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South East Asia and Indian Ocean in
Jaina Literature
Prof. Bhagchandra Jain*
South East Asia, like central Asia and Far East, (China, Japan, and Korea) is also an important region of Indian Cultural heritage. In the east of India thee are several countries as Burma, Malyesia, Indonesia, Siam, Combodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippin, Srilanka etc. where not only the religious missionaries reached for propagation of their religions but also established colonies. The trading relation of India with these countries goes back to a few centuries B.C. It was enriched by efforts of Ashoka who started the Dharmavijayayātrā in the leadership of Ācārya Upagupta by sending Buddhist religious missionaries in 3rd B.C. These countries were not culturally well developed. Indian missionaries went there for their religious propagation and made them forward on the great path of culture.
Indian colonization in South East Asia was started during Sunga-Sātavāhana period and reached to climax in Gupta period. Further they remained under Indian rulers up to 13th C.A.D. The Jain Agama Texts do not furnish much information about the subject. It starts with the commentaries and narrative literature which leave the impression that wherever the Jain traders went, they established the cities after the names of ancient cities of their motherland, like Bańka, Takşaśilā, Sarayu, Campā, Ayodhyā, Kauthār, Pānduranga, Āmrāwati etc. Phunan (Combodia and Siam) was established by Kaudinya Brāhmaṇa. Sumātrā, Jāvā and other islands of Indonesia and Malaya and Burma were rules over by Indian kings. In almost
Former Director, Parshwanath Vidyapeeth,Tukaramchal, Sadar, Nagpur-440001.
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