Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.453

v2.c13.453

'The most important of these was unquestionably that of Nakhon Sri Dhammarat (Ligor). It established a sort of hegemony over the whole of the centre of the peninsula, to which belonged the colonies of Pathalung, Yala Trang, and the upper valley of the Bandon river. It was an essentially Buddhist colony which probably built the great *stūpa* of Nakhon Sri Dhammarat and part of the fifty temples which surrounded it. The mass of terra-cotta votive tablets in the caves inhabited by the Buddhists, of which a few specimens still exist, also belonged to this colony. The inscriptions are unfortunately very rare, and only three have been discovered, belonging to the fourth or fifth century A.D. A little to the north was the colony of Caiya, which appears to have been at first Brāhmanical, and then Buddhist.