inayanist Buddhism became
supreme and though we have few details of the conquest we can hardly
go wrong in tracing its general lines. Brahmanism was exclusive and
tyrannical. It made no appeal to the masses but a severe levy of
forced labour must have been necessary to erect and maintain the
numerous great shrines which, though in ruins, are still the glory of
Camboja.[319] In many of them are seen the remains of inscriptions
which have been deliberately erased. These probably prescribed certain
onerous services which the proletariat was bound to render to the
established church. When Siamese Buddhism invaded Camboja it had a
double advantage. It was the creed of an aggressive and successful
neighbour but, while thus armed with the weapons of this world, it
also appealed to the poor and oppressed. If it enjoyed the favour of
princes, it had no desire to defend the rights of a privileged caste:
it offered salvation and education to the average townsman and
villager. If it invited the support and alms of the laity, it was at
least modest in its demands. Brahmanism on the other hand lost
strength as the prestige of the court declined. Its greatest shrines
were in the provinces most exposed to Siamese attacks. The first
Portuguese writers speak of them as already deserted at the end of the
sixteenth century. The connection with India was not kept up and if
any immigrants came from the west, after the twelfth century they are
more likely to have been Moslims than Hindus. Thus driven from its
temples, with no roots among the people, whose affections it had never
tried to win, Brahmanism in Camboja became what it now is, a court
ritual without a creed and hardly noticed except at royal functions.

It is remarkable that Mohammedanism remained almost unknown to
Camboja, Siam and Burma. The tide of Moslim invasion swept across the
Malay Peninsula southwards. Its effect was strongest in Sumatra and
Java, feebler on the coasts of Borneo and the Philippines. From the
islands it reached Champa, where it had some success, but Siam and
Camboja lay on one side of its main route, and also showed no
sympathy for it. King Rama Thuppdey Chan[320] who reigned in
Camboja from 1642-1659 became a Mohammedan and surrounded himself with
Malays and Javanese. But he alienated the affections of his subjects
and was deposed by the intervention of Annam. After this we hear no
more of Mohammedanism. An unusual incident, which must be counted
among the