1. LAND-BASED
AGRICULTURAL
KINGDOMS
Dean Ruffel R. Flandez

2. CONTENTS
Khmer
Sailendra (Mataram)
Pagan (Burma)

3. Southeast Asia Today

4. KHMER
The Khmer Empire was one
of the most powerful
empires in Southeast Asia.
The empire, which grew
out of the former kingdom
of Chenla, at times ruled
over and/or vassalized
parts of modern-day Laos,
Thailand, Vietnam, Burma,
and Malaysia.

5. History
Jayavarman II is widely regarded as
the king that set the foundation of
Angkor period in Cambodian history,
began with the grandiose
consecration ritual conducted by
Jayavarman II (reign 790-850) in 802
on sacred Mount Mahendraparvata,
now known as Phnom Kulen, to
celebrate the independence of
Kambuja from Javanese dominion.

6. Jayavarman II seems to have left no
inscriptions of his own, and the monuments
that can be dated to his reign were small
and hastily built.

7. History
Jayavarman's real accomplishment
was less tangible and lasted longer,
for he appears to have established
what came to be called Kambuja-
desa, a confident, self-aware
kingdom that superseded and came
to control a range of smaller states.
He was Cambodia's first nationally
oriented king.

8. History
Like their counterparts in medieval
Europe, Cambodian kings were far
removed from ordinary people. The king
was perceived primarily in religious terms,
and he assured the fertility of the soil and
the well-being of the kingdom through the
rituals he performed. In exchange for his
protection, the people were subject to
intermittent military service and corvée
duty and were also called on to provide
labour without payment for Buddhist and
Hindu religious foundations and for local
elites.

9. History
Toward the end of
the 9th century,
soon after
Jayavarman II's
death, the
Cambodian
capital shifted to
the northern
shores of the
Tonle Sap, near
present-day
Phumĭ Rôluŏs.

10. History
Indravarman I (ruled 877–c. 890)
constructed a large reservoir and several
temples there, including a pyramidical
structure called the Bakong—the first
Cambodian temple to be built primarily of
stone rather than brick.

11. History
Indravarman's son and successor,
Yaśovarman I (ruled c. 890–c. 910),
moved the capital again, this time
closer to Siĕmréab, to a location that
subsequently became Angkor—a
name derived from the Sanskrit word
nagara, meaning ―city‖—which has
become one of the world's most-
celebrated archaeological sites, as
well as the popular name for
Cambodia's medieval civilization.

12. History
The city that Yaśovarman founded,
Yaśodharapura, retained that name
and remained Cambodia's capital
until it was abandoned in the 16th
century. His temple mountain, now
called Bakheng (literally ―Mighty
Ancestor‖), was built on a natural hill
that overlooked a teeming city, the
more distant rice-growing plain, and
the Tonle Sap.

13. History
After several decades of warfare,
dislocations, and disorder—
Yaśodharapura itself was abandoned
for nearly 30 years—Rajendravarman
II (ruled 944–968) restored the capital
and set in motion a period of peace
and prosperity that lasted nearly a
century.

14. History
During the reign of his successor,
Jayavarman V (968–c. 1000), the
rose-coloured sandstone shrine of
Banteai Srei—arguably the loveliest
temple at Angkor—was built on the
outskirts of the capital under the
patronage of a wealthy priestly
family, one of whose members had
been Jayavarman's teacher.

15. History
In Yaśodharapura itself, Jayavarman
V began work on the imposing
temple mountain now called Ta Keo,
which was completed under his
successor, Suryavarman I (ruled c.
1004–c. 1050). Suryavarman I, an
innovative and demanding monarch,
was a usurper with links to princely
families in what is now northeastern
Thailand.

16. History
Suryavarman I extended the Khmer
empire westward into present-day
Thailand, where he constructed the
large mountaintop temple known as
Preah Vihear. During his reign the
number of cities ruled from
Yaśodharapura grew from roughly 20
to nearly 50, and foreign trade
increased, along with tighter central
bureaucratic control.

17. History
Suryavarman II (ruled 1113–c. 1150)
Although he probably was not descended
from the earlier king of that name. Like his
namesake predecessor, Suryavarman II was
a formidable military campaigner.

18. History
Suryavarman's major accomplishment,
from a modern perspective, was the
Angkor Wat temple complex, still the
largest religious structure in the world
and one of the most beautiful. The
temple, which eventually became his
tomb and probably was an
astronomical observatory as well, was
dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.

20. History
Yaśovarman II (ruled 1160–66)
During his reign, several temples begun
under Suryavarman were completed.
Yaśovarman was overthrown by one of
his officials after returning from a military
campaign in Thailand. In the aftermath
of the coup, a Cambodian prince, later
to rule under the name of Jayavarman
VII (1181–c. 1220), hurried home from
Champa.

21. History
He arrived too late, and for the next 10
years he bided his time as the usurper lost
control and Angkor was invaded and
occupied by the Chams. In 1177, heading
an army of his own, the prince attacked
Angkor and defeated the Cham forces.
The battles are vividly depicted in the bas-
reliefs of his temple mountain, the Bayon.
To forestall further Cham attacks,
Jayavarman annexed the Cham capital,
and Angkor controlled Champa until
Jayavarman's death.

22. History
After Jayavarman's death (about 1220),
few stone monuments were erected at
Angkor, and very few inscriptions were
incised. Little by little, the Khmer empire
began to contract. Jayavarman's
campaigns neutralized Champa as a
threat to Angkor, but, by the early 13th
century, vigorous new kingdoms in what
is now northern Thailand became
powerful enough to throw off
Angkorean domination, as did some Tai
principalities in the south.

23. SAILENDRA
- a dynasty that
flourished in Java
from about 750 to
850 after the fall
of the Funan
kingdom of
mainland
Southeast Asia.

25. SAILENDRA
It was marked by a great cultural renaissance
associated with the introduction of Mahāyāna
Buddhism, and it attained a high level of
artistic expression in the many temples and
monuments built under its rule. During the reign
of one of its kings, the famous stupa of
Borobuḍur (q.v.) was built.

26. History
The Sailendras are considered to be a
Thalassocracy and ruled the maritime
Southeast Asia, however they also relied
on agriculture pursuits through intensive
rice cultivation on the Kedu Plain of
Central Java. The dynasty appeared to
be the ruling family of both Medang
Kingdom of Central Java for some
period and Srivijaya in Sumatra.

27. History
Around 852 the Sanjaya ruler Pikatan
had defeated Balaputra, the offspring
of the Sailendra monarch
Samaratunga and princess Tara. This
ended the Sailendra presence in Java
and Balaputra retreated to the Srivijaya
kingdom in Sumatra, where he
became the paramount ruler.
From Sumatra, the Sailendras also
maintained overseas relations with the
Chola kingdom in Southern India

28. History

29. History
King Sanjaya of Mataram (AD 732 — 746) or
in complete stylized name known as Rakai
Mataram Sang Ratu Sanjaya (King Sanjaya
Rakai (lord) of Mataram) was the founder of
Mataram Kingdom during the eighth
century.

30. PAGAN
(BURMA)
Another group of
Tibeto-Burman
speakers had become
established in the
northern dry zone.
They were centered
on the small
settlement of Pagan
on the Irrawaddy
River.

31. History
By the mid-9th century, Pagan had
emerged as the capital of a powerful
kingdom that would unify Myanmar
and would inaugurate the Burman
domination of the country that has
continued to the present day.

32. History
During the 8th and 9th centuries the
kingdom of Nanchao became the
dominant power in southwestern China;
it was populated by speakers of Lolo (or
Yi), a Tibeto-Burman language.
Nanchao mounted a series of raids on
the cities of mainland Southeast Asia in
the early decades of the 9th century
and even captured Hanoi in 861.

33. History
The Mon and Khmer cities held firm,
but the Pyu capital of Halingyi fell.
The Burmans moved into this political
vacuum, establishing Pagan as their
capital city in 849.

34. History
Nanchao acted as
a buffer against
Chinese power to
the north and
allowed the infant
Burman kingdom
to grow. The
Burmans learned
much from the
Pyu, but they were
still cut off from the
trade revenues of
southern
Myanmar.

35. History
In 1044 Anawrahta came to the
throne at Pagan and began the
unification process in Myanmar that
would recur in cyclic fashion until the
British conquered the country in 1886.
Anawrahta first strengthened his
defenses on the north—the ―front
door‖ of Myanmar—and created
alliances through marriage with the
neighbouring Shan to the east.

36. History
He declared himself the
champion of Theravāda
Buddhism and used that
ideology to justify his
conquest of southern
Myanmar, which was
accomplished with the
defeat of the Mon city
of Thaton in 1057.

37. History
By the mid-11th century the core of
modern-day Myanmar had been
united into a single kingdom centred
at Pagan, and Myanmar's longest-
surviving dynasty had been
established. Anawrahta's work was
continued by his great commander
Kyanzittha (ruled 1084–c. 1112) and
by another great ruler, Alaungsithu
(ruled c. 1112–c. 1167).

38. History
Pagan's consolidation of the Irrawaddy
valley southward to the ports of southern
Myanmar divided most of mainland
Southeast Asia into two great empires,
Khmer and Burman. Anawrahta's
dynasty of kings lasted until the 13th
century. By that time, their great
temples had been built, and their
message of Theravāda Buddhism had
been carried not only to the Shan but
also to the Khmer.

39. History
Centuries of temple building and of
donations of land and manpower to
the tax-exempt sangha (monkhood),
however, had diverted much of the
state's most valuable resources. Yet, the
legitimacy of state and society
depended on continued patronage of
the sangha.

40. History

41. History

42. History
As a result, Pagan had been weakened
by the end of the 13th century, precisely
when the Mongols threatened. Pagan
had lost its northern buffer in the early
1250s when Nanchao was destroyed and
subjugated by the Mongols under Kublai
Khan. The Mongols demanded submission
by and tribute from Pagan, which refused
to comply. It is not clear if the Mongol
armies actually reached Pagan, but by
1300 Pagan no longer was the centre of
power in Myanmar.

43. THANK YOU