d, were annexed by Siam at
the end of the eighteenth century, but in virtue of an arrangement
negotiated by the French Government they were restored to Camboja in
1907, Krat and certain territories being at the same time ceded to
Siam.[270]

3

The religious history of Camboja may be divided into two periods,
exclusive of the possible existence there of Hinayanist Buddhism in
the early centuries of our era. In the first period, which witnessed
the construction of the great monuments and the reigns of the great
kings, both Brahmanism and Mahayanist Buddhism nourished, but as in
Java and Champa without mutual hostility. This period extends
certainly from the sixth to the thirteenth centuries and perhaps its
limits should be stretched to 400-1400 A.D. In any case it passed
without abrupt transition into the second period in which, under
Siamese influence, Hinayanist Buddhism supplanted the older faiths,
although the ceremonies of the Cambojan court still preserve a good
deal of Brahmanic ritual.

During the first period, Brahmanism and Mahayanism were professed by
the Court and nobility. The multitude of great temples and opulent
endowments, the knowledge of Sanskrit literature and the use of Indian
names, leave no doubt about this, but it is highly probable that the
mass of the people had their own humbler forms of worship. Still there
is no record of anything that can be called Khmer--as opposed to
Indian--religion. As in Siam, the veneration of nature spirits is
universal in Camboja and little shrines elevated on poles are erected
in their honour in the neighbourhood of almost every house.
Possibly the more important of these spirits were identified in
early times with Indian deities or received Sanskrit names. Thus we
hear of a pious foundation in honour of Brahmarakshas,[271] perhaps a
local mountain spirit. Siva is adored under the name of Sri
Sikharesvara, the Lord of the Peak and Krishna appears to be
identified with a local god called Sri Champesvara who was
worshipped by Jayavarman VI.[272]

The practice of accepting and hinduizing strange gods with whom they
came in contact was so familiar to the Brahmans that it would be odd
if no examples of it occurred in Camboja. Still the Brahmanic religion
which has left such clear records there was in the main not a
hinduized form of any local cult but a direct importation of Indian
thought, ritual and literature. The Indian invaders or colonists were
accompanied