10 India’s Global Reach
Greater India in Asia
The westward impetus
Early contacts
The colonial period
The modern era
The emigration of South Asians
Recommended readingWe have had occasion to observe frequently in previous chapters how the
Indian subcontinent and its religion have been influenced by migrations
and cultural infusions from various parts of the world. In this final chapter
we reverse directions and explore briefly the ways in which India, its culture,
people, and ideas have influenced the religious and cultural life of the rest
of the globe. That influence is nearly as old as Indian civilization itself and
today extends into every continent.
Greater India in Asia
We start with the outflow of these influences to the north, east, and south
into the rest of Asia. That impact was primarily Buddhist, but also included
Hindu and Islamic stages, especially in Southeast Asia. By at least the time
of the Kus.a ̄n.as (first century CE) and, no doubt earlier, Buddhist monks
and traders were making their way through the Khyber Pass and the Silk
Route, establishing centers of Buddhist culture in Afghanistan and much of
Central Asia. By late in the first century of the Common Era, Buddhism had
reached Western China as monasteries and Buddhist art were to be found
in centers near Loyang, the eventual capital of the Northern Wei dynasty.
This Buddhism was primarily of the Maha ̄sa ̄n.ghika variety, though later