Angkorean Hindu (KHMER) TOPONYMS

Dr Uday Dokras
In my earlier paper, Honorific Epithet of SE Asian Kings, I had tried to explain how Sanskrit Names
pertaining to Hindu Gods were taken by Khmer kings and how the offsprings were christened with these.
In this paper I will try to solve the riddle of Hindu and Sanskrit names of Cambodian and Khmer
landscape.
The history of philosophical approaches to space and place is complex as discussed by Stuart Elden while
reviewing the book by Edward S. Casey- The fate of place: a philosophical history( Stuart Elden, 2003
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257421513_The_fate_of_place_a_philosophical_history). Residential, ritual and
royal space were circles that competed for attention since centuries. The Palace, the temple and the city –
all played a part in the governance of the Kingdoms and in the peaceful as well as hostile interactions.

Names and descriptive adjectives may be juxtaposed to attribute a unique social,religious and
geographical characteristic to the name of a place regardless of how big or small it is,done by the
inhabitants or outsiders looking at its perspective. The first two words are usually monosyllabic nouns
expressing geographical features, plant names/ parts, animals, or gathering places. The third word is a
modifier, which may be a monosyllabic word or a compound word, signifying a characteristic, shape, age,
direction, or a proper name. Examples are: A~t!-l'lGI ~ (khb::> 'canal' - wat 'temple' - ?ubon ' lotus, Pali'),
'-"t1tl-l1Jl-lLfil (n5::> 'swamp, lagoon, large pool' - baa 'waterway' - kaw 'old'), 1Jl-l ~~LLflilt!£J (baa
'water way' - sakrere 'a kind of tree, Conbretum quadrangulare'- ni::>y 'small, little'), '-"tltl-ltlflfl5~L~£Ju
(n5::> 'swamp, lagoon, large pool' - n6k 'bird' – kra. Invocations to recognizable Indian gods in the Khmer
text, running to some eighty lines of print are revealed. Local spirits are also reveared. In spite of the
extensive exchange of cultural baggage among the Thai, Lao and Khmer in the centuries that followed the
abandonment of Angkor, Another inti, that have come down to us from pre-colonial Cambodia. The
absence of pictorial maps (which survive from nineteenth century Thailand and Vietnam)s is less
important, when approaching the Angkorean echoes, for example, than the presence of these recited ones,
which_ are suggestive of Cambodian notions, probably extending back at least to Angkor, of sacred
space, ethnicity, and jurisdiction.

The lists, like those found in the inscriptions at the ground level of the Bayon, a Buddhist temple built at
Angkor at the end of the twelfth century, are in .some senses an inventory of the kingdom, a map of and
for the use of the ancestral spirits, or nakta, being summoned from particular places to be revered,

It is interesting to see how the toponyms are arranged.Cambodians had little use for national or even
supra~village maps, although there is abundant evidence that smaller scale ones existed. The absence of
national maps, however, should not be taken to mean that Cambodians lacked notions of national space,
or internal divisions, especially as these were rendered sacred by local, royal, and Buddhist ceremonies. 1
_______________________________________________________________________________
1.MAPS FOR THE ANCESTORS: SACRALIZED TOPOGRAPHY AND ECHOES OF ANGKOR IN TWO
CAMBODIAN TEXTS~~' by David P. Chandler 1933

Another example, one of many such that common is about the name Vijaynagar. Vijayanagara or “city of
victory” was the name of both a city and an empire in India. The empire was founded in the fourteenth
century. In its heyday it stretched from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme south of the
peninsula. In 1565 the city was sacked and subsequently deserted. Although it fell into ruin in the
seventeenth-eighteenth centuries, it lived on in the memories of people living in the Krishna-Tungabhadra
doab. They remembered it as Hampi, a name derived from that of the local mother goddess, Pampadevi.
These oral traditions combined with archaeological finds, monuments and inscriptions and other records
helped scholars to rediscover the Vijayanagara Empire. 1. The Discovery of Hampi The ruins at Hampi
were brought to light in 1800 by an engineer and antiquarian named Colonel Colin Mackenzie. An
employee of the English East India Company, he prepared the first survey map of the site. Much of the
initial information he received was based on the memories of priests of the Virupaksha temple and the
shrine of Pampadevi. Subsequently, from 1856, photographers began to record the monuments which
enabled scholars to study them. As early as 1836 epigraphists began collecting several dozen inscriptions
found at this and other temples at Hampi. In an effort to reconstruct the history of the city and the empire,
historians collated information from these sources with accounts of foreign travellers and other literature
written in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Sanskrit.

There has been a great deal of debate within the spheres of historical linguistics, anthropology, and
archeology concerning the ethnicity of the peoples occupying any given territory. The origins and
histories of the diverse peoples of the Khmer period and region are myriad. Much of the debate has
centered on the history of the Angkor Wat temple yet little is known of Jayavarman II who founded the
Khmer dymasty and proclaimed himself DEVRAJA- a Sanskrit term mening King of Gods( Vishnu).

People fought with each other for space, place and dislike of their ethnicity. They also created filial bonds
for their likes as the story goes about the coming of Hinduism to the Khmer and pre-Khmer kingdoms by
the union of a Khmer princess with a visiting Brahmin from what is today India but was in those days a
differend place( by nomenclature and size).

Angkor Civilization or Khmer Empire was an important civilization of southeast Asia, including all of
Cambodia, southeastern Thailand, and northern Vietnam, with its classic period dated roughly between
800 to 1300 A.D. It contains some of the medieval Khmer capital cities, containing some of the most
spectacular temples in the world, such as Angkor Wat. The ancestors of the Angkor civilization are
thought to have migrated into Cambodia along the Mekong River during the 3rd millennium B.C. Their
original center, established by 1000 B.C., was located on the shore of the large lake called Tonle Sap. A
truly sophisticated, hydrological irrigation system allowed the spread of the civilization into the
countryside away from the lake.

Angkor (Khmer) Society

During the classic period, the Khmer society was a cosmopolitan blend of Pali and Sanskrit rituals
resulting from a fusion of Hindu and High Buddhist belief systems, probably the effects of Cambodia's
role in the extensive trade system connecting Rome, India, and China during the last few centuries B.C.
This fusion served as both the religious core of the society and as the political and economic basis on
which the empire was built.

The Khmer society was led by an extensive court system with both religious and secular nobles, artisans,
fishermen, rice farmers, soldiers, and elephant keepers, as Angkor was protected by an army using
elephants. The elites collected and redistributed taxes. Temple inscriptions attest to a detailed barter
system. A wide range of commodities was traded between Khmer cities and China, including rare woods,
elephant tusks, cardamom and other spices, wax, gold, silver, and silk. Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907)
porcelain has been found at Angkor. Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) whitewares, such as Qinghai boxes,
have been identified at several Angkor centers.

The Khmer documented their religious and political tenets in Sanskrit inscribed on stelae and on temple
walls throughout the empire. Bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Banteay Chhmar describe great
military expeditions to neighboring polities using elephants, horses, chariots, and war canoes, although
there doesn't seem to have been a standing army.
The end of Angkor came in the mid-14th century and was partly brought about by a change in religious
belief in the region, from Hinduism and High Buddhism to more democratic Buddhist practices. At the
same, an environmental collapse is seen by some scholars as having a role in the abandonment of Angkor.

Uniting the Empire- Roads and canals

The immense Khmer empire was united by a series of roads, comprised of six main arteries extending out
of Angkor for a total of approximately 1,000 kilometers (approximately 620 miles). Secondary roads and
causeways served local traffic in and around the Khmer cities. The roads which interconnected Angkor
and Phimai, Vat Phu, Preah Khan, Sambor Prei Kuk, and Sdok Kaka Thom (as plotted by the Living
Angkor Road Project) were fairly straight and constructed of earth piled from either side of the route in
long, flat strips. The road surfaces were up to 10 meters (approximately 33 feet) wide and in some places
were raised to as much as five to six meters (16-20 feet) above the ground.

The Hydraulic City

Recent work conducted at Angkor by the Greater Angkor Project (GAP) used advanced radar remote
sensing applications to map the city and its environs. The project identified the urban complex of about
200 to 400 square kilometers, surrounded by a vast agricultural complex of farmlands, local villages,
temples, and ponds, all connected by a web of earthen-walled canals that were part of a vast water control
system.

The GAP newly identified at least 74 structures as possible temples. The results of the survey suggest that
the city of Angkor, including the temples, agricultural fields, residences (or occupation mounds), and
hydraulic network covered an area of nearly 3,000 square kilometers over the length of its occupation,
making Angkor the largest low-density pre-industrial city on Earth.

Because of the enormous aerial spread of the city and the clear emphasis on water catchment, storage, and
redistribution, members of the GAP call Angkor a 'hydraulic city,' in that villages within the greater
Angkor area were set up with local temples, each surrounded by a shallow moat and traversed by earthen
causeways. Large canals connected cities and rice fields, acting both as irrigation and roadway.

Archaeology at Angkor

Archaeologists who have worked at Angkor Wat include Charles Higham, Michael Vickery, Michael
Coe, and Roland Fletcher. Recent work by the GAP is based in part on the mid-20th century mapping
work of Bernard-Philippe Groslier of the École Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO). The
photographer Pierre Paris took great strides with his photos of the region in the 1920s. Due in part to its
enormous size and in part to the political struggles of Cambodia in the latter half of the 19th century,
excavation has been limited.

Khmer Archaeological Sites

 Cambodia: Angkor Wat, Preah Palilay, Baphuon, Preah Pithu, Koh Ker, Ta
Keo, Thmâ Anlong, Sambor Prei Kuk, Phum Snay, Angkor Borei.
 Vietnam: Oc Eo.
 Thailand: Ban Non Wat, Ban Lum Khao, Prasat Hin Phimai, Prasat Phanom Wan.

Why do places have names? Can places be referred to without names? Who names territories? What kind of
knowledge do names contain? How durable are place names? What are the processes that have shaped the
 names on the canvas of India? What changes have place names seen in ICambodia ? What value should be
given to place names? The study of toponyms has attracted the interest of scholars such as linguists,
anthropologists, etc. because toponymy or place names involves language, culture, history,
geography, ways of living, in other words a great deal of knowledge about language and ethnic
history of the geographical area in which they occur can be obtained from the study. 1

The New Encydopedia Britannica (1992:849) defined 'toponymy' as follows: Toponymy, taxonomic
study of place-names, based on etymological, historical, and geographical information. A place-name
is a word or words used to indicate, denote, or identify a geographic locality such as a town, river, or
mountain. Toponymy is concerned with the linguistic evolution (etymology) of place names and the
motive behind the naming of the placeincluding its historical and geographical aspects.

When King Dasharath named his capital city Ayodhya into which hos eldest son Lotrd Ram was born
why did he choose the name. Why do the Thai call their city also AYODHYA-Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya
. Ayutthaya meaning Ayodhya. The latter answer is clear- it is inspired by the city Ayodhya in India
where Ram was born as mentioned earlier and where the key elements of Ramayana the classic hindu
epic play out. In fact the word "Ayodhya" is a regularly formed derivation of the Sanskrit verb yudh, "to
fight, to wage war". Yodhya is the future passive participle, meaning "to be fought"; the initial a is the
negative prefix; the whole, therefore, means "not to be fought" or, more idiomatically in English,
"invincible". This meaning is attested by the Atharvaveda, which uses it to refer to the unconquerable city
of gods.[11] The ninth century Jain poem Adi Purana also states that Ayodhya "does not exist by name
alone but by the merit" of being unconquerable by enemies. Satyopakhyana interprets the word slightly
differently, stating that it means "that which cannot be conquered by sins"-(instead.of.enemies). .
"Saketa" is the older name for the city, attested in Sanskrit, Jain, Sanskrit, Buddhist, Greek and Chinese
sources.According to Vaman Shivram Apte, the word "Saketa" is derived from the Sanskrit
words Saha (with) and Aketen (houses or buildings). The Adi Purana states that Ayodhya is called Saketa
"because of its magnificent buildings which had significant banners as their arms". According to Hans T.
Bakker, the word may be derived from the roots sa and ketu ("with banner"); the variant name saketu is
attested in the Vishnu Purana.The older name in English was "Oudh" or "Oude", and the princely state it
was the capital of until 1856 is still known as Oudh State. Ayodhya was stated to be the capital of the
ancient Kosala kingdom in the Ramayana. Hence it was also referred to as "Kosala". The Adi
Purana states that Ayodhya is famous as su-kośala "because of its prosperity and good skill". .The cities
of Ayutthaya (Thailand), and Yogyakarta (Indonesia), are named after Ayodh. Habitation and feature
names are either generic or specific, or a combination of the two. A generic name refers to a class of
names such as river, mountain, or town. A specific name serves to restrict or modify the meaning of the
place-name. That is, its evolution involves two things: word formations and geographical aspects.-
Naming a place (toponym) is a reflection of settlement area which is embodied in the language.
Toponyms based on physical environment, biological, and cultural represents the interrelation between
language and the environment. Exploring toponyms of a certain area can explain a lot of things such as
the history of the settlement that reflects the identity of the people around it. In Cambodia or then Khmer
Empire including parts of Thailand, toponyms transition that originally used Sanskrit to name a certain
place in the eighth century with the background of Hinduism culture, and its continuation using the local
Khmer language in Cambodia and Javanese language In Indonesia with the background of today’s
Islamic religion in the latter coubtry and Buddhism in the former..
The name of a place (toponym) is a cultural product that describes the interaction of a certain community
with the environment. Giving the name of a certain location of settlements referred to geographic
phenomena and socio-cultural events that happened at that time. The place names have a conventional
character using language that expresses a typical affixation of real conditions of an environment. It is
interesting to explore because there are grounds for granting a toponym associated with ideas and socio-
cultural community.
The history of the ancient Mataram kingdom is frequently associated with Canggal inscription. Besides
the temples, the evidence of the inscription indicates that the kingdom began to stand when King Sanjaya
marked the victory over his enemies by setting up a Hindu Symbol of Lord Shiva - lingga in Sthirangga
Hill (Gendol Hills region) in the year of 732 AD.
Many times Sanskrit inscription indicates the acculturation happened between local culture and Indian
culture at that period. Take the example of the following Cambodian cities or ancient Khmer cities which
were cities founded by the Khmer civilization and its Kings. Angkor . 'Capital city ( not Sanskrit name
and given later on) was in fact , also known as Yasodharapura Sanskrit: यशोधरपुर which was the
capital city of the Khmer Empire. The city and empire flourished from approximately the 9th to
the 15th centuries. The city houses the Angkor Wat,

Khmer cities Notes

City Name

Angkor Wat Largest religious monument in the world

Hariharalaya Capital of the Khmer Empire where Hari (Lord Vishnu) Lives Sanskrit

Second Capital of the Khmer Empire ( the city of Yashodha- mother of Lord
Yaśodharapura
Krishna the hindu God) Sanskrit

Mahendraparvata Ancient Khmer city The Mountain of Mahendra of Lord Shiva Sanskrit
.
Vimayapura Khmer City in Thailand Sanskrit

Indrapura 9th century capital of Champa, modern Quảng Nam, Vietnam Sanskrit

Lingapura Khmer kingdom created by Jayavarman IV Sanskrit

Preah Vihear Temple in Preah Vihear province Sanskrit

Bhavapura Former capital of Chenla state Sanskrit

Kompong Svay Buddhist temple in Preah Vihear province Khmer

Nagara Jayasri City mentioned in the Preah Khan temple Sanskrit

Vyadhapura Earliest capital of the Funan Kingdom Sanskrit

Chaturmukha Modern Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia Sanskrit

Dviradapura Site of Prithivindravarman's rule Sanskrit

Rajavihara Original name of Ta Prohm Sanskrit

Amarendrapura Capital during Jayavarman II's rule Sanskrit

Phanom Rung Historical Park in Thailand

Iśvarapura A Shaivite temple also known as Banteay Srei Sanskrit

Muang Tam Temple complex in Thailand

Angkor Borei Possible Funan capital

Banteay Kdei Buddhist Temple in Angkor

Phetchaburi Province in Thailand

Chaiya District in Thailand Sanskrit

Isanapura Capital of the Chenla Kingdom Sanskrit

Pre Rup State temple of Khmer king Rajendravarman

Beng Melea Archaeological site in Angkoe

 Lavodayapura Khmer for Lobpuri, capital of Lobpuri province Sanskrit

Shrestapura Capital of the Chenla and Champa kingdoms Sanskrit

Aninditapura Former Khmer capital Sanskrit

90% of these have Sanskrit names and those that don’t have been named recently for in the times
1000 years ago, Hindu Gods ruled the Land and hearts and minds of the kings and were
worshipped so feverently that even the hindus in what is today India or ( land of the Hindus)
would have hung their heads in shame

Yashodharapura
Today’s Yashodhapura
There is an argument that the intensity of acculturation between Indian culture and the
Archipelago culture occurred in Kedu region in VIII-X century AD. The argument can be proven
by the temples, and statues spread around Kedu region (Central Java), including Canggal Temple
area. Prambhanan is an example in Java – the tempe of the tRIMURTHY of the there united
Trinity Gods of Hinduism Bharma, Vishnu and Mahesh and also houses the temple of
Mahishasuramardini- the Goddess that killed the Demon Mahishasura. Meaning Durga. Durga is
the Avatar of Maa Parvati who is the beloved wife of Lord Shiva and hence, Durga Mata is
married to Lord Shiva.
Toponyms in Javanese Temple area presented the meaning of how people perceived and respect
the environment as stipulated by the language. The conventional naming indicated the
development of cultures of the society from the identity of Hinduism to the prevailing pre- indic
cultures. TNhis is what UNESCO says about Prambhanana:

Prambanan Temple Compounds

Built in the 10th century, this is the largest temple compound dedicated to Shiva in Indonesia.
Rising above the centre of the last of these concentric squares are three temples decorated with
reliefs illustrating the epic of the Ramayana, dedicated to the three great Hindu divinities (Shiva,
Vishnu and Brahma) and three temples dedicated to the animals who serve them.
1. While Loro Jonggrang, dating from the 9th century, is a brilliant example of Hindu
religious bas-reliefs,
2. Sewu, with its four pairs of Dwarapala giant statues, is Indonesia’s largest Buddhist
complex including the temples of Lumbung, Bubrah and Asu (Gana temple).
 3. The Hindu temples are decorated with reliefs illustrating the Indonesian version of the
Ramayana epic which are masterpieces of stone carvings. These are surrounded by
hundreds of shrines that have been arranged in three parts showing high levels of stone
building technology and architecture from the 8th century AD in Java.
4. With over 500 temples, Prambanan Temple Compounds represents not only an
architectural and cultural treasure, but also a standing proof of past religious peaceful
cohabitation.”

Each of those temples was, ofcourse, having a Sanskrit name in the 10th century- named
after the diety that was worshipped(lodged) therein. Thusthe phenomenon could be
interpreted as a form of transition or a shift towards a certain culture without changing the
structure although it was manifested in a new form

The History and Future of Places: An Introduction

Trends in population, climate and environmental change, electronic communications, social and
economic inequalities, migration, urbanization, and international travel, combine to have a
profound effects on a place. Nagpur the city of my birth was so caked after a snake shaped river(
Nag means snake in Sanskrit) and Pur means city, But it did not mean that snakes were found
there; just that the river called Nag river flowed through and the habitation on its banks was
NAGPUR(In central India).

Similar we can take let us say the example of Hariharalaya. Alaya is a sanskrit word meaning
"basis," or "home," so Hariharalaya is home of Harihara or home of the deity representing both
Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva).explanation can be attributed to all Khmer names that derive
from Sanskrit. Those that don’t did not and could not have arisen during the time Hinduism
flourished and Sanskrit language has spread like a blanket on the landscape. Hariharalaya or
Hariharalay was an ancient city and capital of the Khmer empire located near Siem
Reap, Cambodia in an area now called Roluos. Today, all that remains of the city are the ruins of
several royal temples: Preah Ko, the Bakong, Lolei.Both these names however, are not Sanskrit.
Preah Ko "The Sacred Bull" was the first temple to be built in the ancient and now defunct city
of Hariharalaya east of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia. The temple was built
under the Khmer King Indravarman I in 879 to honor members of the king's family, whom it
places in relation with the Hindu deity Shiva.The name of Shiva’s bull is nandi. Etymology.
Preah Ko (Sacred Bull) derives its name from the three statues of sandstone located in the front
of and facing the temple's central towers. These statues represent Nandi, the white bull who
serves as the mount of Shiva and it mens that the name was given later and is in Khmer
language- an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Khmer people, and the official and national
language of Cambodia. Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali, especially
in the royal and religious registers, through Hinduism and Buddhism.
The Fate of Place-A Philosophical History,by Edward Casey (Author) /HARIHARALAYA

In the above book, Edward Casey offers a philosophical history of the evolving
conceptualizations of place and space in Western thought. Casey has almost dealt with all
philosophical considerations of apace-beginning with mythological and religious creation stories
and the theories of Plato and Aristotle and the heritage of Neoplatonic, medieval, and
Renaissance speculations about space. The book presents an impressive history of the birth of
modern spatial conceptions in the writings of Newton, Descartes, Leibniz, and Kant and
delineates the evolution of twentieth-century phenomenological approaches in the work of
Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Bachelard, and Heidegger. Also featured are the postmodern theories
of Foucault, Derrida, Tschumi, Deleuze and Guattari, and Irigaray.

The.Fundamental.Role.of.Place is to “To exist in any way.” But mainly so that others can find
the place. The inhabitants know where they live, they facilitate identification by the name.
Historically, my ancestral home in Central India was a village called Chandur. A railway line
connected it to other larger towns. Nearby another village became prominent as a market where
goods from surrounding farms were sold in large quantities. This village also started calling itself
Chandur enamoured by the First-Chandur Railway. Now, we had 2 Chandurs -one a Railway and
the other a Bazar-Chandur bazaar( bazaar meaning market). And so the story goes…
But in case of the Khmers, each successive king trued to make a better place and gave the name
to the same God but with a different hue as can be seen from the list of Khmer names.

1. Mahendraparvata (early 9th cent.)

2. Hariharalaya (9th cent.)
3. Koh Ker (928–944)
4. Yasodharapura (Angkor) (late 9th to early 15th cent.)

Modern scholars often refer to the empire as the Khmer Empire, or the Angkorian Empire, the latter of which
has its named derive from the former capital city of Angkor. However the empire referred to itself
as Kambuja (कम्बोज or Kambujadeśa (Sanskrit: कम्बुजदेश ) which were ancient terms for Cambodia.
The history of Angkor as the central area of settlement of the historical kingdom of Kambujadesa is also the
history of the Khmer kingdom from the 9th to the 13th centuries. From Kambuja itself—and so also from the
Angkor region—no written records have survived other than stone inscriptions. Therefore, the current
knowledge of the historical Khmer civilisation is derived primarily from:

 Archaeological excavation, reconstruction and investigation

 Stone inscriptions (the most important of which are foundation steles of temples), which report on the
political and religious deeds of the kings
 Reliefs in a series of temple walls with depictions of military marches, life in the palace, market scenes,
and the daily life of the population
 Reports and chronicles of Chinese diplomats, traders and travellers.
During the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries, the Indianised states of Funan and its successor, Chenla,
coalesced in present-day Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. For more than 2,000 years, what was to
become Cambodia absorbed influences from India, passing them on to other Southeast Asian civilisations that
are now Thailand and Laos. Little else is known for certain of these polities, however Chinese chronicles and
tribute records do make mention of them. It is believed that the territory of Funan may have held the port
known to Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemy as "Kattigara". The Chinese chronicles suggest that after
Jayavarman I of Chenla died around 681, turmoil ensued which resulted in the division of the kingdom into
Land Chenla and Water Chenla which was loosely ruled by weak princes under the dominion of Java.
The Khmer Empire grew out of these remnants of Chenla, becoming firmly established in 802
when Jayavarman II (reigned c. 790 – c. 835) declared independence from Java and proclaimed himself
a Devaraja. He and his followers instituted the cult of the God-king and began a series of conquests that
formed an empire which flourished in the area from the 9th to the 15th centuries. [45] During the rule
of Jayavarman VIII the Angkor empire was attacked by the Mongol army of Kublai Khan, however, the king
was able to buy peace.[46] Around the 13th century, Theravavada missionaries from Sri
Lanka reintroduced Theravada Buddhism to Southeast Asia; having sent missionaries previously in 1190s. The
religion spread and eventually displaced Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism as the popular religion of
Angkor; however it was not the official state religion until 1295 when Indravarman III took power.
It was Southeast Asia's largest empire during the 12th century. The empire's centre of power was Angkor,
where a series of capitals were constructed during the empire's zenith. In 2007 an international team of
researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded that Angkor had been the
largest pre-industrial city in the world with an urban sprawl of 2,980 square kilometres (1,151 square miles).
The city, which could have supported a population of up to one million people and Angkor Wat, the best
known and best-preserved religious temple at the site, still serves as a reminder of Cambodia's past as a major
regional power. The empire, though in decline, remained a significant force in the region until its fall in the
15th century.

The Ayutthaya / Ayudhyā or Ayodhyā, pronounced was a Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from
1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. The Ayutthaya
Kingdom is considered to be the precursor of modern Thailand and its developments are an important part of
the History of Thailand.Mentioned earlier.This kingdom attacked the Khmer and destroyed/subjugated them.
Johannes Vingboons - This is an image from the Atlas of Mutual Heritage and the Nationaal Archief, the Dutch National
Archives. The metadata of this file is public domain under a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC-ZERO). This
permission has been archived as ticket #2014051410008887
Title in the Leupe catalogue (NA): "Afbeeldinge der stad Judiad hooft des Choonincrick Siam"in vogelvlucht. Particulars: the
map forms part of the Vingboons Atlas. The measurements do not include a strip of Japanese paper pasted on later. Cf.
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, inv. nr. 185 A 5 part III, III, after p. 60 and 693 C 6 dl XII, na p. 188.

Funan was in fact part of a land called SUVARNABHOOMi or land of Gold in Sanskrit that encompassed
much of the SE Asian region but exactly which is not known.

So names come and go… sometimes people vanish but places stay such as Angkor- but they change names
from Yashodhapura to Angkor. Religions change –Muslims invaded the Hindu lands of Indonesia and
converted them all to Islam- legacies remain.