Indian Cultural Contacts With South East Asia

Title: Indian Cultural Contacts With South East Asia

Author: Ramranjan Das

Publisher: Education Forum, Kolkata 2009 (First published: not specified)

ISBN: 81-87657-97-9

Pages: 147

Dr Ramranjan Das was a prominent academician in West Bengal and was an author of several books, most of them fiction. But the present work is an utter failure in all respects. The author seeks to bring out the Indian cultural influences on south-east Asia by examining each empire in turn. Unfortunately, the sloppy coverage has effected just the reverse. The reader is not enlightened in anything in particular from this book. When I closed the book after turning the last page with a sigh of relief, I was not at all any more knowledgeable than I was before taking up this work.

Buddhism reached SE Asia through Ashoka’s missionaries. The Pallava kings who flourished in South India during the latter half of the first millennium C.E brought the rejuvenated Hindu culture to these far off lands. Both the religions more or less coexisted peacefully as they did in India, but the Hinduism in those lands were not particularly vitiated with casteism as it has been its lot in India. The author analyses the reasons for this peculiarity and finds that the feeble hold of Brahmans was the cause, which may be right. As the Muslim and imperial hold strengthened, Indian influences weakened or was completely wiped off before the sword and gun wielding enemies. The eastern lands were not effectively under a central monarchy when Indian ideas took hold and such monarchies sapped energy from the ideals of divine right of the kings enshrined in Indian philosophy at that time. The cultural domination India obtained in SE Asia was not colonization in the modern sense as there were absolutely no political or economic conquests. The social, religious and political ideas were absorbed and modified by the local societies without any reference to a country which they have heard only in sagas and legends.

In Cambodia, the ancient kingdom of Funan was conquered by Khmers in the 6^th century CE. Both the parties in the fight were following Indian modes of conduct. The word Kamboja or Cambodia came from the sound Khmer whose rule ended in the 13^th century. Sanskrit was widely used in court and also in epigraphy. The Cambodian kings were well versed in Sanskrit literature and Yasovarman made a commentary on Mahabhashya. The indigenous architecture, with great affinities to India, reached its zenith under Indravarman I (877-899) as evidenced by his capital at Angkor Thom in which bas-reliefs cover a total length of 80 km! Suryavarman built a magnificent temple at Angkor Wat, a Vishnu temple, which is also the largest in the world. The major dynastical periods in Cambodia were 1) Funan 2) Chenla 3) Angkor period and 4) Post-Angkor period.

Champa, present day Vietnam was subject to Indian influence which began under Bhadravarman during the 4^th century CE. The country was known as Lin Yi in China and was predominantly Hindu. The major dynastical periods were 1) Lin Yi and 2) Champa.

Java and Sumatra were known as Yavadvipa and Suvarnabhumi respectively in ancient India indicating cultural and trade links with those countries. The major empires were Sailendra and Srivijaya. The great Buddhist temple at Borobudur in Java was consecrated during the Sailendra period. Hinduism also existed side by side and Loro Jangrang was a noted Hindu temple of this era. After the 11^th century, the influence waned and indigenous elements began to assert its supremacy. Bali, which is still Hindu in religion came under Javan influence only in the 12^th century and it retains its unique characteristics to this day, making it a hotspot for tourists and Islamic terrorists alike. The major periods in Java are categorised as 1) Pre-Muslim period and 2) Muslim period, while in Bali they were 1) Majapahit and 2) Muslim.

Siam, present day Thailand was also under Indian cultural exchange as evidenced by the name of its capital city Ayuttia (Ayodhya). The major periods were 1) Sukhot’ai 2) Ayutt’ia and 3) Luang Prabang. The corresponding categorizations in Burma, present day Myanmar were 1) Pagan 2) Ava 3) Toungoo 4) Alaungpaya 5) Mon rulers (Pegu) and 6) Arakan.

There are no positive points to say about the book, but the negative ones may itself take up several pages. The descriptions of historical places, empires and geographical areas are not supported by relevant maps. It is true that he has produced some maps borrowed from current school atlases, but they don’t indicate the location of those ancient empires like Champa, Khmer or their capitals. There are no plates or images of the architectural masterpieces so elaborately described in the text. Even though there are references to plates, they are not included in the book. The author’s preconceived notions are asserted throughout the book as self-evident facts. He compares casteism in India to racism in the West and concludes that the former is more benevolent than the other as he says, “In India we have traces of untouchability but where is the comparison to a whitemen’s policy of segregating Negroes and denying them the right to study in a college?” (Author’s own words). He could find only ‘traces’ of untouchability in India! Wherever it was practised in India, the lower castes were indeed segregated and not allowed the right to education.

The language is extremely poor and most often school-boyish with no grammar and laughable constructions. Sometimes, the facts are also given in a contradictory way. For example, he says about the Indian influence in Java as “Indian influence was somewhat stronger in Eastern Java than in the centre” on page 102 and just turn to page 108 and you see “Notwithstanding the allegiance of the earlier rulers of East Java to the Saivite tradition, Indian influence had always been weaker there than in Central Java”! The author doesn’t seem to know what he is churning out. Another such example was the identification of the term Suvarnabhumi (Golden land) used in ancient India. On page 100 he concludes it to be Sumatra whereas on page 140, identifies it with Burma!

This book is a pure waste of time. Only a lunatic will buy it at the suggested price of Rs. 300 which is astronomically high for a worthless book like this one. Spelling mistakes are galore at the rate of about 4 per page, with the worst cases being “fined” for find, “immorality” for immortality, “piece” for peace and “represented” for resented! The content is also not interesting as it looks like the author had heavily relied upon some reference books with no personal contributions. Detailed descriptions of architecture are given in a haphazard way, raising suspicions whether the author himself has understood what he was writing. Avoid this book at any cost.

Rating: 1 Star