THE SPREAD OF INDIAN CULTURE IN OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES

The spread of Indian culture and civilization to other parts of Asia constitutes an important chapter in the history of India. India had established commercial contacts with other countries from the earliest times. It inevitably resulted in the spread of Indian languages, religions, art and architecture, philosophy, beliefs, customs and manners. Indian political adventurers even established Hindu kingdoms in some parts of South East Asia.

1. Central Asia

• Central Asia was a great centre of Indian culture in the early centuries of the Christian era. Several monuments have been unearthed in the eastern part of Afghanistan. Khotan and Kashkar remained the most important centres of Indian culture.
• Sanskrit texts and Buddhist monasteries were found in these places. Indian cultural influence continued in this region till the eighth century. Indian culture had also spread to Tibet and China through Central Asia.
• In the fifth century, Buddha Ghosha visited Sri Lanka and consolidated there the Hinayana Buddhism.
• The famous paintings of Sigiriya were modelled on the Ajantha paintings. Cambodia was colonised by Indians in the first century A.D.
• They influenced the native people called the Khemers. The ruling dynasty was known as Kambojas and their country was Kambojaor modern Cambodia.
• Under the early rulers Saivism and Vaishnavism made steady progress. The Kamboja Empire at its greatest extent included Laos, Siam, part of Burma and the Malay Peninsula.
• Numerous Sanskrit inscriptions give us a detailed history of its kings.
• Several Hindu literary works like the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Panini’s grammar, and Hindu philosophical treatises were all known to the people of Cambodia.
• There are plenty of Sanskrit inscriptions. The most famous of these temples was the temple (wat) of Vishnu built by Suryavarman II in his capital city Angkor. It was popularly called the Angkorwat Temple.

2. Champa

• Under its Hindu rulers the Hindu religion and culture, customs and manners were introduced in Champa.
• Saivism and Vaishnavism flourished. Buddhism also existed side by side.
• Various works on Hindu philosophy, Grammar, fine arts and astrology were written. The most important Hindu kingdom on the big island of Sumatra was Sri Vijaya.
• It was a great centre of trade and culture in the seventh century.
• Subsequently, the Sri Vijaya kingdom developed into a powerful maritime and commercial power known as the Sailendra Empire extending its sway over the neighbouring islands of Java, Bali, Borneo and Cambodia.
• The Sailendra rulers were Mahayana Buddhists and maintained cordial relations with the Indian Kingdom of the Palas of Bengal and the Cholas of Tamil Nadu.
• Rajaraja Chola allowed the Sailendra king Maravijayottungavarman to build a Buddhist monastery at Nagapattinam.
• His son Rajendra conquered the Sailendra kingdom for some time. Later they became independent.
• The Sailendra Empire continued intact till the eleventh century A.D.
• The greatest monument of Indo-Java art is the Borobudur which was built during A.D. 750-850 under the patronage of the Sailendra.
• It is situated on the top of a hill. It consists of nine successive terraces, crowned by a bell-shaped stupa at the centre of the topmost terraces.
• The open galleried in the terraces contain 2000 bas-reliefs (small carved stone figures) illustrating various incidents in the life of the Buddha.
• Borobudur is described as an epic in stone, the most wonderful Buddhist stupa in the world.