Mandala (political model) in the context of "Funan"

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⭐ Core Definition: Mandala (political model)

The term mandala (Sanskrit: मंडल, romanizedmaṇḍala, lit.'circle') is used to describe a model of decentralized political systems in the early historical era of medieval Southeast Asia. At that time, authority radiated from a core centre rather than being defined by fixed territorial boundaries. This model emphasizes the fluid distribution of power among the networks of Mueang and Kedatuan city-states or principalities, in contrast to modern concepts of centralized nation-states.

The mandala model was adopted by 20th-century historians as a way to analyse traditional structures (such as federations of kingdoms or tributary states) without imposing preconceived notions of statehood. Unlike Chinese and European models of a state, with fixed borders and centralized bureaucracies, most Southeast Asian polities operated by means of overlapping spheres of influence. Their sovereignty was derived from an ability to attract allegiance using cultural, economic, or military prestige, rather than by means of land control. These dynamic systems could incorporate multiple subordinate centres, while maintaining a symbolic "centre of domination". The centre was often embodied by a ruler's court or sacred site.

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👉 Mandala (political model) in the context of Funan

Funan (Chinese: 扶南; pinyin: Fúnán, also Chinese: 夫南; Vietnamese: Phù Nam; Khmer: ហ៊្វូណន, romanizedHvunân, Khmer pronunciation: [fuːnɑːn]; Sanskrit: व्याधपूर, Vyādhapūra) was a loose network of ancient Indianized states (Mandala) located in Mainland Southeast Asia, covering parts of present-day Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, that existed from the first to seventh century CE. The name is found in Chinese historical texts describing the kingdom, and the most extensive descriptions a name the people of Funan gave to their polity, perhaps a Chinese transcription of pnom, “mountain”. Funan is generally considered as the first known kingdom in Southeast Asia. Some scholars argued that ancient Chinese scholars have found the records formerly the Kingdom of Funan, were located to the South-west of Linyi (Champa Kingdom in central Vietnam).

Like the name of the kingdom, the ethno-linguistic nature of the people is the subject of much discussion among specialists. The leading hypotheses are that the Funanese were mostly Mon–Khmer, or that they were mostly Austronesian, or that they constituted a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic society. The available evidence is inconclusive on this issue. Michael Vickery has said that, even though identification of the language of Funan is not possible, the evidence suggests that the population was Khmer. However, several studies demonstrates that inhabitants of Funan probably spoke Malayo-Polynesian languages, as in neighboring Champa. The results of archaeology at Óc Eo have demonstrated "no true discontinuity between Óc Eo and pre-Angkorian levels", indicating ancient Mon-khmer region may have gone as far back as the 4th century BCE. Though regarded by Chinese authors as a single unified polity, some modern scholars suspect that Funan may have been a collection of city-states that sometimes were at war with one another and at other times constituted a political unity. From archaeological evidence, which includes Roman, Chinese, and Indian goods excavated at the ancient mercantile centre of Óc Eo in southern Vietnam, it is known that Funan must have been a powerful trading state. Excavations at Angkor Borei in southern Cambodia have likewise delivered evidence of an important settlement. Since Óc Eo was linked to a port on the coast and to Angkor Borei by a system of canals, it is possible that all of these locations together constituted the heartland of Funan.

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Mandala (political model) in the context of Ayutthaya Kingdom

The Ayutthaya Kingdom or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Thai kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. European travellers in the early 16th century called Ayutthaya one of the three great powers of Asia (alongside Vijayanagara and China), although the Chinese chronicles recognise the kingdom as one of its tributary states. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is considered to be the precursor of modern Thailand, and its developments are an important part of the history of Thailand.

The name Ayutthaya originates from Ayodhya, a Sanskrit word. This connection stems from the Ramakien, Thailand's national epic. The Ayutthaya Kingdom emerged from the mandala or merger of three maritime city-states on the Lower Chao Phraya Valley in the late 13th and 14th centuries (Lopburi, Suphanburi, and Ayutthaya). The early kingdom was a maritime confederation, oriented to post-Srivijaya Maritime Southeast Asia, conducting raids and tribute from these maritime states. After two centuries of political organization from the Northern Cities and a transition to a hinterland state, Ayutthaya centralized and became one of the great powers of Asia. From 1569 to 1584, Ayutthaya was a vassal state of Toungoo Burma; but quickly regained independence. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Ayutthaya emerged as an entrepôt of international trade and its cultures flourished. The reign of Narai (r. 1657–1688) was known for Persian and later, European, influence and the sending of the 1686 Siamese embassy to the French court of King Louis XIV. The Late Ayutthaya Period saw the departure of the French and English but growing prominence of the Chinese. The period was described as a "golden age" of Siamese culture and saw the rise in Chinese trade and the introduction of capitalism into Siam, a development that would continue to expand in the centuries following the fall of Ayutthaya.

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Mandala (political model) in the context of Nusantara (term)

Nusantara is the Indonesian name of Maritime Southeast Asia (or parts of it). It is an Old Javanese term that literally means "outer islands". In Indonesia, it is generally taken to mean the Indonesian Archipelago. Outside of Indonesia, the term has been adopted to refer to the Malay Archipelago.

The word Nusantara is taken from an oath by Gajah Mada in 1336, as written in the Old Javanese Pararaton. Gajah Mada was a powerful military leader and prime minister of Majapahit credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory. Gajah Mada delivered an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed not to eat any food containing spices until he had conquered all of Nusantara under the glory of Majapahit.The concept of Nusantara as a unified region was not invented by Gajah Mada in 1336. The term Nusantara was first used by Kertanegara of Singhasari in Mula Malurung inscription dated 1255. Furthermore, in 1275, the term Cakravala Mandala Dvipantara was used by him to describe the aspiration of united Southeast Asian archipelago under Singhasari and marked the beginning of his efforts to achieve it. Dvipantara is a Sanskrit word for the "islands in between", making it a synonym to Nusantara as both dvipa and nusa mean "island". Kertanegara envisioned the union of Southeast Asian maritime kingdoms and polities under Singhasari as a bulwark against the rise of the expansionist Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China.

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Mandala (political model) in the context of Sukhothai Kingdom

The Sukhothai Kingdom was a post-classical Siamese kingdom (maṇḍala) in Mainland Southeast Asia surrounding the ancient capital city of Sukhothai in present-day north-central Thailand. It evolved from a trading hub to a city-state in 1127 and emerged into the kingdom by Si Inthrathit in 1238. Sukhothai existed as an independent polity until 1438 when it fell under the influence of the neighboring Ayutthaya after the death of Borommapan (Maha Thammaracha IV).

Sukhothai was originally a trade center in Lavo—itself under the suzerainty of the Khmer Empire from 946–1052—when Central Thai people led by Pho Khun Bang Klang Hao, a local leader, revolted and gained their independence. Bang Klang Hao took the regnal name of Si Inthrathit and became the first monarch of the Phra Ruang dynasty.

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Mandala (political model) in the context of Cebu (historical polity)

Cebu, also called Sugbu, informally referred to as the Rajahnate of Cebu, was an Indianized mandala (polity) monarchy on the island of Cebu in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. It is known in ancient Chinese records as the nation of Sokbu (束務) (Hokkien) or Suwu (Mandarin). According to Visayan oral legend, it was founded by Sri Lumay or Rajamuda Lumaya, a half-Malay and half-Tamil from Sumatra. The capital of Cebu was Singhapala which is Tamil-Sanskrit for "Lion City", the same root words with the modern city-state of Singapore.

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Mandala (political model) in the context of Thonburi Kingdom

The Thonburi Kingdom was a major Siamese kingdom which existed in Southeast Asia from 1767 to 1782, centred on the city of Thonburi, in Siam or present-day Thailand. The kingdom was founded by Taksin, who reunited Siam following the collapse of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which saw the country separate into five warring regional states. The Thonburi Kingdom oversaw the rapid reunification and reestablishment of Siam as a preeminient military power within mainland Southeast Asia, overseeing the country's expansion to its greatest territorial extent up to that point in its history, incorporating Lan Na, the Laotian kingdoms (Luang Phrabang, Vientiane, Champasak), and Cambodia under the Siamese sphere of influence.

The Thonburi Kingdom saw the consolidation and continued growth of Chinese trade from Qing China, a continuation from the late Ayutthaya period (1688-1767), and the increased influence of the Chinese community in Siam, with Taksin and later monarchs sharing close connections and close family ties with the Sino-Siamese community.

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Mandala (political model) in the context of Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

The Rattanakosin Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Siam after 1855, refers to the Siamese kingdom (in modern-day Thailand) between 1782 and 1932. It was founded in 1782 with the establishment of Rattanakosin (Bangkok), which replaced the city of Thonburi as the capital of Siam. This article covers the period until the Siamese revolution of 1932.

The kingdom governed based on the mandala system. This allows for high-autonomy locally with the kingdom influencing and effectively ruling its area of suzerainty. At its zenith in 1805 to 1812, the Kingdom was composed of 25 polities, ranging from duchies and principalities to federations and kingdoms. With the furthest extent reaching the Shan States, southern Yunnan, Laos, Cambodia, northern Si Rat Malai and Kawthoung. The kingdom was founded by Rama I of the Chakri dynasty. The first half of this period was characterized by the consolidation of Siamese power in the center of Mainland Southeast Asia and was punctuated by contests and wars for regional supremacy with rival powers Burma and Vietnam. The second period was one of engagements with the colonial powers of Britain and France in which Siam remained the only Southeast Asian state to maintain its independence.

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Mandala (political model) in the context of Old Pahang Kingdom

The old Pahang kingdom (Malay: Kerajaan Pahang Tua) was a historical Malay polity centred in the Pahang region on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. The polity appeared in foreign records from as early as the 5th century and at its height, covered much of modern state of Pahang and the entire southern part of the peninsula. Throughout its pre-Melakan history, Pahang was established as a mueang or naksat of some major regional Malayic mandalas including Langkasuka, Srivijaya and Ligor. Around the middle of the 15th century, it was brought into the orbit of Melaka Sultanate and subsequently established as a vassal Muslim Sultanate in 1470, following the coronation of the grandson of the former Maharaja as the first Sultan of Pahang.

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