Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c8.68

c8.68

We have now broadly reviewed the state of Hindu colonies in South-east Asia. We may sum up the result by saying that Hindu colonists turned their attention to this region as early as the beginning of the Christian era, if not earlier still. Long before that, adventurous spirits had boldly plied the ocean to explore these unknown lands, undeterred by the risks of voyage in uncharted sea, the bands of pirates that infested the maritime route, and the cruel savage tribes that sometimes inhabited the regular ports or forced landing places. When we read of these in the accounts of actual voyages in later times, and find a graphic description of the ship-wrecked passengers or those hovering between life and death for days together in small wooden vessels in high tempestuous seas, we can realise how the Hindus of that by-gone Period, unlike their modern representatives and uninfluenced by the Śāstric injunctions to the contrary, braved the perils of the sea and showed a spirit of adventure and exploration that might differ degree, but not in kind, from that which lay at the root of European explorations of the modern age culminating in polar expeditions.