extensive series of glazed stone tiles, including 912 tiles
depicting jatakasthat are arranged in tiers on the roof,
which rises to a height of 172 feet.
Myanmar (Burma), like Thailand, is a Buddhist na-
tion today, and Buddhism is officially sponsored by the
government. The famous SHWEDAGONpagoda (stupa)
in Rangoon is constantly thronged with worshipers, as
are Buddhist monuments everywhere, and images of
the Buddha, mostly in bronze, are being produced in
great quantities. Contemporary Thailand shares many
Buddhist traditions with Burma, including its Therav-
ada Buddhism. It is not clear when the Mon in central
Thailand (Dvaravat) ceased making images, perhaps
as early as the ninth century, but the Mon had a king-
dom in northern Thailand at Haripunchai until the
thirteenth century. This is approximately the time that
the Thais first appear in history, when they revolt
against their Khmer overlords and establish the first
Thai kingdom of SUKHOTHAI. Like the Burmese, they
looked to the Mon of lower Burma and the Sri Lankans
for their Buddhism.
Sukhothai in north central Thailand has many Bud-
dhist monuments, but they are not on the scale of Pa-
gan or Angkor, and most are in ruins today. But this
area developed a new style of Buddha image known
for its lithe, melting lines, which remains the favored
style of the Thais, who continue to produce thousands
of Buddha images in the style. Sukhothai’s political
power waned quickly, as AYUTTHAYA, another Thai
kingdom founded in 1350, soon dominated much of
Thailand, and was to control much of Cambodia as
well. The Khmer abandoned Angkor as the capital in
1431 because of Thai attacks. By then Theravada Bud-
dhism, already present during the reign of Jayavarman
VII, had spread throughout Cambodia and Laos. The
famous Angkor Wat, built in the twelfth century as the
temple mountain of Suryavarman II and dedicated to
the Hindu god Visnu, was converted in the fourteenth
century to a Buddhist monastery.
Finally, the Vietnamese have an extended Buddhist
tradition. It is not, however, with India and Sri Lanka
that we find relationships, but with China. China held
northern Vietnam (Dai Viet) as a province for over a
thousand years. The Vietnamese gained independence
in the eleventh century. The Cham, in central and
southern Vietnam, were in constant warfare with the
Vietnamese, who relentlessly pushed them south until
they completely collapsed in the nineteenth century.
Vietnamese Buddhist art is best discussed in conjunc-
tion with that of China.
See also:Buddha, Life of the, in Art; Esoteric Art, South
and Southeast Asia; Indonesia and the Malay Penin-
sula; Indonesia, Buddhist Art in; Monastic Architec-
ture; Myanmar, Buddhist Art inBibliography
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Boisseler, Jean. Trends in Khmer Art(1956), tr. Natasha Eilen-
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Southeast Asia Program, 1989.
Brown, Robert L. The Dvaravati Wheels of the Law and the In-
dianization of South East Asia.Leiden, Netherlands: Brill,
1986.
Chihara, Daigoro. Hindu-Buddhist Architecture in Southeast
Asia.Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1996.
Diskul, M. C. Subhadradis, ed. The Art of S ́rlvijaya.New York
and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Oxford University Press, 1980.
Fontein, Jan, et al. The Sculpture of Indonesia.Washington, DC:
National Gallery of Art, 1990.
Frédéric, Louis. The Temples and Sculpture of Southeast Asia,tr.
Arnold Rosin. London: Thames and Hudson. 1965.
Geslan-Girard, Maud, et al. Art of Southeast Asia,tr. J. A. Un-
derwood. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.SOUTHEASTASIA, BUDDHISTART INThe Ananda Temple at Pagan, Myanmar (Burma), is white with
gilded spires. It rises to a height of 172 feet. © Robert D. Fiala,
Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska. Reproduced by per-
mission.