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92 India: Early History
BuddhismBuddhism flourished side by side in South East Asia not as
an antagonistic religion but as a supplementary one. Buddha
and Siva are associated together, and the former even finds a
place in the Brahmanical Trinity consisting of Pad mod bha va
(Brahma), Ambhojanetra (Visnu) and the Buddha. The assimilation
of Buddha in the Brahmanical Trinity is an important feature.
Buddhism acquired great favour both in Campa and Java. D-ong
Duong in Campa appears to have been a stronghold o f Buddhists
as evidenced by several images o f Buddha, and remnan ts o f a
Buddhist temple were found there. In Java the famous stupa at
Barabudur is a l iving monument, symbolizing the flourishing
state of Buddh ism in that island. In all these place s the reli gion
of the Tathagata was not an antagonistic force set up against
Brahmanism, but was something friendly or even identical. A
Siva-Buddha cult existed in Java, and Siva, Visnu, and the
Buddha were all regarded as identical. The international character
of Buddh ism is apparent from contacts between SuvarnadvTpa
and India on the one hand, and other Buddhist countries on the
other. We hav e re fe re nce to AtT^a DTparikara of VikramasTla and
Dharmapala of KancT as visitors to SuvarnadvTpa.
Temples
Art , as the handm aid o f rel igion, c onst i tute s the greatest
l iv ing memor ia l of Indian cul ture and c iv i l iza t ion in South
Eas t Asia. Whether it be the temples of Myson or Po- Nag ar in
Campa, or those o f Angko r Vat and Bayon in Cambod ia, or the
Bur abu dur and the Candls of Java, they were al l inspired by,
one ideal— the s i t t ing up o f a f i t t ing monu ment sym boli zing
the people’s rel igious devot ion. The ear l ier phase in temple
cons t ruc t ion is comple te ly Indian, e i ther of the Nor th Indian
s'ikhara type or of the South Indian Dravida s tyle, but nat ive
genius with a desire for lof ty and sky-scraping s t ructures
t r iumphs over the ear l ie r impulse . A colossa l charac ter to the
whole s t ruc tu re i s al so g iven by the grou ping o f nume rous
temples in one enclosure . The sculptures and nar ra t ive
reliefs bea r a stamp of their own, wheth er they are the Ramayana
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96 India: Early History
encouraged the translation into Persian of Indian treatise on medicine
and astronomy. The Hindu system of numerals was borrowed from
India by the Arabs and they spread it all over the world.
Durin g the long course o f history, Ind ia’s attitude towards
political and cultural expansion has never been imperialistic.
Armies were never sent to conquer any region. The conquest
was mainly intellectual, and incidentally the superior culture
triumphed over the native one. Individual men or groups set up
kingdo ms which in course of time shaped into empires. The
contact with the motherland was maintained but India never
exploi ted the colonies for her own benefit. The kingdoms were,
however, r epositories o f Indian culture— replicas of the ones in
India. In South East Asia, these kingdoms and I ndian culture
flourished for nearly fifteen hundred years; in the land beyond
the Himalayas their existence was of shorter duration. The
spade o f the archaeologist has uncovered this phase o f Indian
history. The degree and extent o f colonial ente rpris e was never
uniform, and sooner or later the Indians in their new homes
found themselves merged in the local populat ion. The
archaeological remains and famous existing monuments bear
eloquent testimony to the ancient panorama of ‘Greater India.’
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INDEX
Abbasids, 67
Abhidhamma,Pitaka, 80
Abhira Graharipu, 62
Abhiraja, 80
Abhiras, 36, 39, 44, 63
Aborigines, 4
Achaemenian empire, 95
Adam, Nedunjerai, 37
Adhirajendra, 74,76
Aditya, 81
Adityacola, 73
Adityacola 1, 73
Adityasena, 51
Afghanistan and India, 94-5
Agni,9
Agni-kula, 57
Agnistomas, 48
Aiksvakus, 16, 17, 18Airlangga, king, 85
Aitareya Brahmana. 16, 17,36
Ajatas'atru, 19
Ajayadeva, 60
Ajayapala, 63
Ajayaraja, 64
‘Alau’d-Daulah Mas’ud III, 58
‘Alau’d-din Husain, 68
‘Alau’d-din Khalji, 65Alexander, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29, 34;
invasion of, 20-21
AlptigTn,65
Alupas, 50
Ambhojanetra, 92
Amma II, 69 .
Amoghavarsa I, 69 ,
AmSuvarman, 44
Anahilapataka, 61, 63, 64Anahilla, Cahamana, 61
Ananda family, 48
Anandapala, SahT, 61
Aniruddha, 80
Amamites, 83
Antigonus Gonatas, 26
Antiochus I, 24
Antiochus II Theos, 26
Antiochus III, 28
Anus, 16
Aparajita, Pallava, 73, 76
Apollodotus, 29
Arabs, 52, 57, 66, 96; of Sind, 67-68
Arhats,95
Arjuna, 17Arjunayanas,39
Arnoraja, Cahamana, 63
Arya,3
Arya varna 3
Aryans, 1, 10, 11, 16; dress, 5;
family, 4; food, 5; houses, 4;
marriage, 5-6; origin, 1-2, lfn;
Rg-vedic, 3-5; settlement of, in
India, 1-2; women, 5
Aryas, 4
Art, 90-91
Atfaraja, Cahamana, 63
Asceticism, 95
Aioka, 24-27, 35-38, 79, 93; death,
27; missionary work, 26-27
As'ramas, four , 11
AstadhyayJ, 89
A^vaghosa, 32 .
Asvamedha sacrifice, 16,39,40,45,47,48,49
A^vavarman, 84
Atharva Veda, 10, 16
AtT£a Diparikara, 92
Avanijanatfraya, Pulaketfin, 67
Avantivarman, 66
Azes,30
Bactrian Creeks, 28
Badapa, Eastern Calukya, 69
Balaputradeva, 85
Balban,56
Ballala II, 72
Ballalasena, 55-56
Banabhatta, 42, 43
Bappa, 65