Sula Vineyards, Ajanta and Ellora

We went on a trip in January 2025 with our classmates from IIM Calcutta. The itinerary was as follows:

Day 1 - Fly into Nashik and stay at The Source by Sula with a morning visit to the Pandav Leni Caves

Day 2 - Relax at Sula 

Day 3 - Drive from Sula to Aurangabad via Shirdi

Day 4 - Ajanta

Day 5 - Ellora

Day 6 - Aurangabad local sightseeing and fly out

The much maligned Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb spent many fruitless years in the Deccan trying to subdue the unruly Marathas. He was largely unsuccessful and after his death in 1707 he was succeeded by various nondescript rulers till the dynasty finally petered out in 1857 when the British exiled the last monarch, Bahadur Shah Zafar, to Burma. 

Given Aurangzeb's iconoclastic tendencies, it is a blessing that Ajanta and Ellora remained undiscovered by the Mughals until the rather unimaginatively named British Cavalry Officer, John Smith stumbled upon Ajanta while hunting tigers in 1819. Even as late as 1956, the caves were inhabited by local shepherds who were blissfully unaware of the civilizational gold mine that they were using so casually. In a sense, that is one of the amazing things about India. The remote past coalesces with the present in such a natural way.

There are anywhere around 1200 - 1500 caves in India that were used for congregation and worship. Most of them are Buddhist but there are Jain and Hindu caves also. A very large number of these caves are in Maharashtra. Perhaps because of the rocky hills around, the climate or whatever reason. At the Pandav Leni caves (carved between 1st Century BCE to 3rd century CE in the Hinayana Buddhist tradition) near Nashik where we started our explorations we were told that monks were not supposed to stay for more than 3 days in a particular location so that they would not develop an attachment to the place. This meant that they needed shelter every 15 Km or so as they wandered around which led to a spurt in cave carvings being sponsored by local rulers and wealthy merchants. The 3 day rule was later relaxed as Hinayana gave way to Mahayana practices. The Pandav Leni caves are very close to Nashik but there is a climb of about 200 steps to reach them.

The Sula Vineyards have put up a nice resort in their vineyards. Well appointed rooms, 3 restaurants (all serving Sula Wine, of course!) an outdoor pool and a nice wine tasting and experience tour. To build a wine culture in a strongly whisky drinking country like India is an onerous task but Sula has made a great start. They also had a nice Cabernet Sauvignon named Rasa that I have not seen in wine shops outside the vineyard. This is a great place for a chilled out 2-3 days

We then drove from Nashik to Aurangabad. Shirdi lies on the way, so we stopped for a darshan. Fortunately, a member of our group had arranged for a VIP darshan otherwise the crowds have grown considerably. When we had last visited in the 1990s, we drove up to the mandir, parked our car outside and just walked in. Religious places have become far more crowded now.

After a pleasant evening in Aurangabad at the Fern residency hotel, we left for Ajanta the next morning. I am sure that everyone has seen photographs of the Ajanta paintings. However the real impact for me was the depiction of life as it was in the Ajanta period between 200 BCE and 450 CE. Indians clearly had a refined and sophisticated lifestyle even in those days, The depictions of the clothing, jewelry, and leisure pursuits apart from the Buddhist themes are very interesting.  Later this year, I saw a presentation by Benoy Behl at the Jaipur Literary Festival. Behl is the definitive authority on photographing the Ajanta paintings and his work in restoring the images is simply spectacular. His book is well worth a read. 

Please note the stylish socks and the wine carafe!

The painted ceilings at Ajanta are spectacular too. As good if not better than the Sistine Chapel.

There are 30 caves at Ajanta and the walking around can get a bit tiring. The best season to go there is winter so that the walking is easier but I hear that the monsoon season is spectacular too. There is no doubt that a glimpse of life in ancient India will leave you dazzled and hungry for more.

We returned to Aurangabad after an amazing visit. It is sad that the road is not in very good shape. For such a spectacular world heritage site, surely we can do better!

The next day was a visit to Ellora, This is closer to Aurangabad and the road is also better. 

There are 34 caves open to the public at Ellora. These comprise of Jain, Buddhist and Hindu caves pointing to a syncretic culture in the period 600 ACE to 1000 ACE. 

 

The Jain caves are more austere with less adornment than the Hindu ones. However in all the caves, the degree of detailing and ornamentation will leave you awestruck.

The main highlight, of course is the Kailasa Temple, the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world.  This is an amazing feat of sculpture. The artists have literally excavated an entire mountain from the top down. To imagine the planning and the sheer labour involved is mind boggling especially as a single mistake could wreck the entire design.

We returned to the hotel, exhausted but exhilarated. 

The next day was some local sightseeing in Aurangabad before flying out to our respective destinations.  The highlight was Bibi Ka Maqbara. Built to commemorate Aurangzeb's wife by her son, the monument bears a striking resemblance to the Taj Mahal minus the exquisite marble inlay work and without the perfect proportions of its more famous forbear. 

A satisfying visit indeed! Starting with a few sips of good wine. A visit to the birthplace of a saint. Ancient Indian art and places of worship and traces of a Mughal emperor!

Such is the diversity of India.

Photo Credits

Shyam Malhotra

Ravi Pisharody

Divyaroop Bhatnagar

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Well Done India

When the history of the Covid Pandemic is written and hopefully it should be history fairly soon, there should be a special place for India. In overall terms, our country has handled this grave crisis in a mature and effective manner. There have been missteps, things that we could have done better but in overall terms we have done well. I, along with a small group of friends have been following the progress of the pandemic with keen interest and we are familiar with the numbers and statistics not only in India but abroad. I would like to highlight the following:

1. The first lockdown in March 2020 was draconian and sudden. It impacted the livelihoods of migrant workers in a rather harsh fashion. However, it did serve to make the Indian public aware of the grave crisis that Covid represents and what are the tools (social distancing, masking, hand hygiene etc) to combat it. Such a huge behavioural impact is very hard to achieve in a country like India especially as many of these practices are quite alien to most Indians. We are a gregarious, expressive people and the change required was almost a polar opposite. Given what we had to go through later, in hindsight, this was a painful but necessary education. We have seen that masking has generally been followed and vaccine hesitancy has hardly been there. The govt should be commended for a massive publicity blitz for constantly exhorting people in this area.
2. Initially, we faced shortages of masks, PPE, sanitizers etc. However, this was rapidly overcome and India started exporting these items. 
3. India's reporting of the numbers and statistics has been widely criticized in Western Media. It is true that the level of testing per million was low and hence real figures of infections are much higher that what was reported. The same is true for fatalities with figures being underreported by 4 - 10 times depending on whose model you choose to believe. Having said that, to get daily information at a district level, compile it, and disseminate it without fail for the entire period of the pandemic in a complex country like ours is highly commendable. Despite the limitations, researchers were able to use the data productively and the authorities were able to come up with fairly balanced and well thought through policies. It is also worth mentioning that the Sero Positivity Surveys that were carried out frequently were also useful in planning for vaccination and epidemic control.
4. The Delta Variant wave of April/May 2021 was truly catastrophic. Despite a focused effort to augment medical facilities in the major towns, the impact on the country was traumatic. An oxygen shortage and poor logistics contributed to the trauma. Deaths were significantly underreported and the sero positive surveys carried out later indicated the extent to which the virus had impacted the population. India, and soon afterwards the world, was just not ready for the devastating impact that Delta had. In retrospect, there was little we could have done differently. Perhaps we could have started vaccination a little earlier but in overall terms it was unlikely to have made a significant difference on the outcome. India is a poor country and decades of neglect of the healthcare sector cannot be transformed in a jiffy. Hopefully the pandemic will help to focus attention back on this critical area. Western countries who had better vaccination rates were able to stave off the worst impact of Delta but were hit by Omicron almost in parallel. However, at this point, India is better off than most of Europe and USA. It is possible that countries that were harder hit by Delta such as South Africa and India have been better protected by natural immunity than others.
5. The process of vaccination has been a deeply satisfying achievement by India. There were a few missteps and delays in the initial stages but these were overcome. The data capture, security and user friendliness of the Cowin application has been outstanding. The scale of vaccination is also unprecedented and the supply chain from both manufacturers especially SII has been effective. India has taken its own decisions in this whole area right from the beginning. It is heartening that a local vaccine, Covaxin, has proved to be effective as well. The drive is widening now as younger people are also being covered. All in all, this has been a significant achievement by India. In retrospect, the most important lesson is that having a local supplier for critical items is the only way forward. This is equally true for pharma especially APIs. 
6. The govt has by and large exhibited a great deal of empathy for its citizens. Right from the time that Air India flew to Wuhan to evacuate Indian citizens, the Vande Bharat flights have been operating to help Indians get home. Not insisting on hospitalisation but allowing home quarantine after we gained some familiarity with the disease, free testing and vaccines etc, India has behaved in a manner befitting the world's largest democracy. There have been missteps as in the case of the migrant workers but by and large we have managed the situation as well as could be expected. Economic support packages have been measured. Economic hardship is undeniable but it is also true that the economy has bounced back and that recovery has been faster than most other countries. We are a relatively poor country and fiscal profligacy may have been a disaster in the medium term. 

What of the future? Opinion is divided amongst experts on what surprises Covid may yet spring on us. However, some important directions have clearly emerged:

1. Reliance on any one country for supplies of critical items is untenable. Alternates must be found for Pharma, APIs, Semi conductors, solar panels and such like on a war footing. India is a big enough market and our costs and pricing are becoming more competitive. We must develop our own manufacturing.
2. Healthcare needs a massive boost in terms of spending and focus. Our healthcare workers have performed wonders during the pandemic. They deserve our heartfelt admiration and gratitude. However, a lot needs to be done.
3. It is possible that Covid may become endemic in the near future. What will that entail is still not clear. Perhaps regular booster doses and containment of local outbreaks. What it means is that we cannot afford to drop our vigilance. 

As of now we can say with some justification that the govt, institutions like ICMR, Vaccine manufacturers, ancillary product manufacturers, health care workers, data compilation, analysis and modelling groups, the administration and all those involved in the fight against Covid deserve our praise and thanks. Let us hope for a Covid free future.

Well done India. 

Keezhadi - Musings on the origins of Indian Civilisations and Writing Systems

I have a fascination for ancient Indian history and in particular for languages and scripts that have eluded decipherment over the centuries. It's a strictly amateurish interest though. I have no new research to offer. Only a combination of recorded history and speculation. My earlier article on the Saraswati river elicited a lot of interest so here's the next one almost 10 years later!

When I started writing this article, I wasn't sure where it was going. It seems to have meandered along between the origins of homo sapiens to the Iron Age and arrived at my favourite hobby horse - ancient scripts! 

Enjoy the read.  

The small town of Keezhadi (also written as Keeladi) is situated on the bank of the Vaigai river near Madurai in Southern Tamil Nadu. The ASI (Archeological Survey of India) commenced excavations in 2013, barely 10 years ago. Subsequently, the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department has taken over with excavations continuing to date. The findings have been interesting and controversial too! 

To explore further, we need to rewind into prehistory - to the time when homo sapiens developed in Africa and started migrating outwards. 

Though the migration of primitive humans out of Africa started very early, it is generally accepted that the 'recent dispersal' of humans out of Africa around 50,000 - 70,000 years ago led to stable human populations around the world. There seem to have been two streams of population that moved into India. One that entered through North West India and moved across the Indo Gangetic plain towards South East Asia and the second a stream that entered India along the western coast and moved southwards and then back up the east coast. The two streams merged in eastern Indian and moved together thereafter.

                                   

Paleolithic (early stone age hunter gatherers dating from 500,000 - 10,000 BCE) sites have been found in various parts of India including Tamil Nadu (Attirampakkam) pointing to widespread development of stone tools and weapons. Some of these societies progressed into a Neolithic culture with the development of agriculture, pottery and finer stone tools. Neolithic cultures have been observed in several sites in Tamil Nadu as well. The dates here range from 2800 - 1500 BCE

The next significant human development has been the ability to use metal, starting with copper and bronze. India entered the Bronze Age with the Harappan Culture in around 3000 BCE. Interestingly, there does not appear to be any evidence of Neolithic cultures transiting to the Bronze Age anywhere else in India. Rather, in places like Tamil Nadu, Iron Age cultures have appeared without evidence of an intervening Bronze Age at all. One such example is Keezhadi.

However, before we come to that, one significant point that does strike me is that the Paleolithic and subsequent Neolithic cultures that came up in India in various places came up independently. There does not appear to be a link between them and there is no one 'mother culture' or primal site that came up first and the others followed. Secondly, Paleolithic cultures came up in all parts of India implying that both streams of migration out of Africa (Coastal and Indo Gangetic) were productive insofar as future development of mankind is concerned. These inferences are very important for the subsequent analysis in this article.

The traditional Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) postulates that the invading Aryans defeated the inhabitants of the Harappan civilisation who were the original Dravidians and forced them to disperse southwards. This happened suddenly in around 1200 BCE. Thus, the Bronze Age Harappans dispersed carrying with them the knowledge of smelting of Bronze that they had been using over the years. One would have expected them to use that knowledge in their new homelands and set up Bronze Age settlements elsewhere but surprisingly that did not happen. The Harappan script also did not make an appearance in any of the places where the people had allegedly moved to. The purpose of the foregoing is not to suggest a solution to the mystery of the Harappan civilisation but rather to postulate that there does not appear to have been a significant (sudden or on a big scale in a short period) level of contact between the Harappan civilisation and other burgeoning civilisations in India. The alternate view that there was no dramatic AIT and that due to a change in weather patterns and the drying of the rivers like the Saraswati, the inhabitants of the Harappan Civilisation gradually dispersed into the subcontinent, primarily into the fertile Indo Gangetic plain and their language and technology largely withered away.  

Coming back to Keezhadi

There is an excellent museum near the archaeological site that explains the findings in a simple fashion. It is clear that Keezhadi was an Iron Age settlement from the third Sangam period in Tamil Nadu. The dates have been well established by radiocarbon dating as 580 BCE to 300 CE. There are many iron artifacts such as sickles, nails and rods and remnants of furnaces and ore that clearly establish that it was indeed an Iron Age site. Interestingly, gold bars and jewelry have also been found so it is clear that the inhabitants had an understanding of other metals as well. Perhaps, the use of Bronze may have been for a short period or not at all. I was unable to find any references to the use of Bronze at Keezhadi though. There is also ample evidence of seafaring trade with the middle East and even Europe as there are many Roman coins that have been unearthed. 

The question is whether Keezhadi developed independently as an Iron Age site or was there movement of Harappan Civilisation people southwards consequent to the Aryan Invasion that led to its establishment? 

Frankly, the idea that the Harappans populated Keezhadi strains credibility. Amongst ample evidence of Paleolithic and Neolithic sites in the vicinity and the direct development of iron working that the Harappan Civilization never had it appears highly unlikely that the Harappans trekked thousands of km southwards and developed iron working skills along the way to set up Keezhadi. It is far more likely that this is an independent development. 

The most interesting thing from my perspective was the use of the Tamil Brahmi script at Keezhadi. The script is referred to as Tamili locally indicative perhaps of a desire to appropriate an indigenous origin to the script. Tamil Brahmi is clearly recognizable as Ashokan Brahmi with a few alterations/additions to accommodate sounds not commonly used in North India. 

Fragments of potsherds with Tamil Brahmi writing have been found at Keezhadi that have been dated to 580 BCE via radiocarbon dating. 

The date presents a problem. As of now, the earliest examples of Brahmi inscriptions are from Emperor Ashoka's time 268 - 232 BCE. Tamil Brahmi is said to have evolved via interaction with the Mauryan kingdom, not the other way round. So did the script emerge first in Tamil Nadu and then travel Northwards? There is a controversy around this point. Many archeologists question the methodology that was used for radiocarbon dating at Keezhadi pointing to 580 BCE as the earliest date for when the settlement came into being, not when the potsherds were inscribed with Tamil Brahmi letters A similar controversy exists around Sri Lankan Brahmi with findings from Anuradhapura allegedly predating Ashokan Brahmi. 

The dating controversy notwithstanding, it is clear that Brahmi was in universal use in India around 250 BCE with several languages using a common script. There are 3 alternative theories pertaining to Brahmi's origins as follows:

1. Brahmi emerged as an adaptation of a Semitic script. Trade contacts with the Phoenicians existed for a long time in both North and South India. The script candidates from which Brahmi is said to have been derived include Aramaic and Kharosthi.  
2. Brahmi evolved out of the Harappan Script. 
3. Ashoka created Brahmi and enforced it as a script for universal use

The Harappan Script had died out by 1200 BCE while Brahmi emerged around 250 BCE. Hence there is a gap of 1000 years in between. Some scholars point to an evolution from Harappan to Brahmi in inscriptions at Bet Dwarka and Daimabad but these claims are unsubstantiated as indeed the decipherment of the Harrapan script itself is still elusive. Scholars also remain indecisive about the derivation of Brahmi from a Semitic script. The differences appear to be more than the similarities.

That essentially leaves us with the enigmatic and powerful Mauryan emperor Ashoka. Did he decree the creation of a Script (Dhamma Lipi) for his edicts that was simple and easy to read? It is not beyond the realms of possibility as there was no script available in India at that time. Perhaps he looked at the plus points from Semitic scripts and modified them to create Brahmi. This amazing script led to the evolution to writing systems throughout Asia and it is estimated that today as many as 198 scripts are derived from it. After the collapse of the Mauryan empire, local scripts continued to evolve but as late as the Gupta period, almost 700 years later an educated person could still read Ashokan Brahmi.

So ending on an optimistic and wishful note. Perhaps India needs to consider bringing back a universal script that could be used by all languages (and what better candidate than Brahmi?). This would facilitate the ability to read all Indian languages even if you can not understand the words. A similar situation prevails in Europe and even Turkey adopted the Roman script under Ataturk. 

Perhaps the long arm of Emperor Ashoka can still reach out and bless us with the benediction of a universal, nation wide script.

Cambodia - A Glorious Indic Heritage

We travelled to Cambodia in February 2024. This is part of the brief winter in Cambodia and also the dry season, so it's a good time to visit. This travelogue is not intended to be a historical record and neither does it cover the traumatic recent history of Cambodia. Rather, it focuses on the strong historical links of the country with India. I am not a professional historian, but have a strictly amateur interest in Indian history. There was so much to see and think about in Cambodia! 

Enjoy the read.

Day 1

We flew in by Viet Jet the Vietnamese budget airline from Hanoi to the spanking new airport at Siam Reap. It's about an hours drive from the town and the temple complex so that the monuments can be protected from pollution and noise. The drive in the evening passed through forest land and little villages that looked similar to Indian hamlets. Cambodia has a per capita GDP a little lower than India with a population density that is far less. In the daytime, the countryside around Siam Rep looked a bit like Southern Tamil Nadu. Arid with rain fed paddy cultivation (we went in February which is the dry season), palm trees with mango and cashew plantations as well. The soil looks like red laterite again similar to South India. 

We were very fortunate to have the services of an excellent English speaking guide during our whole stay in the Siam Reap area. This is invaluable and anybody going to visit the place should get a good guide. 

Day 2

There is a visitor ticket that you can buy for one day or more that allows for entry to the whole temple area. This includes your photo and is non transferable. The process was quite quick and you could use an international credit card at a very well designed and laid out ticket office. 

After buying the three day tickets, the day began with visits to several temples in the Siam Reap area. During the Angkor period (lasting from 802 CE when the Khmer Hindu king, Jayavarman II declared himself a God King up to the late 14th Century), virtually all the kings built temples, so there are plenty to go around! Most of them were Shiva temples built of brick and sometimes stone. 

Sometime later, Buddhism began to gain ground and Jayavarman VII (1181 - 1220 CE) became a Buddhist, so we saw some Buddhist temples also. The depiction of a large Buddha bust as part of the temple Gopuram was a unique feature of these temples. 

What was also interesting was the continued presence of  Hindu gods even in Buddhist temples. Another feature that we found repeatedly in many places was a depiction of the Samudra Manthan with the devas and the asuras with the Naga forming a railing across bridges even in modern construction.  

Later in the evening, we went to the Phnom Bakheng Temple (late 9th Century) which is located on top of a hill to see the sunset. Phnom means hill in Khmer as we discovered. The scenery was magnificent but so were the Apsara carvings on the wall of the temple.

Back to the hotel for dinner and an early night as we were going to see Angkor Wat at dawn.

Day 3

We woke up early to see Angkor Wat at dawn. Cars have to be parked some distance away and we had to walk a considerable distance to cross the moat and enter the temple. Inside there are two reflecting ponds and the view of the temple reflected in the water as the sun rises is magnificent. There was a huge crowd of tourists but it was a relatively peaceful experience. As the sun was about to rise the temples were bathed in a glorious red colour making the early start worthwhile.

The 'Param Vishnu Lok' (the original name of Angkor Wat) created by the Khmer King Suryavarman II, in the 12th Century lives up to its name and how! It is simply huge. The site covers an area of over 400 acres with the outer wall measuring 3.6 Km. The moat is really like an enormous lake more than 5 Km long. Later, we went up in a helium balloon that gave us a better idea of the scale and expanse. I understand that this is the largest religious site in the world.

There are enormous galleries each carved with scenes from the Mahabharat and Ramayan and the Amrit Manthan. I've never seen anything on this scale before. 

In later centuries, as Buddhism took over in Cambodia, the main Vishnu statue in the sanctum sanctorum was displaced by an equally beautiful Buddha statue. 

Vishnu is now relegated to a side gallery but he is still revered. Along with the change of religion, the name of the temple was changed to the more mundane Angkor Wat simply meaning the temple of the city.

In the afternoon, we visited the richly decorated Bayon Buddhist temple.

This was followed by a visit to the Ta Prohm (Ancestor Brahma) temple. This is best known for featuring in the Lara Croft epic, The Tomb Raiders. It's also known as the tree temple as it has huge silk cotton and strangler fig trees trees literally growing out of the temple walls. An amazing reclamation of the buildings by nature!

                                                        

However, the key interesting point that I found was the excellent restoration work being done by the Indian Govt under the auspices of the ASI. This is a very long term, painstaking project and the work done so far in restoring a whole area where the roof had fallen in is really commendable and one of the best examples of restoration being done in the Angkor Wat area. So also a gopuram on the boundary wall. 

The Ta Prohm temple was built over a vast area in the late 12th century and early 13th century by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII. It was built as a Buddhist temple as by that time the Khmer king had adopted Buddhism as his religion.

Day 4

And the best was surely reserved for the last! After the grandeur of Angkor Wat and the wilderness of Ta Prohm it was difficult to imagine that we would see something so exquisite. We started off with a visit to the 1000 lingas. Carved out of the rocky bed of a small flowing river the lingas are so numerous that you can't count them. They end with a very large linga and a carving of Vishnu resting on the Shesh Nag all in the river bed with water flowing over them. It's an extraordinary depiction and an inclusive one as well.  

We also visited a Buddhist temple on a hill that had statutes of Shiva and Ganesh as well. A Buddhist priest was pouring water over a Shiv Linga and the people were taking the water and pouring it on their heads before worshiping at the Buddhist temple.

Finally, after lunch we went to see the Bantey Srei Temple. Consecrated in 967 CE, the credit for the construction does not go to a king but to some of his courtiers. Built out of red sandstone, the carving is exquisite. It's a Shiva temple and one of the pediments has an amazing depiction of Shiva riding Nandi with Uma at his side. I've never seen anything like this. This temple is built on a much smaller scale than the later ones in the area but it is really beautiful. 

Day 5

We bade goodbye to Siam Reap and drove to Phnom Penh. This is a 5 hour drive through fields and farmland. Nearer Phnom Penh, we saw the mighty Mekong river on whose banks the capital city is situated. Phnom Penh first became the capital of Cambodia in the post Angkor period in 1434 but did not remain so for long. Later, during the French colonial regime, it regained its status.

Our first visit was to the Royal Palace. The principal building houses the ceremonial jewels and has a prized relic of Buddha as well as an Emerald statue of The Enlightened One.

There is also an extensive frieze of the Ramayan painted on a long wall running on three sides. This painting is showing signs of deterioration. Perhaps the Indian Govt could offer to help with the restoration.

Day 6

We started the day with a visit to Wat Phnom Daun Penh a Buddhist temple from which the city derives its name. The theme of guardian lions (an animal never found in Indo China), Nagas, and the roof supported by Apsaras and Garuda figures testifies to the inclusive nature of Cambodian religious beliefs.

The highlight of the day was a visit to the National Museum of Cambodia. I have rarely seen a better collection of Indic art and culture even in India. It's humbling and thrilling to to see how Indian culture, religions, scripts and thinking had crossed the oceans thousands of km away in such detail and profusion over two thousand years ago. Clearly, the contacts and interaction were extensive and spread over a long time. There are many stories and legends about this. One relates to an Indian merchant from Kalinga who married a Khmer princess, Soma and became King Kaundinya I of Funan, that comprises of most of modern Cambodia centered around the Mekong delta in the first century CE. Conversely, one of the Pallava kings in Kancheepuram was a Prince from Cambodia/Vietnam, Nandivarman II in 731 CE. In addition, there were widespread imports of priests, accountants, tax collectors and the whole apparatus of state governance by Cambodia from India over a period of more than 1000 years resulting in a thoroughly Indianised society. Some of this persists even today. 

The exhibits at the National Museum were beautiful. Here are some examples. 

Buddha with the Mudras fully intact.

A 'Mukholinga'. This is a very unusual depiction of a Shivling. The square base denotes Brahma, the creator. The octagonal centre represents Vishnu, the preserver and the Linga on top is Shiva, the destroyer. 

A delightful statue of Shiva playing with his son Skanda (Murugan)

Bali and Sugreev in combat

Ram and Hanuman

Garuda

A group of Buddha figures

However, the key point that fascinated me was the theme of inclusion, tolerance and synthesis that is visibly evident in Cambodian temples from ancient times to the present day. In token of that spirit, Nandi is still revered in a Buddhist state as in this beautiful depiction outside the National Museum.

In pre Angkorian times both Hindu and Mahayana Buddhism entered Cambodia via contacts with merchants from India. Most of the Angkor kings were Hindus with a few Mahayana Buddhists in between. After the 13th century CE, Theravada Buddhism came into Cambodia. King Jayavarman VII sent his son to Sri Lanka to be ordained as a Buddhist priest. Subsequently, the whole country converted to Theravada precepts in a smooth and non violent fashion.   

The evolution of the Cambodian script is also interesting. Earlier examples under Yasovarman I (889–910 CE) are clearly identifiable as being derived from North Indian scripts while the later versions appear to be derived from an old South Indian script, Grantha. The modern Cambodian script has much in common with South Indian scripts. 

An example of a North Indian based script used by Yasovarman 1. 

An example of an ancient Cambodian script based probably on Grantha, the precursor to modern South Indian languages. This script later developed into the modern Cambodian script.

We flew out of Phnom Penh airport to Ho Chi Minh City later in the evening, ending a wonderful stay in Cambodia.

Postscript

The Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam area is collectively known as Indo China and was administered as such under French colonial rule. Going by our experience in Cambodia, it appears that the influence of China was at best a tepid one. India's influence was clearly paramount in ancient times. 

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