Page 44 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SIAM
42
Peninsula, The Cambodians are the direct descendants
of the Khmers, and the Mohns or Takings of Pegu, the
K'amuks of French Laos, and the K'as and other smaller
tribes in the Shan States are all scions of the same
original
stock.
These Khmers, whatever their origin may have been,
settled in times the whole sea coast
prehistoric along
from the mouth of the Irawadi to the mouth of the
river. To their modern
Mekong judge by descendants,
were a of small of
they people comparatively stature,
darker than the Lawas or and somewhat
complexion Was,
effeminate in
appearance.
These early Khmer settlers, as also the Lawas in the
and have left behind no stone
north, were animists,
or brick buildings of any kind. They were probably
an illiterate and uncultured race.
The Khmer civilisation, the monumental remains of
which have so astonished all was of
investigators, purely
Indian It is not to for certain when
origin. possible say
the first Indian settlers came to Siam or Cambodia, but
there is no reason to that of their
suppose any buildings,
the remains of which are now in existence, date from
pre-Buddhist times. It may here be remarked that even
in India the most ancient monuments which have as
yet [been discovered are of Buddhist, not Brahmanic,
1
origin.
King Asoka, the famous ruler of Magadha, before he
embraced the tenets of Buddha, invaded the country of
Kalinga, in southern India. According to a rock
of over a hundred thousand
inscription King Asoka,
natives of Kalinga were made prisoners in this campaign,
and numbers were slain.
large
1
Buddha died 543 B.C., according to the computation in use in Buddhist
countries. The best European authorities believe that the real date was about
seventy years later.