–16Google Scholar, and also Indrawooth, Phasook, ‘The archeology of the early Buddhist kingdoms of Thailand’, in Southeast Asia: From prehistory to history, ed. Glover, Ian and Bellwood, Peter (London: Routledge, 2004), pp. 120–48Google Scholar.

19 This paradigm very much holds true as well for Rāmaññadesa in Lower Myanmar. See Aung-Thwin, Michael, The mists of Rāmañña: The legend that was Lower Burma (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005)Google Scholar; also Revire, Nicolas, ‘Facts and fiction: The myth of Suvaṇṇabhūmi through the Thai and Burmese looking glass’, Mahachulalongkorn Journal of Buddhist Studies 4 (2011): 79–114 Google Scholar.

20 See most recently, Khunsong, Saritphong, ‘Rong roi sasana phram na mueang sun klang khong watthanatham Thawarawadi [Traces of Hinduism in a centre of Dvaravati culture]’, Silpakorn Journal 56, 4 (2013): 56–67 Google Scholar.

21 For a review of these arguments and their authors, see Brown, The Dvāravatī wheels, pp. 56–7.

22 See Baptiste and Zéphir, Dvāravatī, and Fine Arts Department (FAD), Sinlapa Thawarawadi tonkamnoet phutthasin nai Prathet Thai [Dvaravati art: The early Buddhist art of Thailand] (Bangkok: FAD, 2009)Google Scholar.

23 See Lost kingdoms: Hindu–Buddhist sculpture of early Southeast Asia, ed. Guy, John (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014), p. 19 Google Scholar. The only essay of this catalogue which does a little justice to the role of Brahmanism in Dvāravatī art is that of Pattaratorn Chirapravati, ‘The transformation of Brahmanical and Buddhist imagery in central Thailand, 600–800’, pp. 221–4.

24 On the problem of terminology between ‘states’, maṇḍalas, etc., see Wolters, Oliver W., History, culture, and region in Southeast Asian perspectives, rev. ed. (Ithaca: Cornell University; Singapore: ISEAS, 1999), pp. 23–5, 27–40, 107–8, 126–9Google Scholar.

25 See Oliver W. Wolters, ‘Khmer “Hinduism” in the seventh century’, in Smith and Watson, Early South East Asia, pp. 427–42; Sanderson, Alexis, ‘The Śaiva religion among the Khmers, part I’, BEFEO 90–91 (2003–04): 349–462 Google Scholar; and Lavy, Paul, ‘As in heaven, so on earth: The politics of Viṣṇu, Śiva and Harihara images in Preangkorian Khmer civilisation’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 34, 1 (2003): 21–39 Google Scholar.

26 Srisakra, ‘Political and cultural continuities at Dvaravati sites’.

27 See Baptiste and Zéphir, Dvāravatī, p. 192, fig. 1, and also Lavy, Paul and Clarke, Wesley, ‘Integrating the Phong Tuek Viṣṇu: The archaeology and art history of a forgotten image’, Journal of the Siam Society 103 (2015): 19–62 Google Scholar.

28 On Mueang Si Mahosot (also known as Dong Si Maha Phot) and the ‘eastern interface area’, see Brown, The Dvāravatī wheels, pp. 55–61. The Khao Rang inscription (K.505), dated 561 śaka (639 CE) and found near the Thai–Cambodian border in Sa Kaeo province, commemorates gifts to a Buddhist vihāra; see Cœdès, Inscriptions du Cambodge (Paris: EFEO, 1937–66), vol. V, pp. 23–4. For evidence from Cambodia proper, see for example, Cœdès, George, ‘La stèle de Tép Praṇaṃ (Cambodge)’, Journal Asiatique (Series 10) 11 (1908): 207 Google Scholar; Li-Kouang, Lin, ‘Puṇyodaya (Na-t'i), un propagateur du tantrisme en Chine et au Cambodge à l’époque de Huian-Tsang’, Journal Asiatique 227 (1935): 83–100 Google Scholar; Dupont, Pierre, La statuaire préangkorienne (Ascona: Artibus Asiae, 1955), pp. 189–210 Google Scholar; Dowling, Nancy, ‘New light on early Cambodian Buddhism’, Journal of the Siam Society 88, 1–2 (2000): 122–55Google Scholar; and also Woodward, Hiram, ‘Bronze sculptures of ancient Cambodia’, in Gods of Angkor: Bronzes from the National Museum of Cambodia, ed. Cort, Louise A. and Jett, Paul (Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2010), pp. 36–44 Google Scholar, figs. 8–15.

29 Michel Lorrillard, ‘Early Buddhism in Laos: Insights from archeology’, paper presented at the Chulalongkorn–EFEO International Conference on Buddhist Studies, Bangkok, 6–7 Jan. 2012; see also Lorrillard, ‘Pre-Angkorian communities’, pp. 211–12.

30 For the Mekong Delta, see the recent summary by Le Thi Lien, ‘Hindu–Buddhist sculpture in southern Vietnam: Evolution of icons and styles to the eighth century’, in Guy, Lost kingdoms, pp. 118–21.

31 To date, the most sustained and direct argument relating to an early ‘pan Southeast Asian style’, supposedly preceding appreciable ‘localisation’, is seen in Brown, Robert L., ‘Indian art transformed: The earliest sculptural styles of Southeast Asia’, in Indian art and archaeology, ed. Raven, Ellen M. and Van Kooij, Karel R. (Leiden: Brill, 1992), pp. 40–53 Google Scholar.

32 This statement could well be extended to Vaiṣṇava art, as well as to maritime Southeast Asia, which shows in many instances strong artistic affinities and a common vocabulary with mainland Southeast Asia. See Manguin, Pierre-Yves, ‘Pan-regional responses to South Asian inputs in early Southeast Asia’, in 50 years of archaeology in Southeast Asia: Essays in honour of Ian Glover, ed. Bellina, Bérenice et al. (Bangkok: River Books, 2010), pp. 171–81Google Scholar.

33 Cœdès, Inscriptions du Cambodge, vol. III, pp. 164–9 and vol. VI, pp. 132–9. I wish to thank Grégory Mikaelian and Éric Bourdonneau for their assistance in re-reading these two inscriptions.

34 In the face of these Khmer epigraphic sources, it seems more likely that the early landscape of mainland Southeast Asia knew more than one Dvāravatī. For the sake of completeness, I should also add that Thandwe (Sandoway) is often equated with the classical name ‘Dvāravatī’ in early modern Rakhine/Myanmar chronicles. See Leider, Jacques, ‘The emergence of Rakhine historiography: A challenge for Myanmar historical research’, in Myanmar Historical Commission Conference Proceedings (Yangon: Myanmar Historical Commission, 2005), part 2, pp. 42–3Google Scholar.

35 This late variety of southern Brāhmī script, widely found in early Southeast Asia, is often mistakenly termed ‘Pallava script’. See Arlo Griffiths, ‘Early Indic inscriptions of Southeast Asia’, in Guy, Lost kingdoms, p. 54.

36 See Cœdès, George, ‘Découverte numismatique au Siam intéressant le royaume de Dvāravatī’, Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 107, 3 (1963): 290 Google Scholar, and Skilling, ‘Dvāravatī’, p. 95. As these two slightly different translations show, in addition to the problematic rendition of puṇya (on which see infra), the issue is whether the epithet śrī applies to the ‘lord’ or to the ‘polity’. Skilling makes a good case for the former possibility.

37 See Verma, Onkar Prasad, The Yādavas and their times (Nagpur: Vidarbha Samshodhan Mandal, 1970), p. 5 Google Scholar; also Schmiedchen, Annette, Herrschergenealogie und religiöses patronat: die inschriftenkultur der Rāṣṭrakūṭas, Śilāhāras und Yādavas (8. bis 13. Jahrhundert) (Leiden: Brill, 2014), pp. 333, 346–52, 421Google Scholar.

38 See Buddhist monastic traditions of southern Asia: A record of the Inner Law sent home from the South Seas by śramaṇa Yijing, trans. Rongxi, Li (Berkeley: Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000), pp. 12, 120Google Scholar; and Geoff Wade, ‘Beyond the southern borders: Southeast Asia in Chinese texts to the ninth century’, in Guy, Lost kingdoms, p. 27.

39 See Li Rongxi, ibid., and Beal, Samuel, trans., Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist records of the western world. Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D. 629) in two volumes (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981, repr.), vol. II, p. 200 Google Scholar.

40 For references see Skilling, ‘Dvāravatī’, p. 95. Most of these discoveries are chance finds whose exact provenance is unknown. Moreover, many medallions now circulate in private collections; see for example, Krisadaolarn, Ronachai and Mihailovs, Vasilijs, Siamese coins: From Funan to the Fifth Reign (Bangkok: River Books, 2012), pp. 49–50 Google Scholar. Recently, fakes have also been noticed.

41 Boeles, Jan J., ‘The King of Śrī Dvāravatī and his regalia’, Journal of the Siam Society 52, 1 (1964): 102 Google Scholar.

42 Kielhorn, F., ‘Samgamner copper-plate inscription of the Yadava Bhillama II: The śaka year 922’, Epigraphia Indica 2 (1894): 216 Google Scholar.

43 Verardi, Giovanni, Hardships and downfall of Buddhism in India (Singapore: ISEAS; New Delhi: Manohar, 2011), pp. 99, 107, 128–96Google Scholar. See also Bakker, Hans, ‘Royal patronage and religious tolerance: The formative period of Gupta-Vākāṭaka culture’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Series 3) 20, 4 (2010): 461–75Google Scholar, and Bisschop, Peter, ‘Śaivism in the Gupta-Vākāṭaka age’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Series 3) 20, 4 (2010): 477–88Google Scholar.

44 Dehejia, Vidya, ‘Collective and popular bases of early Buddhist patronage: Sacred monuments, 100 BC–AD 250’, in The powers of art: Patronage in Indian culture, ed. Miller, Barbara S. (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 35–45 Google Scholar.

45 Gonda, Jan, Loka: World and heaven in the Veda (Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche U.M, 1966), pp. 115–43Google Scholar.

46 Vogel, Jean Philippe, ‘The yūpa inscriptions of King Mūlavarman, from Koetei (East Borneo)’, Bijdragen tot de taal-land- en volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 74, 1–2 (1918): 214–15Google Scholar, Inscr. B and C; also de Casparis, Johannes G., ‘Some notes on the oldest inscriptions of Indonesia’, in A man of Indonesian letters: Essays in honour of Professor A. Teeuw, ed. Hellwig, C.M.S. and Robson, S.O. (Dordrecht: Foris, 1986), pp. 242–56Google Scholar.

47 Griffiths, ‘Early Indic inscriptions’, p. 53, fig. 38.

48 Chhabra, Bahadur Ch., Expansion of Indo-Aryan culture during Pallava rule, as evidenced by inscriptions (Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1936), pp. 54–6Google Scholar, pl. VII; also FAD, Charuek nai Prathet Thai [Inscriptions of Thailand] (Bangkok: National Library of Thailand; FAD, 1986), vol. I, pp. 135–8Google Scholar.

49 See sub voce in Sir Monier-Williams, Monier, A Sanskrit–English dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon, 1876)Google Scholar.

50 See Norman, Kenneth R., ‘Theravāda Buddhism and Brahmanical Hinduism: Brahmanical terms in a Buddhist guise’, in The Buddhist forum, vol. 2 seminar papers 1988–90, ed. Skorupski, Tadeusz (London: SOAS, 1992), pp. 197–8Google Scholar. For another brief discussion of the concept of puṇya/puñña, see Cousins, Lance S., ‘Good or skillful? Kusala in canon and commentary’, Journal of Buddhist Ethics 3 (1996): 153–6Google Scholar. Cousins prefers to render puṇya as ‘fortune-bringing action’ rather than ‘merit’ per se. For a recent treatment of the ideology of merit in Dvāravatī Buddhism, see Nicolas Revire, ‘Glimpses of Buddhist practices and rituals in Dvāravatī and its neighbouring cultures’, in Revire and Murphy, Before Siam, pp. 238–71, where attention is also drawn to the cognate expression kyāk puṇya in Old Mon, possibly meaning ‘holy merit’ (pp. 246–7).

51 See Praichanchit, Sayan and Duangsakun, Suphamat, ‘Lakthan lae khwam ru mai thang borannakhadi kiao kap borannasathan Khok Chang Din mueang U Thong [Interpretation of archaeological facts recently discovered at Khok Chang Din site, U Thong]’, Silpakorn Journal 41, 4 (1998): 25–35 Google Scholar; also Skilling, ‘Dvāravatī’, pp. 93–5.

52 Ratanakun, Somsak, ‘Kankhut taeng borannasathan dan thit nuea khong Khok Chang Din, amphoe U Thong, changwat Suphan Buri [Excavations of the archaeological place at the northern side of Khok Chang Din, U Thong district, Suphan Buri province]’, Silpakorn Journal 11, 2 (1967): 79, 83Google Scholar, fig. 7.

53 See FAD, Sinlapa Thawarawadi, p. 137, cat. 13; also Himanshu Prabha Ray, ‘Multi-religious maritime linkages across the Bay of Bengal during the first millennium CE’, in Revire and Murphy, Before Siam, pp. 139–41, figs. 6–7.

54 Fournereau, Lucien, Le Siam ancien : archéologie, épigraphie, géographie (Paris: E. Leroux, 1895), pp. 122–4Google Scholar.

55 I have not seen this unpublished excavation report. For more evidence of Hindu remains in Nakhon Pathom, see Saritphong, ‘Rong roi sasana phram’. A number of these artefacts may well date to the later Angkorian period, however.

56 Vickery, Society, economics, and politics, pp. 140–43; also Griffiths, Arlo, ‘La stèle d'installation de Śrī Tribhuvaneśvara: une nouvelle inscription préangkorienne du Musée national de Phnom Penh (K.1214)’, Journal Asiatique 293, 1 (2005): 21 Google Scholar.

57 See Cribb, Joe, ‘First coin of ancient Khmer kingdom discovered’, Numismatique Asiatique 6 (2013): 9–16 Google Scholar; also Epinal, Guillaume, ‘Quelques remarques relatives aux découvertes monétaires d'Angkor Borei’, Numismatique Asiatique 8 (2013): 31–43 Google Scholar.

58 Griffiths, ‘Early Indic inscriptions’, p. 56. The latter author (pers. comm.) wishes to slightly amend his reading since it may not be necessary to restitute the genitive and locative case endings in such short inscriptions found on medallions.

59 Īśānavarman means ‘protected by Īśāna’, where the Sanskrit prefix īśāna- is an old honorific name of Śiva-Rudra. See U-Tain Wongsathit Anake, ‘Sanskrit names in Cambodian inscriptions’ (Ph.D. diss., University of Pune, 2012), p. 41.

60 Lavy, ‘As in heaven, so on earth’, pp. 32–7.

61 Sanderson, ‘The Śaiva religion among the Khmers’: 403–9.

62 Wolters, History, culture, and region.

63 Lavy, ‘As in heaven, so on earth’, p. 37.

64 See K.725, stanza III in Cœdès, Inscriptions du Cambodge, vol. I, pp. 8, 10.

65 Vickery, Society, economics, and politics, p. 367. For the occurrences of puṇya in Old Khmer inscriptions, always found in a Brahmanical/Hindu context, see Vickery, ibid., pp. 158–63; also Griffiths, ‘La stèle d'installation de Śrī Tribhuvaneśvara’, pp. 13, 17, 20.

66 The same phenomenon is observed in northeast Thailand where archaeological evidence suggests that Buddhist patronage came primarily from lay communities. See Murphy, Stephen A., ‘Buddhism and its relationship to Dvaravati period settlement patterns and material culture in northeast Thailand and central Laos c. sixth–eleventh centuries A.D.: A historical ecology approach to the landscape of the Khorat Plateau’, Asian Perspectives 52, 2 (2013): 300–26Google Scholar.

67 For a similar discussion concerning Śrīksetra in Myanmar, see Stargardt, this vol.

68 Jacques, ‘Dvāravatī, un royaume sans histoire’, pp. 27–8.

69 Krairiksh, Piriya, The roots of Thai art (Bangkok: River Books, 2012), pp. 108–9Google Scholar, figs. 1.106–7.

70 See Matchett, Freda, Kṛṣṇa: Lord or Avatāra? The relationship between Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu (London: Routledge, 2001)Google Scholar. ‘Dvāravatī’ also occurs in the Pāli literature, e.g., in the Ghatajātaka (no. 454) which appears to have had some connection with the legend of Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa. See Hardy, Edmund, ‘Eine buddhistische Bearbeitung der Kṛṣṇa-Sage’, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 53 (1899): 25–50 Google Scholar.

71 Sircar, Dinesh C., Studies in the geography of ancient and medieval India (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971), pp. 318–25Google Scholar.

72 Based on the later evidence from Inscription no. 2 of Sukhothai, which refers to a cetiya called Braḥ Dhaṃ ‘built in the middle of Lord Kris[Kṛṣṇa]'s city’, it has also been proposed that Nakhon Pathom ought to be Dvāravatī. See Hiram Woodward, ‘What there was before Siam: Traditional views’, in Revire and Murphy, Before Siam, p. 23.

73 Dowling, ‘New light on early Cambodian Buddhism’: 129.

74 Li Rongxi, Buddhist monastic traditions of Southern Asia, p. 13. Dowling (‘New light on early Cambodian Buddhism’), and others before her, takes Yijing's report at face value and proposes to identify this ‘wicked king’ with Jayavarman I but I do not find her arguments convincing.

75 Wade, ‘Beyond the southern borders’, p. 27.

76 Pollock, Sheldon, The language of the gods in the world of men: Sanskrit, culture, and power in premodern India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006)Google Scholar.

77 Bronkhorst, Buddhism in the shadow of Brahmanism, pp. 52–65. For a brief account of the important role of Brahmins in the Siamese Buddhist courts over the ages, see Skilling, Peter, ‘King, sangha and Brahmans: Ideology, ritual and power in pre-modern Siam’, in Buddhism, power and political order, ed. Harris, Ian (London: Routledge, 2007), pp. 198–201 Google Scholar.

78 Cœdès, George, Phrachum sila charuek (phak thi song) — charuek Thawarawadi Siwichai Lawo/Recueil des inscriptions du Siam — 2. Inscriptions de Dvāravatī, Çrīvijaya et Lăvo (Bangkok: FAD, 1961), pp. 34–6, pl. 13Google Scholar. However, Fournereau wrote in Le Siam ancien (p. 125) that this inscription is reported to be from a certain ‘Vât Mahyeng, à Nagara Jaya Çrī’, which he takes to be in Nakhon Pathom province. At any rate, the palaeography and the stone are very similar to those of other inscriptions from the area.

79 See Assavavirulhakarn, Prapod, The ascendancy of Theravāda Buddhism in Southeast Asia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2010), pp. 71–86 Google Scholar; also Revire, ‘Glimpses’, pp. 253–65.

80 An incongruity surrounds the letter ka which shows a very short medial vertical. The shape of the latter akṣara type is often conveniently used as an indicator of so-called ‘post-Pallava’ scripts, usually deemed later than the 7th–8th centuries. We should be cautious, however, to draw from this sole palaeographic feature any particular chronological implication since it could just be a matter of regional variety. Several dated 7th-century inscriptions showing the same ‘late’ pattern for the letter ka are known in southern Cambodia (e.g. K.79, K.50 and K.582 dated respectively 565 śaka for the former and 589 śaka for the two latter = 644 and 667 CE).

81 Cœdès, George, ‘Nouvelles données épigraphiques sur l'histoire de l'Indochine centrale’, Journal Asiatique 246, 2 (1958): 130 Google Scholar.

82 See U-Tain, ‘Sanskrit names in Cambodian inscriptions’, pp. 49–50.

83 In this vein, see Jacques, Claude, ‘Le Pays Khmer avant Angkor’, Le Journal des savants 1, 1 (1986): 84–5Google Scholar.

84 For a recent account of the epigraphic record of this prince/king discovered in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, see Lorrillard, ‘Pre-Angkorian communities’, pp. 197–8. Four new inscriptions have recently been discovered in those three countries and were assigned new numbers (K.1338–41), thus bringing to date the total to 20 known epigraphs of this monarch (Emmanuel Francis, pers. comm.).

85 Vogel, Jean Philippe, ‘Prakrit inscriptions from a Buddhist site at Nagarjunikonda’, Epigraphia Indica 20 (1929–30): 4, 16–17Google Scholar.

86 Willis, Michael, ‘The Dhanesar Kherā Buddha in the British Museum and the “Politische Strukturen” of the Gupta Kingdom in India’, South Asian Studies 30, 2 (2014): 10–21 Google Scholar.

87 Sircar, Dinesh C., ‘Two inscriptions from Jajpur’, Epigraphia Indica 28 (1949–50): 181–3Google Scholar.

88 Verardi, Hardships and downfall of Buddhism, pp. 310–11.

89 Bagchi, Jhunu, The history and culture of the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar, cir.750 A.D.–cir.1200 A.D. (New Delhi: Abhinav, 1993), pp. 94–103 Google Scholar.

90 Phumathon, Phuthon, Borannakhadi mueang Dong Khon amphoe Sankhaburi changwat Chai Nat [The archaeology of Dong Khon, Sankhaburi district, Chai Nat province] (Bangkok: Private publisher, 1987), p. 23 Google Scholar.

91 Wimonkasem, Kannika and Prapandvidya, Chirapat, ‘Chue “Thawarawadi” nai charuek Wat Chan Thuek [Inscription of Wat Chan Thuek mentioning the name Dvāravatī]’, in Sangkhom lae wathanatham nai Prathet Thai [Thailand: Culture and society] (Bangkok: Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, 1999), pp. 390, 394Google Scholar.

92 Verse composition often influences choice of words, hence the Sanskrit title pati found here would probably equal īśvara in other contexts. For example, one inscription from Lop Buri (K.577) refers to a certain ‘adhipati Ārjava of the Taṅgur people, son of the īśvara of Śāmbūka’, presumably located in central Thailand; see Cœdès, Phrachum sila charuek, p. 5.

93 Common terms for Buddha images or statues are pratimā, rūpa, or arcā. In ancient Cambodia, however, the Bat Cum inscription (K.266), stanza XIX, mentions a certain jinamūrti; see Julia Estève, ‘Étude critique des phénomènes de syncrétisme religieux dans le Cambodge angkorien’ (Ph.D. diss., École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, 2009), p. 384.

94 For an unusual caturmūrti, apparently adjoining the Buddha to the common trimūrti, see the Sanskrit portion of K.237, stanza IV, in Bhattacharya, Kamaleswar, Les religions brahmaniques dans l'ancien Cambodge d'après l’épigraphie et l'iconographie (Paris: EFEO, 1961), pp. 37–8Google Scholar; see also Estève, Julia, ‘L'inscription K.237 de Prāsāt Preaḥ Khsaet. Une caturmūrti insolite?’, BEFEO 100 (2014): 167–200 Google Scholar.

95 Skilling, ‘Dvāravatī’, p. 97.

96 Jacques, Claude, ‘Études d’épigraphie cambodgienne. II. Inscriptions diverses récemment découvertes en Thaïlande. III. Quatre fragments d'inscription récemment découverts au Cambodge’, BEFEO 56, 1 (1969): 69 Google Scholar.

97 See Kaeoklai, Cha-em, ‘Charuek Phra Siwatsa sang thewa rup, akson pallawa, phasa sansakrit [The inscription of Phra Srivatsa installing images of gods: Pallava script, Sanskrit language]’, Silpakorn Journal 31, 5 (1987): 91–6Google Scholar; also Estève, ‘Étude critique’, pp. 308–24, 518–19 (appendix 4).

98 See Lavy, ‘As in heaven, so on earth’. This hypothesis, however, has been contested by Estève, ‘Étude critique’, pp. 256–7, 291–5.

99 FAD, Charuek nai Prathet Thai, vol. III, pp. 105–17; also Estève, ‘Étude critique’, pp. 309–24, 520–23 (appendix 4).

100 The identity of this local king is not known, but in Angkor Jayavarman III ruled at that time (c.835–77 CE).

101 Estève, ‘Étude critique’, pp. 320–22.

102 Estève conjectures that the two inscriptions should refer to one and the same ‘holy site’ named Damraṅ in the Khmer portion of the Mueang Sema inscription (l. 13); see ibid., pp. 319, 325–6.

103 Cœdès, Inscriptions du Cambodge, vol. VI, pp. 83–5. For more on the question of the so-called religious ‘synthesis’ or ‘syncretism’ between Brahmanism, Hinduism, and Buddhism in ancient Cambodia, see Bhattacharya, Les religions brahmaniques, pp. 29–30, 32, 34–9; for a recent reassessment of the notion, see Estève, ‘Étude critique’.

104 See Saindon, Marcelle, ‘Le Buddha comme neuvième avatāra du dieu hindou Viṣṇu’, Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 32, 3 (2003): 304–8Google Scholar. The fluid and polyvalent identities between the Buddha and Viṣṇu in India over the centuries have recently been explored in Kinnard, Jacob, Places in motion: The fluid identities of temples, images, and pilgrims (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 56–115 Google Scholar. For a thorough study of the gradual assimilation and eventual subordination of Viṣṇu into Sinhala Buddhism, see Holt, John, The Buddhist Viṣṇu: Religious transformation, politics, and culture (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2008)Google Scholar.

105 O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger, The origins of evil in Hindu mythology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), pp. 187–211 Google Scholar.

106 In India, the Viṣṇupurāṇa (III 18) contains one of the earliest and most elaborate accounts of the Buddhāvatāra, known therein as Māyāmoha, the ‘Great Deluder’. It is also mentioned in a 7th-century Pallava inscription from the Ādivarāha cave-temple in Mahābalipuram, Tamil Nadu; see Francis, Emmanuel, ‘“Woe to them!”: The Śaiva curse inscription at Mahābalipuram (7th century CE)’, in The archaeology of bhakti I: Mathurā and Maturai, back and forth, ed. Francis, Emmanuel and Schmid, Charlotte (Pondicherry: Institut français de Pondichéry; EFEO, 2014), pp. 216–17Google Scholar.

107 Sanderson, ‘The Śaiva religion among the Khmers’: 433–40.

108 Bronkhorst, Buddhism in the shadow of Brahmanism, p. 57.

109 Wolters, ‘Khmer “Hinduism” in the seventh century’, p. 433.

110 Sanderson, ‘The Śaiva religion among the Khmers’: 380–402.

111 To be sure, a spectrum of relationships between these religions may have existed at different places and historical junctures and the importance attached to doctrinal purity probably also varied considerably between different social and occupational classes. For a study of the later periods, mainly dealing with maritime Southeast Asia, see John Miksic, ‘The Buddhist–Hindu divide in premodern Southeast Asia’, Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Working Paper no. 1, Mar. 2010, http://nsc.iseas.edu.sg/documents/working_papers/nscwps001/pdf. In South Asia, moreover, the interactions were not always in ways that can be characterised as harmonious. Verardi, for example, in his Hardships and downfall of Buddhism, paints a picture that included, at times, considerable Brahmanical debate and rivalry with Buddhism, leading to its subsequent suppression in India.

112 Reynolds, Frank E., ‘Rāmāyaṇa, Rāma Jātaka, and Ramakien: A comparative study of Hindu and Buddhist traditions’, in Many Rāmāyaṇas: The diversity of a narrative tradition in South Asia, ed. Richman, Paula (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), p. 59 Google Scholar.

113 Pou, Saveros, ‘Les traits bouddhiques du Rāmakerti ’, BEFEO 62 (1975): 355–68Google Scholar.

114 Prapod, Theravāda Buddhism, p. 146.

115 Gonda, Jan, ‘Ancient Indian kingship from the religious point of view’, Numen 3, 1 (1957): 36–71 Google Scholar.