Page 91 - AEI Insights 2018 Vol 4 Issue 1

Mishra, 2018

Asia: The Angkor Wat temple (Cambodia), Vat Phou temple (Shiva temple in Laos),
Borobudur (Indonesia), and the Ananda temple in Bagan (Myanmar) are just to name a few.
Indonesian Wayang- the puppet shows which are based on the two great Hindu epics Ramayana
and Mahabharata- are the collective heritage of the peoples of India and Southeast Asia.
Linguistic experts have proved it abundantly that Sanskrit has shaped and influenced the
overall persona of almost all the Southeast Asian languages (except Vietnamese which has
more Chinese influence). Ramayana is one of the most popular epics in the Southeast Asian
region. Moreover, it is a part of the popular culture of Southeast Asia, with each country having
its own variant.

During the Colonial period, India’s linkages were cut-off, and it was the Colonial oppressors
who had determined the overall nature of India’s interaction with the region. However, by the
middle of the twentieth century, the intellectuals and freedom fighters of India such as
Rabindranath Tagore, Rash Behari Bose, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, and
Mahatma Gandhi immensely contributed to India’s relinking with the ‘East’. From the point
of view of freedom struggle, India’s engagement with countries falling on its east was
remarkable. Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru’s contribution to the anti-Colonial movements in
Southeast Asia can never be overstated in that regard. He successfully organised the ‘Southeast
Asia Day’ at Lucknow in October 1945, moved several resolutions in the Congress meetings
in support of Indonesian freedom struggle. The relationship moved to the next level with India
and Indonesia playing key roles in Asian solidarity, manifested through the Bandung
Conference, which was held in 1955. India’s contribution was best explained by none other
than Soekarno himself, who, on the eve of proclamation of the United States of Indonesia said,
“On the eve of the rebirth of our nation, I am trying vainly to measure the gratitude the
Indonesian people owe to India and to her Prime Minister personally for the unflinching and
brotherly support in our struggle in the past” (Mishra, R. 2017).

In terms of framing the regional, multilateral agenda, India had played a substantial role from
1940s until 1960. For instance, much before the ASEAN was formed in 1967, India played a
key role in bringing Asian and African countries together through organising the Asian
Relations Conference in 1947 and 1949, and the Bandung Conference in 1955. That India was
not considered an outsider to Southeast Asia, or even a part of separate identity distinct from
Southeast Asia (South Asia) is evident from the fact that India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were
part of the team of Bandung Conference conveners, collectively called as The Conference of
Southeast Asian Prime Ministers (Acharya, 2017). Thus, by virtue of being in close proximity
to Southeast Asian region, countries of the region have always ranked high in India’s
diplomatic calculus, and even in terms of forming and shaping their regional institutional
architecture.

As Acharya, A. (2017) argues, “The first important ideas about constructing Asia’s regional
architecture after the Second World War came from India- more precisely Jawaharlal Nehru.
It was India’s first prime minister who articulated the earliest vision of a regional order that
emphasized Asian unity, advancement of decolonization and anti-racialism, and rejection of
great power intervention. He hosted two of the initial intra-regional gatherings of Asian leaders,
called the Asian Relations Conferences (ARCs), in 1947 and 1949. He was perhaps the most
influential ideational force behind the holding of the Asian-African Conference in Bandung,
Indonesia, in 1955” (Acharya, 2017). When the ASEAN was formed in 1967, India did show
interest in joining ASEAN. In May 1967, then External Affairs Minister of India, M. C. Chagla

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