East more splendorous than West for Indians

South East Asia is a region with which India has a long-standing cultural political and trade relationship. Indian influence can be seen all across the region. The present generation of South East Asians know as little about India as Indians know about South East Asia which is an unfortunate situation.

We know more about the American history and the European history and would like to travel west and see places as insignificant as the places where War of Roses was fought and the place where the British kings were buried, but are oblivious to magnificent historical structures representing the Hindu and the Buddhist culture which South East Asia inherited from India.

When I was on a trip to Indonesia, local host took us to a hill station named Vanagiri. He tried to explain the meaning of the word but before he could I explained to him Vana is forest and Giri is hill and hence the place is known as Vanagiri. He was taken by surprise and started asking me how I know the meaning of the word and I had to explain him that these words are from Sanskrit and imported to Indonesia from India.

The spread of Islam in this part of the world was not by the sword but by the merchants who got the religion along with them and the transition from a Hindu Buddhist culture to Islam was smooth and non-violent. Perhaps, Indonesia can be the only place where a girl named Sita can be practising the religion of Islam. They know a lot about mythological stories associated with Hindu religion and some of the officers who were interacting with me were very inquisitive to know about the story relating to birth of Ganesha of which they had a vague idea, inquisitive to know more about it from me.

The training programme I attended consisted of officers from different South East Asian countries and when the discussion centred around the alphabets. Delegates from different countries informed that their alphabets were also the same as the Indian alphabets (అ ఆ ఇ ఈ) till they were replaced by the Roman alphabet during the colonial time though they were unaware of the source of the alphabets.

The trip included visit to Yogyakarta town (a city suitable to prosper) again a Sanskrit word and to the great monument Borobudur. In Yogyakarta, you could see magnificent temples built in the South Indian style preserved as monuments. Borobudur is a structure par excellence reminding us the important role played by Buddhism in the history of this country. Folklore of Ramayana is an integral part of the cultural heritage of that country.

These cultural historical ties we can see across Southeast Asia not just in Indonesia. Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia is another magnificent structure reminding us of the close cultural relations India had with this region. Like the life of Buddha is depicted on the stones of Borobudur Mahabharata story including the Ampasayya of Bhishma is chiseled to the finest detail on the stones of Angkor Wat.

Most of these countries claim their ancient kings have a royal lineage from India. Koreans believe that a certain princess from Ayodhya came, married their king in first century AD and the legends in Korea support it. Similar legend of an Indian connection to an empire established in Cambodia in the first century AD exists. This is further strengthened by religious relations built by spread of Buddhism in this region and the trading relationships developed by the kings of the South as Well as Kalinga kingdom.

No visit to any other country nor looking at the historical monuments of Europe nor the natural beauty of America gave me the same amount of satisfaction as standing before the grand structure of Borobudur and think of those who built it or the great temple of Angkor Wat and its strong Indian connection. Compared to the west, these countries are cheap to travel and a trip to these countries does not cost you much.

Look East policy of the government based on trade relationships needs to be further strengthened by Look East policy of strengthening the historical and cultural connections people of India have with this region and people to people relationship of travelling to these areas more and learning more about this region and its long enduring historical relationship with the Indian subcontinent.