From Aśoka to Jayavarman VII: Some Reflections on the Relationship between Buddhism and the State in India and Southeast Asia
By Hermann Kulke
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19 pages
Aśoka (c. 268-232 BCE) and Jayavarman VII (1182-1220?), two of the greatest rulers of India and Southeast Asia, were Buddhists by any definition. However, the puzzling problem is that their deaths were followed by an inexorable decay of their erstwhile great empires.