Indian Influences in World History

I've been reading John Keay's India: A History and have gone through some passages where it mentions the origins of Buddhism and its eventual spread across the Far East, and of the influence that Indian culture had on regions of Southeast Asia and Indonesia.  I'm curious as to when and how this influence began to wane, as it seems that India was well positioned to maintain its contacts with the trade routes across the Indian Ocean.  It seems that the decline in Indian dominance of the trade routes corresponds to the Muslim invasions and the arrival of the European powers.  At the same time, India has a history of regional (though not cultural) factionalism that contributed somewhat to its inability to project its influence.

Keay mentions Indic kingdoms in SE Asia (including the Khmer of Angkor-Wat fame) and Indonesia (of which one seems to have put up a minor maritime empire).  Yet these are now overshadowed by the modern Islamic and Indo-Chinese cultures.  Have the Indian influences managed to sustain themselves, or is it all gone now?

Originally posted by YusakuJon3 I've been reading John Keay's India: A History and have gone through some passages where it mentions the origins of Buddhism and its eventual spread across the Far East, and of the influence that Indian culture had on regions of Southeast Asia and Indonesia.  I'm curious as to when and how this influence began to wane, as it seems that India was well positioned to maintain its contacts with the trade routes across the Indian Ocean.  It seems that the decline in Indian dominance of the trade routes corresponds to the Muslim invasions and the arrival of the European powers.  At the same time, India has a history of regional (though not cultural) factionalism that contributed somewhat to its inability to project its influence. Keay mentions Indic kingdoms in SE Asia (including the Khmer of Angkor-Wat fame) and Indonesia (of which one seems to have put up a minor maritime empire).  Yet these are now overshadowed by the modern Islamic and Indo-Chinese cultures.  Have the Indian influences managed to sustain themselves, or is it all gone now?

YusakuJon,
 Keay is right on the money in saying that the influence of India did reduce because of invasions by muslims. Reasons are manifold:
a) Muslims burnt any books they could find in India after the invasions.  India had two major universities at Nalanda (Modern Bihar) and Taxila (Modern Pakistan). They both had extensive libraries which were burnt by Muslim invaders.
b) Architecture and building science of India was almost destroyed by the invaders.
c) Research in Mathematics, Philosophy, astronomy etc came to a grinding halt. Prior to Islamic invasions India produced great mathematicians, astronomers etc such as Brahmgupta, Bhaskara, Panini ... India did give the world the decimal number system, algebra (both of which are wrongly attributed to Arabs). This research was all prior to arrival of Islam in India.

Lastly Indian population was basically fighting to not get converted to the religion of Islam as Muslims tried to do in every land they went in. So the thousand years, from 700 A.D to about 1800 A.D, in India were the most bloody in the annals of world history.

In his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan James Tod captures this fact quite well:

"What nation on earth could have maintained the semblance of civilization, the spirit or the customs of their forefathers, during so many centuries of overwhelming depression, but one of such singular character as the Rajpoot? . . . Rajast�han exhibits the sole example in the history of mankind, of a people withstanding every outrage barbarity could inflict, or human nature sustain, from a foe (Muslims) whose religion commands annihilation; and bent to the earth, yet rising buoyant from the pressure, and making calamity a whetstone to courage. . . . Not an iota of their religion or customs have they lost. . . ".

 Also if you get a chance do read the following link which explains how Indians fought the islamic invaders in India for a thousand years and there bravery allowed India to remain a Hindu state unlike Iran/Iraq etc which became majority muslim state within a few decades.

http://hindurajput.blogspot.com/#Rajputs_and_Invasions_of_India

-Digs

Can you expand a bit on the Chola and Sri Lanka statment?

Thanks,
-Digs

Originally posted by YusakuJon3 Originally posted by Digvijay Can you expand a bit on the Chola and Sri Lanka statment? According to Keay's book, inscriptions and chronicles surviving from the era (10th and 11th Centuries CE) point to no less than two invasions of Sri Lanka by the Cholas.  The first under King Rajaraja I and the second under his successor Rajendra I.  Sri Lanka was apparently rather brutally pillaged, as they compared the Cholas to some sort of vampiric creature.  In many ways, you could compare it to the way in which the Crusaders from Western Europe would later pillage and occupy Constantinople en route to the Holy Land; the actions of the Cholas had that kind of feel to them.

Yusaku,
  Did you finish the book? I would recommend you read James Tod's "Annals and antiquities of Rajasthan" also.
-Digs

Originally posted by Digvijay [QUOTE=YusakuJon3]I've been reading John Keay's India: A History and have gone through some passages where it mentions the origins of Buddhism and its eventual spread across the Far East, and of the influence that Indian culture had on regions of Southeast Asia and Indonesia.  I'm curious as to when and how this influence began to wane, as it seems that India was well positioned to maintain its contacts with the trade routes across the Indian Ocean.  It seems that the decline in Indian dominance of the trade routes corresponds to the Muslim invasions and the arrival of the European powers.  At the same time, India has a history of regional (though not cultural) factionalism that contributed somewhat to its inability to project its influence. Keay mentions Indic kingdoms in SE Asia (including the Khmer of Angkor-Wat fame) and Indonesia (of which one seems to have put up a minor maritime empire).  Yet these are now overshadowed by the modern Islamic and Indo-Chinese cultures.  Have the Indian influences managed to sustain themselves, or is it all gone now?

Yusaku ,
Are you around?
-Digs