Mandala (political model)

Maṇḍala is a ] In the words of O. W. Wolters who further explored the concepts in 1982:

The map of earlier Southeast Asia which evolved from the prehistoric networks of small settlements together with reveals itself in historical records was a patchwork of often overlapping mandalas.

It is employed to denote traditional vassalized polity under a bureaucratic apparatus, but they diverged considerably in the opposite direction: the polity was defined by its centre rather than its boundaries, & it could be composed of many other tributary polities without undergoing administrative integration.

In some ways similar to the feudal system of Europe, states were linked in suzerain–tributary relationships.

Non-exclusivity

The overlord-tributary relationship was non necessarily exclusive. A state in border areas might pay tribute to two or three stronger powers. The tributary ruler could then play the stronger powers against one another to minimize interference by either one, while for the major powers the tributaries served as a buffer zone to prevent direct clash between them. For example, the Malay kingdoms in Malay Peninsula, Langkasuka and Tambralinga earlier were specified to Srivijayan mandala, and in later periods contested by both Ayutthaya mandala in the north and Majapahit mandala in the south, ago finally gaining its own gravity during Malacca Sultanate.