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The concept of the Indianized kingdom, first described by George Coedès, is based upon the Hindu and Buddhist cultural and economic influences in Southeast Asia. Despite being culturally akin to Hindu cultures to western historians these kingdoms were truly indigenous and independent of India. States such as Srivijaya and the Khmer empire developed territories and economies that rivalled those in India itself. Borobudur, for example, is the largest Buddhist monument ever built. Coedes has been criticised for understating the Southeast Asian element of these kingdoms, in an unconscious echo of the European "civilising mission". More recent scholars tend to emphasize the contribution of Southeast Asian societies and rulers to the formation of these states. In particular, where Coedès saw Indian merchants as the founders of these states, contemporary scholars see Southeast Asian rulers as founding them and then importing Indian ritual specialists as advisers on rajadharma, or the practices of Indian kingship. The modern view is supported by the argument that merchants would not have possessed the ritual knowledge so prominent in these kingdoms.

The Indianized kingdoms developed a close affinity and internalised Indian religious, cultural and economic practices without significant direct input from Indian rulers themselves. While the issue remains controversial, it is thought that Indianization was the work of Indian traders and merchants, although later the travels of Buddhist monks such as Atisha became important. Also a significant part of the current population in South East Asia has a trace of Indian ancestry from distant antiquity although the knowledge of the ancestry is mostly lost. Most Indianized kingdoms combined both Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and practices in a syncretic manner. Kertanagara, the last king of Singhasari, described himself as Sivabuddha, a simultaneous incarnation of the Hindu god and the Buddha. Southeast Asian rulers enthusiastically adopted elements of rajadharma, (Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, codes and court practices) to legitimate their own rule and constructed cities, such as Angkor, to affirm royal power by reproducing a map of sacred space derived from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Southeast Asian rulers frequently adopted lengthy Sanskrit titles and founded cities, such as Ayutthaya in Thailand, named after those in the Indian epics.

These kingdoms prospered from the Spice Route, trade among themselves and the Indian kingdoms. The influence of Indian culture is visible in the script, grammar, religious observances, festivities, architecture and artistic idioms even today. The influence of Indian and Chinese cultures blended with native cultures, created a new synthesis. The Southeast Asian region was previously called by the name Indochina. The influence of Indian and Chinese cultures are both strongly visible in this region even today, with the majority of the region being Indianized and Vietnam Sinocized. The reception of Hinduism and Buddhism aided the civilizational maturity of these kingdoms but also subjected them to aggression by Indian and Chinese rulers. The Chinese ruled Vietnam for a millennium, while the Chola dynasty of South India ruled over Srivijaya briefly. And though Southeast Asia is an economic powerhouse in its own right, the need to balance Chinese economic and political influence with that of India remains an important factor for the region.

Cultural and trading relations between the powerful Chola kingdom of South India and the South East Asian Hindu kingdoms, led the Bay of Bengal to be called "The Chola Lake" and the Chola attacks on Srivijaya in the tenth century CE are the sole example of military attacks by Indian rulers against Southeast Asia. The Pala dynasty of Bengal, which controlled the heartland of Buddhist India maintained close economic, cultural and religious ties, particularly with Srivijaya.

The subsequent advent of Islam, carried by Arab traders, and Christianity carried by Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch colonial rulers significantly weakened the connection with India. Hinduism and Buddhism had found acceptance because of the cultural preferences of Southeast Asian societies rulers. In contrast, Islam and Catholicism became predominant by proselytization and military force.

Chinese influence grew with the gradual migration of Chinese traders and merchants who introduced a strong Confucian strain to the syncretic culture. Chinese influence dominated in Vietnam, although other states such as the Khmer empire and Malacca were drawn into Chna's diplomatic orbit. While Buddhism remains the dominant religion in mainland Southeast Asia, Hinduism survives in Bali and Christianity is the dominant religion in the Philippines and eastern Indonesia. Cultural practices like the performances of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana across all of Southeast Asia. Traces of Hindu culture are visible also in the Sanskrit etymology of words in Bahasa Malaysia, Indonesian and other regional languages as well as personal names.

• Hinduism in Southeast Asia
• List of Indianized kingdoms