Overview: Influences on Southeast Asia

The communities and cultures of Southeast Asia were in direct contact with India through trade routes and were heavily influenced by Indian religion and art. The Pali and Sanskrit languages, Indian script, and Hindu epic literature—such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata—were transmitted to Southeast Asia during this period. Hinduism and Buddhism were brought to the region and became the main religions practiced from about the 1st century BCE to the 13th century CE. These influences played a considerable role in shaping the art and sculpture of Southeast Asia.

Sculpture in Southeast Asia

Between the 1^st and 8^th centuries CE, several Indic kingdoms competed for dominance in Southeast Asia, particularly the Cambodian Funan and the Burmese Mon. Most of the Southeast Asian sculpture of the period 300 - 600 CE was heavily influenced by the style of the Gupta Empire in India, which patronized Buddhist art in the Greco-Buddhist style. Buddhist art in Thailand was shaped both by direct contact with Indian traders and the expansion of the Mon kingdom. In later periods, Chinese influence predominated in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and more wooden sculpture survives from across the region.

Buddhist Sculptures

Southeast Asian Buddha statues of this period were characterized by a purity of statuary and a delicacy in portraying the folds of clothing. Symbolic shell-like curls were used to render the hair of the Buddha. Somewhat less attention was paid to the realism of artistic details. A number of votive tablets and Sanskrit inscriptions are also found in the region.

Bronze standing Buddha, Thailand, 7th century

Sculpted in the Mon Dwaravati style, this bronze statue has an idealized rather than realistic physical form including shell like curls for hair.

Champa

The Indic civilization of Champa flourished along the coasts of what is now central and southern Vietnam from 500 CE onward. This civilization left an impressive artistic legacy consisting primarily of sandstone sculptures, both in the round and in relief. These sculptures expressed religious themes and synthesized elements of Hinduism, Buddhism, and indigenous cults. Common themes included Hindu and Buddhist deities and icons, as well as scenes from daily life.

The Cham created freestanding sandstone sculptures in the round, as well as high and bas-relief carvings of sandstone. In general, they appear to have preferred sculpting in relief, and they excelled especially at sculpture in high relief. Cham sculpture went through a marked succession of historical styles, the foremost of which produced some of the best works of Southeast Asian art. The subject-matter of Cham sculpture is drawn mostly from the legends and religion of Indian civilization. Many of the sculptures are representations of particular Hindu and Buddhist deities, most prominently Siva but also Lokesvara, Visnu, Brahma, Devi, and Shakti. Such sculptures may have served a religious purpose rather than being purely decorative. 

The Birth of Brahma, sandstone relief, My Son, Vietnam, 7th century

This unfinished pediment is a fine example of Hindu art in the style of Champa. The relief sculpture shows the birth of the Hindu god Brahma from a lotus growing from the navel of Vishnu.