(The Indian Express has launched a new series of articles for UPSC aspirants written by seasoned writers and erudite scholars on issues and concepts spanning History, Polity, International Relations, Art, Culture and Heritage, Environment, Geography, Science and Technology, and so on. Read and reflect with subject experts and boost your chance of cracking the much-coveted UPSC CSE. In the following article, Devdutt Pattanaik, a renowned writer who specialises in mythology and culture, discusses India’s historical trade connections with neighboring cultures.)

India has had relations with cultures around the subcontinent by both land and sea. By land, it was connected across the Hindu Kush to Persia (modern-day Iran) as well as Central Asia. By sea, it was connected to Persia, Arabia, and via the Red Sea to the Roman Empire. On the eastern coast, it had links with Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Burma. 

There were also land routes connecting India through the mountains to Tibet. Indians took advantage of the monsoon winds which enabled ships to reach their destinations in six weeks, which over land would take six months. 

Through these routes, India gave many things to the world. Trade with Mesopotamia can be traced back to Harappan times. Land routes opened up when Alexander the Great invaded the northwest Indian subcontinent in 326 BCE. Elephants were exported then in exchange for horses. 

Later, during the Kushan period, links were established with Persia and Rome. After the Gupta period, significant connections developed with Southeast Asia, where India was referred to as ‘Swarna Bhoomi’ or Land of Gold. 

Exported goods included plant products (such as cotton and spices), animal products (such as ivory and birds), mineral products (such as gemstones and precious metals), manufactured goods (like cloth and stirrup) as well as intellectual, literary, mathematical and scientific ideas. 

The most exported goods were cotton, spices, and sugar (including sugarcane). The large-scale production and the world-wide trade in crystallised sugar have some interesting facts too. For instance, the word “Chini” likely comes from China’s association with crystallised sugar through trade, while “Misri” from its route to Egypt.

Indian fabrics were popular around the world, with multiple weaves, and vibrant colours as Indians knew the art of fixing dyes using various plant–based chemicals like indigo. Most Southeast Asian countries would give spices to merchants only if they received Indian textiles. So Indian clothes served as a form of currency too. 

Animals like elephants, peacocks, and monkeys were also traded. Persian kings loved Indian peacocks, dogs, buffaloes and elephants. Chicken was probably first domesticated in India, as were the humped bull and the water buffalo. 

India was also a source of orange-coloured carnelian stones, which were etched during Harappan times.

It exported coloured semi-precious stones like carnelian from Gujarat and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. Later, India was the only source of diamonds for centuries. The Golconda mines in the Deccan Plateau produced some of the world’s finest diamonds. In addition, steel from India was sent to West Asia as ingots, where it was turned into the famous Damascus steel. 

India also gave the world the stirrup, which improved cavalry efficiency by giving riders more stability. The earliest images of stirrups came from Buddhist sites in India. 

Mathematical ideas, especially numbers, also spread from India. The concept of zero as a placeholder and the decimal system of writing spread from India via Arabia to Europe. Ideas like calculus, algebra, and trigonometry have origins in India. Also from India spread bookkeeping and banking ideas such as promissory notes, popular in the Gujarat coasts and amongst Jain merchants.

The Indian script, in which vowels are arranged in a circular manner around consonants, spread to Southeast Asia. Sanskrit, written between 300 AD and 1300 AD, was the literary language used across regions from Afghanistan to Vietnam. 

Many religious ideas spread from India as well. Buddhism, particularly Mahayana Buddhism, spread to north-east India, while Vajrayana Buddhism emerged in East India and spread to Tibet. Theravada Buddhism spread southwards, reaching Sri Lanka and from there, spreading to Southeast Asian countries. 

Hinduism, and the worship of Shiva as Hara and Vishnu as Hari, reached as far as Vietnam. Chinese records mention that by 300 AD, people in Champa and Funan (present-day Vietnam and Cambodia) had Hindu dancers and Hindu scripts. Deities such as Ganesha, Saraswati, and Lakshmi have been found as far as China. 

The concept of Raja-mandala (circle of kings) was an Indian idea mentioned in the Arthashastra of Chanakya, which appealed to southeast Asian kings of Cambodia. In addition, the Manusmriti, an ancient Indian law code, was popular among the kings of Thailand and Java. 

The Ramayana and Mahabharata, along with the story of the Buddha, spread from India and were carved on the walls of places such as Borobudur and Prambanan in Indonesia. These stories can also be found at the My-Son temples in Vietnam, on the walls of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, in the pagoda cities of Bagan in Burma, and in Ayutthaya in Thailand. These were the gifts India gave to the world.

What role did maritime routes play in connecting India with cultures in Arabia and the Roman Empire?

What goods were commonly traded between India and neighbouring cultures, particularly during the Kushan and Gupta periods?

In what ways did trade influence cultural exchange between India and other civilisations during ancient times?

Which Indian deities have been discovered in archaeological sites as far away as China, and what does this indicate about cultural exchange?

What does the term ‘Swarna Bhoomi’ refer to, and how did it reflect India’s trade relations with Southeast Asia?

(Devdutt Pattanaik is a renowned mythologist who writes on art, culture and heritage.)

Share your thoughts and ideas on UPSC Special articles with ashiya.parveen@indianexpress.com.

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week.

Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.