New states, peoples, and religions in Southeast Asia

November 15, 2012

Review

• Is Hinduism one religion or a family of religions? • Has Hinduism always focused on the worship of gods like Rama, Krishna, and Devi in temples? • Can someone be called a follower of the religion of Hinduism if they don ’t respect the Vedas, don ’t believe in reincarnation, and don ’t respect the cow?

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Law and Dharma

We have learned that dharma means “how you should act according to your station in life.

” In that sense, it is the eternal, unchanging moral law.

• However, dharma can also mean customs, as in the dharma of particular castes. In those cases, it can change, as in the change from animal sacrifice to vegetarianism (Trautmann, p. 118) • Royal edicts (laws) could overrule custom and dharma, at least temporarily. • There was no notion that law or dharma is a reflection of the will of the people.

Science

• • Linguistics, especially phonetics and grammar, was one of the most important traditional sciences, since it was important that the Vedas be read aloud correctly. • • India developed a phonetic writing system. Astronomy, in the sense of determining the right time for rituals, was another important science. To do this, South Asian mathematicians developed the notion of zero, pi, and algebra. They also developed an early version of chess. South Asia had its own approach to medicine, called Ayurveda. Like Chinese medicine, it emphasizes harmony within the body. However, like early European medicine, it talks of different “humours” within the body.

Classical Literature

• The most highly valued literature was religious literature. Particularly important were the religious epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. • Sanskrit literature was rated higher than vernacular literature, at least until around 1,100 or so. • Kalidasa, often called the “Shakespeare of India ” wrote both poetry and dramas in Sanskrit during the Gupta era.

Geography of Southeast Asia

• Why did the Malay states tend to establish their early capitals in ports while the inland empires tend to establish their capitals farther inland? • • • • Which states are Malay states? What is Champa? Remember that ethnic groups form over time. They don ’t suddenly appear in history fully formed.

Also remember that governments in Southeast Asia in this period are not like modern governments. Their power is concentrated in their capitals and grows weaker in direct proportion to distance from the capitals

Mainland political culture

• • • • Except for Champa, the first states appeared along major rivers. In many cases, the peoples who created the first states were replaced by new peoples from the north who had more advanced agricultural methods (using irrigation systems).

Governments were like a solar-system, with power weakening away from the centre.

Except for Vietnam, religion in the first millennium was a mixture of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, just like in the islands.

New peoples:

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Burmese

Who controlled Burma (Myanmar) first? The Mon • • Where did the Burmese come from? the North What was the name of the first kingdom they established? Pagan (Bagan) (9th to 13th century) • • It fell after Mongol attacks in 1287. New states arose: Pegu on the coast, Ava in central Burma, and, in the 1500s, Toungoo. • Adopted Theravada Buddhism (from Sri Lanka)

The Tais and the

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Thais

Pushed out of Yunnan by the Mongols in the 13th century.

• Toppled a weakened Khmer kingdom in the 1400s • • Call their new kingdom Ayudhya (taken from the name of Ram ’s capital in the Ramayana) Pushed down into the Malay peninsula to benefit from trade between India and Southeast Asia.

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Vietnam marches south

Freed from Vietnamese control in 907 (with the fall of the Tang) • Song China tried to restore control but the Vietnamese fought them off. They also resisted Mongol attacks. • Became only kingdom in Southeast Asia to use civil service exams. • • captured Champa capital in 1471. Did not control the Mekong Delta until the mid 18th century (it was primarily Khmer before then).

Religious change

• Buddhism (except among the Vietnamese) • • First Burma, then Thailand and the Khmers What are the differences between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism?

• Sanskrit texts (Mahayana) vrs Pali texts (Theravada) • Bodhisattvas (Mahayana) vrs emphasis on Buddha • People earn merit (karma) by donating to monks.

The islands of Indonesia

• • • • What are the three most important islands of Indonesia, from west to east? Sumatra Java Bali (unique for holding on to Hinduism rather than adopting Islam).

Madjapahit (1295 1527)

• Largest Malay kingdom, and the last that had a Hindu-Buddhist orientation. • Used a Mongol attack to get rid of a previous royal family. • Like previous Malay kingdoms, it was primarily a trading kingdom, though it could also rely on the rich agricultural economy of Java. • Trade with India led to inroads by Islam.

Islam reaches the Malays

• • 1400--The King of Melaka converts, creating the Malacca Sultanate. Melaka becomes a major site for Chinese trade with Southeast Asia. • • It also spreads into Sumatra and Java.

Reached Mindanao, but was blocked in most of the Philippines by the arrival of the Catholic Spanish. May have been spread by Sufis as well as by merchants.

Islam

• • • • Different from other religions of pre-modern Asia Islam is monotheistic: There is no God but God (Allah) Muhammad is a prophet. He is not worshipped. Islam is a religion of a book, the Qu ’ran, believed to be the revealed word of God.

• Islam places specific obligations on its believers: five formal prayers a day, fasting during Ramadan, and, if possible, a visit to Mecca. • Islam is the religion. Believers in Islam are called Muslims.

The Vernacular

• Both in maritime (sea-trading) and mainland Southeast Asia, vernacular scripts began to replace Sanskrit around 1,000-1,100 years ago. Most of those writing systems were imitations of the writing systems of South Asia, though Vietnam used Chinese characters instead.

• We also see the beginning of the use of Arabic script among the Malays.

Southeast Asian

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society

Despite South Asian influence, no strong caste system.

• • In Islamic Southeast Asia, there was no purdah or even veiling of woman.

Women had more economic and social status among Malays than they did in the rest of Southeast Asia, but even mainland Southeast Asian women enjoyed greater autonomy and status than did women in China. This is true even of Vietnam.

Agriculture and Trade

• • • Pre-modern societies are primarily either agricultural or commercial oriented. All societies had both components, but some, such as maritime Southeast Asia, put more emphasis on trade than other societies did. In maritime Southeast Asia (Java, Sumatra, Malaya), trade played a larger role in government revenues than it did anywhere else in Asia. Mainland Southeast Asia was primarily agricultural, though it placed more emphasis on trade than did East Asia or South Asia. Despite the agricultural foundations of their societies, the states of South Asia and East Asia also had merchants engaged in both internal and foreign trade. However, since the rulers gained most of their revenue from agriculture, their societies should be regarded as primarily agricultural.