link between southeast asia and south india

THE LINK BETWEEN SOUTHEAST



ASIA AND SOUTH INDIA

Indian historians have conducted a heated debate for many decades

about the relative marits of different regions with regard to the spread

of Indian influenced in southeast Asia. Now a days there seems to be a

consensus that, at least as far as the early centuries AD are

concerned, South India and specially Tamil Nadu-deserves the gerates

credit for this achievement. In subsequent periods, however, several

regional shifts as well as parallel influences emanaging from various

centers can be noticed. The influence of Tamil Nadu was very strong

as far as the earliest inscriptions in Southeast Asia are concerned,

showing as they do the influence ofteh script prevalent in the Pallava

kingdom. The oldest Buddhist sculputure in Southeast Asia- the

famous Buddha of Celebes - shows the marks of the Buddhist

sculptures of Amarvati (Coastal Andhra) of the third to the fifth

centuries AD. Early Hindu sculptures of Western Java and of the

Isthmus of Siam seem to have been guided by the Pallava style of the

seventh and eighth centuries AD. Early southeast Asian temple

architecture similarly shows the influence of the Pallavas and Chola

styles, especially on Java and in Kampuchea.

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The influence of the North Indian Gupta style also made itself felt from

the fifth century AD onwards. The center of this school was Sarnath,

near Baranasi (Banaras), where Buddha preached his first sermon.

Sarnath produced the classical Buddha image which influenced the art

of Burma and Thailand, as well as that of Funan at the mouth of the

Mekong. The art of the Shailendra dynastry of Java in the eighth and

ninth centuries AD - of which the Borobudur is the most famous

monument - was obviously influenced by what is termed the Late

Gupta style of western central Java of about (c.800 AD) explicitly

refers to the canstant flow of the people from Gurjardesha (Gujarat

and adjacent regions) due to which this temple had been built. Indeed,

the temple's sculptures show a striking similarity with those of the late

Buddhist caves of Ajanta and Ellora.

In later centuries Southeast Asia was more and more influenced by the

scholars of the University of Nalanda and the style of the Pala dynasty,

the last of the great Indian dynasties which bestowed royal patronage

on Buddhism. The influence of Mahayana Buddhism prevailing in Bihar

and Bengal under the Palas was so strong at the court of the

Shailendras of Java that a Buddhist monk from 'Gaudi' (Bengal) with

the typical Bengali name of Kumara Ghose, became rajguru of the

Shailendra king and in this capacity consecrated a statue of Manjushri

in the royal temple of the Shailenras in 782 AD. Bengal eastern Bihar

and Orissa were at that time centers of cultural influence. These

regions were in constant contact with Southeast Asia, whose painters

and sculptors reflected the style of Eastern Indian in their works.

Typical of this aesthetic was the special arrangement of figures

surrounding the central figure. This types of arrangement can be found

both in Indonasia sculptures and in the temple paintanings of Pagan

(Burma) during this period.

In the same era south Indian influence emerged once more under the

chola dynasty. Maritime trade was of major importance to the choals,

who thereby also increased their cultural influences. The occasional

military interventions of the Cholas did not detract from the peaceful

cultural intercourse. At the northern coast of Sumatra the old port of

Dilli, near Medan, had great Buddha sculptures evincing a local

variation of the Chola style, indeed a magnificent status of the Hindu

God Ganesha, in the pure Chola style, have recently been found at the

same place, Close to the famous temple of Padang Lawas, central

Sumatra, small but very impressive chola-style bronze sculptures of a

four armed Lokanath and of Tara have been found. These sculptures

are now in the museum of Jakarta. They are dated at 1039 AD, and a

brief inscription containing Old Malay words in addition to Sanskrit

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words- but Tamil words-proves that the figures were not imported

from India but were produced locally.

Nevertheless, Chola relations with southeast Asia were by no means a

one-way street. It is presumed that the imperial cult of the Choals,

centred on their enormous temples, was directly influenced by the

grantd style of Angkor. The great tank at Gangaikondacholapuram was

perhaps conceived by the Chola ruerl in the same spirit as that which

moved the Combodian rulers who ordered the construction of the

famous Barays (tanks) of Angkor, which are considered to be a special

Indication of royal merit.

In the late thirteenth century Ad Pagan (Burma) was once more

exposed to a strong current of difect Indian influence emanating from

Bengal at that time conquered by Islamic rulers Nalanda had been

destroyed by the end of the twelth century and large groups of monks

in search of a new hoem flocked to Pagan and also to the Buddhist

centers of Tibet. The beautiful paintings in the temples of Minnanthu in

the eastern part of the city of Pagan may have due to them.

Islamic conquest cut off the holy places of Buddhism. A millennium of

intensive contacts between India and southeast Asia have come to an

end. But there was anther factor which must be mentioned in this

contact. In 1190 AD Chapata, a Buddhist monk from Pagan, returned

to that city after having spent ten years in Sri Lanka. In Burma he

founded a branch of the Theravada school of Buddhism, established on

the strict rules of the mahavihara monastery of the Sri Lanka. This led

to a schism in the Burmese Buddhist order which had been established

at Pagan by Shin Arahan about 150 years earlier. Shin Arahan was a

follower of the South Indian school of Buddhism, which had its center

at Kanchipuram. Chapata's reform prevailed and by the thirteenth and

fourteenth centuries AD. Burma, Thailand and Combodia had adopted

Theravada Buddhism of the Sri Lanka school. In Combodia this shift

from Mahayana to Theravada Buddhism seesm to have been part of a

socio-cultural revolution. Under the last great Knig of Angkor,

Jayavarman VII (1181-1218) royan Mahayana Buddhism had become

associated in the eyes of the people with the enormous buden which

the king imposed upon them in order to build the enormous Buddhist

temples of Angkor Thom (e.g. the gigantic Beyon).

Even in Indonesia, however, where Tantrist Buddhism with an admixture

of Shaivism prevailed at the courts of rulers all the way from

Sumatra down to Bali, direct Indian influence rapidly receded in the

thirteenth century. This was only partly due to the intervantion of

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Islam in India, its other cause being an upsurge of Javanese art which

confined the influence of Indian art to the statues of defied. Kings

erected after the death of the ruler. The outer walls of the temples

were covered with Javanese reliefs which evince a great similarity to

the Javanese shadowplay (Wayang kulit). The chandi Jago (thirteenth

century AD) and the temples of Panantaran (fourthenth century AD)

show this new Jvanese style very well. It has remained the dominant

style of Bali art upto the present time. A similar trend towards the

assertion of indigenous styles can also be found in the Theravads

Buddhist countries. The content of the scence depicted is still derived

from Hindnu mythology of Buddhist legends but the presentation

clearly incorporates the respective national style.

LEARNING AND EDUCATION

The highly esteemed Vedas have come to down to us. They existed for

nearly 2000 years before they were known in India. It was the

knowledge of acustics that enabled ancient Indians to orally transmit

the Vedas from generation to generation. Institutional form of

imparting learning came into existence in the early centuries of the

Christian era. The approach to learning was to study logic and

epistemology.

The study of logci was followed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, one of

the most important topics of Indian thoughts was pramana or means

of reliable knowledge. The nyaya schools upheld four pramanas -

perceptions of areliable by anology or comparison, word (Sabda), and

pronounciation of a reliable authority such as the Vedas. The Vedanta

school added one more to it i.e. intution.

It is probably while studying the process of inference that the schools

of true logic arose. Ancient Indian postulated syllogism though not as

accurate as that of Aristotle. Yet, they recognize some of the major

fallacies of logic like reduction and absurdom, circular argument,

infinite regression, dilemma, and ignoratio elenchi.

In the field epistemology, Jains contriubuted the most for the Jains

there was not only two possibilities of existence and non-existence but

seven more. Although the modern logicians might laugh at this

pedantic system of ontological and epistemological reality they

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concede that the world is more complex and subtle than we think it to

be.

Regarding institutional form of education the first was the guru-sishya

system. According to sacred texts, the training of the Brahmin pupil

took place at the home of a Brahmin teacher. In some texts the guru

is depicted as the poor ascetic and it is the duty of the student to beg

for his teacher. The first lesson that was taught to the student was the

performance of sandhya and also reciting of gayatri.

The family functioned as a domestic school, an asrama or a hermitage

where the mental faculties of the pupils were developed by the

teacher's constant attention and personal instruction. Education,

treatant as a matter of individual concern, did not admit of the method

of mass production applicable in industry. The making of man was

fegarded as an artistic and not a mechanical process. Indeed, the aim

of education was the developing of the pupil's personality, his innate

and latent capacities. This view of education as a process of one's

inner growth and self-fulfilment evolved its own technique, its rules,

methods and practices.

The thinking principle, manana sakti was reckoned higher than the

subject of thinking. So the primary subject of education was the mind

itself. According to the ancient Indian theory of education, the training

of the mind and the process of thinking, are essential for the

acquisition of knowledge. The chase counts more than the game. So

the pupil had mainly to educed himself and achieve his own mental

growth. Education ws reduced to the three simple processes of

Sravana, Manana and Niddhyaasana. Sravana was listening to the

truths as they fell from the lips of the teacher. Knowledge was

technically called sruti or what was heard by the ear and not what was

seen in writing.

The second process of knowledge called Manana implies that the pupil

has to think out for himself the meaning of the leassons imparted to

him orally by his teacher so that they may be assimilate fully. The

third step known as Nidhyasana means complete comprehension by

the pupil of the truth that is taught so that he may live the truth and

not merely explain it by word. Knowledge must cultimate in

realization.

The admission was made bythe formal ceremony upanayana or

initiation by which the pupil left the home of his natural parents for

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that of the preceptor. In this new home he had a second birth and was

called Dvijya. Twice-born.

Besides these regular schools of instructions, there were special

institutions for the promotion of advance study and research. These

are called in the Rig Veda as Brahmana-Sangha, Academies of learned

most its discussions hammered into shape the very languageofthe

country, the refined language of Sanksrit (Samkrata) as the Vehicle of

highest thought. These Academics were called prisads, there is a

reference to the Pancala parisad in the Upnishads, in whose

proceedings even kings participated, learning was also prompted by

discussions at public meetings which were a regular of rural life, and

were addressed by wandering scholars known as Carakas, These

scholars toured the country to deliver public discourses and invite

discussion.

What might count as earliest literary congress of the world was the

congress of philoshophers which was codification of Brahmanical

philoshophy by discussing the subject under the direction of the

master philosopher, Yajnavalkya. In these deliberations at the highest

level, a lady- philoshopher named Gargi was a prominent participant

beside men like Uddalaka Arni. Obviously, in those days women were

admitted to the highest knowledge and did not suffer from any

education disabilities. There was equality between the sexes in the

filed of knowledge. The Rig Veda mentions women Rais called

Brahmanavadinis.

To begin with, in ancient India, the main subject was the Veda. The

teacher would instruct handful of students seated on ground. For many

hours daily they would repeat verses after verses of the Vedas till they

attainmastery of at least one of them. To ensure correctness of

memory, the hymns were taught inmore than one way.

Soon the curricula was expanded. The limbs of the Veda or the six

Vedangas were taught - the performance of sacrifice, correct

pronounciation, knowledge of prosody, etymology, grammer, and

jyotisha or the science of calender. Also in the post-Vedic era, teachers

often instructed their students in the six schools of Philoshophy.

The writers of smititis maintain that young women of upper class

updrewent this kind of training. This is a dboutful contention. Princes

and other leading Kshatriyas were tained in all the manifold sciences

to make them fit for government. Most boys of the lower orders learnt

their trades from their fathers.

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Some cities became renewned because of their teachers. Chief among

them were - Varanasi, Taxila from the day of Buddha and Kanchi in

the beginning of the Christian era. Varanasi was famous for its

religious teachers. Taxila was known for its secular studies. Among the

famous men connected with Taxila were Panini, the grammarian of the

fifth or fourth century B.C. : Kautilya, the Brahmin minister of

Chandragupta Maurya and Charaka one of the two leading authorities

of Indian medical sciences. The institutions imparting vedic knowledge

that exists even today. There were also universities like Taxila and

Ujjain for medicine and learning incuding mathematics and astronomy

respectively. In the south Kanchi became an important center of

learning. Hiuen remarks that vallabhi was as great as Nalanda and

Vikramashila.

Although the smirits maintained that a small number of students study

under a single teacher, university turned towns came into existence

like Varanasi, Taxila etc. At Varanasi there were 500 students and a

number of teachers. The whole estalisment was maintained by

charitable people Ideally, the teacher asked no fee, but the students

repaid his debt by their service to the teacher. A Jataka story tells of

how a teacher of Taxila treated well the students who paid him money

while keeping other waiting. It is also interesting to note that in Taxila

even married people were admitted as students.

Out of all the Universities, Nalanda and imposed structures. Eight

Colleges were built by different patterns including one by the king of

Sri Vijaya (Sumatra). One of the colleges was four storeyed high as

stated by Hiuen-Tsang. Every facility existed for studying various kinds

of subjects in the University. There were three great libraries as per

Tibetan records.

Nalanda attracted students not only from different parts of India but

also from Tibet and China. The standards of examination were stiff,

and only those who could pass the test prescribed by the dvarapandita

or the scholar at the gate were admitted to this university. Also, for

being admitted to the university, candidates were required to be

familiar with old and new books.

Nalanda was one of the earliest examples ofa residential cum-teaching

institutions which housed thousands of monks devoted to learning,

philoshophy and meditation. Over 10,000 students including teachers

lived and studied at the university. The came from various parts of the

world apart from India-Cental Asia, China and Korea.

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Though Nalanda was primarily a Buddhist university its curricula

included Hindu scriptures, Philoshophy and medicine as recorded by

Hiuen-Tsang. Logic and exagetics wre pre-emenent because thes

students were expected to enter into dialogue with visiting doctors of

all schools. This compulsion of public debate made both teachers and

students become familiar with all systems of thought in accurate

summary.

The university had also succession of brilliant teachers. Dharmapala

was a Tamil noble from Kanchi in the south. Janamitra come from

another country. Silabhadra, the saintly guru of Hiuen-Tsang, came

from Assam and he was a converted Brahmin. A great achievements of

the University was that it was able to continuously rejuvenate

Buddhism in far off countries. Tibetan records mention a succession of

learned monks who visited their country. It is also said that Sudhakara

Simha went to China and worked there on the translation of Buddhist

texts.

REASONS FOR COLLAPSE

(a) Neither the Hindu nor the Budhist emigration was supported by

any kingdom or empire in India, clearly provingthat the expansion was

not colonial in nature.

(b) Since no home support was there for these kingdoms, they later

easily succumbed to local influences.The Chinese influence as spearheaded

by the Annamites caused the destruction of the Khmer rule.

The arab capture of trade and their subsequent penetration into this

region led to the spread of Islam in Indonesia and to some extent in

Malaysia.

(c) The early Hindu influence succumbed to the Buddhist influence

partly coming from India and partly from China.

(d) The thais coming from Yunnan maountains in China established

themselves at the expense of Hindu kingdoms in Indo-China.

(e) The local influences over which Hinduism was super imposed reasserted

themselves. Somehow the Buddhist influence remained partly

because of the cultural patronage of China to Buddism.

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(f) The final disappeaance of Hinduism must definitely be because of

Hinduism going to seed in its own home land by 1000 A.D.

CONTACTS WITH CENTRAL ASIA

The expansion of Indian culture and influence both in Central Asia and

in the south-east towards the countries and islands of the pacific is

one of the momentous developments in the period immediately

preceeding the Christian era. Asoka's missionaries traveled for to the

west but the result of their work in Antioch and Alexandria and other

distant countries must remain a matter of speculation.

It is however the Kushan empire of Kanishka, Huviska and Vassudeva

which became the carriers of Indian thought into Central Asia.

Kanishka was the patron of Mahayana Buddhism, and his empire

outside Indian became a scene of Indian missionary activity. The great

Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna were actually employed in

missionary work in Indo-Scycthian counries when the Chinese

ambassadors met them (68 A.D.) From that time there was a

countinous and uninterrupted flow of Scholars, Monks and missionaries

to china of whom the most famous was Kumarajuna and Vasubandhu.

The Indianisation of Khotan, Kucha, and others areas in Central Asia is

still evidenced by the great mass of Buddhist literatures that has been

discovered there by various expeditions.

With the archaeological discoveries of Sir Aurel Stein began our

knowledge of India and central Asia. Manuscripts belonging to second

century A.D. were found at Khotan-written in Prakrit. Another script

was found at Kucha belonging to the 4th century A.D. quotations from

Charaka and Susruta. And Russian archaeologists discovered 182

frescos in Tun-Hunang known as the cave of the thousend poets.

2. Chinese Turkestan, called by sir Aurel Stein as the innermost heart

of Asia and forming a vast basin was at one time a prosperous country

of flourishing cities with their rich sanctuaries and monasteries. The

remains in Turkestan and the finds that and monasteries. The remains

in Turkestan and the finds that different sites explored or excavated by

archaeologists have established beyond boubt that a large number of

Indians had migrated from the Punjab and Kashmir and settled in the

Tarim basin where thet when stein was exploring that region he felt as

if he was in some Punjab village, although he was nearly 3,00 km.

Away from the land of the five rivers.

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3. There was an Indian Kingdom in Khotan. It is alleged that it was

founded by son of emperor Asoka. The names of the early kings all

begin with Vijeta. Buddhism was introduced in that kingdom more than

a century after its establishment. Later many Buddhist monasteries

were set up in the region; two famous ones, Gosrnga and Gomati

Viharas, were great centers of learning. Many other Indian monks

visited khotan and many Buddhist monasteries flourished there.

Both Prakrit and Sanskrit were studied in Khotan. The whole of Central

Asia was a meeting place of different cultures since it contained the

famous silk trade route between China and Roma. The northern route

touched Kucha (Kuchi) Oarashara (ancient Agnidesa) and Turfan, while

the Southern route passed through Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, Niya,

Miran and other important centers. The two routes fimally converged

at Tung-huang on the western border of China, a strong Buddhist

center noted for its famous grottos. Buddhism flourished in all these

regions but traces of Brahmanical religion are also found in khotan and

other places.

Besides religion, Indian influence can also be traced in art and

architecture. Probably some Indian artists from Khotan had migrated

to China. Various remnants of frescos leave no doubt that not only the

whole oconography but the technique of drawing, conventions and

mannerism were derived from the Buddhist paintings in India. Stucco

figures were modeled on the existing ones at Gandhara. The Indian

influence is even more distinctly confirmed by the finds from khotan,

Tumshuq and Schorshuq.

4. BUDDHIST missionaries went first to Central Asia. Fahien and

Biuen-Tsang spoke of thousands of Buddhists living in the area. From

this area, Buddhism spread to China. Kashyapa Matanga a and

Dharmaratha visited the Chinese empire in the 2nd century B.C. and

converted the people to Buddhism. And historical evidence shows that

it was kumarjiva of the fourth century B.C. who converted the people

of Kucha to Buddhism.

5. Tibet was brought under the orbit of Buddhist in the 7th Century

A.D. Later, Tibetans borrowed the Kashmiri script which was later

transformed into the Tibetan script of today. Later, the Tibetan

Buddhists came in large numbers to India during the pala period and

there was a lively exchange between Tibet and Pala kingdom. Tibetan

monks studied at the monasteries of nalalnda and Vikramasila.

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6. Political and cultural ties between India and central Asia continued

till about the 8th century A.D. the gradual advance of Islam and the

suspension of the silk trade on account of insecureties between India

and the innermost heart of Asia.

7. This Indian cultural expansion into Central Asia was no attempt at

political expansion. Instead the assimilation of all the foreigners who

came to Indian- Greeks, Parthians, Sakas, Kusanas and Hunas-in the

socio-religious structure of India was the triumph of Indian culture.

8. During the long course of history, India's attitude towards political

and cultural expansion has never been imperialistic. Armies were

never sent to conquer andy region. The conquest was mainly

intellectual, and incidentally the superior culture triumphed over the

native one. Individual men or groups set up kingdoms which in course

of time shaped into empires. The contact with the motherland was

maintained but India never exploited the colonies for her own benefit.

The kingdoms were, however, repositories of Indian culture-replicas of

the ones in India.