Ill
nt parts oi the country. Some of them probably
nded on the western coast of the Malay peninsula
rar the Isthmus of Era and proceeded northwards by
le land route and some, in course of time, probably
entured to proceed by the Straits and following the
!oast of the gulf of Siara reached the valley of the Me-
ong. One of these settlements in the valley of the
Mekong and another on the Annamese coast formed
he nucleus of the Indian colonies which soon grew
ip into powerful kingdoms*
The Sanskrit inscription of \rocan, discarered
in the vicinity of Khanh-hoa on the Annamese coast
iid placed by sure evidence of palaeography
either in the end of the 2nd Cen» A. D. or the beginn-
ing of the 3rd, and a series of early inscriptions which
follow it permit us to make an idea of the early
Indian colonies iu that region, which laid the
foundation of the kingdom of Champa. But
unfortunately there is no epigraphicai record of the
early Indian settlements in the valliesof the Mekong
and the Menam. We have to depend mainly on
the Chinese sources for the history cf the Indian colo-
nies founded in that region. The first kingdom which
the Chinse annals mention in the region, is Fu-nan
(Bhnom > Pnom), hinduised, if we are to believe the
traditions recorded by the Chinese sources, in the ist
cen. A. D. by a Brahmin named Kau$d;$ya (Houen-
lien). Fu*nan soon grew up to be mighty empire and
extended its limits far bevond tbe bassin of the