(see JAINISM), written around the second century
C.E. and considered one of the five great ancient
Tamil epics.
Tamil tradition says that the author was
the younger brother of the well-known Cheral
(Kerala) king Senguttavan. By his name he would
seem to have been a Jain monk. There is no reli-
able historical account of the author’s life.
In the poem, he indicates that he had
renounced the world upon hearing that he and
not his elder brother would succeed the great king
Imayavarampan Netuncharalathan (169–78 C.E.)
He left the palace and joined a Jain monastery on
the outskirts of Vanci.
Further reading: Parthasarathy, trans., The Cilappati-
karam of Ilanko Atikal: An Epic of South India (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1993).
Indian calendar See TIME IN HINDU TRADITION.
Indo-American Yoga-Vedanta Society
(est. 1971)
The Indo-American Yoga-Vedanta Society was
founded in 1971 when His Holiness Sri Swami Sat-
chidananda Buaji (b. 1890) settled in the United
States. The swami had been visiting and teaching
in North America and Europe since 1948.
Satchidananda was born with a crippling
birth defect, for which there was no medical
treatment at the time. His parents were told he
would not survive to adulthood. However, they
allowed their son to be raised by a teacher and
yogi, Swami Maharaj. Maharaj treated him with
herbal remedies while teaching him HATHA YOGA
in incremental stages to straighten out his dis-
figurement. Buaji began to heal. By the time he
was a young man he had been successfully cured
of his disability and was also a master of YOGA.
He dedicated his life for a number of years to the
Divine Life Society founded by Swami SHIVANA-
NDA SARASWATI.
When he began to travel he allowed himself
to be the subject of scientific studies researching
how the body functions. He revealed considerable
prowess in masterful demonstrations of yoga for
the public. As an elderly man he settled in the
United States and founded the Indo-American
Yoga-Vedanta Society, headquartered in New York.
Well over 100 years old, Swami Bua continued
actively teaching as of 2005.Further reading: Bhakta Wallace, “The Mysterious
Story of Swami Bua (Buaji),” VNN Vaishnava News,
January 25, 2002. Available online. URL: http://www.
vnn.org/editorials/ET0201/ET25-7120.html. Accessed
August 30, 2005.Indonesia
For approximately 1,500 years the chain of islands
today known as Indonesia were a part of what
was known in the subcontinent as Farther India.
Indian merchants began trading Indonesian spices
with the West during the days of the Roman
Empire. Indian-style royal courts were established
on several of the Indonesian islands, with major
courts in Java and Sumatra. Hinduism developed
(and declined) differently on the islands of Bor-
neo, BALI, Java, and Sumatra.
As early as the fourth century C.E., both Bor-
neo and Sarawak were centers of both Buddhist
and Hindu worship, as evidenced by statues from
this period created in the Tamil style. Unlike Java
and Sumatra, Borneo never developed a signifi-
cant dynasty, and most of the surviving cultures
there have until recently retained their indigenous
forms. Hinduism can be found only among the
few Indians who live there.
During the 14th century the Majapahit dynasty
of Java occupied land outside its borders and
extended the scope of Hindu influence to a south-
ern portion of Borneo. On other islands, indig-
enous populations remained virtually untouched.
Papua-New Guinea/Irianjaya and the Philippines
were untouched by the Indianization of Indone-K 194 Indian calendar