Transformation of indigenous religious beliefs
Candi Bukit Batu Pahat at Merbok, South Kedah, features a mandapa, or 'closed-room', similar to Hindu temples from South India which used this space to house the image of the main deity.
Former theories that the majority of the Malaysian population converted to Buddhism and Hinduism are now considered inaccurate. Current evidence suggests that early historic religious beliefs were a continuation of prehistoric traditions—emphasizing reverence for ancestors and mountains—which gradually incorporated imported religious concepts. These were introduced through trading contacts in the coastal entrepôts where indigenous courts combined with the foreign trading community to produce an internationalized form of politico-religious culture.
- Information in the full article includes
- Prehistoric burial practices
- Megaliths and nature spirits
- Early Buddhist customs
- Imported religions merge with indigenous practices