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A Glorious Hindu Legacy: Indic influence in Southeast Asia.

Kalinga Dvipa - The Philippines

Kalinga Srisailam established the Sri Vijaya empire in Palambangu (Sumatra island). The first large empire to make Sumatra its home was Sri Vijaya in the 7th century, also the first Hindu kingdom of Indonesia. They controlled not only this empire but also most part of the Indonesia and Malay Peninsula. The empire of Sri Vijaya of Malacca (or Melaka) Malaysian archipelago was the largest kingdom in the Pacific. 

The Hindu Empire of Sri Vijaya of Malacca Malaysian archipelago was the largest kingdom in the Pacific.

Note: Recently an Ancient statue of Lord Vishnu has been found in Russian town of the Volga region. 

(For more refer to chapters on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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Philippines was for a time part of the Sri Vijaya Empire, which has been described by Filippino historians, as Hinduistic in culture. 

Indianization of Asia was entirely peaceful, never resorting to physical force or coercion to subvert local cultures or identities, or to engage in economic or political exploitation of the host cultures and societies. Its worldviews were based on compassion and mutual exchange, and not on the principle of conquest and domination.

The Philippines consists of a group of 7,000 small islands. We have found some literary evidence to show that there was Hindu Sanskriti in this area of about 11,500 square miles.In the central part of Sebu a bronze idol of Lokeshwar and a golden idol of a Garuda have been found. In south Luzan, an idol of Padmapni Avalokiteshwar has been found. It is inferred that the Funan, Shalendra, and Mahapahit kingdoms had relations with the Philippines.  

At present Manila is the capital of the Philippines. In the National Assembly Hall, behind the president’s seat, is a picture of Manu. Manu taught law to the Philippines, hence this picture. This shows the relation of the ancient Hindu culture to the Philippines. 

When the Philippines drafted its Constitution, it placed the statue of Manu (the progenitor and lawgiver of the human race) in the National Assembly Hall with this inscription on its base: "The first, the greatest and the wisest law-giver of mankind." Researches into the racial and cultural origins of the Philippines increasingly prove that it was colonized by some people in South India. In fact, the script of the Filipinos has some obvious similarities with that of South India. "Our dialects belong to the Dravidian family." says Justice Romualdez. "The names of some places on the shores of Manila Bay and the coast of Luzon show their Sanskrit origin."

Indian influence is most patent in handicrafts and the old names of coins used there. Many social customs current there show a likeness to the Indian ones. Saleeby says, "The head-gods of the Indian Triad and the earliest Vedic gods had the foremost place in the minds and devotion of the hill-tribes of Luzon and Mindanao. A Ganesha statue too was found there. Indeed as Beyer says, "India has most profoundly affected the Philippine civilization." Even the national flower of Philippines is the Indian champaka. The Indian influence on Philippines is explicable by the fact that it was that it was for 150 years a colony of a Java-based Hindu Empire of Sri Vijaya.   

(source: The Soul of India - By Satyavrata R Patel p. 30).

According to Arun Bhattacharjee:  

"The unique feature of India's contacts and relationship with other countries and peoples of the world is that the cultural expansion was never confused with colonial domination and commercial dynamism far less economic exploitation. That culture can advance without political motives, that trade can proceed without imperialist designs, settlements can take place without colonial excesses and that literature, religion and language can be transported without xenophobia, jingoism and race complexes are amply evidenced from the history of India's contact with her neighbors...Thus although a considerable part of central and south-eastern Asia became flourishing centers of Indian culture, they were seldom subjects to the regime of any Indian king or conquerors and hardly witnessed the horrors and havocs of any Indian military campaign. They were perfectly free, politically and economically and their people representing an integration of Indian and indigenous elements had no links with any Indian state and looked upon India as a holy land rather than a motherland – a land of pilgrimage and not an area of jurisdiction."

(source: Greater India - By Arun Bhattacharjee - Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Private Limited, 1981, New Delhi  p. 2 - 3 and Indian Culture over the World - By S V Shevade p. 91 and The Soul of India - By Satyavrata R Patel p. 30 and Geopolitics and Sanskrit phobia - By Rajiv Malhotra - sulekha.com).

Philippines was for a time part of the Sri Vijaya Empire, which has been described by Filippino historians, as Hinduistic in culture. 

Dr Pardo de Tavera (1857 - 1925) has observed: 

“It is impossible to believe that the Hindus, if they came only as merchants, however great their number, would have impressed themselves in such a way as to give to these islanders, the Philippines, the number and the kind of words, which they did give. These names of dignitaries, of caciques, of high functionaries of the court, of noble ladies, indicate that these high positions, with names of Sanskrit origin, were occupied at one time by men, who spoke that language. The words of similar origin, for objects of war, fortresses and battle songs, for designating objects of religious beliefs, for superstitions, emotions, feelings, industrial and farming activities, show us clearly that the warfare, religion, literature, industry and agriculture were at once time in the hands of the Hindus and that this race was effectively dominant in the Philippines.”

One of the most ancient and most extensively studied Sanskrit inscriptions from the Indochina peninsula is the so called 'Vo canh' text, found near to Nha Trang. It came from the reign of King Bhadravarman I. of Champa (Vietnam). 

The Spanish tried to stamp out all examples of native scripts and literature for fear that Filipinos were using exotic symbols to foment rebellion.

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Royal archives of Panduranga, Vietnam. Seal with Sanskrit characters. 

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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(source: El Sanscrito en la langua Tagalag - By T H Pardo de Tavera Paris 1887; The Philippines and India - By Dhirendra Nath Roy Manila 1929 and India and The World - By Buddha Prakash p. 119-120). 

Philippine literature, stories, and folklore are traceable to India. The Maranawa epic - An adaptation of "The Ramayana," the 4th century Indian epic, as preserved by the Maranao people of the South Philippines. A story of the battle between good and evil, with love, deceit, heroism and triumph.

The Ramayana in the Philippines

Contacts between India and the Philippines could be traced back to Malay culture, which has a clear imprint of Indian influence. Archaeological evidence suggests that the two countries had trade relations as early as the beginning of the Christian era. Coinage of Indian origin going back to 1800 years, have been found in the Philippines. Sanskrit words are found in abundance in the local languages, indicating deep cultural and linguistic ties. Ramayana is still a popular play in some parts of the country.

The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic, but throughout the ages it has swept through Southeast Asia from Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos right through to Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, where the people have adopted it and made it part of their own culture, adapting parts of the story and changing the names of the characters, though Rama, Sita and Dasaghiri remain  the principal characters. It is a popular legend even today.

(source: India and World Civilization - By D. P. Singhal  Part II p. 155 - 157 and filipinolinks.com).

Devi - A Goddess with Vajra in her right hand, while the left hand is in a mudra, a gesture in Hindu iconography often symbolizes the imparting of wisdom. The sculpture is a good example of the originality of so many of the images carved by the neighboring Champa sculptors.

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Spanish clergy were very destructive of local religious practices in the Philippines. They systematically destroyed indigenous holy places and 'idols', or statues and representations of indigenous spirits, gods or goddesses. 

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

According to Alfred Louis Kroeber (1876-1960), American anthropologist, and a major figure in the founding of modern anthropology, as well as author of Peoples of the Philippines (1919):

"Most of the folklore of the Philippines is of Hindu origin."

"There is no tribe in the Philippines no matter how primitive and remote, in whose culture today elements of Indian origin cannot be traced." Pre-Spanish Philippine society with its nobility, code of laws, and political procedure, was largely of Indian cast. Some years ago when a legislative building was put in Manila, the capital, four figures were carved on its facade illustrating the source of the Philippine culture, one of which is Manu, the ancient Indian lawgiver. Beyer, the first to conduct systematic archaeological investigation in the Philippines, finds formidable evidence to strengthen the view that there was pre-Christian contact between India and Southeast Asia. 

Seated Deva - The pedestal of this monolithic statue is carved on three sides with a kala head, and was situated in the inner Dong Dong enclosure of Champa/Vietnam.

Some years ago when a legislative building was put in Manila, the capital, four figures were carved on its facade illustrating the source of the Philippine culture, one of which is Manu, the ancient Indian lawgiver.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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The Hindu element in the ancient Philippine religious beliefs, and in the names of old Philippine gods, and of legendary heroes is quite apparent. Several religious objects have been unearthed in the island of Mactan, including two images of Hindu deities. 

Two Filipino scholars, Tavera and Paterno, have concluded that about 25 % of the Philippine vocabularies can be traced to Indian influence. 

For instance: bahagi (part, portion), in Tagalog is bhag in Hindi,
katha (story, fiction) - katha;
diwata (god or goddess) is devata
dukha (poor, destitute) is duhkha
guru (teacher) is guru
mukha (face) is mukha
yaya (nurse) is aya and so on.

(source: Philippine Political and Cultural History - By G. F. Zaide p. 45).

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In 1521 a Spanish expedition led by explorer and navigator Ferdinand Magellan made the first recorded European contact with the Philippine Islands. Magellan was on a mission for Spanish king Charles I (also Holy Roman emperor as Charles V) to establish a westward route to the Moluccas, also known as the Spice Islands. It was ruled as a gobernación, a territory administered by a governor, and was officially subordinate to the Spanish viceroy of New Spain. Spain's objective in colonizing the islands: to provide a base from which to Convert Asians to Christianity, and to convert the people of the Philippine Islands.  The term "Filipino" is a result of Spanish colonization. The word "Philippines" was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain (1527 - 1598) it has no meaning for the inhabitants. King Philip was also responsible for the formation of an Inquisition in South America in 1569.

The Spanish-American War - In April 1898 war broke out between Spain and the United States over their competing imperialist interests. In May U.S. Commodore (later Admiral) George Dewey commanded the Asiatic Squadron into Manila Bay, where it easily destroyed the antiquated Spanish fleet at anchor there.  

Spain and Portugal spread Roman Catholicism to their colonies by converting the indigenous peoples. 

The legacy of Spanish Conquest and colonial rule in the Philippines, was a colonial attempts to 'master' or manage indigenous populations. Spanish clergy were very destructive of local religious practices. They systematically destroyed indigenous holy places and 'idols', or statues and representations of indigenous spirits, gods or goddesses. They also tried to stamp out all examples of native scripts and literature for fear that Filipinos were using exotic symbols to foment rebellion.

Spanish colonization used Christianity as an instrument for conquest.

Philippine literature dates from the era before the Spanish conquest. The early Tagalog and a few other groups had a script that they used in writing on strips of bamboo or palm. Most of these early writings were destroyed by the Spanish missionaries. Of what remained, few pieces survive because of the highly perishable materials on which they were written. The Philippines supplied some wealth (including gold) to Spain, and the richly laden galleons plying between the islands and New Spain were often attacked by English freebooters. There was also trouble from other quarters, and the period from 1600 to 1663 was marked by continual wars with the Dutch, who were laying the foundations of their rich empire in the East Indies, and with Moro pirates. One of the most difficult problems the Spanish faced was the subjugation of the Moros. Intermittent campaigns were conducted against them but without conclusive results until the middle of the 19th cent. As the power of the Spanish Empire waned, the Jesuit orders became more influential in the Philippines and acquired great amounts of property. It was the opposition to the power of the clergy that in large measure brought about the rising sentiment for independence. Spanish injustices, bigotry, and economic oppressions fed the movement, which was greatly inspired by the brilliant writings of José Rizal. In 1896 revolution began in the province of Cavite, and after the execution of Rizal that December, it spread throughout the major islands.

"Most of the folklore of the Philippines is of Hindu origin."

Sanskrit words are found in abundance in the local languages, indicating deep cultural and linguistic ties. Ramayana is still a popular play in some parts of the country.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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American Imperialism:  Manifest Destiny and The Philippines  

“The moneyed elite in the United States have long coveted their neighbors' land, resources, and cheap labor forces. Eager to invade, annex, and exploit, the plutocracy began to disseminate the warped notion of Manifest Destiny in the Nineteenth Century. Purporting to have the unwavering support of the Almighty, the "superior" Anglo-Saxons rationalized slavery, the Native American Genocide, the conquest of half of Mexico, the annexation of Hawaii, and their eradication of over 300,000 "savages" in conquering the Philippines.”

(source: Hell Awaits, America - rense.com).

Manifest Destiny was a popular concept in the 1840s as both an encouragement to and a rationalization for the spread of the United States across the entire continent. Americans came to accept the ethnocentric idea that it was the divine mission of America to bring the benefits of Christianity and civilization and progress to all areas of North America. In addition an ideology combining Social Darwinism, Christianity, racism, and pseudoscientific theories were sweeping across Europe and America. These nineteenth century factor laid the basis for America's quest for empire. Anglo-Saxonism, the' Great Race': a corollary in the Social Darwinist imaginary is the ideology of Anglo-Saxonism: Teutons, Aryans are constructed at the apex of the pyramid of civilized peoples, the 'sliding scale' of races, with biologically inherited 'racial traits.' Teddy Roosevelt's history The Winning of the West (1907) is predicated on this notion, westward movement as "the civilizing conquest of the savage by the Anglo-Saxon democrat". Roosevelt openly admired various aspects of Gobineau's theories on racial inequality and H. S. Chamberlain's Die Grundlagen des 19. Jahrhunderts (1899), which later became the 'bible' for theorists of the German master race. Many US citizens wanted to "Christianize" the world according to their version of Christianity. In addition to helping the American economy and trade, American imperialism will allow America to carry out its noble god-given destiny of "regenerating the world." 

The Spanish-American War began in April 1898 and this war gave independence to Cuba in May 1902. America then turned her attention to the Philippines Islands. America viewed these islands as an ideal base from where American interests in China could be defended. In February 1899, the United States launched a campaign against the so-called insurgents in Philippines Islands. The war lasted three and a half years. According to American General Bell, who led the campaign, 100000 Philippines men were wiped out. 4000 American lives were lost. Then began the American occupation of Philippines which lasted till her independence after the II World War.

"The Bible is a mass of fables and traditions, mere mythology." -wrote Mark Twain in Mark Twain and the Bible

American writer and journalist Mark Twain, (1835-1910) also known as Samuel Clemens, one of the most widely loved and celebrated American writers since his first books were released in the late 1860s.

Twain was morally outraged by the United States' brutal subjugation of the Philippines. His commentaries – a condemnation of United States' mission to "civilize" the Philippines. He felt strongly compelled to comment on the massacre Moro Massacre. The Anti-Imperialist League quickly published two leaflets about the massacre. General Leonard Wood slaughtered all 600 unarmed Moros, counting women and children, in the bowl of an extinct crater, near Jolo in South Philippines.

In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer in the service of the Spanish King, celebrated the first Easter Mass on Limasawa island. From this beginning, the archipelago, later named Las Islas Filipinas after Prince Felipe of Asturias, became the only Christian country in Asia.

Senator Albert J Beveridge and other supporters of an American empire believed that America had a "divine mission" to bring our modern civilization, Christianity, our democratic institutions, and our culture to backward peoples.  

Philippines rebel leader being executed in Manila in 1899.

(source: American brutality recaptured - By V. Sundaram - newstodaynet.com).

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"God has made us the master organizers of the world to establish system where chaos reigns. He has given us the spirit of progress to overwhelm the forces of reaction throughout the earth. He has made us adept at government that we may administer government among savage and senile peoples. Were it not for such a force as this the world would relapse into barbarism and night. And of all our race He has marked the American people as his chosen nation to finally lead in the regeneration of the world. This is the divine mission of America, and it holds for us all the profit, all the glory, all the happiness possible to man..."

(For more refer to Empire Beyond the Seas - By Richard A Silocka and to Mark Twain - On the Philippine-American War and The Founding Fathers were Not Christians  - By Steven Morris, in Free Inquiry, Fall, 1995). Refer to Pantheism in the Philippines and American Imperialism in the Philippines and Filipinos in the Debate About Imperialism).

President McKinley (1843 -1901) said on the Philippines: "When next I realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them......That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them as our fellow men for whom Christ also died." But instead of creating a Philippine democracy, President William McKinley annexed the country and installed a colonial administrator. The United States then fought a brutal war against the same Philippine independence movement it had encouraged to fight Spain. The war dragged on for fourteen years. Before it was over, about 120,000 American troops were deployed and more than 4,000 died; more than 200,000 Filipino civilians and soldiers were killed. Thus began the official American nationalist story of "benevolent assimilation" and fraternal tutelage in its half century of colonial occupation of the Philippines.

There is one predominantly Christian country in all of Asia. The Philippines is approximately 85 percent Christian (mostly Roman Catholic) and yet one of poorest in the world. (The Philippines is one of the world’s poorest countries. This country has no national health service and people who fall ill are condemned. Because of poverty which affects most of the people, every year thousands of people die from quite ordinary diseases for which they cannot afford treatment or medicine. It is one of the places where the majority dies of hunger and healthcare is a privilege of a few, most people face problems every day connected with poverty, precarious living conditions, almost non existence of homes with sanitation, malnutrition, which promote diseases linked with the tropical climate. For most of them death is very often the direct consequence of not receiving proper care). 

"From George Washington to John Quincy Adams, the American way has been to avoid imperial adventures."  

John Quincy Adams' famous admonition that America "goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."

Imperial Amnesia - The United States invaded a distant country to share the blessings of democracy. But after being welcomed as liberators, U.S. troops encountered a bloody insurrection. Sound familiar? Don't think Iraq-think the Philippines and Mexico decades ago. But, of course, the United States and Britain had always claimed the highest motives in seeking to dominate other peoples. McKinley had promised to civilize and Christianize the Filipinos.

(source: Imperial Amnesia - By John B Judis). Also refer to George Bush: 'God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq' - guardian.co.uk and  How the Dominionists Are Succeeding in Their Quest for National Control and World Power - yuricareport.com and Christian Supremacy: Pushing the Dhimmitude of Non-Christians in America .

Forrest G Wood the author of Black Scare: The Racist Response to Emancipation and Reconstruction and Arrogance of Faith, is Professor of History at California State University, writes:

“Manifest destiny was a religious concept that was exalted by Americans of all social levels and had been an essential element in the adventures of every European colonial power.”

Among the justification for seizing the Philippines during the war with Spain in 1898 was the contention that the United States had a manifest right to civilize and Christianize “our little brown brothers,” who had suffered so long at the hands of the corrupt Spanish papists. The fact that the Filipinos were overwhelmingly Roman Catholic meant little to white Americans…The tunnel of piety was long and narrow. Religion is man’s search for God, Christians like to say, but Christianity is God’s search for man, a minder that the arrogance of faith is not easily set aside.

(source: Arrogance of Faith - By Forrrest G Wood  p. 22 - 23 and 216).

For more refer to chapter on European Imperialism and How various parts of the world was converted to Christianity.

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Indian Cultural Influence in Southeast Asia

Prof. Reginald Le May author of The culture of South-East Asia;: The heritage of India, wrote: 

“The beginnings of Indian colonization overseas eastward go back a very long way in time and it is almost certain that the results seen today were, in the main, not achieved by military expeditions, but by peaceful trading and religious teaching – and thereby all the more permanent.”  

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The Indonesian nationalist leader Suharto Sukarno (1901- 1970) was the first President of Indonesia. He helped the country win its independence from the Netherlands. 

He echoed the same sentiments. In a special article in The Hindu on 4 January 1946, Sukarno wrote:  

"In the veins of every one of my people flows the blood of Indian ancestors and the culture that we possess is steeped through and through with Indian influences. Two thousand years ago people from your country came to Jawadvipa and Suvarnadvipa in the spirit of brotherly love. They gave the initiative to found powerful kingdoms such as those of Sri Vijaya, Mataram and Majapahit. We then learnt to worship the very Gods that you now worship still and we fashioned a culture that even today is largely identical with your own. Later, we turned to Islam: but that religion too was brought by people coming from both sides of India."

(source: Prospects for a Bay of Bengal community - By V. Suryanarayan).

The long- sustained process of Indianisation, for more than a millennium beginning from the early centuries of Christian era, was accomplished by Brahman priests, Buddhist monks, scholars and artisans who were introduced into the Southeast Asian native societies by Indian merchants time and again. This facet of history exemplifying the long-sustained trade and cultural contacts between India and Southeast Asia owes much to climatic changes characterized by reversals of the monsoon winds that facilitated navigation across the Bay of Bengal. The Arakan Yoma mountain ranges deterred any possibility of developing overland routes between the geographically proximate regions of Assam (northeastern India) and Myanmar. Re-invigorated by the Guptas in northern India, the Pallavas and the Cholas in Tamil country in southern India, Indian cultural expansion all along the maritime trade routes led likewise to the emergence of Indianized kingdoms in Southeast Asia during the first millennium of the Christian era.    

In fact, it was about 2000 years ago that the first navigators, Indian merchants and Brahmins brought to our ancestors their gods, their techniques, their organization.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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Obviously, all these early kingdoms were all based on the Hindu conception of royalty; but never had they become Indian colonies. Among Indianized states of this nature were the Funan, Champa, Langasuka (1-2 centuries AD), Mons of Thaton, Pegu and Pyu (until 6C), Chenla (7-8C), Angkor (9-15C), Sailendras in Java (8C), Sri Vijaya in Sumatra (8-13C) and Majapahit (14C). Many of these kingdoms had their cultural and diplomatic contacts maintained with Indian kingdoms on the sub-continent. For instance, Funan (3C), Champa (5C) and Sailendras (late 9C) had their cultural emissaries sent to the northern Indian kingdoms. The visits of Pagan rulers of Burma to India in the 12^th century facilitated the renovation of the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar. This had served as a cue for building similar monuments at Pagan and Xieng Mai (in Thailand). A Sri Vijayan ruler built a Buddhist monastery at Nagapattinam in South India (11C) which had enjoyed the patronage of Chola kings.

Personal names, too, such as, Rama, Norodom  Sihanouk, Sukarno, Suharto, Megawati, Mahathir, and Ranaridh testify to the Southeast Asian peoples’ ardent fascination for Indian culture.  

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The rulers of early Indianized kingdoms, who enjoyed pre-eminence and prestige, had never been deprived of the benefit of enjoying good neighbourly relations with India, notwithstanding its multitude of kingdoms. Such relations between India and the states of “South East Asia” cannot however be construed as a freakish historical phenomenon since the native rulers had displayed their penchant for having their names styled on those  in vogue in India as, for instance, Narawara, Narapati, Naradipati, Bhuvana, Nagara, and Rajadhiraja. ‘Varman’, the title of Pallava kings, had become an ornament to such rulers as Jayavarman, and so was ‘Candra’ adopted by the rulers of Arakan like Rajacandra.  These titles “entailed” the first part of the names which too recalled the nomenclature inherently based on Indian culture.  The intelligible similarity in the names was something like ‘borrowing words,’ which Wignesan prefers to term as “the primal proof of unidirectional influence” of the donor’s culture or language on the recipient’s. Even the Muslim rulers had their names suffixed with Bhuvana or prefixed with Raja. Likewise, Indian cultural efflorescence is vividly found in  place names like Srikshetra, Vyadhapura, Tambralinga, Dvaravati, Haripunjaya, Singapura, Bhavapura and Ayuthia.  In the same way as contemporary place names, such as, Malaya, Sumatra, Java, Bali and Cambodia, personal names, too, such as, Rama, Norodom  Sihanouk, Sukarno, Suharto, Megawati, Mahathir, and Ranaridh testify to the Southeast Asian peoples’ ardent fascination for Indian culture.

The Southeast Asian peoples jealously claim the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as  their own, as they consider their own territories as  the venue for all the  episodes  of the epics. Dedicated to Siva, Vishnu, Buddha, and the pantheon of gods and goddesses of Indian mythology, are the world famous Hindu-Buddhist temples —   Borobudur and Prambanan (Java), Angkor Wat and Bayon (Cambodia), Ananda and Mahabodhi (Myanmar) Mi-son and Po-nagar (Vietnam), Watphu (Laos), and Vat Chet Yat and Maha Tat (Thailand) — which stand as an animate though mute testimony of filial affiliation to a culture of great antiquity.  

Dedicated to Siva, Vishnu, Buddha, and the pantheon of gods and goddesses of Indian mythology, are the world famous Hindu-Buddhist temples —   Borobudur and Prambanan (Java), Angkor Wat and Bayon (Cambodia), Ananda and Mahabodhi (Myanmar) Mi-son and Po-nagar (Vietnam), Watphu (Laos), and Vat Chet Yat and Maha Tat (Thailand) — which stand as an animate though mute testimony of filial affiliation to a culture of great antiquity.  

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The common populace had naturally toed the religious path of the king who was looked upon as the manifestation of God on the earth.  In consequence, the wealth of Indian culture percolated down to the lowest rung of native societies with diversified cultural bases. The strong foundations laid by these Indianized states helped Indian culture to survive even after their decline and downfall following the arrival of Europeans into Southeast Asia, starting with the Portuguese in the early 16^th century. Equally fascinating it is to find that avenues, edifices, national monuments are named after the great personalities and events of Indian mythology.  

Garuda and Five headed Garuda from Vietnam.

Standing Ganesha from Vietnam.

Recently an Ancient statue of Lord Vishnu has been found in Russian town of the Volga region. 

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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A few other cases worthy of mention are the Garuda Airlines and Lord Ganesha-depicted currency notes exemplifying the fascination of the state for the culture of Indian origin.  

Many scholarly works have also testified to the legacy of Indian culture explicitly to be found in place and personal names.This glorious chapter of Indian influences in the Southeast Asian region was eclipsed with the penetration of Europeans into Southeast Asia from the beginning of 16th century.  

Graceful apasara (divine angels) carved in low relief on the pillars on the gallery in front of the Angkor Wat temple of (Kambhoja/Cambodia).

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Thanks to European diplomacy, geared to accruing – so to speak - the benefits of three Gs: Gold, Gospel, and Glory, Southeast Asia was dismembered into British colonies: Myanmar and Malaysia; French: the Indochinese states of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam; Dutch: Indonesia; and Spanish: the Philippines (which was later to become a US colony).  In this process, the pre-modern polities were totally obscured by these newly emerged colonial dominions which transgressed the facts of history and logic of geography. As Sukarno had once again, in July 1950, described the friendship and co-operation existing between the two countries as being of 'ancient origin', Malaysia, too, appreciably traced its ancient cultural connection with India to the beginnings of the Christian era.  

In a similar vein of appreciation, Norodom Sihanouk, Head  of the State of the Royal Government of Cambodia (1954-1970 and, again, since 1993) had on the occasion of the inauguration of the Jawaharlal Nehru Boulevard  in Phnom Penh, on 10 May 1955, traced the cultural evolution in Southeast Asia to the pervasive Indian cultural influence:   

“When we refer to thousand year old ties which unite us with India, it is not at all a hyperbole. In fact, it was about 2000 years ago that the first navigators, Indian merchants and Brahmins brought to our ancestors their gods, their techniques, their organization. Briefly India was for us what Greece was to Latin Orient. “  

(source: The Fossilized Indian Culture of Southeast Asia - By Y Yagama Reddy

For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor.and Hindu Culture.

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The Impress of India on Philippines

The empire of Sri Vijaya of Malacca (or Melaka) Malaysian archipelago was the largest kingdom in the pacific. Some say the Visayas region of the Philippines were once part of this empire hence the name Visaya derived from Vijaya? 

By the 12th century ad the powerful Sumatra-based Malay kingdom of Sri Vijaya had extended its considerable influence to the Philippines.

Filipino literature and folklore show the impress of India. The tale of the Ifugao legendary hero, Balituk, who obtained water from the rock with his arrow, is similar to Arjuna's adventure in Mahabharata, another Hindu epic.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor).

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Filipino literature and folklore show the impress of India. The Maranao epic Darangan is Indian in plot and characterization. The Agusan legend of a man named Manubo Ango, who was turned into stone, resembles the story of Ahalya in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The tale of the Ifugao legendary hero, Balituk, who obtained water from the rock with his arrow, is similar to Arjuna's adventure in Mahabharata, another Hindu epic.

Many Filipino customs are of Indian origin. 

A placing a sampaguita flower garland around the neck of a visitor upon his arrival and departure as a symbol of hospitality and friendship.  Another Indian influence is seen in the decorative art and metal work of the early Filipinos, and in their use of brass, bronze, copper, and tin. The boat-lute, a musical instrument in southern Philippines, is of Indian origin. Finally, about 5% of the blood in Filipino veins in Indian.

Rajah Mangandiri is the Ramayana of the Philippines 

Rajah Mangandiri is the Philippine version of the great Indian story The Ramayana, as passed down through the centuries-old oral tradition of the Maranao people of the southern Philippines. From the 4th to the 10th centuries, the Philippines along with other southeast Asian countries was part of the Indian Shri Vidyayah empire. As a dance, musical, and martial arts drama, RAJAH MANGANDIRI blends traditional forms of Maranao court and secular dances, with live kulintang (gamelan) orchestral music, silat and kali martial arts, and a touch of the contemporary in a rich visual, aural, and performance tapestry....Like no other RAMAYANA, the Princess Sita can finally wield a sword.

(source: The Impress of India on Philippines

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Greater India - Global Expansion of Indian Culture

The voluminous output of evidence – Buddha image in Scandinavia, summary of the Upanishads in Rome, ivory statuette of Lakshmi at Pompeii, silver dish depicting Mother India at Lampascus, sheets of manuscripts of Aryaprajnaparamita in Romania, South Indian finds in Sudan, bronze image of an Indian danseuse in south Arabia, burial of south Indian people at Kalaly-gry-l in Khorezm, Sanskrit manuscript in three parts in a decorated vase at the site of old Merv in Turkmenia, remains of a silk bale bearing price in Brahmi script and the fragments of the Bower Manuscript and the dramas of Asvaghosha on the silk route in the Tarim basin, caves of thousand Buddhas on the frontier of China, Angkor Thom and Angkor Vat in Indo-china, Prambanam  and Borobudur in Indonesia, the temples and sculptures of Korea and Japan are sure proofs of global expansion of Indian culture. 

"The unique feature of India's contacts and relationship with other countries and peoples of the world is that the cultural expansion was never confused with colonial domination and commercial dynamism far less economic exploitation. That culture can advance without political motives, that trade can proceed without imperialist designs, settlements can take place without colonial excesses and that literature, religion and language can be transported without xenophobia, jingoism and race complexes are amply evidenced from the history of India's contact with her neighbors...Thus although a considerable part of central and south-eastern Asia became flourishing centers of Indian culture, they were seldom subjects to the regime of any Indian king or conquerors and hardly witnessed the horrors and havocs of any Indian military campaign. They were perfectly free, politically and economically and their people representing an integration of Indian and indigenous elements had no links with any Indian state and looked upon India as a holy land rather than a motherland – a land of pilgrimage and not an area of jurisdiction."

Reasons for the success of India and failure of China in establishing colonies in South east Asia:

It may be interesting to note that although China had commercial and diplomatic relations with the countries of South east Asia since the early centuries of the Christian era, her cultural influence over those lands was very little and negligible vis-a-vis the Indian influence over that area. 

This difference is well pointed out by George Coedes author of The Indianized States of Southeast Asia:

"The reason of it lies in the radical difference in the methods of colonization, employed by the Chinese and the Hindus. The Chinese proceeded with conquests and annexations: the armies occupied the lands and the officials spread the Chinese civilization. The Hindu penetrations and infiltrations seem to have almost always been peaceful and unaccompanied by those destructions, which disgrace the Mongol cavalcade or the Spanish conquest of America." 

Devi (Goddess) from Hong Que: sandstone, 10th century. Champa - (Vietnam).

"The unique feature of India's contacts and relationship with other countries and peoples of the world is that the cultural expansion was never confused with colonial domination and commercial dynamism far less economic exploitation."

Recently an Ancient statue of Lord Vishnu has been found in Russian town of the Volga region.

(For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor and Seafaring in Ancient India.

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The Hindus did not at all undertake military conquest and annexation in the name of the state or a metropolis, and the Hindu kingdoms that were formed out in Greater India in the early centuries had only the bonds of traditions with the reigning dynasties of India proper without any political dependence. The exchange of ambassadors between the two shores of the Bay of Bengal was done in a footing of equality whereas China always required of the "barbarians of the south" the recognition of her suzerainty which was expressed by the regular payment of tribute."

Prof. Reginald Le May author of The culture of South-East Asia: The heritage of India, wrote: 

“The beginnings of Indian colonization overseas eastward go back a very long way in time and it is almost certain that the results seen today were, in the main, not achieved by military expeditions, but by peaceful trading and religious teaching – and thereby all the more permanent.”

Arnold J Toynbee (1889 -1975) British historian said: 

“India is the central link in a chain of regional civilizations that extend from Japan in the far north-east to Ireland in the far north-west. Between these two extremities the chain sags down southwards in a festoon that dips below the Equator in Indonesia. It is not of course only in a geographical sense that India is in a key position. At the present moment, for instance, it is widely recognized that India holds the balance in the world-wide competition between rival ideologies."

(source: Greater India - By Arun Bhattacharjee - Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Private Limited, 1981, New Delhi  p. 7).

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Afghanistan's Historic Hindu Temples Busy For Navaratri

Kabul, Afghanistan. October 5, 2005: With the onset of the nine-day festival period of Navaratri, Kabul's ancient Hindu temples are buzzing with a record number of devotees of all faiths. The focal attraction is Asamai temple. 

Hundreds of Afghanistan's Hindus and Sikhs as well as Indians employed in reconstruction projects pay their obeisance there every day. The hill is named Asamai after Asha, the Goddess of hope said to be residing on the hilltop since time immemorial. Legend goes that the Akhand Jyoti or continuous fire there has been burning uninterrupted for over 4,000 years. Amazingly, both the temple and the jyoti have survived numerous bloody wars for supremacy over Kabul, says this article. Two large halls with a capacity of about 1,000 persons form part of the Asamai complex, commonly used for religious congregations on festivals like Navaratri and Diwali. 

The Asamai temple in Afghanistan - named after Asha - The Goddess of Hope.

Legend goes that the Akhand Jyoti or continuous fire there has been burning uninterrupted for over 4,000 years.

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Kabul boasts another ancient temple complex--Harshri Nath--with temples devoted to Hindu deities Siva, Saraswati and Ganesha. The Harshri Nath temple attracts several Hindu families who returned to Kabul over the past four years. Several Sikh families also visit the temple every week to pray alongside Hindus. Kabul's third temple is located in the Shor Bazaar area once the hub of the trade in clothes, currency and dry fruits that is dominated by Hindus and Sikhs. Dedicated to God Siva, the small temple miraculously survived severe shelling during the Civil War, even as the entire Shor Bazaar was reduced to rubble. Though the local Hindu and Sikh population has dropped to about 5,000 from close to 20,000, the temple is a favorite with scores of Indians currently engaged in reconstruction work.

For more about refer to Afghan Hindus - visit www.afghanhindu.info/ and www.afghanhindu.com/ . For Hindu Temple in Azerbaijan - refer to chapter on Glimpses VIII

(source: Afghanistan's Historic Hindu Temples Busy For Navaratri - hinduismtoday.com). For more refer to chapter on Islamic Onslaught and Glimpses II

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A historical survey of India  - By John Woodroffe

India has produced all varieties of human character. India which is religious also produced the Charvakas and Lokayatas; materialists and sensualist who denied the existence of God, reviled the Vedas and the priests as frauds and cheats; sought enjoyment only in life leaving at death ”as many debts as possible.” India which produced ascetic fugitives from women also worked out a scientific Scripture of Erocticism – the Kama Shastra, wrote sensuously conceived literature, carved recondite obscenities on its temples, and painted similar scenes for the incitement of its passions, which it satisfied in many forms of sensual enjoyment both on this, and the superphysical plane. The same India which in the person of the sannyasi fled from the world to the forest, also glorified that world in sumptuous art. India was meditative and yet gave birth to men of action celebrated as warriors and statesmen, and a people who governed themselves practically and with success. Those who say that this country has never known Self-government do not themselves know their subject.  

As Jules M Barthelemy Saint Hilaire (1805 – 1895) French philosopher, journalist and statesman said (“L’Inde Anglaisse”) in 1887:

“In no country in the whole world has communal autonomy been so developed as in India."

 “Dans aucun pays du monde, l’autonomie communale n’a ete pousee plus loin.”

It was, as Professor Monier Williams said, Self government in all its purity.

This was the communal organization of the village with its headman, Panchayat or Council and its local officers and servants. Well developed also were the relations and functions of the people (Prajadharma) towards the King with his Councillors and of the King towards his people (Rajdharma). Some seem to think that because India had not the ballot-box and hustings and other paraphernalia of political Western life, it did nit know what Self-government is. The Hindu Kings were not autocrats. Their will was as much subject to the general Dharma as were the people. Ancient India possessed a notable substantive law and procedure, which, in particulars, have been found even superior to that which we possess today.  

Thus Sir William Markby (1829 -1914)  colonial jurist and author of Elements of Law: Principles of General Jurisprudence, was of opinion that the English Law, of Prescription should be remodeled on the lines of the Hindu Law, and the distinguished, and happily still living, lawyer Sir Rashbehary Ghose characterized the Hindu Law of securities “as a model of good sense and logical consistency.”

(source: