Question
Paper Prompt I
Format: (4 pages – Times New Roman, 12 point font, double-spaced, excluding images)
Using your course readings and video lectures, please answer the following question.
- How would you define Indianization? What is controversial about the idea of Indianization? What are the theories for the spread of Indian culture to Southeast Asia and evaluate them in terms of which is the strongest. Can you give examples that show localization in Southeast Asian art?
Solution
Indianization
In the Early Historic period, particularly before the fourth century contacts between Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent were mostly economic relations. This is according to the archeological evidence of a limited array of goods that came from the Indian continent. However, from the fourth century, Indianization occurred in the eastern Indian Ocean regions, where specifically Southeast Asia experienced a number of cultural and political changes influenced by the Indian subcontinent (Brown 40). For instance, some of the Southeast Asian political entities, architecture, art, iconography, and various political terms were adopted from Indian models. The interaction between the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia has attracted many scholars who have viewed the relationship as influence or dominance. This paper will discuss the controversy about the idea of Indianization and the theories explaining how the political and cultural changes occurred.
At first, regarding the controversy surrounding Indianization, the realization that there were varying groups at different levels of territorial and political integration in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent throughout the period contributed to the demise of the concept of monolithic Indian influence (Lavy 158). Additionally, there was no single Indian group or culture that dominated the subcontinent during this period. For instance, there were various religions maintained in this region, such as Vedic Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, and each of them was experiencing significant schisms, especially in the late first millennium…………for help with this assignment contact us via Email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com