The spread of Indian Culture

THE SPREAD OF INDIAN CULTURE IN OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES  

What Led To The Spread of Indian Culture?

• India had established commercial contacts with other countries from the earliest times. It had 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.
• These new lands were free from the control of the mother country. But they were brought under her cultural influence.

Central Asia

• Central Asia was a great centre of Indian culture in the early centuries of the Christian era.
• Khotan and Kashkar remained the most important centres of Indian culture. 
• Indian culture had also spread to Tibet and China through Central Asia.

1. India and China 

• China was influenced both by land route passing through Central Asia and the sea route through Burma. Buddhism reached China in the beginning of the first century A.D.
• Indian scholars translated many Sanskrit works at the request of Chinese emperors.
• Chinese art had also been influenced by Indian art.

 

2. India and Tibet

• Tibet was influenced by India from the seventh century.
• The famous Buddhist king Gampo founded the city of Lhasa and introduced Buddhism.
• In the eleventh century the Pala dynasty of Bengal had close contacts with Tibet. When Bengal was attacked by the Muslim rulers, many Buddhist monks sought shelter in Tibet. 

3. India and Sri Lanka

• Buddhist missionaries had spread not only the religious faith but also cultural traditions.
• The art of stone carving went to Sri Lanka from India.
• In the fifth century, Buddha Ghosha visited Sri Lanka and consolidated there the Hinayana Buddhism. 

Indian Culture in South East Asia 

• Indian culture had extended its mighty influence in the South East Asian region consisting of the Malay Archipelago and Indo-China.
• The ancient traditions refer to traders’ voyages to Suvarnabhumi, (the land of gold) a name generally given to all the countries of the East Asia.
• Indians began to colonize East Asia in the Gupta period. It was further encouraged by the Pallavas. Till the arrival of Islam in the fifteenth century, Indian culture dominated this region.

1. Cambodia (Kambhoja) 

• 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 Kamboja or modern Cambodia.
• Under the early rulers Saivism and Vaishnavism made steady progress.
• A number of Hindu literary works like the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Panini’s grammar, Hindu philosophical treatises were all known to the people of Cambodia.
• Like the Pallava kings, they were called Varmans. Yasovarman and Suryavarman II were two well-known rulers. Temples were built in South Indian style. 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 as the Angkorwat Temple. It is standing on top of a terraced structure. Each terrace is a sort of a covered gallery which contains numerous relief sculptures. The temple is constructed in the Dravidian style and the sculptures depict episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. 

2. Champa

• Champa or South Annam is situated to the east of Cambodia.
• Twelve Indian dynasties ruled over Champa and by the thirteenth century Champa was annexed to Cambodia.
• 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.

3. Siam or Thailand

• Thai script was developed with the help of Indian scholars.
• The traditional laws of that country were composed on the model of Dharmasastras.
• The temples at Bangkok contain many sculptures depicting the Ramayana.

4. Sumatra and Java

• The Malay Archipelago had remained an important link between India and the Far East.
• The most important Hindu kingdom in the big island of Sumatra was Sri Vijaya. It was a great centre of trade and culture in the seventh century. It developed into a powerful maritime and commercial power known as the Sailendra empire extending its sway over the neighbouring islands.
• The Sailendra rulers were Mahayana Buddhists and maintained cordial relations with the Indian kingdoms 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.
• Till the ninth century Java continued to be a part of the Sailendra empire. Later it regained its independence. Java attained greatness and splendour in art under Sailendra rule.
• The greatest monument of Indo-Java art is the Borobudur which was built during A.D. 750-850 under the patronage of the Sailendras.
• 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 terrace.
• The open galleries in the terraces 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. 
• Still, ruins of hundreds of temples and manuscripts based on the Sanskrit language are found in Java.
• The Ramayana and the Mahabharata were popular and even today furnish the theme for their popular shadow-play.
• The fall of Majapahit brought to an end all artistic activity in Java.

5. Bali

• I-Tsing refers to the prevalence of Buddhism there in the seventh century.
• The stone and copper plate inscriptions from that island show that it was colonised directly from India.
• Its people continue to be Hindus and even today we find the prevalence of the caste system there.

6. Myanmar

• The cultural contacts between India and Burma (now Myanmar) dates back to the period of Asoka, who sent his missionaries there to preach Buddhism.
• Pali and Sanskrit were the languages of Burma till the thirteenth century.
• Both Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism were followed by the Burmese. 

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