‘Regionalism’ has emerged as the most important aspect of contemporary international relations. Instead of being a grand global narrative, politics is increasingly becoming regionalized, resulting in significant changes in the power dynamics at both regional and global level. There are efforts to build up regional networks and infrastructure to expedite the processes of resource generation, mobilization and economic modernization. States are trying to establish greater connectivity with each other, within a regional framework, to maximize their economic interests and ensure better security. In this context, India’s effort to reach out to Southeast Asian countries assumes significance. As it aspires to become a major power playing a proactive role in world politics, regional cooperation with ‘extended neighbors’ has emerged as the focus area of its foreign policy engagements. It now looks forward to enter into a new phase of strategic engagement in the region and build up strong networks with all the important stakeholders, especially the ASEAN countries. However, of late, India has come to realize that the efforts to establish greater connectivity would not succeed unless the borderline provinces and their people do not become part of such initiatives. China, in this regard, posits a good example as it has taken steps to make its provinces fully autonomous for initiating economic engagement with different countries based on their requirements and interests, generating enormous opportunities and resources [1]. 

In recent times, culture has emerged as the most critical component of India’s ‘new’ regional diplomacy as it strives to revive ancient civilizational linkages with countries like Myanmar and Indonesia. Of late, there have been a number of cultural and people-to-people exchanges between Myanmar-Indonesia and several of India’s North-eastern states boosting understanding and friendship. India, putting the political differences in the backburner, looks forward to establish strong, robust and mutually rewarding partnership with Myanmar-Indonesia based on civilizational ethos, values and historical traditions. The research would endeavor to comprehensively analyses the dynamics of India’s regional diplomacy and its evolving engagement with Myanmar and Indonesia. It would also attempt to argue for moving beyond state-centric and state-driven approach towards adopting a people-centric and people-driven connectivity approach that would involve Northeast provinces and their people as active stakeholders in India’s diplomatic initiatives with Myanmar-Indonesia. In this context, it is imperative to explore how can India revitalize its relations with countries of Southeast Asia- specifically Myanmar and Indonesia- using culture as a tool of diplomacy and find ways to establish ‘civilizational partnership’ with Southeast Asia. The focus of the study would be on two different countries- Myanmar and Indonesia- having two different political systems, different socio-cultural-religious belief systems [2,3]. 

India has had economic and cultural relations with Southeast Asia that can be traced almost thousand years back to 4th Century BCE. As stories, legends, Buddhist and Jain texts and travel accounts of some Chinese and Arab writers allude, sailor-merchants from India used to go on maritime voyages to countries like Burma, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Bali, Ceylon and China for trade and commerce. Apart from the merchants, Indian scholars and artisans also visited these parts establishing linkages with people of South East Asia. The relations, started primarily in the economic realm, subsequently got expanded, linking people across regions through common ties of history, language, culture, traditions and customs. Among the Southeast Asian countries, India enjoyed the best of relations with Myanmar and Indonesia that were based upon mutual appreciation of each other’s cultural ethos and civilizational exchanges [4].

India-Myanmar: Reviving Civilizational Linkages

Buddhism exerted deep impact on socio-religious-cultural life of Burma. In later centuries, Vajrayana Buddhism, a form of tantric Buddhism based on a complex philosophical and ritual system, was introduced to the people in northern Burma. They practised it together with Hinduism and local folk beliefs. In the middle of the eleventh century, Buddhism received royal patronage as the powerful king Anawratha, who had brought northern and southern Burma under his rule, made it the national religion and got Buddhist texts and relics brought from Sri Lanka. It was not royal patronage only, but rather the love and adoration of the common people that helped Buddhism grow and thrive in Burma. In every village, schools were set up in the monasteries where monks taught basic Buddhist teachings as well as reading and writing to the children. The Buddhist temples of Pagan in central Myanmar had Sanskrit, Pali and Tamil prayers inscribed on their walls. The devout Buddhists of Myanmar consider Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar as the most sacred place and wish to visit it at least once in lifetime. Every year, a large number of people from Myanmar come to Bodh Gaya for pilgrimage [5].

It was not only Buddhism that captured the imagination of Burmese people, Hinduism also found favor with them and was embraced by many. As trade expanded between India and Burma, Hindu religious values and principles also made their way into the lives of the people of Burma, gaining their acceptance. In Myanmar the ancient city of Srikhetra, Halin and Mrauk-U; Salban Vihara of ancient Northern Bengal, Pilak of South Tripura, Suryapahar of Goalpara district etc. where both Hindu and Buddhists artefacts of different kinds have been found during the excavations. There are also several living temple or shrines which are worshiped by both Hindu and Buddhists such as the temple of Tripura Sundari (also called Matabari) in Udaipur, South Tripura; Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Hayagriva Madhava Temple of Hajo, even if the Hindu sacred temple of Puri- Jagannath is also worshiped by the Buddhists.

In ancient times, seas acted as highways that transported not only people, but culture and customs also. In this context, the vernacular aspect of politics and relations that existed much before imperial rule and circulated via these links must be recognised. These linkages and connections have been well captured by a number of novels, stories, belles-lettres and memoirs written by Indians, especially Bengalis, who had travelled and lived in Burma [6]. 

While diplomacy and business have their own logic, it’s people-to-people relations that impart a special character to the enduring friendship between India and Myanmar. Myanmar is home to 2.5 million-strong Indian diaspora, settled mostly in Yangon and Mandalay and they can play a pivotal role in enhancing the level of partnership between India and Myanmar [7].

India-Indonesia: Strengthening Cultural Ties

India had had close cultural ties with Indonesia since ancient period that could be traced to sixth to fourteenth century. As mentioned in the travel accounts of Hieun Tsang and some Arab writers, Odia sailor-merchants, called Sadhavas, used to go on maritime voyages to countries like Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Bali, for trade and commerce. The Sadhavas not only connected the regions economically, they also acted as couriers of culture and ambassadors of peace. Apart from the Sadhavas, scholars and artisans from Kalinga also visited these parts establishing linkages with people of Southeast Asia. They helped in building great temples and monuments. Many of the motifs on the walls of Borobudur and Angkor Wats resemble carvings of Konarak and other medieval temples of eastern India. Traders were also accompanied by Shudras (the lowest caste according to the Hindu caste hierarchy) who migrated in search of a better life from India and many settled in Bali. The caste system was modified when adopted by Southeast Asians as they had a class system of their own. They also did not adopt the Manusmriti which relegates women to an inferior place. The Indonesians still have matriarchal society in Sumatra (Minangkabau) where women are head of the family and inheritance is through the daughters’ lineage [8].

Despite Indonesia being the largest Muslim country in the world, the continued popularity of the Ramayana (and the Mahabharata) is testament to its enduring cultural legacy in Indonesia, as well as, according to Benedict Anderson, the tolerance of the Javanese. In fact, it should be noted that the name of the city of Yogyakarta is a transliteration of Ayodhya. In Java, the Ramayana is usually performed through wayang kulit, or puppet shows that can last multiple nights. While the first half of the Ramayana Jawa is similar to the original Sanskrit version, the latter half is divergent to the point of being unrecognizable by Indian scholars. One of the many major changes is the inclusion of the all-powerful Javanese indigenous deity Dhayana, Guardian God of Java and his misshapen sons, Gareng, Petruk and Bagong who make up the four Punokawan or “clown servants”.

Both India and Indonesia are keen to establish strong partnership in the maritime sphere and work towards fulfilment of their mutual interests. In May 2018, both countries announced their “Shared Vision of India-Indonesia Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific” during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Indonesia. The document outlined common goals to improve maritime connectivity between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sumatra, as well as developing the marine resources of both countries. Moreover, it emphasized to augment the existing security architecture anchored in ASEAN mechanisms and undertake tangible steps to promote peace and security in the region, such as the commencement of regular bilateral naval exercises. Mutual recognition of shared interests and challenges on the maritime domain had played a key role in driving the two countries closer together. During this visit, both leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in all areas by establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to take Indonesia and India’s bilateral relationship into a new era. A total number of 15 agreements/MoUs were signed between the two countries including 9 G2G MoUs in the areas defense cooperation, cooperation in the exploration and uses of outer space for peaceful purposes, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, Technical Cooperation in Railways sector, Health Cooperation, on Pharmaceutical, Biological and Cosmetics Regulatory Functions, on Policy dialogue between Governments and Interaction between Think Tanks making Modi’s visit most successful in terms of carving out the contours of the next phase of engagement between the two countries (Embassy of India, Jakarta, Indonesia, https://www.indianembassyjakarta.gov.in/pages?id=). “The converging interests in the maritime domain between India and Indonesia are varied but clear. Both countries share a range of concerns, from the development of sustainable maritime economy to emerging non-traditional security threats. And both countries, like the rest of the Indo-Pacific, are also contending with the rise of China and growing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.” 

Civilizational linkages can be revived to strengthen ties with Southeast Asian countries. It is time to move from state-centric and state-driven approach to people-centric and people-driven approach and make the provinces (East and North-East) and their people active stakeholders in the drive towards greater regional integration. Connectivity must entail active participation, cooperation of the people of the bordering provinces emphasizing common cultural beliefs, practices and norms.

1. Buzan, Barry. A Comprehensive Security Analysis. Security Discussion Paper Series, Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, 2009. Retrieved from https://www.geest.msh-paris.fr/IMG/pdf/Security_for_Buzan.mp3.pdf

2. Ghosh, Devleena. “Burma–Bengal crossings: Intercolonial connections in pre-independence India.” Asian Studies Review, vol. 40, no. 2, 2016, pp. 156–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2016.1153699

3. Sarangi, J. “Rangoon song.” Memories, Images, Imagination: An Anthology of Bangla and Oriya Writings on Colonial Burma, edited by J.K. Nayak and P. Bhaumik, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, 2010, pp. 119–127.

4. Chaudhuri, K.N. Asia before Europe: Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750. Cambridge University Press, 1990.

5. Ray, R.K. “Asian Capital in the Age of European Expansion: The Rise of the Bazaar 1800–1914.” Modern Asian Studies, vol. 29, no. 3, 1995, pp. 449–454. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X0001367X

6. Bhattacharya, S. “A Close view of encounters between British Burma and british Bengal.” Paper presented at the 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Lund, Sweden, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.sasnet.lu.se/EASASpapers/19SwapnaBha

7. Chattopadhyay, S.C. Pather Dabi. Ananda Publishers, 1996.

8. Chaturvedy et al. “Burgeoning India-Indonesia relations: beyond historical nostalgia and toward strategic convergence.” The Diplomat, October 2019, https://thediplomat.com/2019/10/burgeoning-india-indonesia-relations-beyond-historical-nostalgia-and-toward-strategic-convergence/.