The Influence of Indian Art Abroad

These records of ancient empires and dynasties have an interest for the antiquarian, but they have a large interest in the history of civilization and art. From the point of view of India they are particularly important, for it was India that functioned there and exhibited her vitality and genius in a variety of ways. We see her bubbling over with energy and spreading out far and wide, carry-ing not only her thought but her other ideals, her art, her trade, her language and literature, and her methods of government. She was not stagnant, or standing aloof, or isolated and cut off by mountain and sea. Her people crossed those high mountain barriers and perilous seas and built up, as M. R6n6 Grousset says, 'a Greater India politically as little organized as Greater Greece, but morally equally harmonious.' As a matter of fact even the political organization of these Malayasian states was of a high order, though it was not part of the Indian political structure. But M. Grousset refers to the wider areas where Indian culture spread: 'In the high plateau of eastern Iran, in the oases of Serindia, in the arid wastes of Tibet, Mongolia, and Manchuria, in the ancient civilized lands of China and Japan, in the lands of the primitive Mons and Khmers and other tribes in Indo-China, in the countries of the Malayo-Polynesians, in Indonesia and Malay, India left the indelible impress of her- high culture, not only upon religion, but also upon art and literature, in a word, all the higher things of spirit.'* Indian civilization took root especially in the countries of south-east Asia and the evidence for this can be found all over the place to-day. There were great centres of Sanskrit learning in Champa, Angkor, Srivijaya, Majapahit, and other places. The names of the rulers of the various states and empires that arose are purely Indian and Sanskrit. This does not mean that they were pure Indian, but it does mean that they were Indianized. State ceremonies were Indian and conducted in Sanskrit. All the officers of the state bear old Sanskrit titles and some of these titles and designations have been continued up till now, not only in Thailand but in the Moslem states of Malaya. The old litera-tures of these places in Indonesia are full of Indian myth and legend. The famous dances of Java and Bali derive from India. The little island of Bali has indeed largely maintained its old »'Civilizations of the East' by Rini Grousset, Volume II, p. 276.
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Indian culture down to modern times and even Hinduism has
persisted there. The art of writing went to the Philippines from
India.
In Cambodia the alphabet is derived from South India and
numerous Sanskrit words have been taken over with minor variations.
The civil and criminal law is based on the Laws of Manu,
the ancient law-giver of India, and this has been codified, with
variations due to Buddhist influence, in modern Cambodian
legislation.*
But above all else it is in the magnificent art and architecture
of these old Indian colonies that the Indian influence is most
marked. The original impulse was modified, adapted, and fused
with the genius of the place and out of this fusion arose the
monuments and wondeiful temples of Angkor and Borobudur.
At Borobudur in Java the whole life story of Buddha is carved
in stone. At other places bas-reliefs reproduce the legends of
Vishnu and Rama and Krishna. Of Angkor, Mr. Osbert Sitwell
has written: 'Let it be said immediately that Angkor, as it stands,
ranks as chief wonder of the world to-day, one of the summits to
which human genius has aspired in stone, infinitely more impressive,
lovely and, as well, romantic, than anything that can be seen in
China... .The material remains of a civilization that flashed its
wings, of the utmost brilliance, for six centuries, and then perished
so utterly that even his name has died from the lips of man.'
Round the great temple of Angkor Vat is a vast area of mighty
ruins with artificial lakes and pools, and canals and bridges over
them, and a great gate dominated by 'a vast sculptured head, a
lovely, smiling but enigmatic Cambodian face, though one raised
to the power and beauty of a god.' The face with its strangely
fascinating and disturbing smile—the 'Angkor smile'—is repeated
again and again. This gate leads to the temple: 'the neighbouring
Bayon can be said to be the most imaginative and singular in the
world, more lovely than Angkor Vat, because more unearthly in
its conception, a temple from a city in some other distant p l a n e t . . . .
imbued with the same elusive beauty that often lives between the
lines of a great poem.'f
The inspiration for Angkor came from India but it was the
Khmer genius that developed it, or the two fused together and
produced this wonder. The Cambodian king who is said to have
built this great temple is named Jayavarman VII, a typical
Indian name.
Dr. Quaritch Wales says that 'when the guiding hand of India
was removed, her inspiration was not forgotten, but the Khmer
*A. Leclire, 'Recherches sur les origines brahmaniques des lois Cambodgiennes' quoted in
B. R. Chatterji's 'Indian Cultural Influence in Cambodia' (Calcutta, 1928).
t These extracts have been taken from Osbert Sitwell's'Escape with Me—An Oriental
Sketch Book' {1941).
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genius was released to mould from it vast new conceptions of amazing vitality different from, and hence not properly to be compared with anything matured in a purely Indian environ-ment .... It is true that Khmer culture is essentially based on the inspiration of India, without which the Khmers at besi might have produced nothing greater than the barbaric splendour of the Central American Mayas; but it must be admitted that here, more than anywhere else in Greater India, this inspiration fell on fertile soil'* This leads one to think that in India itself that original inspira-tion gradually faded because the mind and the soil became over-worked and undernourished for lack of fresh currents and ideas. So long as India kept her mind open and gave of her riches to others, and received from them what she lacked, she remained fresh and strong and vital. But the more she withdrew into her shell, intent on preserving herself, uncontaminated by external influececs, the more she lost that inspiration and her life became increasingly a dull round of meaningless activities all centred in the dead past. Losing the art of creating beauty, her children lost even the capacity to recognize it. It is to European scholars and archaeologists that the excava-tions and discoveries in Java, Angkor and elsewhere in Greater India are due, more especially to French and Dutch scholars. Great cities and monuments probably still lie buried there awaiting discovery. Meanwhile it is said that important sites in Malaya containing ancient ruins have been destroyed by mining opera-tions or for obtaining material for building roads. The war will no doubt add to this destruction. Some years ago I had a letter from a Taai (Siamese) student who had come to Tagore's Santiniketan and was returning to Thailand. He wrote: 'I always consider myself exceptionally fortunate in being able to come to this great and ancient land of Aryavarta and to pay my humble homage at the feet of grandmother India in whose affectionate arms my mother country was so lovingly brought up and taught to appreciate and love what was sublime and beautiful in culture and religion.' This may not be typical, but it does convey some idea of the general feeling towards India which, though vague and overladen with much else, still continues in many of the countries of South-East Asia. Everywhere an intense and narrow nationalism has grown, looking to itself and distrustful of others; there is fear and hatred of European domination and yet a desire to emulate Europe and America; there is often some contempt for India because of her dependent condition; and yet behind all this there is a feeling of respect and friendship for India, for old memories endure and people have not forgotten that there was a time when India was *From 'Towards Angkor' by Dr. H. G. Quaritch Wales (Harrap, 1933).
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a mother country to these and nourished them with rich fare from her own treasure-house. Just as Hellenism spread from Greece to the countries of the Mediterranean and in Western Asia, India's cultural influence spread to many countries and left its power-ful impress upon them. 'From Persia to the Chinese Sea,' writes Sylvain L6vi, 'from the icy regions of Siberia to the islands of Java and Borneo, from Oceania to Socotra, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales and her civilization. She has left indelible imprints on one-fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim in universal history the rank that ignorance has refused her for a long time and to hold her place amongst the great nations summarising and symbolising the spirit of Humanity.'*