Everyone knows India begged for independence instead of fought for it
Some Armed Movements were running but not on large scale for peaceful Indians if begging would have failed then i think snatching would have worked because British Indian Army changed the course of two world wars.
Expansion Of Indian Culture
Dark orange: The Indian subcontinent. Light orange: Other countries culturally linked to India, notably Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Champa (Southern Vietnam), Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. Yellow: Regions with significant Indian cultural influence, notably Afghanistan, Tibet, China's Yunnan Province, the Philippines, Korean Peninsula, and Japan.
From about the 1st century, India started to strongly influence
Southeast Asian countries. Trade routes linked India with southern
Burma, central and southern
Siam, lower
Cambodia and
Champa (modern day Southern Vietnam) and numerous urbanized coastal settlements were established there.
For more than a thousand years, Indian Hindu/Buddhist influence was therefore the major factor that brought a certain level of cultural unity to the various countries of the region. The
Pali and
Sanskrit languages and the Indian script, together with
Theravada and
Mahayana Buddhism,
Brahmanism and
Hinduism, were transmitted from direct contact as well as through sacred texts and Indian literature, such as the
Ramayana and the
Mahabharata epics.
From the 5th to the 13th centuries, South-East Asia had very powerful Indian colonial empires and became extremely active in Buddhist architectural and artistic creation. The
Sri Vijaya Empire to the south and the
Khmer Empire to the north competed for influence.
A defining characteristic of the cultural link between South East Asia and the Indian subcontinent is the spread of ancient Indian
Vedic/
Hindu and
Buddhist culture and philosophy into
Myanmar,
Thailand,
Indonesia,
Malaya,
Laos and
Cambodia. Indian scripts are found in South East Asian islands ranging from
Sumatra,
Java,
Bali, south
Sulawesi and most of the
Philippines.
Cultural commonalities
Atashgah of Baku, a natural
fire temple in
Azerbaijan used by both Hindus and Zoroastrians
The diffusion of Indian culture is demonstrated with the following examples:
Religion, mythology and folklore
- Hinduism is practised by the majority of Bali's population.
- Garuda, a Hindu mythological figure, is present in the coats of arms of Indonesia, Thailand and Ulan Bator.
- Kaharingan, an indigenous religion followed by the Dayak people of Borneo, is categorised as a form of Hinduism in Indonesia.
- Philippine mythology includes the supreme god Bathala and the concept of Diwata and the still-current belief in Karma—all derived from Hindu-Buddhist concepts.
- Malay folklore contains a rich number of Indian-influenced mythological characters, such as Bidadari, Jentayu, Garuda and Naga.
- Wayang shadow puppets and classical dance-dramas of Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand took stories from episodes of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Architecture and monuments
A statue of Hindu deity
Murugan at the
Batu Caves in Malaysia
- The same style of Hindu temple architecture was used in several ancient temples in South East Asia including Angkor Wat, which was dedicated to Hindu god Vishnu and is shown on the flag of Cambodia, also Prambanan in Central Java, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, is dedicated to Trimurti — Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.
- Borobudur in Central Java, Indonesia, is the world's largest Buddhist monument. It took shape of a giant stone mandala crowned with stupas and believed to be the combination of Indian-origin Buddhist ideas with the previous megalithic tradition of native Austronesian step pyramid.
- The minarets of 15th- to 16th-century mosques in Indonesia, such as the Great Mosque of Demak and Kudus mosque resemble those of Majapahit Hindu temples.
- The Batu Caves in Malaysia are one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India. It is the focal point of the annual Thaipusam festival in Malaysia and attracts over 1.5 million pilgrims, making it one of the largest religious gatherings in history.
- Erawan Shrine, dedicated to Brahma, is one of the most popular religious shrines in Thailand.
Map showing cultural Expansion into South East.
From River Indus Urban settlements Indian culture was expanded a lot into Central Asia.After coming in contact with Europeans Indian culture was to some extant taken in to Europe.After british came a lot of Indian culture was merges and those lost it's true shine.Vedic religion to lot of extant has been destroyed.
@SarthakGanguly
Thread starter, you forgot the extent of our land into Southeast Asia upto Malaya and Java.
I have posted that's not land but cultural expansion.
