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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2012}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2013}}
[[File:Indian cultural zone.svg|right|thumb|400px|'''Dark orange''': The [[Indian subcontinent]]. '''Light orange''': Other countries culturally linked to India, notably [[Burma]], [[Thailand]], [[Cambodia]], [[Laos]], [[Champa]] ([[Southern Vietnam]]), [[Indonesia]], [[Malaysia]], [[Brunei]] and [[Singapore]]. '''Yellow''': Regions with significant cultural Indian influence, notably [[Afghanistan]], [[Tibet]], China's [[Yunnan]] Province and the [[Philippines]].  (Also, not shown, [[Fiji]].)]]

'''Greater India''' was the historical extent of the [[culture of India]] beyond the [[Indian subcontinent]]. This particularly concerns the spread of [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]],<ref>[[Hinduism in Southeast Asia]]</ref> by the travellers of the 5th to 15th centuries, but may also refer to the spread of [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]] from India to [[Central Asia]] and [[China]] by the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|Silk Road]] during the early centuries of the [[Common Era]]. To the west, Greater India overlaps with [[Greater Persia]] in the [[Hindu Kush]] and [[Pamir mountains]]. The term is tied to the geographic uncertainties surrounding the "[[Indies]]" during the [[Age of Exploration]].

==Terminology==
{{Further|Indies}}
[[File:Prambanan Complex 1.jpg|thumb|The 9th century Shivaistic temple of [[Prambanan]] in [[Central Java]] near [[Yogyakarta]], the largest Hindu temple in [[Indonesia]]]]

The term ''Greater India'' has several related meanings:
*The name ''Greater India'' ({{lang-pt|Indyos mayores}}<ref name=azurara/>) was used at least from the mid-15th century.<ref name=azurara>{{Harv|Azurara|1446}}</ref>  The term, which seems to have been used with variable precision,<ref>{{Harv|Beazley|1910|p=708}} Quote: "Azurara's hyperbole, indeed, which celebrates the Navigator Prince as joining Orient and Occident by continual voyaging, as transporting to the extremities of the East the creations of Western industry, does not scruple to picture the people of the ''Greater and the Lesser India'' welcoming his ships (which never passed beyond Sierra Leone), praising his generosity, and even experiencing his hospitality."</ref> sometimes meant only the Indian subcontinent;<ref>{{Harv|Beazley|1910|p=708}} Quote: "Among all the confusion of the various Indies in Mediaeval nomenclature, "Greater India" can usually be recognized as restricted to the "India proper" of the modern world."</ref> However, in some accounts of European nautical voyages, Greater India (or ''India Major'') extended from the [[Malabar Coast]] (present-day [[Kerala]]) to ''India extra Gangem''<ref>{{Harv|Wheatley|1982|p=13}} Quote: "From the time when Southeast Asia first rose above their horizon, Europeans—the infinitesimal number of them who cared about such matters, that is—tended to treat that vague and insubstantial region beneath the sunrise as simply a more distant part of India. This practice went back at least to Claudius Ptolemy or, possibly, one of his redactors, who subsumed a good part of the region under the rubric "Trans-Gangetic India." Subsequently the whole area came to be identified with one of the "Three Indies," though whether ''India Major'' or ''Minor, Greater'' or ''Lesser, Superior'' or ''Inferior'', seems often to have been a personal preference of the author concerned. When Europeans began to penetrate into Southeast Asia in earnest, they continued this tradition, attaching to various of the constituent territories such labels as Further India or Hinterindien, the East Indies, the Indian Archipelago, Insulinde, and, in acknowledgment of the presence of a competing culture, Indochina."</ref> (lit. "India, beyond the Ganges," but usually the [[East Indies]], i.e. present-day [[Malay Archipelago]]) and ''India Minor'', from Malabar to [[Sindh|Sind]].<ref>{{Harv|Caverhill|1767}}</ref>
*In late 19th-century geography "Greater India" referred to [[Hindustan]] (India proper), the [[Punjab region|Punjab]], the [[Himalaya]]s, and extended eastwards to [[Indochina]] (including Burma), parts of Indonesia (namely, the [[Sunda Islands]], [[Borneo]] and [[Sulawesi|Celebes]]), and the [[Philippines]]."<ref name=geography19cent>"Review: New Maps," (1912) ''Bulletin of the American Geographical Society'' 44(3): 235–240.</ref>
*In 20th-century history, art history, linguistics, and allied fields but now largely out of favour,<ref name=bayley2004-p713/> it consisted of "lands including Burma, [[Java]], Cambodia, [[Bali]], and the former [[Champa]] and [[Kingdom of Funan|Funan]] polities of present-day [[Vietnam]],"<ref name=bayley2004-p713/> in which [[Islamic invasions of India|pre-Islamic]] Indian culture left an "imprint in the form of monuments, inscriptions and other traces of the historic ‘[[Indianised kingdoms|Indianising]]’ process."<ref name=bayley2004-p713>{{Harv|Bayley|2004|p=713}}</ref> In some accounts, many Pacific societies and "most of the Buddhist world including [[Ceylon]], [[Tibet]], [[Central Asia]], and even [[Japan]] were held to fall within this web of Indianising ''culture colonies''"<ref name=bayley2004-p713/>  This particular usage—implying cultural "sphere of influence" of India—was promoted by the [[Greater India Society]], formed by a group of [[Bengali people|Bengali]] [[men of letters]],<ref>{{Harv|Handy|1930|p=364}} Quote: "An equally significant movement is one that brought about among the Indian intelligentsia of Calcutta a few years ago the formation of what is known as the "Greater India Society," whose membership is open "to all serious students of the Indian cultural expansion and to all sympathizers of such studies and activities." Though still in its infancy, this organisation has already a large membership, due perhaps as much as anything else to the enthusiasm of its Secretary and Convener, Dr. Kalidas Nag, whose scholarly affiliations with the Orientalists in the University of Paris and studies in Indochina, Insulindia and beyond, have equipped him in an unusual way for the work he has chosen-namely, stimulating interest in and spreading knowledge of Greater Indian culture of the past, present and future. The Society's President is Professor Jadunath Sarkar, Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, and its Council is made up largely of professors on the faculty of the University and members of the staff of the Calcutta Museum, as well as of Indian authors, journalists, and so on. Its activities, besides meetings, have included illustrated lecture series at the various universities throughout India by Dr. Nag, the assembling of a research library and the publication of monographs, of which four very excellent examples have already been printed: 1)''Greater India'', by Kalidas Nag, M.A., D.Litt(Paris), 2) ''India and China'', by Prabodh Chandra Bagchi, M.A., D.Litt., 3) ''Indian Culture in Java and Sumatra'', by Bijan Raj Chatterjee, D.Litt. (Punjab), Ph.D (London), and 4) ''India and Central Asia'', by Niranjan Prasad Chakravarti, M.A., Ph.D.(cantab.)."</ref> and is not found before the 1920s. This usage lasted well into the 1970s in History; later in other fields.
*Still current as of 2005, "Greater India" signifies "the Indian sub-continent plus a postulated northern extension"<ref>{{Harv|Ali|Aitchison|2005|p=170}}</ref> in [[Plate tectonics|plate tectonic]] models of the [[India Plate|India–Asia collision]]. Although its usage in geology pre-dates plate tectonic theory,<ref>Argand, E., 1924. La tectonique de l' Asie. Proc. 13th Int. Geol. Cong. 7 (1924), 171–372.</ref> the term has seen increased usage since the 1970s.

==Indianised kingdoms==
{{Further|Hinduism in Southeast Asia}}
[[File:Angkor wat temple.jpg|thumb|left|[[Angkor Wat]] in Cambodia is one of the largest Hindu/Buddhist temples in the world]]
[[File:Ayutthaya-old.jpg|thumb|Ruins of [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Ayutthaya]] in Thailand which was named after [[Ayodhya]]]]

The concept of the Indianised kingdoms, first described by [[George Coedès]], is based on [[Hindu]] and [[Buddhist]] cultural and economic influences in [[Southeast Asia]].<ref>National Library of Australia.  [http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/form/coedes2.html Asia's French Connection : George Coedes and the Coedes Collection]</ref> [[Kingdom of Butuan|Butuan]], [[Champa]], [[Dvaravati]], [[Kingdom of Funan|Funan]], [[Gangga Negara]], [[Early history of Kedah|Kadaram]], [[Kalingga]], [[Kutai]], [[Langkasuka]], [[Pagan Kingdom|Pagan]], [[Pan Pan]], [[History of Brunei|Po-ni]], [[Tarumanagara]] and [[Kingdom of Tondo|Tondo]] were among the earliest Hindu kingdoms in Southeast Asia, established around the 1st to 4th centuries CE. Despite being culturally akin to Hindu cultures, these kingdoms were indigenous and independent of the [[History of India|Indian mainland]]. States such as [[Srivijaya]], [[Majapahit]] and the [[Khmer empire]] developed territories and economies that rivaled those in India itself. [[Borobudur]] in Java, for example, is the largest Buddhist monument ever built.<ref>[http://www.oeaw.ac.at/sozant/files/working_papers/suedostasien/soa001.pdf Theories of Indianisation] Exemplified by Selected Case Studies from Indonesia (Insular Southeast Asia), by Dr. Helmut Lukas</ref> Coedès has been criticised for understating the Southeast Asian element of these kingdoms, in an unconscious echo of the European "civilising mission."<ref>Charles F. Keyes, ''The golden peninsula : culture and adaptation in mainland Southeast Asia'', page 106, SHAPS Library of Asian Studies, University of Hawai'i Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8248-1696-X</ref>

Professor [[Robert Lingat]] — characterised by law professor [[John Henry Wigmore]] as the greatest (and almost the only) authority on Siamese legal history<ref>{{cite journal 
|last= Wigmore|first= John H. 
|authorlink= John Henry Wigmore 
|year= Digitized 2012
|origyear= 1940
|title= Pramnŏn Kŏtmai Roc'ăkan T'I Nŭng Cŭlăcăkărăt 1166. Edited by R. Lingat, from the Official Manuscripts of the Triple Seal. Bangkok, Vols. I, II, 1939; Vol. III (in press). 
|trans_title= (Thai) ประมวลกฎมาย รัชกาลที่ ๑ จุลศักราช ๑๑๕๕ 
|journal= Louisiana Law Review 
|volume= 2|issue= |pages= 
|publisher= DigitalCommons
|doi= |url= http://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol2/iss3/18
|accessdate= February 20, 2013
}}</ref>  — tended to emphasise the contribution of Southeast Asian societies and rulers to the formation of these states. In particular, where Coedès saw Indian merchants as the founders of these states, Lingat saw Southeast Asian rulers as founding them and then importing [[Brahmin#Practices|Indian ritual specialists]] as advisers on ''rajadharma'', or the practices of Indian kingship. This view is supported by the argument that Indian merchants would not have possessed the ritual knowledge which became so prominent in these kingdoms.<ref>Paul Wheatley, ''Satyānrta in Suvarṇadvīpa: From Reciprocity to Redistribution in Ancient Southeast Asia'', (''Ancient Civilisation and Trade'' ed. by Jeremy Sabloff and C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky), pages 227–83 Albuquerque: University of New Mexicon Press, 1975.</ref>

These Indianised kingdoms developed a close affinity with and internalised Indian religious, cultural and economic practices without significant direct input from Indian rulers themselves. The issue remains controversial; [[Horace Geoffrey Quaritch Wales|Quaritch Wales]] in particular is cited<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Griswold|first1= A. B. |last2= Prasert |first2= na Nagara |year= 1969 |title= Epigraphic and Historical Studies No. 4: A Law Promulgated By the King of Ayudhyā in 1397 A.D  |journal= Journal of the Siam Society   |volume=  57 |issue=  1 |page= 110 | publisher= Siam Society Heritage Trust |doi= |url= http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1961/JSS_057_1e_GriswoldPrasert_LawPromulgatedByKingOfAyudhya1397.pdf |quote= Footnote 1. Cf. Quaritch Wales, ''Ancient Siamese Government and Administration'', London,
1934, Chapters VII, VIII. |accessdate= February 20, 2013}}
</ref>  as holding that Indianisation was the work of Indian traders and merchants as opposed to political leaders, although the travels of Buddhist monks such as [[Atisha]] later became important. There was also a merchant named Magadu, known to history as [[Wareru]] and founder of the [[Hanthawaddy Kingdom]], who commissioned [[Mon people|Mon]] specialists in Indian traditions to compile the Code of Wareru, which has formed the basis for Burmese common law down to the present.  Most Indianised kingdoms combined both Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and practices in a syncretic manner. [[Kertanagara]], the last king of [[Singhasari]], described himself as “Sivabuddha”, a simultaneous incarnation of the Hindu god [[Shiva]] and the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]].<ref name=siva>{{Cite book
  | last = Kinney
  | first = Ann R.
  | authorlink = 
  | coauthors = Marijke J. Klokke, Lydia Kieven
  | title = Worshiping Siva and Buddha: the temple art of East Java
  | publisher = University of Hawaii Press
  | year = 2003
  | location = 0824827791, 9780824827793
  | pages = 
  | url = http://books.google.com.my/books?id=sfa2FiIERLYC
  | doi = 
  | id = 
  | isbn = }}</ref>

Southeast Asian rulers enthusiastically adopted elements of ''rajadharma'' (Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, codes, and court practices) to legitimise their own rule and constructed cities, such as [[Angkor]], to affirm royal power by reproducing a map of sacred space derived from the ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Mahabharata]]''. Southeast Asian rulers frequently adopted lengthy [[Sanskrit]] titles and founded cities, such as [[Ayutthaya (city)|Ayutthaya]] in Thailand, named after those in the Indian epics.

Cultural and trading relations between the powerful [[Chola dynasty]] of [[South India]] and the Southeast Asian Hindu kingdoms led the [[Bay of Bengal]] to be called "The Chola Lake", and the Chola attacks on Srivijaya in the 10th century CE are the sole example of military attacks by Indian rulers against Southeast Asia. The [[Pala Empire|Pala dynasty]] of [[Bengal]], which controlled the heartland of Buddhist India, maintained close economic, cultural and religious ties, particularly with Srivijaya.

===Individual kingdoms===
[[File:Durga Loro Jonggrang copy.jpg|thumb|A statue of Hindu goddess [[Durga]] Mahisasuramardini in [[Prambanan]] northern cella, dated from 9th century Medang i Bhumi Mataram kingdom in Central Java.]]

* '''[[Langkasuka]]''' (-''langkha'' [[Sanskrit]] for "resplendent land" -''sukkha'' of "bliss") was an ancient Hindu kingdom located in the [[Malay Peninsula]]. The kingdom, along with [[Old Kedah]] settlement, are probably the earliest territorial footholds founded on the Malay Peninsula. According to tradition, the founding of the kingdom happened in the 2nd century; [[Malay people|Malay]] legends claim that Langkasuka was founded at [[Kedah]], and later moved to [[Pattani province|Pattani]].
* '''[[Kingdom of Funan|Funan]]''' was a pre-[[Angkor]] [[Cambodia]]n kingdom, located around the [[Mekong]] delta, probably established by [[Mon–Khmer]] settlers speaking an [[Austroasiatic]] language. According to reports by two Chinese envoys, [[K'ang T'ai]] and [[Chu Ying]], the state was established by an Indian [[Brahmin]] named [[Kaundinya]], who in the 1st century CE was given instruction in a dream to take a magic bow from a temple and defeat a Khmer queen, [[Soma (queen)|Soma]]. Soma, the daughter of the king of the [[Nagas (people)|Nagas]], married Kaundinya and their lineage became the royal dynasty of Funan. The myth had the advantage of providing the legitimacy of both an Indian Brahmin and the divinity of the cobras, who at that time were held in religious regard by the inhabitants of the region.
* From the 7th–13th centuries '''[[Sri Vijaya|Sri Vijayan empire]]''', a maritime empire centred on the island of [[Sumatra]] in [[Indonesia]], had adopted Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism under a line of rulers from Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa to the [[Sailendra]]s. A stronghold of [[Vajrayana]] [[Buddhism]], Srivijaya attracted pilgrims and scholars from other parts of Asia. I Ching reports that the kingdom was home to more than a thousand Buddhist scholars. A notable Srivijayan revered Buddhist scholar is [[Dharmakirti]] that taught Buddhist philosophy in Srivijaya and Nalanda, he was the teacher of [[Atisha]]. Most of the times this Buddhist [[ethnic Malay|Malay]] empire enjoy cordial relationship with China and the [[Pala Empire]] in [[Bengal]], and an 860 [[Nalanda inscription]] records that maharaja [[Balaputra]] dedicated a monastery at the [[Nalanda|Nalanda university]] in Pala territory. The Empire of [[Sri Vijaya]] declined due to Islamic attacks and conversions.
* '''[[Medang Kingdom|Medang]]''' flourished between 8th to 11th century was first centred in central Java before later moved to east Java . This kingdom produces numbers of Hindu-Buddhist temples in Java, including [[Borobudur]] Buddhist mandala and [[Prambanan]] [[Trimurti]] Hindu temple dedicated mainly for [[Shiva]]. The [[Sailendra]]s are the ruling family of this kingdom in earlier stage in central Java before replaced by [[Isyana Dynasty]].
* The kingdom of '''[[Champa]]''' (or ''Lin-yi'' in Chinese records) controlled what is now south and central [[Vietnam]] from approximately 192 through 1697. The dominant religion of the [[Cham (Asia)|Cham people]] was [[Hinduism]] and the culture was heavily influenced by India.
* Later, from the 9th to the 13th century, the Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu '''[[Khmer empire]]''' dominated much of the South-East Asian peninsula. Under the Khmer, more than 900 temples were built in Cambodia and in neighbouring Thailand. [[Angkor]] was at the centre of this development, with a temple complex and urban organisation able to support around one million urban dwellers. The largest temple complex of the world, [[Angkor Wat]], stands here; built by the king Vishnuvardhan, a king of the dynasty that believed themselves to be incarnations of Vishnu.
*[[Mon kingdoms]] from the 9th century until the abrupt end of the [[Hanthawaddy Kingdom]] in 1539, were notable for facilitating Indianzed cultural exchange in lower Burma, in particular by having strong ties with [[Ceylon]].
* The [[Javanese people|Javanese]] '''[[Majapahit empire]]''' centred in East Java succeeded the [[Singhasari]] empire and flourished in Indonesian archipelago between 13th–15th century. Noted for their naval expansion spanned west—east from Lamuri in [[Aceh]] to Wanin in [[West Papua (province)|Papua]], Majapahit was one of the last and greatest Hindu empires in [[Maritime Southeast Asia]]. Most of [[Bali]]nese Hindu culture, traditions and civilisations were derived from Majapahit legacy, since numbers of Majapahit nobles, priests, and artisans find their home in Bali after the decline of Majapahit to Islamic [[Demak Sultanate]].

==Indian cultural sphere==
[[File:006 Bujang Valley Candi.jpg|right|thumb|Candi Bukit Batu Pahat of [[Bujang Valley]]. A [[Hindu]]-[[Buddhist]] kingdom ruled ancient [[Kedah]] possibly as early as 110 CE, the earliest evidence of strong [[India]]n influence which was once prevalent among the pre-Islamic [[Kedahan Malay]]s.]]
[[File:Kinari.jpg|thumb|right|A golden statuette of the Hindu-Buddhist mythical beings [[Kinnara|Kinnari]] found in an archeological dig in [[Esperanza, Agusan del Sur]], [[The Philippines]].]]

The use of ''Greater India'' to refer to an Indian cultural sphere was popularised by a network of Bengali scholars in the 1920s who were all members of the Calcutta-based Greater India Society.  The movement's early leaders included the historian [[R. C. Majumdar]] (1888–1980); the philologists [[Suniti Kumar Chatterji]] (1890–1977) and [[Prabodh Chandra Bagchi|P. C. Bagchi]] (1898–1956), and the historians [[Phanindranath Bose]] and  [[Kalidas Nag]] (1891–1966).<ref>{{Harv|Bayley|2004|p=710}}</ref>

Some of their formulations were inspired by concurrent excavations in [[Angkor]] by French archaeologists and by the writings of French [[Indology|Indologist]] [[Sylvain Lévi]].  The scholars of the society postulated a benevolent ancient Indian cultural colonisation of Southeast Asia, in stark contrast—in their view—to the colonialism of the early 20th century.<ref>{{Harv|Bayley|2004|p=712}}</ref><ref>Review by 'SKV' of ''The Hindu Colony of Cambodia'' by Phanindranath Bose [Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House 1927] in The Vedic Magazine and Gurukula Samachar 26: 1927, pp. 620–1.</ref>
{{bquote|"The ancient Hindus of yore were not simply a spiritual people, always busy with mystical problems and never troubling themselves with the questions of 'this world'... India also has its Napoleons and Charlemagnes, its Bismarcks and Machiavellis. But the real charm of Indian history does not consist in these aspirants after universal power, but in its peaceful and benevolent Imperialism—a unique thing in the history of mankind. The colonisers of India did not go with sword and fire in their hands; they used... the weapons of their superior culture and religion... The Buddhist age has attracted special attention, and the French savants have taken much pains to investigate the splendid monuments of the Indian cultural empire in the Far East."}}

The term was used in historical writing in India into the 1970s.<ref>{{Harv|Majumdar|1960|pp=222–223}}<!--the book was written in 1960, and it's supposed to be an example of something having occurred in the 1970s?--></ref>
{{bquote|"Colonial and Cultural Expansion (of Ancient India)",{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}<!--Could not find this with Google Books. Is this a book, or a scientific paper, or a chapter title?--> written by R. C. Majumdar, concluded with: "We may conclude with a broad survey of the Indian colonies in the Far East.  For nearly fifteen hundred years, and down to a period when the Hindus had lost their independence in their own home, Hindu kings were ruling over Indo-China and the numerous islands of the Indian Archipelago, from Sumatra to New Guinea.  Indian religion, Indian culture, Indian laws and Indian government moulded the lives of the primitive races all over this wide region, and they imbibed a more elevated moral spirit and a higher intellectual taste through the religion, art, and  literature of India.  In short, the people were lifted to a higher plane of civilisation."}}

The term ''Greater India'' and the notion of an explicit Hindu colonisation of ancient Southeast Asia have been linked to both [[Indian nationalism]]<ref>{{Harv|Keenleyside|1982|pp=213–214}} Quote: "Starting in the 1920s under the leadership of Kalidas Nag-and continuing even after independence-a number of Indian scholars wrote extensively and rapturously about the ancient Hindu cultural expansion into and colonisation of South and Southeast Asia.  They called this vast region "Greater India"–a dubious appellation for a region which to a limited degree, but with little permanence, had been influenced by Indian religion, art, architecture, literature and administrative customs. As a consequence of this renewed and extensive interest in Greater India, many Indians came to believe that the entire South and Southeast Asian region formed the cultural progeny of India; now that the sub-continent was reawakening, they felt, India would once again assert its non-political ascendancy over the area.... While the idea of reviving the ancient Greater India was never officially endorsed by the Indian National Congress, it enjoyed considerable popularity in nationalist Indian circles. Indeed, Congress leaders made occasional references to Greater India while the organisation's abiding interest in the problems of overseas Indians lent indirect support to the Indian hope of restoring the alleged cultural and spiritual unity of South and Southeast Asia."</ref> and [[Hindu nationalism]].<ref>{{Harv|Thapar|1968|pp=326–330}} Quote: "At another level, it was believed that the dynamics of many Asian cultures, particularly those of Southeast Asia, arose from Hindu culture, and the theory of Greater India derived sustenance from Pan-Hinduism. A curious pride was taken in the supposed imperialist past of India, as expressed in sentiments such as these: "The art of Java and Kambuja was no doubt derived from India and fostered by the Indian rulers of these colonies." (Majumdar, R. C. et al. (1950), ''An Advanced History of India'', London: Macmillan, p. 221)  This form of historical interpretation, which can perhaps best be described as being inspired by Hindu nationalism, remains an influential school of thinking in present historical writings."</ref> However, many Indian nationalists, like [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] and [[Rabindranath Tagore]], although receptive to "an idealisation of India as a benign and uncoercive world civiliser and font of global enlightenment,"<ref>{{Harv|Bayley|2004|pp=735–736}} Quote:"The Greater India visions which Calcutta thinkers derived from French and other sources are still known to educated anglophone Indians, especially but not exclusively Bengalis from the generation brought up in the traditions of post-Independence Nehruvian secular nationalism.  One key source of this knowledge is a warm tribute paid to [[Sylvain Lévi]] and his ideas of an expansive, civilising India by Jawaharlal Nehru himself, in his celebrated book, ''The Discovery of India'', which was written during one of Nehru’s periods of imprisonment by the British authorities, first published in 1946, and reprinted many times
since.... The ideas of both Lévi and the Greater India scholars were known to Nehru through his close intellectual links with Tagore. Thus Lévi’s notion of ancient Indian voyagers leaving their invisible ‘imprints’ throughout east and southeast Asia was for Nehru a recapitulation of Tagore’s vision of nationhood, that is an idealisation of India as a benign and uncoercive world civiliser and font of global enlightenment. This was clearly a perspective which defined the Greater India
phenomenon as a process of religious and spiritual tutelage, but it was not a Hindu supremacist idea of India’s mission to the lands of the trans-gangetic ''Sarvabhumi'' or ''Bharat Varsha''."</ref> stayed away from explicit "Greater India" formulations.<ref>{{Harv|Narasimhaiah|1986}} Quote: "To him (Nehru), the so-called practical approach meant, in practice, shameless expediency, and so he would say, "the sooner we are not practical, the better".  He rebuked a Member of Indian Parliament who sought to revive the concept of ''Greater India'' by saying that ‘the honorable Member lived in the days of Bismarck; Bismarck is dead, and his politics more dead!'  He would consistently plead for an idealistic approach and such power as the language wields is the creation of idealism—politics’ arch enemy—which, however, liberates the leader of a national movement from narrow nationalism, thus igniting in the process a dead fact of history, in the sneer, "For him the Bastille has not fallen!" Though Nehru was not to the language born, his utterances show a remarkable capacity for introspection and sense of moral responsibility in commenting on political processes."</ref>  In addition, some scholars have seen the Hindu/Buddhist acculturation in ancient Southeast Asia as "a single cultural process in which Southeast Asia was the matrix and South Asia the mediatrix."<ref>{{Harv|Wheatley|1982|pp=27–28}} Quote: "The tide of revisionism that is currently sweeping through Southeast Asian historiography has in effect taken us back almost to the point where we have to consider reevaluating almost every text bearing on the protohistoric period and many from later times. Although this may seem a daunting proposition, it is nonetheless supremely worth attempting, for the process by which the peoples of western Southeast Asia came to think of themselves as part of ''Bharatavarsa'' (even though they had no conception of "India" as we know it) represents one of the most impressive instances of large-scale acculturation in the history of the world. [[Sylvain Levi]] was perhaps overenthusiastic when he claimed that India produced her definitive masterpieces—he was thinking of Angkor and the Borobudur—through the efforts of foreigners or on foreign soil.  Those masterpieces were not strictly Indian achievements: rather were they the outcome of a Eutychian fusion of natures so melded together as to constitute a single cultural process in which Southeast Asia was the matrix and South Asia the mediatrix."</ref> In the field of art history, especially in American writings, the term survived longer due to the influence of art theorist [[Ananda Coomaraswamy]]. Coomaraswamy's view of pan-Indian art history was influenced by the "Calcutta cultural nationalists."<ref>{{Harv|Guha-Thakurta|1992|pp=159–167}}</ref>

===Cultural expansion===
[[File:Cultural expansion of Hinduism in Southeast Asia.png|thumb|300px|Expansion of Hinduism in Southeast Asia.]]

From about the 1st century, India started to strongly influence [[Southeast Asia]]n countries. Trade routes linked India with southern [[Burma]], central and southern [[Siam]], lower [[Cambodia]] and [[Champa]] (modern day Southern Vietnam) and numerous urbanised coastal settlements were established there.

For more than a thousand years, Indian Hindu/Buddhist influence was therefore the major factor that brought a certain level of cultural unity to the various countries of the region. The [[Pāli|Pali]] and [[Sanskrit]] languages and the Indian script, together with [[Theravada]] and [[Mahayana]] [[Buddhism]], [[Vedic Brahmanism|Brahmanism]] and [[Hinduism]], were transmitted from direct contact as well as through sacred texts and Indian literature, such as the [[Ramayana]] and the [[Mahabharata]] epics.

From the 5th to the 13th century, South-East Asia had very powerful Indian colonial empires and became extremely active in Buddhist architectural and artistic creation. The [[Sri Vijaya]] Empire to the south and the [[Khmer Empire]] to the north competed for influence.

A defining characteristic of the cultural link between South East Asia and the Indian subcontinent is the spread of ancient Indian [[Vedic period|Vedic]]/[[Hindu]] and [[Buddhist]] culture and philosophy into [[Myanmar]], [[Thailand]], [[Indonesia]], [[Malay Peninsula|Malaya]], [[Laos]] and [[Cambodia]]. Indian scripts are found in South East Asian islands ranging from [[Sumatra]], [[Java]], [[Bali]], south [[Sulawesi]] and most of the [[Philippines]].<ref>Martin Haspelmath, [http://books.google.com/books?id=sCRcARRN9nsC&pg=PA569&dq=indosphere&lr=&ei=cObSR7zSINC4igH0ldirBQ&sig=NZzfitQOiVvLf3LOSI04oXn3Rzs The World Atlas of Language Structures], page 569, Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-925591-1</ref>

===Cultural commonalities===
[[File:Atashgah Fire Temple.jpg|thumb|[[Atashgah of Baku]], a natural [[fire temple]] in [[Azerbaijan]] used by both Hindus<ref name="jackson1911">{{Citation | title=From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam: travels in Transcaucasia and northern Persia for historic and literary research | author=Abraham Valentine Williams Jackson | year=1911 | publisher=The Macmillan company | isbn= | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Z4aBAAAAIAAJ | quote="... they are now wholly substantiated by the other inscriptions.... They are all Indian, with the exception of one written in Persian... dated in the same year as the Hindu tablet over it... if actual Gabrs (i.e. Zoroastrians, or Parsis) were among the number of worshipers at the shrine, they must have kept in the background, crowded out by Hindus, because the typical features Hanway mentions are distinctly Indian, not Zoroastrian... met two Hindu Fakirs who announced themselves as 'on a pilgrimage to this Baku Jawala Ji'...."}}</ref><ref name="delacy1998">{{Citation | title=Hindi & Urdu phrasebook | author=Richard Delacy, Parvez Dewan | year=1998 | publisher=Lonely Planet | isbn=0-86442-425-6 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=QkJH90HBlekC | quote="... The Hindu calendar (vikramaditiy) is 57 years ahead of the Christian calendar. Dates in the Hindu calendar are prefixed by the word: samvat संवत ..."}}</ref> and Zoroastrians]]
[[File:Batu caves.jpg|thumb|A statue of Hindu deity [[Murugan]] at the [[Batu Caves]] in Malaysia]]

The diffusion of Indian culture is demonstrated with the following examples:

====Religion and mythology====
*[[Hinduism in Indonesia|Hinduism]] is practised by the majority of Bali's population.<ref>[http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/indon/balin.html Balinese Religion<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*[[Garuda]], a Hindu mythological figure, is present in the [[National Emblem of Indonesia|coats of arms of Indonesia]], [[Coat of arms of Thailand|Thailand]] and [[Ulan Bator]].
*[[Kaharingan]], an indigenous religion followed by the [[Dayak people]] of [[Borneo]], is categorised as a form of Hinduism in Indonesia.
*[[Philippine mythology]] includes the supreme god [[Bathala]] and the concept of ''[[Diwata]]'' and the still-current belief in ''[[Karma]]''—all derived from Hindu-Buddhist concepts.
*[[Malay folklore]] contains a rich number of Indian-influenced mythological characters, such as [[Bidadari]], [[Jatayu|Jentayu]], [[Garuda]] and [[Nāga|Naga]].

====Architecture and monuments====
*The same style of [[Hindu temple architecture]] was used in several ancient temples in South East Asia including [[Angkor Wat]], which was dedicated to Hindu god [[Vishnu]] and is shown on the [[flag of Cambodia]], also [[Prambanan]] in Central Java, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, is dedicated to [[Trimurti]] — [[Shiva]], Vishnu and [[Brahma]].
*[[Borobudur]] in Central Java, Indonesia, is the world's largest Buddhist monument. It took shape of a giant stone [[mandala]] crowned with [[stupa]]s and believed to be the combination of Indian-origin Buddhist ideas with the previous [[megalithic]] tradition of native [[Austronesian people|Austronesian]] [[step pyramid]].
*The minarets of 15th- to 16th-century mosques in Indonesia, such as the [[Masjid Agung Demak|Great Mosque of Demak]] and [[Menara Kudus Mosque|Kudus mosque]] resemble those of [[Majapahit]] Hindu temples.
*The [[Batu Caves]] in [[Malaysia]] are one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India. It is the focal point of the annual [[Thaipusam]] festival in Malaysia and attracts over 1.5 million pilgrims, making it one of the largest religious gatherings in history.<ref>[http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=993E148C861864E9 lonelyplanet.tv&nbsp;– Batu Caves Inside and Out,Malaysia<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
*[[Erawan Shrine]], dedicated to [[Brahma (Buddhism)|Brahma]], is one of the most popular religious shrines in Thailand.<ref>[http://buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,2733,0,0,1,0 Buddhist Channel | Buddhism News, Headlines | Thailand | Phra Prom returns to Erawan Shrine<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

====Language====
*[[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Javanese language|Javanese]] and [[Malaysian language|Malaysian]] have absorbed a large amount of [[Sanskrit]] loanwords into their respective lexicons  (see: [[List of loan words in Indonesian#From Sanskrit|Sanskrit loan words in Indonesian]]). Many languages of native lowland [[Filipinos]] such as [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]]<ref>http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20091011-229561/The-Indian-in-the-Filipino</ref> and [[Visayan languages|Visayan]]<ref>{{cite journal |author=Kuizon, Jose G. |title=The Sanskrit loan-words in the Cebuano-Bisayan language and the Indian elements to Cebuano-Bisayan culture |date=1962 publisher=University of San Carlos, Cebu}}</ref> contain numerous [[List_of_Tagalog_loanwords#Sanskrit_.5B3.5D.5B4.5D.5B2.5D_.5B1.5D.5B5.5D.5B6.5D|Sanskrit loanwords]].
*Many [[Indonesian names#Sanskrit derived names|Indonesian names]] have Sanskrit origin (e.g. [[Dewi Sartika]], [[Megawati Sukarnoputri]], [[Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono]], [[Teuku Wisnu]]).
* Street signs in [[Yogyakarta]], Indonesia are often written in [[Grantha alphabet|Pallava]]-derived [[Kawi script]].
* The name of the King of Thailand, [[Bhumibol Adulyadej]], can be written in Sanskrit.<!--the source says: "which in Sanskrit would be written Bhumibal Atulyatej"--><ref name = "nepaltimes">{{ite web |url=http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/2003/08/15/Culture/3595 |title=King Bhumibol and King Janak |last1=Sharma
 |first1=Sudhindra  |last2= |first2= |date= |work=nepalitimes.com |publisher=Himalmedia Private Limited |accessdate=13 July 2011}}</ref>

====Toponym====
*Several of Indonesian [[toponym]]s has Indian parallel or origin, such as [[Madura]] with [[Mathura]], [[Serayu]] and [[Sarayu]] river, [[Semeru]] with [[Sumeru]] mountain, [[Kalingga]] from [[Kalinga Kingdom]], and [[Yogyakarta|Ngayogyakarta]] from [[Ayodhya]].
*Siamese ancient city of [[Ayutthaya]] also derived from Ramayana's Ayodhya.
*Names of places could simply renders their Sanskrit origin, such as [[Singapore]], from Singapura (''Singha-pura'' the "lion city"), [[Jakarta]] from ''Jaya'' and ''kreta'' ("complete victory").
*Some of Indonesian regencies such as [[Indragiri Hulu Regency|Indragiri Hulu]] and [[Indragiri Hilir Regency|Indragiri Hilir]] derived from Indragiri River, Indragiri itself means "mountain of [[Indra]]".
*Some [[Thailand|Thai]] toponyms also often have Indian parallels or Sanskrit origin, although the spellings are adapted to the Siamese tongue, such as [[Ratchaburi]] from ''Raja-puri'' ("king's city"), [[Buriram]] from ''Puri-Rama'' ("city of Rama"), and [[Nakhon Si Thammarat]] from ''Nagara Sri Dharmaraja''.
*The tendency to use Sanskrit for modern [[neologism]] also continued to modern day. In 1962 Indonesia changed the colonial name of [[New Guinea]]n city of Hollandia to [[Jayapura]] ("glorious city"), Orange mountain range to [[Jayawijaya Mountains]].
*While Malaysia named their new government seat as [[Putrajaya]] ("prince of glory") in 1999.

====Art====
*[[Wayang]] shadow puppets and classical dance-dramas of [[Dance in Indonesia#The Hindu-Buddhist Era|Indonesia]], [[Dance in Cambodia|Cambodia]] and [[Dance in Thailand|Thailand]] took stories from episodes of ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Mahabharata]]''.

==Linguistic influence==
{{Further|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism}}

Scholars like Sheldon Pollock have used the term ''Sanskrit Cosmopolis'' to describe the region, and argued for millennium-long cultural exchanges without necessarily involving migration of peoples or colonisation. Pollock's 2006 book ''The Language of the Gods in the World of Men'' makes a case for studying the region as comparable with Latin Europe and argues that the Sanskrit language was its unifying element.

Sanskrit and related languages have also influenced their [[Sino-Tibetan]]-speaking neighbours to the north through the spread of [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] texts in translation.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|van Gulik|1956|p=?}}</ref> Buddhism was spread to China by [[Mahayana|Mahayanist]] missionaries sent by Emperor Ashoka mostly through translations of [[Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit]] and Classical Sanskrit texts, and many terms were transliterated directly and added to the Chinese vocabulary. (Although Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit is not Sanskrit, properly speaking, its grammar and vocabulary are substantially the same, both because of genetic relationship, and because of conscious implementation of Pāṇinian standardizations on the part of composers. Buddhist texts composed in Sanskrit proper were primarily found in philosophical schools like the [[Madhyamaka]].) The situation in Tibet is similar; many Sanskrit texts survive only in Tibetan translation (in the [[Tanjur]]).

In [[Southeast Asia]], languages such as [[Thai language|Thai]] and [[Lao language|Lao]] contain many [[loan word]]s from Sanskrit, as do [[Khmer language|Khmer]] to a lesser extent, through Sinified hybrid Sanskrit. For example, in Thai, the [[Raavana|Rāvana]]—the emperor of [[Sri Lanka]] is called 'Thosakanth' which is a derivation of his Sanskrit name 'Dashakanth' ("of ten necks"). 

Many Sanskrit loanwords are also found in [[Austronesian languages]], such as [[Javanese language|Javanese]] particularly the [[Old Javanese|old form]] from which nearly half the vocabulary is derived from the language.<ref>See [[:id:Daftar kata serapan dari bahasa Sansekerta dalam bahasa Indonesia|this page]] from the [[Indonesian Wikipedia]] for a list</ref>  
<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Zoetmulder|1982|p=ix}}</ref> Other Austronesian languages, such as [[Malay language|traditional Malay]], [[Indonesian language|modern Indonesian]], also derive [[List of loan words in Indonesian#From_Sanskrit|much of their vocabulary]] from Sanskrit, albeit to a lesser extent, with a large proportion of words being derived from [[Arabic language|Arabic]].  Similarly, [[Philippine languages]] such as [[Tagalog]] have [[List of Tagalog loanwords#Sanskrit|many Sanskrit loanwords]], although more are derived from [[Spanish language|Spanish]].

A Sanskrit loanword encountered in many Southeast Asian languages is the word ''[[bahasa|bhāṣā]]'', or spoken language, which is used to mean language in general, for example ''bahasa'' in [[Malay language|Malay]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] and [[Tausug language|Tausug]], ''basa'' in  [[Javanese language|Javanese]], [[Sundanese language|Sundanese]], and [[Balinese language|Balinese]], ''phasa'' in [[Thai language|Thai]] and [[Lao language|Lao]], ''bhasa'' in [[Burmese language|Burmese]], and ''phiesa'' in [[Khmer language|Khmer]].

==See also==
{{Portal|SAARC}}
* [[Sanskritisation]]
* [[Hinduism in Southeast Asia]]
* [[Indies]]
* [[Two-Nation Theory]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

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==Further reading==
* Language variation: Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisoff, David Bradley, Randy J. LaPolla and Boyd Michailovsky eds., pp.&nbsp;113–144. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
*{{cite book|last= Ankerl |first= Guy |title= Global communication without universal civilisation |year= 2000 |series= INU societal research |volume= Vol.1: Coexisting contemporary civilisations : Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western |publisher= INU Press |location= Geneva |isbn= 2-88155-004-5 |pages= }}

==External links==
* [http://pacling.anu.edu.au/catalogue/555.html Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisoff]
* [http://www.ogmios.org/91.htm Language diversity: Sinosphere vs. Indosphere]
* [http://www.iias.nl/host/himalaya/conferences/hls/1st_abstracts/wow.html Himalayan Languages Project]
* [http://www.questhimalaya.com/journal/turin-tibeto-burman-02.htm Rethinking Tibeto-Burman&nbsp;– Lessons from Indosphere]
* [http://www.uwm.edu/~noonan/806/Enfield.Areal-SEA.pdf Areal linguistics and Mainland Southeast Asia]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20081203003856/http://www.oeaw.ac.at/sozant/images/working_papers/soa001.pdf THEORIES OF INDIANISATION] Exemplified by Selected Case Studies from Indonesia (Insular Southeast Asia), by Dr. Helmut Lukas

[[Category:Cultural spheres of influence]]
[[Category:Country classifications]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of India]]
[[Category:Geography of India]]
[[Category:South Asian culture]]
[[Category:Southeast Asian culture]]

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