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Not
until the first century, a
civilization seem to emerge as a
forerunner of the Angkor. The
actual name of this nation is
not known, but in the Chinese
Chronicles of 2nd century A.D,
it was called as Funan.
In fact, the word "Funan" is the
Chinese pronunciation by toponym
for the word "bnam" (or phnom in
modern Khmer) which means
"mountain". Its location is
thought to be centered around
the Mekong Delta, and the
southern coast of modern
Cambodia and Vietnam.
There are evidences that Funan
had once been a strong maritime
state, actively involving in sea
trades. Following the excavation
at Oc Eo, believed to be the
kingdom's major port located in
the modern Vietnamese province
of Long Xuyen, the
archaeologists found many
artifacts which were trade goods
and products from India, China,
and even as far as those from
the Roman Empire to the West.
Being an extensive trader,
Funan should have been more or
less a powerful naval state with
people of learned mind. It was
found that Funan had adopted
many cultural aspects from India
whose civilization had been
highly developed several
hundreds of years earlier. This
was the result of their close
contacts with the Indian traders
who were also seafaring at that
time. The Indian traders
brought with them knowledge and
thoughts as well as philosophy
and religious beliefs which
significantly aided the
development of this native
kingdom.
The importance of Indian
civilization over this territory
could not be overlooked. Even a
myth of Funan itself suggested
that the world was created by a
"Naga" King, a Hindu water
deity, who drank up the flooding
waters, and the origin of Funan
started from the marriage of an
Indian Brahmin Kaundinya to an
indigenous "naga" princess named
Soma. According to the Chinese
Chronicle, the Funan rulers
brought in many Indians of
Brahmin caste to their courts to
help in their administration. It
was a known fact that in ancient
time the Indian Brahmins is
India's highest caste who held
all the knowledge responsible
for the achievement of Indian
civilization.
Apart from cultural elements and
religious beliefs of Hinduism
and Buddhism from India, the
Funanese natives seem to learn
the engineering skill as well.
Evidences of aerial photographs
taken in 1930 show that there
were extensive irrigation system
in various Funanese
settlements, Their ability to
turn swamps of Mekong River
basin into productive
agricultural ground implied that
they had good knowledge in
agriculture in addition to sea
trades.
The process of what the Indian
culture had influenced over any
other nation was termed by
historians as "Indianization".
Although the Indian influence
affected many aspects of
Funanese political and religious
structures, surprisingly it did
not infiltrate deeply into the
life of this native people of
Funan. In short, we may call
this as "partial Indianization",
which was obviously inherited to
its successor the Angkor Empire
(or Khmer Civilization).
The weakening of the Funan
Empire was unclear, and it was
overthrown by one of its vassal
state of Chenla in early 7th
century. The Funanese people
were completely absorbed by
Chenla as time passed by.
Funan thus had laid a basic
foundation for the evolution of
Angkor Civilization in later
centuries. |
