ABSTRACT
Traditional historians led by George Coedès identified the fourteenth century as the last gasp of Sanskritic civilization. The end of the Classic is commonly portrayed as a time when great ancient kingdoms modeled on Indian exemplars and characterized by cosmopolitanism and cooperation fell, and a chaotic period of division and competition ensued. Tai, Burmese, Khmer, Vietnamese, and Cham all
fought major wars. Some ancient mandalas faded away (Angkor, Malayu, Majapahit, and Bagan). Three new kingdoms dominated the Postclassic: on the mainland, Ayutthaya and Bago; in the islands, Melaka, which was succeeded by Banten after the Portuguese conquest in 1511 (Figure 8.1).
