Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c7.32

c7.32

The merchants in India, as in other countries, must have been the pioneers in the exploration of South-east Asia. The knowledge and experience gained by them must have induced not only other traders, but also peoples of different categories to follow in their wake. Kṣatriya chiefs, dispossessed of their territories, are represented in Jātakas to have betaken themselves to Suvarṇa-bhūmi to try their fortune. On the other hand the traditions current in various countries of South-east Asia represent individual Kṣatriya chiefs of India—princes banished by their fathers, or fleeing from enemies, or directed by supernatural agencies—as conquering heroes who founded royal dynasties. We have also stories of religious missionaries, visiting these lands for religious propaganda. These individual stories cannot, of course, be taken to be true, but they are not altogether devoid of historical value. They support the theory, mentioned above, that individuals or small groups—merchants, Kṣatriya chiefs and religious missionaries—were the pioneers of the Hindu Colonization in South-east Asia.