Explained: The historical and cultural connections between India and Thailand

The making of ‘Greater India’ in Southeast Asia

India and the Southeast Asia region share a long history of cultural and commercial relations. The classical Sanskrit and Pali texts from India carry references of the region using various names such as Kathakosha, Suvarnabhumi (the land of god) or Suvarnadvipa (the golden island), indicating that this was a region that attracted Indian merchants. Trade in spices, aromatic wood and most importantly gold is known to have flourished.

In more recent times, European and Indian scholars have referred to Southeast Asia as ‘Farther India’, ‘Greater India’, or ‘Hinduised or Indianised states’.

The first person to do an in depth study of the process of ‘Indianisation’ in Southeast Asian countries was a French scholar named George Coedes. He coined the term ‘Farther India’ to refer to those states that experienced “the civilising activity of India’. Geographically, it refers to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and the Malay states.

The Sanskrit, Buddhist, and Jain texts indicate that interactions between the two regions go back more than two thousand years ago, mainly through sea voyages and that trade played an important role. Historian Karmveer Singh, in a research paper titled, ‘Cultural dimensions of India-Thailand relations: A historical perspective’ (2022), notes that the traders brought along with them “Indian religion, culture, traditions and philosophy along with them to the shores of Southeast Asia”. “They were also accompanied by Brahmin priests, Buddhist monks, scholars and adventurers and all of them played an important role in the transmission of Indian culture to the natives of Southeast Asia. Some of the merchants and Brahmin priests married the local girls and were often employed by the local rulers,” writes Singh.

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