Cultural Interaction of India with Asian Countries

At a Glance

• Earliest Harappan seals in Mesopotamia
• Buddhism Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Central Asia, China
• South-east Asia Java, Sumatra, Kamboja, Champa
• Monuments Borobudur, Angkor Vat
• Pattern Two-way exchange
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Philosophy, Cultural Interaction and Transition

Where Does It Fit?

This is the third topic of the category on philosophy, cultural interaction and transition. The previous topic covered Charvaka, and this one covers India’s cultural links in Asia. The next topic covers the transition from ancient to medieval India. Previous topic: Charvaka and the Materialistic View of Life. The later south Indian links with the region are in South Indian Contact and Trade with South-East Asia.

How Did Buddhism Link India with Asia?

In short: Buddhism carried Indian ideas to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Central Asia and China.

Medieval lawgivers ordained that a person should not cross the seas, but India has had contact with its Asian neighbours since Harappan times: Indian traders went to Mesopotamian cities, where their seals of the second half of the third millennium BC have been found. From the beginning of the Christian era India had commercial contacts with China, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Central Asia and Rome, with Indian land routes connected to the Silk Route. Buddhist missionaries were sent to Sri Lanka in Ashoka’s reign in the third century BC, and short Brahmi inscriptions of the second and first centuries BC have been found there. All Pali texts were compiled and commented on in Sri Lanka, and Buddhism gained a permanent stronghold there. In the early Christian centuries Buddhism spread to Burma, where Theravada developed. From Kanishka’s reign many Indian missionaries went to China, Central Asia and Afghanistan. Chinese records mention 162 visits by Chinese monks between the fifth and eighth centuries, against only one recorded Indian scholar, Bodhidharma, going to China. From China Buddhism spread to Korea and Japan, and Chinese pilgrims such as Fa-hsien and Hsuan Tsang came in search of texts. A Buddhist colony at Tun Huang was a starting point for merchant companies crossing the desert. In Afghanistan, Begram and Bamiyan have relics; Bamiyan had the tallest rock-cut Buddha, and Buddhism lasted until the seventh century when Islam supplanted it. In Central Asia Kushan rule spread Prakrit in the Kharoshthi script, and Buddhism stayed a dominant force. The Kushan background is in Kushanas and Kanishka.

How Did Indian Culture Reach South-East Asia?

Indian culture reached South-East Asia largely through brahmanical cults and traders, not through Buddhism, except in Burma. Pegu and Moulmein in Burma were called Suvarnabhumi, and merchants from Broach, Banaras and Bhagalpur traded there. From the first century AD India traded with Java, called Suvarnadvipa, the island of gold; the earliest Indian settlements in Java were established in AD 56, and when Fa-hsien visited Java in the fifth century the brahmanical religion prevailed there. In the early centuries the Pallavas founded colonies in Sumatra which flowered into the kingdom of Sri Vijaya, an important power and centre of Indian culture from the fifth to the tenth century. In Indo-China, Indians set up two powerful kingdoms: Kamboja (modern Cambodia), founded in the sixth century, whose Shaiva rulers made it a centre of Sanskrit learning with many inscriptions, and Champa in southern Vietnam, where traders set up colonies, the king was a Shaiva, Sanskrit was official and the Vedas and Dharmashastras were taught. Indian settlements in the Indian Ocean flourished until the thirteenth century. Christianity linked India with West Asia: in the sixth century Kosmos speaks of Christian communities in India and Sri Lanka, with a Persian bishop serving Kalyan. The Pallavas are in Chalukyas, Pallavas and the Kalabhra Revolt.

What Did the Exchange Produce?

Continued mingling gave rise to a new art, language and literature, and many art objects show a blend of Indian and local elements. The greatest Buddhist temple is at Borobudur in Java, built in the eighth century, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, with 436 Buddha images illustrating his life. The temple of Angkor Vat in Cambodia is larger, though it is medieval, and relates the Ramayana and Mahabharata in relief on its walls. The Ramayana is so popular in Indonesia that many folk plays are based on it, and the Indonesian language has many Sanskrit words. The Buddha heads of Thailand and Kamboja and the bronzes of Java are fine examples of the fusion of Indian art with local traditions, and paintings comparable to Ajanta are found in Sri Lanka and the Tun Huang caves. Religion was backed by traders and conquerors: the names Suvarnabhumi and Suvarnadvipa suggest the Indian search for gold. The exchange was two-way: Indians learnt gold coin minting from the Greeks and Romans, silk growing from China and betel leaf cultivation from Indonesia, and cotton growing spread from India to China and Central Asia. The Indian contribution was greatest in art, religion, script and language. As an analytical point, no culture in the neighbouring lands was a replica of India’s; each combined Indian elements with local ones. The Indian side of Buddhism is in Buddhist Councils, Decline of Buddhism and its Significance and the trade side in Indo-Roman Trade and Maritime Contacts.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Greater India Prelims themes
• Trade and religion Joint carriers
• Two-way exchange Balanced view

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the transition from ancient to medieval India. Next topic: From Ancient to Medieval – Agrarian Changes and Rise of Landlords.

Key People and Terms

• Suvarnabhumi Land of gold, Burma
• Suvarnadvipa Island of gold, Java
• Sri Vijaya Sumatran kingdom
• Kamboja Early Cambodian kingdom
• Champa Kingdom in southern Vietnam
• Theravada Burmese form of Buddhism

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about India’s cultural expansion. These points add depth.

• Carriers Missionaries, traders
• Regions Buddhist and brahmanical zones
• Outcome Synthesis