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Cultural Exchange Between India and South-East Asia

Indian culture spread widely in Southeast Asia between the 1st-8th centuries AD through trade and the propagation of Buddhism. Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka by Ashoka's missionaries and spread from India to Myanmar and China. Indian cultural influences established in Southeast Asian kingdoms like Java, Sumatra, Champa and Kamboja through trade. This led to the fusion of Indian and local artistic traditions in the region's great temples like Borobudur in Java and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Cultural exchange between India and its neighbors was multi-directional, with India also adopting foreign crafts and plants.

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Dharmendra Pal
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314 views7 pages

Cultural Exchange Between India and South-East Asia

Indian culture spread widely in Southeast Asia between the 1st-8th centuries AD through trade and the propagation of Buddhism. Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka by Ashoka's missionaries and spread from India to Myanmar and China. Indian cultural influences established in Southeast Asian kingdoms like Java, Sumatra, Champa and Kamboja through trade. This led to the fusion of Indian and local artistic traditions in the region's great temples like Borobudur in Java and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Cultural exchange between India and its neighbors was multi-directional, with India also adopting foreign crafts and plants.

Uploaded by

Dharmendra Pal
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Cultural Exchange between India and South-East Asia

● India has maintained contacts with its Asian neighbours since Harappan times
● Indian traders went to the cities of Mesopotamia, where their seals have been
found
● India established commercial contacts with China, Southeast Asia, West Asia
and the Roman empire from 1st C AD
● It resulted in the spread of Indian culture, religion, languages, art and
architecture
Buddhism:
● The propagation of Buddhism promoted India’s contacts with Sri Lanka,
Myanmar, China and Central Asia
● Buddhist missionaries were sent to Sri Lanka in the reign of Ashoka
● Short inscriptions in Brahmi script relating to the first and second centuries
have been found in Sri Lanka
● Buddhism spread from India to Burma (modern Myanmar)
● The Burmese erected many temples and statues in honour of the Buddha
● The Burmese and Sri Lankan Buddhists produced a rich corpus of Buddhist
literature not to be found in India
● Buddhism disappeared from India, it continued to command a large following
in Myanmar and Sri Lanka
● China emerged as a great centre of Buddhism
● The Chinese records mention 162 visits made by the Chinese monks from 5th
to 8th Centuries
● The visit of only one Indian scholar called Bodhidharma to China
● From China, Buddhism spread to Korea and Japan
Cultural Exchange between India and South-East Asia
● The name Suvarnabhumi was given to Burma and merchants from Broach,
Banaras and Bhagalpur traded with Burma
● Considerable Buddhist remains of Gupta times have been found in Burma
● India established close trading relations with Java in Indonesia, which was called
Suvarnadvipa or the island of gold by the ancient Indians from 1st C AD
● The earliest Indian settlements in Java were established in 56 AD
● The Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien visited Java in the 5th C, he found the brahmanical
religion prevalent there
● The Pallavas founded their colonies in Sumatra
● Indian settlements in Java and Sumatra became channels for the radiation of
Indian culture
● In Indo-China(Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos), the Indians set up two powerful
kingdoms of Kamboja and Champa
● Kamboja rulers were devotees of Shiva and developed Kamboja into a centre of
Sanskrit learning and numerous inscriptions were composed
● The king of Champa was also a Shaiva, the official language of Champa was
Sanskrit
● This country was considered to be a great centre of education in the Vedas and
Dharmashastras
● Continuing commingling gave rise to a new type of art, language and literature
● The greatest Buddhist temple is to be found in Borobudur in Java
● It is considered to be the largest Buddhist temple in the world, 436 images of
the Buddha engraved on it illustrate his life
● The temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia is larger than that of Borobudur
● The stories of the Ramayana and Mahabharata are narrated in relief on the
walls of the temple
● The language of Indonesia, Bahasa Indonesia, contains numerous Sanskrit
words
● The best examples of the fusion of Indian art with the local art traditions of
Southeast Asia were head of the Buddha from Thailand and Kamboja
● The beautiful examples of painting, comparable to those of Ajanta are found
in Sri Lanka and in the Tun Huang caves on the Chinese border
● Trade evidently played a vital part in establishing India’s relations with Central
Asia and Southeast Asia
● Trade led not only to the exchange of goods but also to that of elements of
culture
● It would be inaccurate to hold that Indians alone contributed to the culture of
their neighbours, it was a two-way traffic
● Indians acquired the craft of minting gold coins from the Greeks and Romans,
the art of growing silk from China, growing betel leaves from Indonesia

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