23.6 The far east: a.d. 801 to 900  (Page 2/2)

Other great families arose - the Taira, the Minamoto and Sugauara, who subsequently made and unmade emperors. They were military families who established heritary dictatorships, reducing the emperors apparently to mere puppets

Buddhism persisted in Japan and won even greater support when Kukai brought the Shingon

Korea

As in China this was a period of political decline, although the Silla Dynasty remained in power. Buddhism survived here, even though it was under persecution and fading in China.

Southeast asia

Thailand continued under the Dvaravati control while the Burmese empire of Pagan superseded the fallen Pyu. Champa, Pegu and Thaton continued as separate and distinct states.

In Cambodia the Khmers' Chenla Dynasty, under Jayavarman II, set up three capitals in 802 in the Tonle Sap Lake region at the present site of Angkor and this became the center of a vast expanded Khmer Empire. They received Indian scholars, artists and political leaders while they continued to develop both Hindu and Buddhist art. Jayavarman II had himself declared a God-king, the earthly incarnation of Shiva, establishing a cult which provided legitimacy for 30 Khmer kings of Cambodia and its satellites. (Ref. 19 , 176 ) About 885, Indravarman I constructed a vast irrigation system which sparked the great Angkorian Khmer Empire. Farmers were able to draw water in the long, dry, winter season and three rice crops a year became a possibility. Under this king the Khmers built Hariharalaya, 15 miles southeast of the site that was to become Ankor Thom. In addition, a year after his coronation, Indravarman had arranged for the excavation of a baray

In the great southern islands there were the Srivijayan Empire of Sumatra and the Sailendra Empire of Java, with the latter the dominant nation of all southeast Asia in this century. Although there were some Hindus there, administration was Buddhist and their greatest architectural accomplishment was the majestic Borobudur, a stepped pyramid of unmortared andesate and basalt volcanic stones, standing 105 feet high with a base 403 feet square. Situated in the tropical forested Kedu Plain, it is a three dimensional model of the Mahayana Buddhist cosmos. Its 160 bas-relief sculptured panels represent the World of Desire and another 1,300 carved panels depict the World of Form, as they show scenes and teachings from the life of Buddha and Buddhist texts. (Ref. 286 )

Elsewhere in that area, Arab dhows rode the monsoon winds for Zanzibar ivory, Malayan tin, Indian spices and China silk. These merchants carried Islam to Indonesia. Megaliths, recently discovered in remote areas of Borneo, date to this era. (Ref. 8 , 176 , 2 , 215 )

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