By mixing with their host cultures, the Non-Resident South Asians of Southeast Asia would be protecting their own long-term interests, as well as helping bring forth a new culture.
By mixing with their host cultures, the Non-Resident South Asians of Southeast Asia would be protecting their own long-term interests, as well as helping bring forth a new culture.
For many South Asians, travelling around Southeast Asia provides a continuous feeling of "we´ve been here before". Whether it is language and scripts, customs and tradition, or religion and superstitions, there is a familiar ring to much that one sees and hears. Not surprising really, to those who know the extent of ancient South Asian influence on countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Burma and Laos.
While the South Asians of yore helped define the spiritual dimensions of Southeast Asians, however, the more worldly and materialistic traits of modern times were shaped by that other great civilisation, China. Nevertheless, a modern-day connection to the ancient South Asian bonds has been established by the over two-million strong population of South Asians from Rangoon to Hanoi. While during earlier eras, South Asians arrived as merchants, travellers, scholars and priests carrying economic, cultural and social concepts and were readily welcomed by local populations, their current presence and status is largely a legacy of British and French colonisation.