Hinduism in Southeast Asia had a profound impact on the region's cultural development and its history. As the Indic scripts were introduced from India, people of Southeast Asia entered the historical period by producing their earliest inscriptions around the 1st to 5th century CE. Today, the only practicing Hindus in Southeast Asia other than Overseas Indians are the Balinese and Tenggerese minorities in Indonesia, and the Cham minority in Cambodia and southern Vietnam.
The Punjabis or the Punjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent presently divided between Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab. They speak Punjabi, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family. The term Punjab means the five waters from Persian: panj ("five") and āb ("waters"). The name of the region was introduced by the Turko-Persian conquerors of the Indian subcontinent.
Bali is an island province of Indonesia.
Kalinga is a historical region of India. It is generally defined as the eastern coastal region between the Mahanadi and the Godavari rivers, although its boundaries have fluctuated with the territory of its rulers. The core territory of Kalinga now encompasses a large part of Odisha and northerneastern part of Andhra Pradesh. At its widest extent, the Kalinga region also included parts of present-day southwestern West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
Reddy is a caste that originated in India, predominantly settled in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They are classified as a forward caste.
Greater India, or the Indian cultural sphere, is an area composed of many countries and regions in South and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Indian culture. The term Greater India as a reference to the Indian cultural sphere was popularised by a network of Bengali scholars in the 1920s. It is an umbrella term encompassing the Indian subcontinent, and surrounding countries which are culturally linked or have received significant Sanskritisation and Indian influence in matters such as written language and religion. These countries have been transformed to varying degrees by the acceptance and induction of cultural and institutional elements that originated in India and spread elsewhere via trade routes. Since around 500 BCE, Asia's expanding land and maritime trade had resulted in prolonged socio-economic and cultural stimulation and diffusion of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs into the region's cosmology, in particular in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. In Central Asia, transmission of ideas were predominantly of a religious nature. The spread of Islam significantly altered the course of the history of Greater India.
Anga was an ancient Indian kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent and one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It lay to the east of its neighbour and rival, Magadha, and was separated from it by the river Champa in the modern day Bhagalpur and Munger in the state of Bihar. The capital of Anga was located on the bank of this river and was also named Champa and Malini. It was prominent for its wealth and commerce. Anga was annexed by Magadha in the 6th century BCE.
Keling or Kling is a word used in parts of Southeast Asia to denote a person originating from the Indian subcontinent. This includes both those from India and overseas Indians. In modern colloquial usage it is commonly not capitalised. The term is used in the Malay Archipelago — specifically Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei — but cognates exist in neighbouring countries as well. Although the early definition was neutral and linked to the historical Kalinga kingdom of Eastern India, its use in later history came to be perceived as a derogatory term to refer to people of Indian descent, especially in Malaysia.
The history of Bihar is one of the most varied in India. Bihar consists of three distinct regions, each has its own distinct history and culture. They are Magadh, Mithila and Bhojpur. Chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record from the Neolithic age. Regions of Bihar—such as Magadha, Mithila and Anga—are mentioned in religious texts and epics of ancient India. Mithila is believed to be the centre of Indian power in the Later Vedic period. Mithila first gained prominence after the establishment of the Videha kingdom. The Kings of the Videha Kingdom were called Janakas. A daughter of one of the Janaks of Mithila, Sita, is mentioned as consort of Lord Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana, written by Valmiki. The Videha Kingdom later became incorporated into the Vajji confederacy which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.
The Jaffna Kingdom, also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula. It was traditionally thought to be established after the invasion of Magha, who is credited with the founding of the Jaffna kingdom and is said to have been from Kalinga, in India. Established as a powerful force in the north, north east and west of the island, it eventually became a tribute-paying feudatory of the Pandyan Empire in modern South India in 1258, gaining independence in 1323, when the last Pandyan ruler of Madurai was defeated and expelled in 1323 by Malik Kafur, the army general of the Muslim Delhi Sultanate. For a brief period, in the early to mid-14th century, it was an ascendant power in the island of Sri Lanka when all regional kingdoms accepted subordination. However, the kingdom was eventually overpowered by the rival Kotte Kingdom, around 1450 when it was invaded by Prince Sapumal under the orders of Parakramabahu VI.
The Odia (ଓଡ଼ିଆ), formerly spelled Odiya, are native to the Indian state of Odisha and have the Odia language as their mother tongue. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state of Odisha, with significant minority populations in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The name Odisha refers to the current state in India. In different areas the region and parts of the region were known by different names. The boundaries of the region also have varied over time.
Gurjar or Gujjar is an ethnic agricultural and pastoral community of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Although traditionally they have been involved in agriculture, Gurjars are a large heterogeneous group that is internally differentiated in terms of culture, religion, occupation, and socio-economic status. The historical role of Gurjars has been quite diverse in society, at one end they have founded kingdom, districts, cities, towns, and villages, and at the other end, they are also nomads with no land of their own.
Deccan means southern part in ancient India, south of the Satpura and Vindhya ranges. Deccan includes the east and west coasts and plains, the plateau and mountain ranges of the ancient Southern India.
The Eastern Ganga dynasty also known as Rudhi Gangas or Prachya Gangas were a medieval Indian dynasty that reigned from Kalinga from as early as the 5th century to the early 15th century. The territory ruled by the dynasty consisted of the whole of the modern-day Indian state of Odisha as well as major parts of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The early rulers of the dynasty ruled from Dantapuram; the capital was later moved to Kalinganagara, and ultimately to Kataka . Today, they are most remembered as the builders of the world renowned Puri Jagannath Temple and Konark Sun Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site at Konark, Odisha.
Lower Assam is a region situated in Western Brahmaputra Valley encompassing undivided Kamrup and Goalpara regions.
The Maritime history of Odisha, known as Kalinga in ancient times, started much before 800 BC according to early sources. The people of this region of eastern India along the coast of the Bay of Bengal sailed up and down the Indian coast, and travelled to Indo China and throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, introducing elements of their culture to the people with whom they traded. The 6th century Manjusrimulakalpa mentions the Bay of Bengal as Kalingodra and in ancient Classical India, the Bay of Bengal was known as Kalinga Sagar, indicating the importance of Kalinga in the maritime trade. The old traditions are still celebrated in the annual Boita Bandana festival including its major celebration at Cuttack on the banks of Mahanadi river called Bali Jatra, and are held for seven days in October-November at various coastal districts, most famous at Cuttack though.
Southeast Asia was under Indian sphere of cultural influence starting around 290 BC until around the 15th century, when Hindu-Buddhist influence was absorbed by local politics. Kingdoms in the southeast coast of the Indian Subcontinent had established trade, cultural and political relations with Southeast Asian kingdoms in Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Malay Peninsula, Philippines, Cambodia and Champa. This led to Indianisation and Sanskritisation of Southeast Asia within Indosphere, Southeast Asian polities were the Indianised Hindu-Buddhist Mandala.
Kaundinya I, also known as Hùntián (混塡) and Preah Thong was the second monarch of the Funan Kingdom which comprises much of Cambodia located in mainland Southeast Asia centered on the Mekong Delta. He was the consort of the first monarch Queen Soma, also known as Liǔyè (Chinese) and Neang Neak (Khmer) and together both were the co-founders of the Funan Kingdom with the capital located at Vyadhapura.
