Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v1.c6.1

v1.c6.1

Although the study of Ancient Indian history has made a great deal of progress in recent years, there is one aspect of the subject which has not yet received the attention it deserves. This is the expansion of the Aryans beyond Indian frontiers towards the east and south-east. The history of Indo-Aryans usually begins with their settlement in the Punjab and ends with their expansion over the whole of India as far as Assam in the east and cape Comorin in the south. This is, however, an arbitrary line of distinction for which there does not seem to be any great justification. For the Aryans never regarded the hills or the sea by which India proper is bounded as the natural limits of their advance, and they boldly crossed over these to new regions on the other side. Their achievements in these regions are but vaguely known, but the more one thinks on this subject the more is one forced to realise that the Indianisation of these countries was probably as complete in the ancient period as we find in the Dravidian countries within the frontier of India. The study of Indian civilisation must therefore be regarded as imperfect so long as we do not take into proper account the achievements of Indians in these regions.