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.
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.
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.
This book examines the role of China in driving and sustaining India’s post-Cold War engagement with Southeast Asia. In doing so, it provides a unique insight into the regional dimensions of the Sino-Indian relationship. India launched its Look East Policy in the early 1990s as part of a concerted effort to revive the importance of Southeast Asia in the country’s foreign policy agenda. This study assesses the role of the China factor – defined here as China’s regional role, which has been interpreted through the prism of the Sino-Indian relationship – in the inception and evolution of the policy. More specifically, it establishes the extent to which China has been raised as a priority in discourses of India’s Look East Policy and how this has varied over time from the origins of the policy through to the most recent phase of the renamed Act East Policy. Addressing the distinction between what policymakers signal in their official statements and their true or underlying motivations, the book alludes to the fact that government officials may not always reflect true intentions in their official statements, and it is often what is not said that may reveal more about their real motivations. This is particularly relevant in the context of the Sino-Indian relationship where diplomatic rhetoric often masks more competitive and confrontational aspects of the bilateral relationship. An important analysis of the interplay between India’s relations with Southeast Asia and China, this book will be of interest to academics, policymakers and students in the fields of International Relations, Asian Security, Southeast Asian politics, and in particular, Indian foreign policy, the Sino-Indian relationship, and India’s Look East/Act East Policy.
Owing to a strong cultural and historical bond, India and Southeast Asia have progressed rapidly. Though there are political and ideological differences between these two entities, it may not hamper the strong bond as there are many common shared values among these nations. The history of these nations identifies that the cooperation between them in terms of trade and commerce is not upheld per the given potential of these nations. In the past, the Indian economy was linked with Southeast Asian countries under the “Look East” policy, which has been re-energized again under the present government. Now, the “Look East” policy is practically more vibrant than ever before with the motto “Act East.” This policy facilitates these countries in emphasizing the importance of better regional connectivity for tourism as well as robust trade and commerce. It leads to a phenomenal growth in terms of imports and exports for these countries. Evaluating Trade and Economic Relations Between India and Southeast Asia sheds light on the trade and economic linkages between India and Southeast Asia and their impact on the nations in the past, present, and for the future. The chapters study whether the win-win strategy works for the strengthening of these countries in terms of both trade relations and political integrity, as well as in facing common enemies across international boundaries. Some of the topics covered include food security, tourism opportunities, trade blocs, trade relations, and economic relations between countries. This book is a valuable reference tool for economists, government officials, policymakers, trade analysts, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the policies and relations between India and Southeast Asia that affect trade and the economy.
This study revisits one of the most extensive examples of the spread of ideas in the history of civilization: the diffusion of Indian religious and political ideas to Southeast Asia before the advent of Islam and European colonialism. Hindu and Buddhist concepts and symbols of kingship and statecraft helped to legitimize Southeast Asian rulers, and transform the political institutions and authority of Southeast Asia. But the process of this diffusion was not accompanied by imperialism, political hegemony, or "colonization" as conventionally understood. This book investigates different explanations of the spread of Indian ideas offered by scholars, including why and how it occurred and what were its key political and institutional outcomes. It challenges the view that strategic competition is a recurring phenomenon when civilizations encounter each other.
In Indian Communities in Southeast Asia thirty-one scholars provide an analytical commentary on the contemporary position of ethnic Indians in Southeast Asia. The book is the outcome of a ten-year project undertaken by the editors at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. It is multi-disciplinary in focus and multi-faceted in approach, providing a comprehensive account of the way people originating from the Indian subcontinent have integrated themselves in the various Southeast Asian countires. The study provides insights into understanding how Indians, an intra-ethnically diverse immigrant group, have intermingled in Southeast Asia, a region that itself is ethnically diverse.
This book examines the emerging maritime security scene in Southeast Asia. It considers highly topical implications for the region of possible strategic competition between China and India - the rising naval powers of Asia - with a possible naval "arms race" emerging between these countries both with naval force development and operations. As part of its "Look East" policy, India has deployed naval units to the Pacific Ocean for port visits and exercises both with East Asian navies and the US Navy, but India is also concerned about the possibility of the Chinese Navy operating in the Indian Ocean. Even as the US-India defence relationship continues to deepen, the US and China are struggling to build a closer links. China’s and India’s strategic interests overlap in this region both in maritime strategic competition or conflict – which might be played out in the Bay of Bengal, the Malacca and Singapore Straits and the South China Sea. The sea lines of communication (SLOCs) through Southeast Asian waters constitute vital "choke points" between the Indian and Pacific Oceans carrying essential energy supplies for China and other Northeast Asian countries. Any strategic competition between China and India has implications for other major maritime players in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, especially Australia, the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as the US. This book identifies possible cooperative and confidence-building measures that may contribute to enhanced relations between these two major powers and dampen down the risks associated with their strategic competition.
This edited volume containing thirty-five chapters focuses on three main contemporary issues: the phenomenon of "new Indians" in the past five decades, the impact of rising India on settled Indian communities, and the recent migrants. By examining these interrelated aspects, this study seeks to address questions like: what does "Rising India" mean to Indian communities in East Asia? How are members of Indian communities responding to India's rise? Will India pay greater attention to people of ...
