Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c8.3

c8.3

The oldest Hindu colonial kingdom in this region, of which we possess any definite evidence, was established in the delta and lower valley of the Mekong river. The Chinese texts call it the kingdom of Fu-nan. This is the modern pronunciation of two Chinese Syllabic characters which were pronounced in the old days of the T'ang dynasty as biu-nām. This is a Chinese transcription of the old Khmer word *bnam*, modern *phnom*, meaning mountain. The rulers of this country called themselves 'king of the mountain', *parvatabhūpāla* or or *śaila-rāja* in Sanskrit,¹ and *Kurun bnam* in Khmer, from which the Chinese derived the name of the country.