of

SIAM

CHAPTER VII.
Monuments of Siam.

In trying to give the cultural history of Siam our
attention is drawn primarily to the monuments now
prevailing in that country. The monuments may be
broadly divided into two classes: Hindu and Buddhist.
Though, at present, the state religion of Siam is Bu-
ddhism, yet, it must be remembered that Hinduism
preceded Buddhism in Siam. We have, therefore, re-
mnants of Hindu culture in Siam, namely, a few images
of Yisijti, Laksmi, Sira and others, and a few old
temples. Of Buddhist culture, traces, however, are
numerous, including numberless monasteries and
images of Lord Buddha.

It is fortunate that we have got an interesting
archaeological survey of Siam from M. Lajonqui&re,
who wrote about:

(i) Le domaine Archeologique du Siam1
(ii) Rapport Sommaire Sur une mission Arc-
heologique2

(iii) Essai d'inventaire archeologique duSiam*
In our attempt to give an account of the monu-

1. Bull fie la commission archeologique de T Indo
chine, 1909 p. 188.
2. Ibid, 1909. p. 162.
3. Ibid,