Southern Thailand

Below the Kra Isthmus was the place of Malay civilisations. Primordial Malay kingdoms are
described as tributaries to Funan by second-century Chinese sources, though most of them
proved to be tribal organisations instead of full-fledged kingdoms.[11] From the sixth century
on, two major mandalas ruled southern Thailand, the Kanduli and the Langkasuka. Kanduli
centred on what is now Surat Thani Province and Langasuka in Pattani Province.

Southern Thailand was the centre of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism. The Tang monk
Yijing stopped at Langkasuka to study Pali grammar and Mahayana during his journey to
India around 800. At that time, the kingdoms of Southern Thailand quickly fell under the
influences of the Malay kingdom of Srivijaya from Sumatra. Rajendra Chola I of the Chola
dynasty invaded the Tambralinga Kingdom in southern Thailand in the 11th century.[12]:866