[7] As the Indic scripts were introduced from the Indian subcontinent, people of Southeast Asia entered the historical period by producing their earliest inscriptions around the 1st to 5th century CE.

The civilisation of India influenced the languages, scripts, written tradition, literatures, calendars, beliefs system and artistic aspects of these peoples and nations.

Which attracted the attention of the Mongols, Chinese and Japanese, as well as Islamic traders, who reached the Aceh area of Sumatra in the 12th century.

[17] Examples of the Hindu cultural influence found today throughout the Southeast Asia owe much to the legacy of the Chola dynasty.

For example, the great temple complex at Prambanan in Indonesia exhibit a number of similarities with the South Indian architecture.

[18] According to the Malay chronicle Sejarah Melayu, the rulers of the Malacca Sultanate claimed to be descendants of the kings of the Chola Empire.

In the early 1970s, the Toraja people of Sulawesi were the first to be identified under the umbrella of 'Hinduism', followed by the Karo Batak of Sumatra in 1977 and the Ngaju Dayak of Kalimantan in 1980.

In an unpublished report in 1999, the National Indonesian Bureau of Statistics admitted that around 100,000 people had officially converted or 'reconverted' from Islam to Hinduism over the previous two decades.

[citation needed] Next to Indonesian Balinese, today, the Balamon Cham are the only surviving native (non-Indic) Hindus in Southeast Asia.

[citation needed] Hinduism is a minority religion of Southeast Asia with a sizeable population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Myanmar.

Indonesia has the fourth largest hindu population of the world.Majorly in the bali island Through allegiance to the Majapahit Empire Hinduism was widely influenced and adopted by the locals.

[citation needed] The Khmer Empire has developed a complex society where sophisticated culture, art, and architecture flourish.

The Khmer king and his officials were in charge of irrigation management and water distribution, which consisted of an intricate series of hydraulics infrastructure, such as canals, moats, and massive reservoirs called barays.

Society was arranged in a hierarchy reflecting the Hindu caste system, where the commoners – rice farmers and fishermen – formed the large majority of the population.

The state religion was Hinduism but influenced by the cult of Devaraja, elevating the Khmer kings as possessing the divine quality of living gods on earth, attributed to the incarnation of Vishnu or Shiva.

Like in neighboring Thailand, the ceremony of coronation is conducted mostly by royal Brahmins, during which the sovereign swears in front of the idols of gods Vishnu and Shiva to maintain the ancient national traditions.

The epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, became enduring traditions among Indonesian art forms, expressed in wayang shadow puppet and dance performances.

Today, the Indonesian government has recognised Hinduism as one of the country's six officially sanctioned religions, along with Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

Another site is the new Pura Pucak Raung in East Java, which is mentioned in Balinese literature as the place from where Maharishi Markandeya took Hinduism to Bali in the 14th century.

[44][45][46] In recent decades, there have been increasing reports of religious persecution of Hindus, along with other minority religions, by various state governments of Malaysia and its Sharia courts.

Hinduism in Burma is practised by about 840,000 people, though a reliable census data is unavailable[52] Most Hindus in Myanmar are Burmese Indians.

[55] Before the arrival of Islam in Sulu in 1450 and Christianity with Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed from Spain in 1521, the chiefs of many communities across the islands were called Rajas, and the script was derived from Brahmi.

The names of precolonial deities, such as Bathala, ultimately come from Hinduism as do many other religious terms and ideas, even as most Filipinos today are Christian.

There are also various Hare Krishna groups in the country that are gaining in popularity, as well as the presence of Ananda Marga and Brahma Kumaris communities, among others.

Despite the fact that today Thailand is a Buddhist majority nation, many elements of Thai culture and symbolism demonstrates Hindu influences and heritage.

[61] Reliefs in temple walls, such as the 12th-century Prasat Sikhoraphum in Surin Province, show a dancing Shiva, with smaller images of Parvati, Vishnu, Brahma and Ganesha.

[63] An annual Giant Swing ceremony known as Triyampavai-Tripavai was held in major cities of Thailand until 1935, when it was abolished for safety reasons.

Outside shops, particularly in towns and rural areas, statues of Nang Kwak as the deity of wealth, fortune and prosperity (version of Lakshmi) are found.

The mainly Hindu Óc Eo archeological site in Mekong River Delta in southern Vietnam, dates back to the 7th century and earlier.

The Champa civilisation was located in the more southern part of what is today Central Vietnam, and was a highly Indianized Hindu Kingdom, practising a form of Shaivite Hinduism brought by sea from India.