Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

een effected. Struggles between Siam and Burma continued well into the
nineteenth century, while within Burma itself the Thai Shans strove to conquer
upper Burma. Internal struggles between Burman and Thai groups continued
into the sixteenth century, when the Burmans ultimately prevailed.
Most Indonesian rulers had become Muslims by the end of the sixteenth
century, with the exception of Pajajaran in eastern Java (until the
seventeenth century) and Bali. Bali resisted Islam, remaining the only
Hindu-Buddhist civilization in the archipelago. In the areas that have become
contemporary Indonesia and Malaysia, Islam absorbed previous influences
(particularly indigenous animism), which appear in popular religious
practice and the martial arts.
In mainland Southeast Asia, notably in what became modern Burma,
Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, Hinayana Buddhism remained dominant.
Even more than in the Islamic states, the absorption of indigenous practice
produced lingering effects on many native combative systems.
The intrusion of European colonialism into the region had minimal
impact on traditional combative systems, beyond driving them underground
in some cases. In the period following Japanese incursions in World
War II, some practitioners incorporated that nation’s martial arts (e.g.,
karate and jûdô) into native martial systems.
The martial arts in Southeast Asia coexist with dance and drama in
some cultural traditions. Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand, for example,
maintained at least into the late twentieth century dances that incorporate
forms also seen in their combative arts. Among the Shan tribes of Myanmar
in the early twentieth century, dance embodied and was likely to have
been a vehicle for the practice of the indigenous boxing and weapons systems,
and traditionally both Muay Thai (Thailand) and lethwei (Myanmar)
boxing matches were preceded by martial dancing. Pentjak silat (Indonesia)
and bersilat (Malaysia) utilize musical accompaniment during practice
and exhibition. The role of silek (silat) as an element of west Sumatran folk
drama as recently as 1998 has been well documented.
Cambodia
Archaeological evidence in the form of physical representations of human
combat from the Khmer Empire (A.D. 802–1431) that have been found in
the thousands in association with the Temple of Angkor Vat (Angkor Wat),
built in the first half of the twelfth century by Suryavarman II (r.
1113–1150), and the walled city of Angkor Thom and its Bayon Temple,
built late in the same century by Jayavarman VII (1181–1219), suggests a
long history of martial arts. Although contact from India came early on in
Khmer history and exerted profound cultural and religious influence, the
statues and relief figures portrayed more closely resemble Chinese boxing
Southeast Asia 541