On the cultural exchange between Orissa and Southeast Asia; a study.

The Indian cultural influence in Southeast Asia forms a fascinating aspect of India-Southeast Asia relations. The transmission of many aspects of Indian culture to the vast regions of Southeast Asia without military conquest is truly amazing. It is one of the notable achievements of Indian history. Close cultural interaction of India with Southeast Asia began from prehistoric times and continued until the beginning of colonial rule. India's relations with Southeast Asia passed through many vicissitudes. This assumes much importance as India is trying its best to be major power in the region with its look East Policy in the new millennium. The Indian cultural influence was by peaceful and non-political methods.The culturally rich east coast of India played a significant part in this cultural rapprochement

This book takes stock of the results of some two decades of intensive archaeological research carried out on both sides of the Bay of Bengal, in combination with renewed approaches to textual sources and to art history. To improve our understanding of the trans-cultural process commonly referred to as Indianisation, it brings together specialists of both India and Southeast Asia, in a fertile inter-disciplinary confrontation. Most of the essays reappraise the millennium-long historiographic no-man's land during which exchanges between the two shores of the Bay of Bengal led, among other processes, to the Indianisation of those parts of the region that straddled the main routes of exchange. Some essays follow up these processes into better known "classical" times or even into modern times, showing that the localisation process of Indian themes has long remained at work, allowing local societies to produce their own social space and express their own ethos.

The books presents the study undertaken by the ASEAN-India Centre (AIC) at Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) on India’s cultural links with Southeast Asia, with particular reference to historical and contemporary dimensions. The book traces ancient trade and maritime links, Chola Empire and Southeast Asia, religious exchanges (the Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic heritage), language, scripts and folklore, performing arts, painting and sculpture, architecture, role of the Indian Diaspora, contemporary cultural interaction, etc.

India has espoused the notion of building 'South-South' relations with other developing countries in recent years. The ASEAN countries, in particular, have come to play an important part in India's trade and policy considerations over the last decade. This book argues that India is responding strongly to the growth of the Asia-Pacific region which is now of elevated importance in India's strategic and foreign policy calculations. India and Southeast Asia provides a close contextual analysis of India's interests and perceptions in the region during the 40 years of independence, putting it in the context of India's broad strategic and foreign policy framework, including an analysis of superpower relations and involvement. It argues that New Delhi now sees the future of Southeast Asia as closely linked to its own.