Seated Buddha in meditation

Interconnections: Cambodia and  Thailand Eight Centuries Ago

It is often not easy to tell where Buddha images from Cambodia and Thailand in the 1100s through 1300s were made. The political situation was complex. Sometimes parts of central and northeastern Thailand were controlled by the great Cambodian kingdom of Angkor. At other times, regional kingdoms or principalities held power.

Cultural influences flowed in both directions between Cambodia and Thailand. Rapid religious change complicated the picture. The Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism of Angkor were more and more supplanted by schools of Theravada Buddhism from central and northern Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Sri Lanka.

The similarities and differences among these images reflect some of the complex and poorly understood trends of the period. The position of placing the right hand on the knee became overwhelmingly predominant for Buddha images from Thailand. So did the presence of a flame jetting from top of the Buddha’s head, a feature that seems to have been introduced from Sri Lanka.