Between the seventh and ninth centuries, multiple competing kingdoms emerged in central Thailand and it is at this time that the earliest Buddhist and Hindu sculptures first appear in this region. For a time, the Dvaravati rulers in the central Thai city of Nakhon Pathom maintained power and many scholars have used their name to characterize this period and a people who spoke the Mon language. Unlike the Pre-Angkorian kingdoms of the Mekong delta that were linked to China and India by an international trade network, central Thailand remained relatively isolated. As a result, a distinct and highly sophisticated Mon-Dvaravati style emerged (1987.417.5). Buddhism appears to have been the major religion, but the presence of Hinduism is well attested by monumental lingas found throughout the region (1994.510) and images dedicated to Vishnu. By the eighth century, Mahayana and Esoteric Buddhism had begun to take hold in the area of the Korat plateau; especially notable are the many multi-armed bronze bodhisattvas found near the town of Prakhon Chai (67.234).