Preamble:

• At about the time that the ancient peoples of Western Europe were absorbing the classical culture and institutions of the Mediterranean, the peoples of mainland and insular Southeast Asia were responding to the stimulus of a civilisation that had arisen in northern India during the previous millennium. The Britons, Gauls, and Iberians experienced Mediterranean influences directly, through conquest by, and incorporation into, the Roman Empire. In contrast, the Indianisation of Southeast Asia was a slower process than the Romanisation of Europe because there was no period of direct Indian rule and because land and sea barriers that separated the region from the Indian subcontinent are considerable. Nevertheless, Indian religion, political thought, literature, mythology, and artistic motifs gradually became integral elements in local Southeast Asian cultures. The caste system never was adopted, but Indianisation stimulated the rise of highly-organised, centralised states.

Introduction:

• The founder of Funan was probably a Brahmin trader from western India; for a local legend describes how the first king, a Brahmin named Kaundinya, married the daughter of a local serpent deity, so establishing the ruling family. Serpents (naga) in Indian mythology are the spiritual patrons of water; and the basis this kingdom laid for later kingdoms in the same area was an elaborate system of waterworks, canals, and irrigation channels controlling and distributing the waters of the Mekong River. Contemporary Chinese accounts refer to cities with splendid wooden buildings, carved, painted, and gilded. But nothing remains, save a few foundation piles.
• Chinese records referred to Funan as "B'ui Nam" (meaning: "King of the Mountain"). What the Funanese called themselves, however, is not known. This kingdom according to the Chinese records was founded in the 1^st century AD and lasted until AD 627. It really merited the name of an empire as all the states on the peninsula including probably those in Malaya came under its rule.

• Funan is generally considered by Cambodians to have been the first Khmer kingdom in the area. Founded in the first century A.D., Funan was located on the lower reaches of the Mekong River in the delta area. Its capital, Vyadhapura, probably was located near the present-day town of Phumi Banam in Prey Veng Province. The centre of the country was located in the delta of the Mekong River and the basin of Tonic Sap (Great Lake). But its territory must have encompassed South Vietnam, the central Mekong and a large part of the Menam valley and the Malay peninsula.
• Its main port Oc Eo on the fringe of the Mekong delta bordering the Gulf of Siam was a centre of trade and industry. Its site bears evidence of maritime relations with the coast of the Gulf of Siam, Malaya, Indonesia, India, Persia and indeed directly or indirectly with the Mediterranean. It was situated on what was in its day the great maritime highway between China and the West. (Its strategic location was one of the reasons for its rise to power). Lying on the natural focus of land and sea routes linking eastern India and southern China to the islands of the South Seas, its geographical situation was ideal for a kingdom whose wealth was based on trade. At Funan sites even Roman, Ptolemaic Egyptian, and Sassanian Persian objects have been found, giving an idea of the extent of its trading interests. 

• Indian influences were the most important of Cambodia's early history. They coincided with the first centuries AD, when Chinese and Indian pilgrims and traders stopped along the coasts of present-day Cambodia and Vietnam and exchanged silks and metals for spices, aromatic wood, ivory, and gold. Written sources from about this period are almost entirely in Chinese. A kingdom or group of kingdoms known to Chinese writers as "Funan" flourished in southern Cambodia at this time. Over a period of 300 years between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, its rulers offered gifts from time to time to Chinese emperors. Chinese writers testified to the extent of Indian influence in the kingdom and cited a local story, dating from the 6th century, that traced its origins to an Indian Brahman named Kaundinya "who changed its institutions to follow Indian models."

1. K’ang Tai’s version (Mission by Chinese envoys K’ang Tai & Chu Ying who visited the country in the middle of the 3^rd century AD).

According to K’ang Tai, the founder of Funan was a foreigner named Kaundinya or "Hun-T’ien" who came from a place which may be India, the Malay peninsula, or even the Southern islands. Kaundinya was led to Funan by "a genie" in his dream. This king then defeated the local population, married the local queen "Willow Leaf" (Liu Yeh) and thus founded a dynasty which ruled the kingdom for a century and a half.

2. Sanskrit Inscription of Champa (3^rd century AD)

According to this version, the Brahmin Kaundinya, having received a javelin from the Brahmin Asvatthaman, son of Drona, threw it to mark his future capital, then married a daughter of the king of the Nagas named Soma, who gave birth to a royal line. This mystical union is identical with that from which the Pallava kings of Kanchi in South India claim to issue.

• According to some historians, the Funanese were probably a Malay race who still lived in the tribal stage at the dawn of history. The culture of Oc-Eo itself is described by a scholar M. Mallaret as half-indigenous, half-foreign - Its foreign affinities, he says, were almost entirely with India.
• During this early period in Funan's history, the population was probably concentrated in villages along the Mekong River and along the Tonle Sab River below the Tonle Sap. Traffic and communications were mostly waterborne on the rivers and their delta tributaries. The area was a natural region for the development of an economy based on fishing and rice cultivation. There is considerable evidence that the Funanese economy depended on rice surpluses produced by an extensive inland irrigation system. Maritime trade also played an extremely important role in the development of Funan. The remains of what is believed to have been the kingdom's main port, Oc Eo (now part of Vietnam), contain Roman as well as Persian, Indian, and Greek artifacts.

• Indianization was fostered by increasing contact with the subcontinent through the travels of merchants, diplomats, and learned Brahmans (Hindus of the highest caste traditionally assigned to the priesthood). Indian immigrants, believed to have arrived in the fourth and the fifth centuries, accelerated the process. By the fifth century, the elite culture was thoroughly Indianized. Court ceremony and the structure of political institutions were based on Indian models. The Sanskrit language was widely used; the laws of Manu, the Indian legal code, were adopted; and an alphabet based on Indian writing systems was introduced.
• The indianization of Funan is especially significant when we consider her proximity to China and her distance from India. It must be noted that this period in history coincided with the Central Asian Policy of Han Wu-ti and that since Chinese culture was usually spread by drawing examples from the ruler, it was bound to be on a smaller and more limited scale. The fact that Indian Golden Age occurred earlier than that of China’s explains the reason as to why Indian influence was greater. According to Paul Levy, the Funan ruler received a visit from an Indian trader who so charmed him by his account of India that the ruler sent an immediate embassy to the Kushan empire. As such, Funan thus assumed responsibility for the diffusion of Indian culture. The state of Funan provides an excellent case study for what we have mentioned about Indianization up to this point.

• At first the kingdom consisted of a number of towns lying between Chandoc and Phnom Penh. During the 2^nd century, it seems to have grown steadily until the beginning of the 3^rd century when under the warlike ruler Fan Shih Man, it became an empire. According to a Chinese record (Southern Ch'i history) the last ruler of the first Kaundinya dynasty Pan-Pan died after a reign of only 3 years, and a popular general named Fan Shih Man was chosen as the next ruler by popular acclamation.
• Fan Shih Man was a great conqueror. According to the Chinese, this mighty warrior king attacked and conquered the neighbouring states. He extended his power so widely that he took the title of the "Great King of Funan." Then he built a fleet of great ships and crossing the immense sea, he attacked more than 10 kingdoms including Tun-hsun (probably the Malay Peninsula), and "extended his kingdom more than 5,000 or 6,000 li" (approx. 1,250 to 1,500 miles).
• The Chinese asserted that Fan Shih Man died while conducting an expedition against a state called Chin-lin ("Frontier of Gold") - either in Lower Burma or around the Malay Peninsula. Scholars have difficulty in identifying the kingdoms named by the Chinese (Hall, p.26).

• By the time Fan Shih Man died, Funan had expanded from being a small settlement to an empire of about 1,500 miles in length. It reached as far as Tongking on the north and the Indian Ocean on the west, and probably had control over the small states that had established themselves in the Malay Peninsula in the south.
• By the fifth century A.D., the state exercised control over the lower Mekong River area and the lands around the Tonle Sap. It also commanded tribute from smaller states in the area now comprising northern Cambodia, southern Laos, southern Thailand, and the northern portion of the Malay Peninsula.

Usurpation by foreigners:

Vassal kings of Chenla.

1. Bhavavarman

2. Sitrasena

• Firstly, Funan was strategically located. The kingdom was situated in the delta of the Mekong River. It held a commanding position in the Gulf of Slam. It was perhaps the terminus for navigation hailing from the Eastern Mediterranean. The river channels and delta were advantageous for traffic and transportation purposes. Native boats 80-90 ft. long were built and used. Go Oc-Eo was an important port and centre of trade and industry.
• Secondly, Funan had agricultural resources. The interior valley afforded the natural region of expansion for needed agricultural resources, and the Great Lake (Tonle Sap) had an abundant supply of fish. During the rainy season - July to October - the river connecting the (Tonle Sap) and the Lower Mekong flowed in reverse, raising the level of the lake by some 40 ft. and making its area some three and a half times as great. Alluvial deposits from the flood waters contributed great fertility to the valley. Needless to say, the area was self-sufficient in food supply and was able to support a large population - Hence, an important factor in the rise of a civilisation.

• Funan acted as a middle-man in the maritime trade for both China and India. Trade was a lucrative source of revenue. There was evidence of maritime relations between Funan and the Gulf of Siam, the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, India, Persia and the Mediterranean.
• This maritime trade became even more important after the collapse of the Han dynasty and the rise of the Central Asian tribes, which led to the disruption of the overland route. Traders then searched for an alternative route - via the sea.

• Funan possessed a strong sea-port and a navy which was set up by Fan Shih Man. Funan's maritime power enabled her to dominate the shores of the Indo-Chinese peninsula and to unite the regions of SEA under her control. In fact, Funan controlled the neighbouring states as far north as the Annamese coast, and in the process, had subdued the power of Champa.

• Funan was affected by 2 waves of Indianisation:

1. The first was in 1^st century AD when Kaundinya I married "Willow Leaf" and started a line of kings,
2. The second, in 400 AD - when a foreign Brahmin, Kaundinya II (not sure if he was a descendant of the first Kaundinya), took advantage of the political chaos to seize power. His reign was of great significance - it indicated that a fresh wave of migration had reached SEA.

• Indianisation contributed to the political and cultural development of Funan. Effects of Indianisation are seen in:

1. the name Funan itself, which means "King of the Mountain" – an Indian concept. The cult of Siva provided the concept of divine kingship. The Code of Manu and the Dharmasastras (Legal Treatises) provided the legal framework for state administration. Kings after Kaundinya II took on Sanskrit names – a testimony to Indian cultural influence.
2. The introduction of Sanskrit as a writing script that enriched the culture of Funan. Sanskrit classics such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas, provided the basic inspiration for the development of local literature, art and architecture.

1. Capable Leadership

• Funan had many capable rulers:

1. Fan Shih Man (died AD 225) - He was a great conqueror who died n the course of an expedition against Chin Lin or "Frontier of Gold". He took the title of "Great King of Funan". He built a great fleet of ships and used the fleet to expand his control over the neighbouring territories. By the time of his death, Funan had expanded to an empire of about 1500 miles in length, reached as far as Tongking on the north and the Indian Ocean on the west, and probably controlled the small states of the Malay Peninsula.
2. Fan Chan (225-250) - He was a usurper. His reign was a significant one. According to Paul Pelliot, "It was this usurper who was the first to enter into official and direct relation with the princes of India." He sent one of his relatives Su Wu on an embassy to India (Kushan Kingdom of the ruler Murundas). This person embarked from T'ouChu-Li, perhaps Takkola, which indicates that the influence of Funan extended as far as the Indian Ocean at that time. It was also Fan Chan (according to History of Liang) who in 243 AD "sent an embassy to China to offer a present of musicians and products of the country." In return, Chinese ambassadors - K'ang Tai and Chu Yin were sent to Funan to make a report.
3. Fan Hsun (250- ?) - He succeeded Fan Chan and carried on with the policy of sending missions to China. A series of missions were sent between 268-287.
4. Kaundinya II (400 AD - ?) - He continued friendly relations with China, even refusing to help Champa in a war against China.
5. Jayavarman I (478-514) - He traded actively with China, solicited Chinese aid against a rebel son, but was unsuccessful. He was given the grand title "General of the Pacified South" by the Liang Court. Under him, Funan was at the peak of its power.

• It was during the reign of Fan Shih Man's nephew, the usurper, Fan Chan, that the existence and importance of Funan was recognised by her great neighbours India and China. His reign falls somewhere between 225 and 250 AD. He received a visit from an lndian trader who so charmed him by his account of India that he sent an embassy to the Kushan Kingdom (according to Paul Levy - to the Court of a ruler named Murundas). This embassy took place sometime between 240-245 AD. At about the same time, diplomatic relations was established with China. In AD 243, Fan Chan sent an embassy to China with gifts to the Chinese rulers. In return the Chinese sent 2 ambassadors (K'ang Tai and Chu Ying) to make a report on Funan and the countries of the South. Funan thus entered into political relations with the 2 powerful kingdoms of the time.
• From this time onwards till about AD 400, the history of Funan is a history of assassinations and murders. Fan Chan was himself murdered in 245 by the brother of the ruler whose throne he had usurped. However, in spite of political instability, Funan continued to send embassies both to China and India. Perhaps this was the vital factor which enabled her to continue to exert control and influence in various parts of its empire.

1. Reign of Fan Hsun

• The relations established with China during the reign of Fan Chan continued under his successor, Fan Hsun. The Chin history mentioned a series of missions from Funan covering the period between 268 to 287. Funan's aid to Champa against Tongking (under China) occasionally soured the relations somewhat.

1. Reign of Chandan (Chinese name Chan-t'an)

• After the death of Fan Hsun (exact date unknown), the history of Funan until the beginning of the 5^th century AD is shrouded in obscurity. Towards the close of this period, an usurper from India by the name of Chandan seized the throne (Hall, p. 31). Since the name Chandan is a royal title of the Kushans, a theory has been put forward that this king may have been a scion of the Kushan royal family who fled to Funan as a result of the conquest of North India by Samudragupta.

1. Dynasty of Kaundinya II

• In AD 400, a Brahmin who called himself Kaundinya took advantage of the political chaos in Funan to seize the throne. Whether he was in truth a descendant of the old Kaundinya dynasty or whether he adopted the name because of its accruing political advantage cannot be ascertained.
• The ascendancy of Kaundinya II is of great historical significance. It indicated that a fresh wave of Indian migration had reached SEA. Probably this wave of migration was stronger than the first and exercised a greater influence upon the culture of SEA. After Kaundinya II, all rulers in Funan (and Southeast Asia) had clearly Sanskrit names.
• Like the rulers of the "Fan Dynasty", Kaundinya II, adopted the policy of maintaining close relations with China. He earned China’s favour by refusing to aid Champa in a war with China, and by despatching 2 tributary missions - 431 and 434 - to the Chinese capital. His successors followed a similar policy. Jayavarman I - the best known ruler of this dynasty - traded actively with Canton, solicited Chinese aid against a rebel son who had seized control of Champa and in 503, was accorded the grand title of "General of the Pacified South" by the ruler of the Liang Dynasty.
• The reign of Jayavarman I saw Funan achieving its second peak of power. He is said to have re-asserted the power of Funan over the neighbouring kingdoms which were generally weak in the last half of the 4^th century. Funan was so strong at this time that even China and India considered it a power to be reckoned with.

• Funan reached its zenith in the fifth century A.D. Beginning in the early 6^th century, civil wars and dynastic strife undermined Funan's stability, making it relatively easy prey to incursions by hostile neighbours. By the end of the 7^th century, a northern neighbour, the kingdom of Chenla, had reduced Funan to a vassal state.

• With the death of Jayavarman I in 514 AD, Funan entered a period of decline and disintegration. The main cause was succession dispute. Jayavarman's heir was his son Gunavarman, but he was murdered by his elder brother Rudravarman who was destined to be the last ruler of independent Funan.

2. Rise of Chenla

• During the 6th century AD, the kingdom called Chenla was established in the upper-middle reaches of the Mekong River, in what is now Laos. On the death of Rudravarman, there was a great deal of unrest in the provinces of the Mekong. Chenla, now made its bid for supreme power. In AD 540, the young ruler of Chenla, Bharvavarman, seized the throne of Funan. Though this ruler pretended as though nothing had happened, Funan was in fact reduced to a state of vassalage. It continued to exist under its own name for a while longer under Bharvavarman and his successor Sitrasena. But Funan's territories had shrunk to a small area extending perhaps from its new capital at Ba Phnom along the coast as far east as Camranh Bay.
• In 627, Sitrasena's successor, Isnavarman annexed and welded it into his kingdom of Chenla. After this event, we hear no more of Funan and its name was forgotten in the passing of time.

Significance - Cady p. 54

• The immediate change was probably little more than a shift of dynasty, but the long-term implications were important. The Funan Empire quickly fell apart, leaving in its wake a number of succession states. The Indianisation process slowed down. Funan proper was completely overrun by the invading Khmers during the ensuing centuries.

• Another possible reason for the fall of Funan could be due to natural disasters and external pressures. It seems that disastrous floods could have ruined Funan, which had previously suffered from Indonesian aggression. The shift of power to Chenla can be taken to represent a recognition of temporarily insuperable geographical difficulties that Funan, in its state in the 6^th century, could not have overcome. 

1. Firstly, it contributed to the political progress of SEA. Prior to this, SEA consisted of petty kingdoms all of which were formed along feudal organisations with no political concept at all. Through Brahmin influence, Funan introduced the Hindu cult of Siva, which accorded the rulers divine status and thus, respect from the population. Through naval power, she provided a model for all her successors, including Srivijaya, and the Malaccan Sultanate.
2. Secondly, it contributed to the cultural progress of SEA. Prior to Funan, SEA was still in the Neolithic stage of development. The rise of Funan gave SEA a language - Sanskrit - and the various forms of Indian art. Both Pallavan and Gupta influences were much in evidence. Both the Saivite and Buddhist cults were practised. Sanskrit words were widely used, especially in the areas of Government, Law and Medicine. The word ‘varman’ a term used by the Kshatriya caste in India became the established suffix for royal names. Hindu practices were much in evidence. Widows and widowers did not remarry, and the ashes of the dead, encased in costly containers varying with the status of the deceased were thrown as offerings into the river or sea. It was through Funan that Indian cultural influence filtered to SEA and more importantly, Funan paved the way for the flowering of Khmer civilisation in the 7^th century in Angkor Wat.
3. Thirdly, Funan was the first great power in Southeast Asian history. Like Rome in European history, its prestige lived on long after its fall. Its traditions, notably the cults of the Sacred Mountain and the Naga princes, was adopted by the Khmer kings of Cambodia. And although its architecture has disappeared completely, there is every reason to believe that some of its characteristics are preserved in a number of Cambodian buildings of the pre-Angkor period.
4. Finally, Funan also introduced several innovations that would leave a considerable impact on Southeast Asian societies. From a cultural and social perspective, Funan's particular importance lay in its construction of an extensive irrigation and drainage system which transformed much of the Mekong delta from swamp into productive agricultural land. The introduction of large-scale irrigation allowed people to raise three or more crops of rice per year in some districts and brought unpromising areas under cultivation. It was indeed an accomplishment of great ingenuity and organization which set an example for others to follow. Another was the worship of the Hindu god Shiva (Shiva), who was conceptualised as a tutelary ancestor or spirit of the soil and often was represented by a stone lingam, or phallus. The Saivite cult would be a dominant force of Hinduism in Southeast Asian countries in the years to come. A third was the relatively peaceful coexistence of Hinduism and Buddhism, which characterised Cambodia for more than a thousand years. Funan’s importance in this aspect would be as the centre of the diffusion of Indian culture and religious practices in Southeast Asia. Its effects can still be felt even till today.

• Funan eventually lost its pre-eminance. How it came to perish is uncertain, but its place in history is assured. "As for Funan, which at times played the role of a true empire," writes historian George Coedes, "the civilization that it developed in the valley of the Mekong prepared the soil for the efflorescence of Khmer civilization, one of the most beautiful flowers that Indian influence has produced in India beyond the Ganges."