36 ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF THE TAMILS guild from South India. From the first century A.D. Funan in Indo-China was occupied by South Indians and tradition invests one Kauņdinya, a South Indian Brahman, as its first king. Angkor Vat near the capital of Cambodia was a Vişņu temple, built in the Dravidian style of architecture. It is believed that the first dynasty of Champa was founded by South Indians earlier than the 2nd century A.D. The inference is irresistible that political conguest followed the com. mercial intercourse, CHINA A part of South Indian trade was carried on with China perhaps from early times also. While the evidence in favour of this early intercourse is meagre, we are on syrer ground when we come to the fourth century A.D. From the 4th to the 14th century A.D. there has been a regular seaborne commerce between India and China (Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither). Calicut, Quilon, Negapatam and Mahabalipuram were the chief ports where the Chinese junks called. For the Chinese merchants and monks the Pallava King Narasimhavarman built a Buddhist temple called 'China Pagoda' at Negapatam in the seventh century A.D. This shows the tolerant spirit of the South Indian monarchs. More than this was the influence of South Indian monks who went to China to preach and spread Buddhism practically from the dawn of the Christian era. There was also a regular stream of visitors from
