s of
Sukhothai were devout Buddhists: they observed the season of Vassa and
celebrated the festival of Kathina with processions, concerts and
reading of the scriptures. In the city were to be seen statues of the
Buddha and scenes carved in relief, as well as large monasteries. To
the west of the city was the Forest Monastery, presented to a
distinguished elder who came from Sri Dharmaraja and had studied
the whole Tripitaka. The mention of this official and others suggests
that there was a regular hierarchy and the king relates how he exhumed
certain sacred relics and built a pagoda over them. Though there is no
direct allusion to Brahmanism, stress is laid on the worship of
spirits and devas on which the prosperity of the kingdom depends.

The form of Buddhism described seems to have differed little from the
Hinayanism found in Siam to-day. Whence did the Siamese obtain it? For
some centuries before they were known as a nation, they probably
professed some form of Indian religion. They came from the border
lands, if not from the actual territory of China, and must have been
acquainted with Chinese Buddhism. Also Burmese influence probably
reached Yunnan in the eighth century,[199] but it is not easy to say
what form of religion it brought with it. Still when the Thai entered
what is now Siam, it is likely that their religion was some form of
Buddhism. While they were subject to Camboja they must have felt the
influence of Sivaism and possibly of Mahayanist Sanskrit
Buddhism but no Pali Buddhism can have come from this quarter.[200]

Southern Siam was however to some extent affected by another wave of
Buddhism. From early times the eastern coast of India (and perhaps
Ceylon) had intercourse not only with Burma but with the Malay
Peninsula. It is proved by inscriptions that the region of Ligor,
formerly known as Sri Dharmaraja, was occupied by Hindus (who were
probably Buddhists) at least as early as the fourth century A.D.,[201]
and Buddhist inscriptions have been found on the mainland opposite
Penang. The Chinese annals allude to a change in the customs of
Camboja and I-Ching says plainly that Buddhism once nourished there
but was exterminated by a wicked king, which may mean that Hinayanist
Buddhism had spread thither from Ligor but was suppressed by a dynasty
of Sivaites. He also says that at the end of the seventh century
Hinayanism was prevalent in the islands of the Southern Sea. An
inscription of about the four