ARTS OF SOUTHEAST

ASIA
Southeast Asian arts, the literary, performing, and visual arts
of Southeast Asia. Although the cultural development of the
area was once dominated by Indian influence, a number of
cohesive traits predate the Indian influence. Wet-rice (padi)
agriculture, metallurgy, navigation, ancestor cults, and
worship associated with mountains were both indigenous and
widespread, and certain art forms not derived from Indiafor
example, batik textiles, gamelan orchestras, and
the wayang puppet theatreremain popular
.

The term Southeast Asia refers to the huge peninsula of

Indochina and the extensive archipelago of what is sometimes
called the East Indies. The region can be subdivided into
mainland Southeast Asia and insular Southeast Asia. The political
units contained in this region are Myanmar (Burma), Thailand,
Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia,
and the Philippines. The Philippines originally was not
included, because Philippine history has not followed the general
historical pattern of Southeast Asia, but, because of its
geographic position and the close affinities of its cultures with
the cultures of Southeast Asia, it is now usually regarded as the
eastern fringe of Southeast Asia.

A common geographic and climatic pattern prevails over all of

Southeast Asia and has resulted in a particular pattern of
settlement and cultural development. Mountain people
generally have a different culture than that of the valley
dwellers.
(EXAMPLE PICTURES)

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The
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Departure of Bodhisattva)
The cultural setting of Southeast
Asian arts
Southeast Asia has been the crossroads of many peoples who
have been contending against each other for centuries. The first
to come were the Austronesians (Malayo-Polynesians),
sometimes described as Proto-Malays and Deutero-Malays. At
one time they occupied the eastern half of mainland Southeast
Asia, but later they were pushed toward the south and the
islands by the Austroasiatics. At present, peoples of Austronesian
origin occupy Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. There
were three main Austroasiatic groups, the Mon, the Khmer, and
the Viet-Muong. The Mon were at one time dominant, but they
lost their ethnic identity in the 18th century and became
absorbed by the Burmese and the Tai; only a few thousand Mon
are now found living near the Myanmar-Thailand border. The
Khmer from the 9th century to the 15th built a great empire, but
much of its territory was lost to its neighbours so that only the
small kingdom of Cambodia remains today. The Viet-Muong now

occupy Vietnam. A Tibeto-Burmese tribe, the Pyu, founded an

empire of city-kingdoms in the Irrawaddy Valley in the early
centuries of the Common Era, but the Pyu disappeared, and the
Burmese, taking the leadership, founded their kingdom of Pagan
and have occupied Burma (now Myanmar) up to the present day.
In the 13th century the Tai-Shan lost their kingdom of Nanchao in
Yunnan, China, and entered the Mae Nam Chao Phraya Valley to
found kingdoms that gradually evolved into the kingdoms of
Siam (Thailand) and Laos.

External influences
-In Southeast Asia, winds of change often came as
storms. Indian commerce expanded into Southeast Asia in the
early centuries of the Common Era and, in spite of its peaceful
nature, caused revolutionary changes in the life and culture of
the peoples of the region. The Indians would sojourn in the region
in small numbers for two or three monsoons only. The success of
their commercial venture and the safety of their persons
depended entirely on the goodwill of the inhabitants. The Indians
brought new ideas and new art traditions. Since these ideas had
some affinity with indigenous ideas and art forms, the natives
accepted them but were not overwhelmed by an influx of new
traditions. The Hindu and Buddhist cultures of the Indians made
a tremendous impact and came to form the second layer of
culture in Southeast Asia, but the first layer of native ideas and
traditions has remained strong to the present day.
- Changes often came to Southeast Asia, usually because it
possessed a commodity that was in great demand by the
rest of the world. The Indians came because they were
looking for fresh sources of gold after the Roman imperial
source had run dry. In the 15th, 16th, and the 17th
centuries, insular Southeast Asia attracted Islamic
merchants from India and farther west and later the
Portuguese and the Dutch as a rich source of spices. As with
the Hindu and Buddhist merchants of the past, the Islamic
traders came not as missionaries, though they did spread
their religion in the region.
- When in the mid-20th century the whole of Southeast Asia
became free again, European culture and European art
forms clearly had made little impact.

"The Great Departure of Bodhisattva"