Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c8.29

c8.29

It is evident that the local people, who are called Chams after the name of the kingdom, Champā, were infused with a fresh vigour and new life in the first century A.D., and there is hardly any doubt that it was due to the settlement of Hindu colonists among them. This is proved by the discovery in this region of a fine bronze image of Buddha of the Amarāvatī school datable in the second or third century A.D. The scholars are unanimous in their view that the kingdom of Siang-lin, founded by Kiu-lien in A.D. 192, was the nucleus of the Hindu kingdom of Champā. It is interesting to note that in A.D. 280 the Chinese governor reported that the kingdom of Lin-yi touched the frontiers of Fu-nan in the south, that the peoples of the countries were allied, and far from submitting to China, they made incursions against the Chinese territory. This seems to indicate that the two neighbouring Hindu colonies of Fu-nan and Champā maintained a close political association and acted in concert against their common enemy China.