With the influence from India, the culture of ancient state of Funan demonstrates strong religious proclivity. From the early in the history, Hinduism and Buddhism transmitted to Funan, and since then the images were actively produced for worship. According to a Chinese textual source, however, the number of Funanese monks who were active in China notably increased in the sixth century and it marks the heyday of Buddhism in Funan. Although only a few of surviving Buddhist sculptures are known today, they display distinctive characteristics of Buddhist art in Funan. Initially, the Buddha images were made from the Sarnath prototype. These early sculptures of Buddhas and bodhisattvas strongly exhibit similarities especially to those of Sarnath from the late fifth century. Hence, this paper proposes that the Buddhist sculptures from Funan date between the late fifth to the early sixth centuries. This hypothesis presents disparities from the preceding studies, which date the sculptures to sixth to seventh centuries and relate to the influence of Southern India. Here, the observation on the influence of Buddhist art of Southern India on the art of South East Asia requires thorough investigation. At the time, taking the maritime route from the central India, where the Buddhist sacred places, including Sarnath, along the coastal area to isthmus of Kra, must have been relatively close compare to other areas in India. Therefore, the Buddhist images of Sarnath, transmitted to Funan via maritime route of Ganges River and the Bay of Bengal, set the foundation for the earliest production of Buddhist sculptures in South East Asia. Funan was a center of maritime trade where intellectual and material resources and cultural exchanges flourished, but faced its decline as Chenla emerged in the northern region. Yijing, who sojourned in Funan returning to China from India, recorded in the Nanhai ji qui nei fa chuan (a Record of the Inner Law sent Home from the South seas) that there were already many pagans living in Funan. This record illuminates on the situation of by then weakened Buddhism and the waning state. Founding on the Sarnath prototype transmitted from India, the Buddhist sculptures of Funan developed to reach its zenith in the early sixth century. This phenomenon deserves a special attention as it presents the initial stage of Buddhist art in South East Asia. Additionally, in contrast to the works of the later period, which show association to Southern India and Sri Lanka, the Buddhist sculptures of Funan demonstrate diffusion of Buddhist art of Central India, the alternative channel of influx into South East Asia.