To control the flow of wealth between East and West, a power does not need to conquer vast continents; it only needs to command the water.
Rising from the volcanic plains of Central Java, Indonesia, is a colossal mountain of gray stone that serves as both a map of the cosmos and a physical path to enlightenment.
In the year 802 CE, high in the Phnom Kulen mountains, a prince named Jayavarman II declared himself universal ruler, or chakravartin, setting in motion an empire that would come to dominate mainland Southeast Asia for…