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Ancient India and South-east Asia as known from Jaina Sources
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also refers to Kalaka's travel to the same. The Uttarādhyayana Cūrni also contains and corroborates this. Thus we have a continuous string of references to Kālaka's association with the South-East.
The Jaina sources seem to indicate a fairly early connection between India and Suvarnabhūmi as indicated by the Arthaśāstra. The Jaina works further indicate that such a measure of contact was continued in our era.
The Jaina sources inform us that Jainism was not confined to India but was carried to South-East by savants and missionaries. The story of Kalaka indicates that even before him this process was initiated. We know that Kālaka had gone to Suvarnabhumi to meet śramana Sāgara who was already living there. Is it possible then to suggest that Jaina savants had gone to Suvarnabhūmi even earlier than the time of Kālaka or śramana Sāgara for propagation of Jainism. ?
Dr. R. C. Majumdar citing an Annamite text of 14th century refers to the presence of ca-la-cha-la, i.e., Kālakācārya in Campā. The text probably records the traditional association of Kālakācārya with South-East, an echo of which had survived to its time. The commentators of Varāhamihira-saṁhitā states that the latter has noted the rules of Pravrajya according to Vankālakācārya. If Vankālakācārya and Kalakācārya are the same person, we get an indication of Kālakācārya's association with another South-East Asian area, i, e., the island of Banka, lying between Sumatra and Java.
Kālaka and śramana Sāgara obviously seem to have gone to the SouthEast for a religious mission. The Jaina tradition is suggestive then of the form and mechanism of Indianisation of South-East. The nature of first Indianisation of SouthEast Asia and the manner in which it was taking place is a matter open for opinion. The Jaina. sources seem to have a bearing on the concept of Indianisation and its operation across the Bay of Bengal. It is known that Kālaka flourished in the first century B. C. It seems most probable then that Indianization of South-East started in earnest in the period from the first century B. C. and carried on in to the Christian era. The initiation of the Indianisation process of the South-East may be seen in the light of an expansion of Indian religions outside India. We are reminded of the religious missionaries dispatched by emperor Asoka to the land of gold ( Suvarnabhūmi ).
The texts dealing with Kālaka narrative take into account the maritime trade across the Bay of Bengal. They suggest as such that we should consider the problem of Indianisation of South-East in a context, that included trade and cultural
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