Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.463

v2.c13.463

On the whole the available evidence justifies the assumption that the region around the Bay of Bandon was a cradle of Further Eastern culture, inspired by waves of Indian influence spreading across the route from Takua Pa. There is a strong persistent local tradition in favour of an early migration of Indians across the route from the west. At the same time persons of an Indian cast of features are common on the west coast near Takua Pa, while colonies of Brāhmans of Indian descent survive at Nakhon Sri Thammarat and Patalung, and trace the arrival of their ancestors from India by an overland route across the Malay Peninsula. According to Liang-Shu, it was through the country of P'an-p'an, identified with the region round the Bay of Bandon, that the Indianisation of Fu-Nan was completed by the second Kauṇḍinya about the end of the fourth century A.D. The archaeological evidence shows the survival around the Bay of Bandon of a primitive non-specialized type of Indian colonial architecture, having basic features in common with the earlier Pre-Khmer, Cham, and Indo-Javanese buildings. Moreover, the early Indian colonial architecture at Caiya and Nakhon Sri Thammarat is supported by the existence in the same latitude of the remains of almost purely Indian edifices from which it could have evolved;