built in bamboo and thatch, with people living on
boats that left no trace.
Most of the Buddhist art associated with S ́rvijaya
has been found in peninsular Thailand from such cities
as Chaiya and Nakhon Si Thammarat. The art shares
such general characteristics as being Mahayana in
theme, with Avalokites ́vara being very popular. But
rather than seeing this material, which is generally var-
ied in style, as belonging to S ́rvijaya, it is more help-
ful to locate and discuss it by region because the
existence of a hegemonic empire based in S ́rvijaya is
questioned today.
The Burmese, Thais, Laotians, and Vietnamese
Besides the Khmer of modern Cambodia, there are
other linguistic groups that dominate mainland South-
east Asia today: the Burmese, Thais, Laotians, and Viet-
namese. Each of these groups, and the modern nations
they have created, was predominantly Buddhist. The
Burmese appear in history around the eleventh cen-
tury. The Pyu kingdoms ended in the ninth, but the
Mon continued for a time to share power with the
Burmese. The Burmese looked to Sri Lanka for
Theravada Buddhist monks and texts, and they built
one of the greatest Buddhist sites in the world at Pa-
gan on the Irrawaddy River. Fueled by a veritable
frenzy of merit-making through giving to the SAN ̇GHA,
some two thousand brick monuments (temples and
stupas) were built over a two-hundred-year period. Al-
though most of these monuments are abandoned to-
day, some, such as the ANANDA TEMPLE, continue in
serve worshipers.The Ananda was built by King Kyanzittha at the be-
ginning of the twelfth century. As with the Bayon and
Borobudur, the Ananda is impressive in its size and
complexity. It takes the form of a Greek cross, with
four directional entrances, each of which leads to a
standing wood buddha image. The buddhas stand
against a solid central masonry block that is 175 feet
square. The buddhas, each thirty-one feet tall, are iden-
tified as four earthly buddhas: Kakusandha (Sanskrit,
Krakuccanda; north), Konagamana (Sanskrit, Kanaka-
muni; east), Kassapa (Sanskrit, Kas ́yapa; south), and
Gotama (Sanskrit, Gautama; west). There are two in-
ner galleries flanked by niches in which stone sculp-
tures are placed, and on the outside of the building areSOUTHEASTASIA, BUDDHISTART IN
An aerial view of the monument at Borobudur in Java, Indonesia. © Charles and Josette Lenars/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.