6.Chapter 19.India and the Outside World.Hiatory.

Chapter  19

 India and the Outside World Indians have always been adventurous and social.  Since the time of the Harappans, Indians had been in contact with the contemporary civilisations.  In this chapter, we shall study India's contact with different countries and their influence on our country.  INDIA's CONTACT WITH THE WEST Our contact with Egypt and Mesopotamian civilisations go back to the time of the Harappans, nearly 5000 years old.  There are archaeological evidences to prove our cultural and trade relations with them.  Later on, around the sixth century BCE, India was having trade and cultural relations with the western countries through Greece, Persia and Rome.  CENTRAL ASIA than LINGHE and CA CHINA A. Y TUM BIMALAYA MA he PILLS INDIA South China S80 Arabian Sea Bay of Bengal aer NIDAN AR Onko CAMO PO AT SOUTH - FAST - ASIA TIRANA CEYLON INDIAN OCEAN ht India's contact with the world 156

PS We were exporting cotton textiles, silk, spices, brassware, handicrafts, jewellery, etc.  , to the west.  This brought big amounts of gold from the west into our country.  It was deplored by the Roman historian Pliny and he wanted to stop the drain of Roman wealth to India.  Buddhism also helped in creating cultural and trade relations with the west.  For example, Missionaries were sent to many western countries by Ashoka to propagate Buddhism.  (In the early eighth century, the Arabs had dominated the sea and land routes. Since then, India's trade and contact with the west were through the Arabs. They became a link between us and the west) They took Do You Know?  The knowledge of science, mathematics and medicines bo the knowledge of Indian numerals from India and put their own labels and gave the same to and decimal system was carried to the west) Many of our classics were translated in Arabic Europe as Arabic numerals.  and Persian languages, INDIA'S CONTACTS WITH CENTRAL ASIA Our relations with Central Asia are very old.  Our culture, across the mountains, reached there due to the policy of dharma vijaya yatra of Ashoka.  Our relations with Khotan (China) are very old.  lived.  It was a very big center of Buddhist studies.  There was a Gautami Vihar where 3000 Buddhist monks Kuchi (Afghanistan) was another center of Indian culture and up to fourth century, all the people of this country became the followers of Buddhism.  The names of their kings were also Indian, e.g.  Swarna Dev, Pushpa Dev, etc.  They adopted Sanskrit and Prakrit languages.  An Indian prince Kumarjiv preached Buddhism in Kuchi and later became the guru of the Kuchi king.  Qarashahr (China) (Agnidesh) and Kashghar (China) were other very important and big centers of Indian culture.  Many manuscripts of Sanskrit and Prakrit have been found there which provide an evidence of our relations and impact of our culture on them.  Images of Lord Ganesh, Kuber and Trimukh have been found in Niya (China) and Andeyar.  Afghanistan was another great center of Buddhism.  The largest statue of Lord Buddha was at Bamiyan.  Recently, it was Great Buddha of Bamiyan (55m) destroyed by some Islamic fundamentalists.  157

INDIA'S CONTACT WITH SRI LANKA, SOUTH - EAST ASIA AND CHINA Our contact with Sri Lanka is very old.  Indians started settling there from sixth century BCE onwards.  The ruler of Bengal conquered Sri Lanka and established the rule of Singhal dynasty, Ashoka sent his son Mahendra and daughter Sanghmitra to preach Buddhism in Sri Lanka.  The ruler of Sri Lanka, Tissa, also sent a delegation to meet Ashoka Mahovamsa and Deepavamsa are the main sources of history of our relations with Sri Lanka, Buddhism became very popular there.  A Buddhist monk of Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosh, wrote the commentries on Jatakas.  These have been written into several languages ​​of the world as classics.  Our contact with China started from 65 BCE.  Many Chinese scholars and travelers came to India, Many Buddhist monks visited China to propogate Buddhism.  Chinese travelers Fa - hien, I - tsing and Hiuen - tsang visited India and studied Buddhist literature and doctrines.  They took away many Buddhist works to China.  We had political and trade relations with China, Chinese were the first to invent paper, printing and sculpture.  India learnt these arts from them.  Indians also learnt the art of silk making from them.  We were experts in cotton growing, which the Chinese learnt from us.  ) Our contacts with South - East Asian countries are also very old.  Buddhism had already reached these countries.  Many Indian traders had also visited and settled there.  Brahmadesh (Myanmar or Burma), Suvarnadvipa (Java, Sumatra and Bali), Champa (Vietnam), Kamboja (Cambodia), Borneo (Indonesia) were the places where the Hindus had made their colonies.  Sanskrit was their main language.  This is proved by the inscriptions found there.  In a cave in Borneo, 12 red stone images of Shiva, Ganesh, Nandi, Skand and Mahakal have been found.  This is a clear proof of the existence of Indian culture and religion.  In Bali, the impact of Hindu culture and religion can still be seen.  Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh, Rama and Krishna are worshipped even today.  In Java, a magnificient Stupa at Barobudur (eight miles from Jakarta) has been built on a hill top.  There is a big statue of Buddha and nearly 1500 Buddhist paintings on its corridors.  There are also many Shiva temples.  Ramleelo through puppets and other Hindu traditions and rituals are still followed here.  These are the examples of great exchange of culture, art and architecture between two countries.  Barobudur stupas 158

SO oste The reference of Champa is found in Vayu Puran.  It was established in 192 CE.  A grand Shiva mandir had been built there.  Saka era, which is now our national era, is also followed there, Kamboj (Combodia) was also an Indian colony.  Saka Samvat, and Sanskrit language were used there.  Indian gods were worshipped there.  In ninth century, the ruler Yashoverma founded the new city of Yashodhpur.  A large shiv mandir was constructed there.  It was a great center of vedic learning.  Angkorvat's Vishnu temple in Cambodia is one of the largest temples of the world.  There are beautiful engravings of many gods and goddesses on its walls.  The stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata are depicted on its walls.  Around the temple, there is a 225 meters wide ditch.  There is also a 300 meters wide bridge which helps to reach the temple.  It is one of the best temples of the world.  Buddhism and its teachings were the main factors for creating our contact with different parts of Asia and the west Angkorvat temple keywords architecture the art of designing buildings engraving something written on rocks, pillars or any other hard surface.  fundamentalist someone who does not accept others views regarding religion.