"Indosphere" Extends East

As the Roman empire fell apart, Indian traders started to look east. Sanskrit place names in South East Asia like Takkola (Market of Cardamom) and Karapurdvipa (Island of Camphor) indicate there were important ports attracting Indian merchants, explains William Dalrymple in The Golden Road.

 

Since the intent of trade with South East Asia, whether by India or by China, was trade and not religious evangelism, a “free mixing of Hinduism and Buddhism is a striking feature of South-east Asian religion”. The Buddha, Hindu gods and local religious practices all intermingled.

 

The “Indosphere” now didn’t end in Tamil Nadu, but extended to the other side of the Bay of Bengal. South East Asia was becoming a “Sanskritic union of monsoon Asia” (the monsoon winds were what powered the ships). Cultural and religious transformations were underway.

 

How much trade was happening though? Was it tiny? Or large? How can we know? A 10th century shipwreck just 25o feet deep in the Java Sea is a good example of how we know the answer to such questions. It was shallow enough for recovery in 1997. It turned out to be a 90 feet, 300 ton trading ship. What it contained was astonishing – Indian steel weapons, bottles from Thailand, glass from the Middle East, and Chinese ceramics. Metallic hinges of long lost wooden chests whose contents could be guessed, based on the other content – perhaps they contained Indian textiles and Chinese silk? Even a magnetic compass was found, not common for the 10th century.

 

Along with trade, a lot of Indian cultural, linguistic and religious influences also started to flow into South East Asia, its society and its architecture. Fortunately, certain aspects did not seep through e.g. the rigid caste hierarchy and ideas of impurity. Vegetarianism did not catch. The high status of women in society also remained unaffected. However 3 aspects of India did catch on: (1) Sanskrit, (2) art of writing, and (3) stories from the Indian epics.

“No Indian import had a deeper or more long-lasting impact than the deeds of the heroes of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.”

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