Traces the story of India's expansion that is woven into the culture of Southeast Asia.
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REVIEW
This remains the seminal work of its kind in the field and continues to be assigned by University professors around the world for use in Southeast Asian studies. Translated from Coedes native French, the book gives a clear and conscise history of the Indianization process that occured throughout South-East Asia in the first thousand years A.D. . Coedes is able to transcend the mist of time and make these civilizations come to life. He was amoung the first of the western historians to realize that the Indianization process was not one of a dominant Indian culture supplanting an inferior Southeast Asian culture, but of two great cultures amalgamating into a vibrant new form. Coedes takes us through the magnificent ruins of the Angkorian empire, in the jungles of Cambodia, and makes the ruins speak to the modern reader. He shows how every part of these cities were emersed in religous symbolism and splendor. This book is valuable for both the general and student reader. For any one interested in the history,art or religion of Southeast Asia this book is a must read. ~RD~