"Indianization" from the Indian Point of View: Trade and Cultural Contacts with Southeast Asia in the Early First Millennium C.E. (original) (raw)
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Too preoccupied with illustrating the influence of Brahmanism, Buddhism and Sanskrit in Southeast Asia most theories of "indianization" seem to undervalue the "recipient" cultures and societies. On account of a more or less marked "high culture-centrism" Southeast Asian cultures and religions are measured with the classical expressions of Indian religions available in written records such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Purânas, Samhitas etc. Owing to this "high culture-bias", these theories of indianization are insufficient to be able to explain the indianization of Southeast Asian societies as creative socio-cultural adaptations. Conditio sine qua non for a deep understanding of the dynamics, reasons and meanings of the indianization is a sound knowledge of Indian cultures and religions as well as an intimate knowledge of Southeast Asian societies, cultures and religions. The "anthropological approach of indianization" advocated in this paper is illustrated by selected examples from Indonesia. In the center of interest, however, is the deification of rulers under the title Singamangaraja among the Toba-Batak, a tribal people in Sumatra, by means of adoption, transformation and adaptation of Indian concepts, seemingly a striking antithesis to the egalitarian structure of the kinship-based Toba-Batak society. Singamangaraja worshipped as incarnation of Batara Guru were divine kings going back to different sources of indianization, but at least partly deriving from very ancient traditions of sacral rulers.
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This paper employs “globalization” theory, dynamically incorporating space and time, geography and history, to challenge the notion that the development of Southeast Asian cultures along the global sea-faring arc between India and China can be best explained by constructing narratives derived from these major civilisations. The archaeological record shows a complex inventory of contacts and exchanges of goods and ideas from China and India intersecting in Southeast Asia. While globally-based trade and religion were formative, the region’s indigenous resources and cultures not only provided attractive destinations and way-stations, but also molded non-native inputs to the dynamics of already extant socio-cultural systems. The arrival of Buddhism and Brahmanism on Southeast Asian shores is framed within this context and four regions are selected to highlight these processes: the Pyu in Myanmar, Dvaravati in Thailand, the Thai-Malay peninsula, and Pre-Angkorian Cambodia from the mid-first millennium CE onwards. Southeast Asians successfully managed the twin processes of globalization and localism, adapting Buddhist and Brahmanical practices to suit their situations. These fusions facilitated transformations of Southeast Asian societies, setting them on trajectories leading to the formation of fully fledged, unique Buddhist and Brahmanical states such as Angkor in Cambodia, Bagan in Myanmar, and Sukhothai in Thailand.
Contacts between Ancient India and Southeast Asia
Contacts between Ancient India and Southeast Asia Having attained political and cultural unity at an early stage in the history of the world, India was able to assist and impress its neighbouring lands in Asia. This process is generally called Indianization. Southeast Asia is the most shining example of this process of Indianization "by which the peoples of western Southeast Asia came to think of themselves as part of Bhāratavarṣa… [and which] represents one of the most impressive instances of large-scale acculturation in the history of the world" (Wheatley 1982: 27-28). Indianization of Southeast Asia was almost entirely peaceful and did not amount to conquest. It also took place as much through the initiative and adaptation of the Southeast Asians as it was made possible by the Indians through commerce and cultural entrepreneurship. Every sphere of Southeast Asian culture and civilization has received its inspiration from India. Today a majority of the population in the countries of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam follows Buddhism. Hinduism is practised by a majority of the people of Bali island as well as the Cham people of Vietnam. Though officially Buddhist, many Thai, Khmer, and Myanmarese people have also adopted not only Hindu devas and asuras but also associated mythology in a form of syncretism. Even today monarchies such as the royal courts of Thailand and Cambodia proudly make use not only of Sanskrit but also have various Hindu rituals performed by the Hindu Brāhmaṇas for the kings as well as the royal families. Garuḍa, the bird-like mythological figure and vehicle mount (vāhana) of Lord Viṣṇu, has a place of honour in the coats of arms of both Indonesia and Thailand. Kaharingam, the religion of the Dayak people of Borneo, is considered in Indonesia as being an indigenized version of Hinduism. Muay Thai, the art of eight limbs, which is also known as Thai Boxing and is a combat sport in Thailand, is the Thai version of the Brāhmaṇical-Hindu Musti-yuddha style of martial art. It is known as Lethwei in Mynamar, Muay Lao in Laos, Tomoi in Malaysia, and Pradal Serey in Cambodia. The stories of the Wayang shadow puppets as well as classical dance-dramas of Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia have liberal borrowings from the different episodes of the Indian epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata. Several ancient temples in Southeast Asia such as the Angkor Wat of Siem Riep in Cambodia, which was dedicated to the Hindu god Lord Viṣṇu, borrowed abundantly from the Indian Hindu temple architecture. Now the Angkor Wat has a place of pride in the flag of Cambodia. Similarly, Prambanan (Rara Jonggrang) in Central Java is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia that is dedicated to the Trimūrti-Brahmā (Creator), Viṣṇu (Preserver), and Śiva (Transformer). Indonesia's Borobudur in Central Java is the largest Buddhist monument in the world. It has been built as a giant stone maṇḍala topped with magnificent stūpas. This monument is a harmonious union of Indian notions rooted in Buddhism as well as the earlier indigenous Austronesian megalithic tradition of building a stepped-pyramid. Most remarkably, the minarets of some of the mosques in Indonesia belonging to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such as the Grand Mosque of Demak and Kudus Mosque, bear an uncanny resemblance to the towers of the Majapahit Hindu temples.