SRIVIJAYA

In the 7th century, the southern peninsula of Thailand was overrun by a new set of invaders, these less benign than the Indians of previous centuries. The drive for hegemony over the southern seas came from powerful new kingdoms emerging in Central Java. Though thoroughly Hinduized like the rest of Southeast Asia, these new people had created a culture distinct from that of their Indian predecessors. Their energy soon bubbled over and, gripped by a zeal for expansion, they fanned out north and south of the equator, establishing a new realm named Srivijaya.

Srivijaya was the dominant force in the region between the 8th and 13th centuries. While historians know the type of culture the term "Srivijaya" describes, they are in disagreement over the nature and compass of the Srivijayan empire. The Tang annals of China note that in Srivijaya, a man cast no shadow at noon on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Various locations for this shadowless spot have been posited ranging from Maura Takus on the west coast of Kalimantan (Borneo) to Palembang in southeast Sumatra to Chaiya in southern Thailand, the latter being the cultural center of Thailand's South from the 5th to the 12th centuries. Other theories suggest that over the five centuries of its existence, its capital may have been shifted several times for economic or strategic reasons.

Srivijaya's monarchs were related by marriage to the Sailendra ruling house of central Java. Long before the island's conversion to Islam, a process completed by the 14th century, Java practiced Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, and it was the latter school they brought to Thailand. A number of Srivijayan kings were patrons of the Mahayana Buddhist University at Nalanda in northeast India, adding yet another dimension to Srivijayan art.

In the 10th century, Srivijaya became embroiled in a series of ruinous wars with the Cholas of southern India that drained it of much of its energy and drive. It continued to hold sway in the Peninsula, due primarily to the lack of any strong rival to challenge it, but by the 13th century had effectively faded from the political scene.

Srivijaya marks a high point in Thailand's artistic development. The period's artists are responsible for some of the finest stone sculpture ever produced in the country and for reaching new heights in bronze casting, especially in creating large pieces. Srivijayan was an enduring art as well; though the empire disappeared as a political entity in the 13th century, its schools of art and their highly evolved styles continued to thrive until the beginning of the present century.

A sandstone Avalokitesvara, 1.15 m. tall, found at Chaiya and dating from the 8th century. Many early stone pieces were decorated with real jewelty. (Bangkok National Museum)

Perhaps the most famous of Srivijayan images is this bronze Avalokitesvara, Found at Wat Phra Mahathat, Chaiya, the 70 cm. tall image dates from the 8th-9th centuries. (Bangkok National Museum)

A bronze Avalokitesvara, 65 cm. tall found at Chaiya and dating from the 9th-10th centuries. (Bangkok National Museum)

It is a period that defies easy categorization. Art historians have been stymied in their efforts to formulate crisp definitions that cover the entire body of work. Srivijaya's geographical position as a trade crossroads meant that those new styles, which hadn't passed through the filter of Javan or peninsular aesthetics, were constantly being introduced from outside. Moreover, the Peninsula's many schools flourished independently and in widely separated locations having little contact with each other.

In the 6th and 7th centuries, before Srivijayan monarchs had consolidated their hold on the region, the art is characterized by close contact with northern and southern schools of Indian art with their own distinct and often varying iconography. Concomitant with it was the deepest penetration Dvaravati styles ever made in the South. The Dvaravati presence can be seen in several images bearing its particular iconography and in a number of stone Wheels of Law, items the Srivijayan culture never produced and which were probably imported.

In the 8th and 9th centuries, the major Indian influence came from the Pala school of northern India, a style which would also be evident in Early Chiengsaen (13th century) art of the Lanna kingdoms of the far north of Thailand though having arrived there via Burma. During the same period, the few Buddha and Boddhisatva images the Srivijayan artists produced were inspired by the art of central Java. In the 9th and 10th centuries, traces of Cham styles from southern Vietnam and eastern Kampuchea can be discerned. With this multiplicity of infusions it is difficult to define precisely what the term "Srivijayan" denotes and whether the term can be applied with accuracy to the creative productions of Thailand's South. It has even been suggested that the period be called 'The Arts of Southern Thailand between the 7th and 13th Centuries".

Architecture

Little survives from this period, and what does has been restored numerous times over the centuries. The best-known structure is the Phra Mahathat stupa at Chaiya. Built in central Javanese style with brick and vegetable mortar, it dates from the 9th and 10th centuries but has been restored several times, most recently in 1901 and 1930. The monument stands on a square foundation and has a wide porch rimmed by small stupas. Four square tiers ascend in decreasing size with small stu pas on the corners and plaques in the middle of each tier which give the effect of a gentle tapering to the spire finial. Badly ruined but still providing hints of its former grandeur is Wat Kaew, also at Chaiya. Built in Javanese cruciform shape, its upper portions suggest a Cham tower.

The original stupa of Wat Mahathat in Nakhon Si Thammarat, one of the most important Srivijayan cities, has, like the Dvaravati stupa at Nakhon Pathom, been encased in a later, larger Sri Lankan style structure. A small stupa at one corner is thought to be a model of the original. The stupa dates from about the 12th century, just before the peninsular people converted from Mahayana to Theravada Buddhism.

Wat Kaew in Chaiya is one of the jew known Srivijayan buildings, the brick structure is built in cruciform Javanese shape but its upper section resembles a Cham town.

The Sri Lankan-style stupa of Wat Mahathat in Nakhon Si Thammarat is thought to encase an earlier Srivijayan stupa. The large stupa dates from the 12th century.

A 215 cm. four-armed bronze Avalokitesvara created in the 9th century. (Wat Phra Mahathat Museum, Chaiya)

Sculpture

Carvers of stone Hindu and Buddhist images reached heights of perfection not since equaled except in Si Thep. Bronze craftsmen produced Buddhist images, principally Boddhisatva Avalokitesvaras of flawless beauty that stand as the finest examples of the art in Southeast Asia.

The main activity was concentrated between the 8th and 10th centuries. Between the 10th and 12th centuries there was a hiatus brought about by the necessity to devote resources to the wars with the Cholas. Activity resumes in the 12th and 13th centuries but with less intensity and in more widely separated locations. It is then that the outlying areas take up the Srivijayan mantle, carrying on the tradition long after the impetus that had inspired its original artists had been exhausted.

Srivijayan sculpture can generally be characterized by its lightness and grace, its full-bodied execution, sinuosity and the smoothness of its finish. One can feel confident strength flowing from its figures, especially its stone depictions of the Hindu deity Vishnu, whose portrayal occupied the attention of early Srivijayan sculptors.

The deities are depicted in three dimensions with all surfaces carved. While sandstone permitted the sculptors greater latitude than the brittle limestone used by Dvaravati carvers, compensations had to be made for its weakness. Vishnus were carved with very sturdy legs and solid feet, with a gathering of pleats falling from the waist to the statue's base to anchor it and with a club and a globe on a stand on either side to form a fourth and fifth support. Their fears about the stone's ability to support itself were, alas, justified. Despite the elaborate propping, most statues have been found snapped off at the ankles.

The Vishnus have narrow waists and broad shoulders with their four arms separated where they enter the shoulders. The hands hold various objects associated with Vishnu (vajra, lotus, conch, rosary and others) and have been carved without any props, again an act of rashness by Srivijayan carvers as time has robbed the statues of all their arms. The images wear tranquil expressions with full cheeks, gently curving eyebrows and finely sculpted lips. The miter, which is the principal identifying mark of a Vishnu, is generally cylindrical and smooth, lacking decoration of any sort. The neck is natural-looking and often displays an Adam's apple.

No images of Brahma have been found and Siva images are only slightly less rare. Depictions of Siva are confined to faces carved on linga, a symbol of potency in Brahmanic iconography. Almost all Hindu images are carved from stone. Bronze was reserved for Buddhist figures.

The Boddhisatva Avalokitesvara was the most popular Buddhist subject among peninsular sculptors during Thailand's Mahayana Buddhist phase. In the Srivijaya period, they far outnumbered images of other Boddhisatvas and of the Buddha himself. A sandstone Avalokitesvara found at Wieng Sa south of Chaiya and dated in the mid-7th century is the earliest known in Southeast Asia. It is in the Gupta tradition of the Sarnath school of northern India and was probably imported. A triple-flexioned body common to all Srivijayan Vishnus and Avalokitesvaras is covered by a sarong tied at the waist by a cord. Such images were variously depicted with an antelope skin draped over the left shoulder or a tiger skin tied at the waist, the latter affectation a symbol of Avalokitesvara found only in peninsular Thailand and Indonesia.

Standing bronze Avalokitesvara, 34 cm. tall and dating from the 8th-9th centuries. Found at Betong in Yala. (Wat Matchimawat Museum, Songkhla)

Stone Buddha head, 29 cm. tall, a superb piece carved in the 8th-9th centuries. (National Museum Nakhon Si Thammarat).

Standing bronze Siva, 35 cm. from Sating Phra. (Wat Matchimawat Museum, Songkhla)

It is in the bronze images, notably two famous statues from Chaiya, that the Avalokitesvara is portrayed in its supreme beauty. The Buddha-tobe stands either upright or in the hipshot triple-flexion stance. The upper torso is highly decorated with strands of jewelry and with the antelope andjor tiger skin noted above. His hair is tied in a chignon (Jatamukuta) and is heavily ornamented. The face is distinguished by full cheeks and finely-crafted eyes in which deepset pupils remain dark regardless of how the statue is lit, giving the image a very natural look. The full molding of the torso and the sheen given the slightly pitted skin by the use of bronze makes these statues some of Asia's most compellingly beautiful art.

While nearly all stone Hindu and bronze Boddhisatva Avalokitesvara figures are in a standing position, there are only a few stone standing Buddha images until very late in the period. The Buddhas sit in the vajrasena position, a trait they share with Lanna and other period images. The torso is often tilted back, a stylistic innovation not found elsewhere and one for which there is no explanation. Whereas the most common hand gesture in Dvaravati Buddhist sculpture is the vitarka mudra (teaching), the most frequently favored by Srivijayan artists is the bhumisparsa mudra to depict the Buddha in Maravijaya. The Buddha heads display unique stylistic features as well. The ushnisha is more pronounced than in Dvaravati art.

The latter part of the Srivijayan period following the lull in artistic creativity saw less activity, and its representative examples are easier to classify because there is more homogeneity in their features. Several new elements, perhaps inspired by Khmer art, are evident. The ushnisha of many images is more spherical. Moreover, it is smooth, lacking the tight curls normally found on Buddha heads. The robe end is not held in the left hand but falls over the left shoulder in a flat pleated mat that terminates at the chest. The robe is fastened at the waist by a buckle cinching pleats that fall down the front of the statue to the feet like those of the Vishnu images.

One of the best-known and certainly most endearing Buddha images is a bronze Buddha in the posture of Maravijaya or "Victory over Mara". Its inscription reads "1183", a date which experts dispute, feeling it was probably cast a century later in 1291. The Buddha is protected by a canopy formed by the naga king Muchalinda. The naga motif, a Dvaravati pose, was copied by Khmer artists but the Maravijaya attitude rare in Thailand's art was never used by the Khmers.

An interesting convention found in Mahayana but not Theravada Buddhism was the portrayal of Buddhist goddesses, a Pala influence from northeastern India. The goddess Chunda, an emanation of Vajrasattva (Buddha with the Thunderbolt), a late Mahayana Buddhist concept, sits on a base backed by an aureole. The lower pair of her four arms are in her lap in the position of meditation. The upper two hold what might be a beaded rosary and a book. She is dressed in a long dress with floral patterns and wears a coronet on her brow. The goddess Tara is depicted with the same style of dress and ornamentation as the Chunda but her hands display different gestures. The lower left rests in her lap while the lower right signs the varada mudra (charity). The upper pair of arms hold objects whose identity has been obscured by deterioration.

While Srivijaya undoubtedly produced ceramic objects, few have been turned up by excavator's picks and these have not yet been thoroughly studied by art historians.

Votive tablets have been found in abundance. Made of unbaked clay and depicting Mahayana Buddhist themes, they are round or oval and bear inscriptions in Sanskrit. They show Buddha or the Boddhisatvas (especially the Avalokitesvara) in various attitudes.

The School of Nakhon Si Thammarat

There is some question of whether a separate school should be designated for the wealth of art from Nakhon Si Thammarat or whether it belongs to the main body of Srivijayan work. The objects date from the latter part of the period and share certain stylistic elements not found in other Srivijayan art objects.

The school is responsible for producing the region's first Vishnu image, a 5th century statue depicting the deity holding a conch shell on his hip. Its main importance, however, is that it is tied to the rise of Nakhon Si Thammarat as a major political center.

The most famous image claimed by this school is a Phra Buddha Sihing, a 16th century creation that was the most revered image in Nakhon Si Thammarat and peninsular Thailand. Not to be confused with the Phra Buddha Sihing made in Kamphaeng Phet in the 15th century and now in the Buddhaisawan Chapel of Bangkok's National Museum, it bears a resemblance to images of the Lanna period with its broad face, parrot's beak-like nose, and a curl-covered ushnisha topped by a smooth, conical ornament. The image sits in the Maravijaya attitude with the legs in the vajrasena or soles upward position. The right shoulder is bare and the left is graced by a heavily-pleated flap, so unusual that the Thais have given this genre of images a special name: Khanom Thorn.

The Phra Buddha Sihing of Nakhon Si Thammarat. The 16th-century statue is the supreme example of the genre of images called "Khanom Thom". (Chapel of the City Hall in Nakhon Si Thammarat)

Courtyard of Prasat Hin Phimai, with the barred windows typical of later Khmer architecture.

The stone prang of Prasat Hin Phimai dating from the period of the Baphuon style in Khmer art. It was converted to a Buddhist sanctuary in the 13th century.