BUDDHISM IN SRI LANKA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 143Once Brahmanism and Buddhism were established in the courts and
began spreading to the populace, the religious history of the region up
until the eleventh century C.E. differed litde from that of India itself. Vari-
ous forms ofBuddhism-primarily Theravada, Sarvastivada, Mahayana,
and Vajrayana-coexisted with Hinduism and indigenous animist beliefs.
The question of which element in the mix was dominant where and at
what time was largely a matter of the vagaries of royal patronage. There
are only a few discernible patterns to this patronage. Buddhism tended
to enjoy more consistent support in the areas closest to India-Burma,
Thailand, and the Sri Vijaya empire centered on Sumatra and the Malay
Peninsula-and, ironically, the largest and most enduring Buddhist monu-
ments, Borobudur in central Java and the Bayon in Cambodia, were built
in kingdoms where Buddhism was only briefly the main recipient of royal
patronage.
In the late eighth century, much of Southeast Asia came under the
rule of the Sailendra dynasty of central Java. Although central Javanese re-
ligion during this period was a mixture of indigenous elements, Mahay-
ana, and Saivism-with Tantrism linking the three-the Sailendras were
primarily Buddhist. Their rule was brief-they had taken over from a
Saivite dynasty in central Java in 780, and their last queen married a
Saivite prince in 832-but in the period around 800, one of their rulers
built at Borobudur the greatest and most glorious of all Buddhist stiipas.
This is a giant mal).<;iala in stone, its bas-reliefs representing the pilgrim's
search for Awakening along the 10 stages of the bodhisattva's Path and
perhaps the 4 levels of Tantra as well. The circumambulation path up the
monument leads through walled corridors past more than two thousand
reliefs depicti~g scenes from Sakyamuni's life, the Jataka tales, and the
Ga1J4avyiiha Siitra, finally reaching a broad open summit covered with 72
small stiipas containing Buddha images surrounding a large central stiipa.
The ascent is a symbolic journey through the material world, out of
sar:p.sara and into nirval).a.
While Borobudur was being built, Jayavarman, a Cambodian prince
whom the Sailendras had taken hostage, returned to his homeland and
proclaimed it independent, founding a Khmer empire that eventually cov-
ered much of what is now Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. This
empire lasted until its capital, Yasodharapura, fell to the Thais in 1431. Its
greatest architectural achievement was a series of temples and mausoleums
built at the capital, known today as Angkor. Jayavarman brought with him
from Java the cult of the god-king (the belief that the ruler of the country
was an incarnation of Siva), and most of the Angkor complex is dedicated
to this cult. Not until the last great builder of Angkor, Jayavarman VII,
ascended the throne in 1181 did Buddhist elements begin to appear in the
royal temples.
Jayavarman VII was a follower of the Mahayana cult of Avalokitesvara
and, in a Buddhist adaptation of his predecessors' beliefs, conceived of
himself as a bodhisattva king, a concept that was to have a long life in