New Book

Understanding Connected Histories of India and Southeast Asia 

 

Raziuddin Aquil 

 

 

One of our most eloquent art historian colleagues, Professor Parul Pandya Dhar of Delhi University’s History Department has brought together another excellent collection of essays, Connected Histories of India and Southeast Asia: Icons, Narratives, Monuments (New Delhi: SAGE, 2023). This majestically produced volume offers a rigorous analysis of the fascinating history of cultural connections of outstanding significance, especially the wide-ranging artistic expressions going back many centuries, between India and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

 

India’s enduring connections with ASEAN member countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam - have a deep history. The connections are to be seen not only in high-volume and long-distance trade and commerce, but also in cultural and religious exchanges, borrowings and localisations through lasting historical ties. These have been understandably facilitated by dynamic political and diplomatic channels working with thoughtfully envisaged road maps and considerable groundwork in cultivating relations with countries of East and Southeast Asia as a whole and individually.

 

The meticulously organised book project involved participation of scholars from ASEAN and India to share their current research encompassing historic cultural connections and relations with all member countries. This is seemingly a part of an intelligent strategy and plan to foreground India’s position in the multilateral dialogue with Southeast Asian scholarly perspectives, covering connected histories of art, architecture, and cultural heritage. The volume includes connected histories of not only the reception of Hindu and Buddhist traditions, but also some interesting facets of Islamic practices. The history of assimilation of many crucial aspects of South Asian Islam in Southeast Asia is an important field which is increasingly being recognised for a more holistic understanding of the processes of cultural exchange during successive historical eras down to the present. It would appear that India’s historical experience with Islam and its Southeast Asia connection requires further research and elaboration.

 

This richly illustrated volume is intelligently structured in three parts. The first part presents overviews on cultural and artistic interactions, and trade routes which facilitated a fruitful circulation and exchange of ideas, objects, and knowledge systems. The contributors include two formidable scholars, Parul Pandya Dhar and Suchandra Ghosh. The second segment analyses architectural forms, built heritage and mobility across the Indian Ocean. The contributors comprise Tran Ky Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tu Anh (Vietnam), Swati Chemburkar (India), Chedha Tingsanchali (Thailand), and Agustijanto Indradjaja (Indonesia). The final section highlights narratives and iconographies produced as results of cross-cultural artistic exchange. These chapters have been written by M.L. Pattaratorn Chirapravrati (Thailand / Singapore), Cheryl Chelliah Thiruchelvam and Sarena Abdullah (Malaysia), Vatsana Douangmalasy (Laos), Joefe B. Santarita (Philippines), and Nalina Gopal (Singapore), besides the editor, Parul Pandya Dhar. Finely crafted maps, magnificent images, dense explanatory notes and impressive references together enhance the value of this publication, with the editor’s Introduction highlighting the fine interstices of key connections. 

 

The volume as a whole is an important addition to the ongoing research on connected history – an interrelated and shared history - of India and ASEAN member countries. This is particularly timely as the members have been celebrating the completion of 30 years of ASEAN-India collaborations. India’s significant presence through its scintillating soft power - cultural achievements of spectacular scale for close to two millennia - needs to be stressed in this context. The publication of this book, in collaboration with AIC-RIS and MEA, Government of India, is indeed an occasion to celebrate.