History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c14.3.2

v1.c14.3.2

The structure of their language is undoubtedly Mon but the name which has stuck to them through centuries was first applied to the Indian colonists settled on the coast land. The process of the absorption of the Indian colonists is described graphically by Harvey. The Indians must have settled along the coast lands before the 1st century B. C. and the original settlements from Bengal to Borneo and Tonkin were little trading principalities, such as Prome, Rangoon and Thaton. Like the European invaders of the 17th and 18th centuries the Indian colonists conquered in three different stages : the Missionary, the Trader and the Soldier. Originally they came as peaceful traders and they were welcomed by the original inhabitants as such. In the next stage they came in larger numbers and set up independent communities, for which there was ample room in this sparsely populated country. It was in the next stage that the Indians started conquering and founding new kingdoms under some energetic leader. Perhaps religion did not form a mask to colonisation and conquest as in the case of the European Christian. The question of the religion of the original colonists from India to Further India and the Indian Archipelago is still the subject of a very great controversy. Results of excavations prove that both in Further India and the Indian Archipelago the earliest Indian colonists were Hindus, *i. e.* Brahmanical in faith.