During the first period, Brahmanism and Mahayanism were professed by the Court and nobility.  The multitude of great temples and opulent endowments, the knowledge of Sanskrit literature and the use of Indian names, leave no doubt about this, but it is highly probable that the mass of the people had their own humbler forms of worship.  Still there is no record of anything that can be called Khmer—­as opposed to Indian—­religion.  As in Siam, the veneration of nature spirits is universal in Camboja and little shrines elevated on poles are erected in their honour in the neighbourhood of almost every house.  Possibly the more important of these spirits were identified in early times with Indian deities or received Sanskrit names.  Thus we hear of a pious foundation in honour of Brahmarakshas,[271] perhaps a local mountain spirit.  Siva is adored under the name of Sri Sikharesvara, the Lord of the Peak and Krishna appears to be identified with a local god called Sri Champesvara who was worshipped by Jayavarman VI.[272]

The practice of accepting and hinduizing strange gods with whom they came in contact was so familiar to the Brahmans that it would be odd if no examples of it occurred in Camboja.  Still the Brahmanic religion which has left such clear records there was in the main not a hinduized form of any local cult but a direct importation of Indian thought, ritual and literature.  The Indian invaders or colonists were accompanied by Brahmans:  their descendants continued to bear Indian names and to give them to all places of importance:  Sanskrit was the ecclesiastical and official language, for the inscriptions written in Khmer are clearly half-contemptuous notifications to the common people, respecting such details as specially concerned them:  Asramas and castes (varna) are mentioned[273] and it is probable that natives were only gradually and grudgingly admitted to the higher castes.  There is also reason to believe that this Hindu civilization was from time to time vivified by direct contact with India.  The embassy of Su-Wu has already been mentioned[274] and an inscription records the marriage of a Cambojan princess with a Brahman called Divakara who came from the banks of the Yamuna, “where Krishna sported in his infancy.”

During the whole period of the inscriptions the worship of Siva seems to have been the principal cultus and to some extent the state religion, for even kings who express themselves in their inscriptions as devout Buddhists do not fail to invoke him.  But there is no trace of hostility to Vishnuism and the earlier inscriptions constantly celebrate the praises of the compound deity Vishnu-Siva, known under such names as Hari-Hara,[275] Sambhu-Vishnu, Sankara-Narayana, etc.  Thus an inscription of Ang-Pou dating from Isanavarman’s reign says “Victorious are Hara and Acyuta become one for the good of the world, though as the spouses of Parvati and Sri they have different forms."[276] But the worship of this