From Epics To Economics: Role Of Indianization In Shaping The Contemporary Relations Between India And Indonesia

By: Aaquil Ahmed

The rela­tion between India and Indone­sia has built over the cen­turies, exhibit­ing and intrigu­ing inter­ac­tions between reli­gion, cul­ture, lan­guage and trade. The phe­nom­e­non of Indi­an­iza­tion has played a vital role into the politi­co-reli­gious-arts lives of Indone­sians; the new­er waves of con­tem­po­rary cul­tur­al and eco­nom­ic rela­tions inject fresh­ness to this rela­tion.

Through­out the Indone­sian his­to­ry, it has con­tributed pos­i­tive­ly to flour­ish­ing Indi­an­iza­tion with Hin­du-Bud­dhist influ­ence. Indi­an lan­guage and reli­gious cus­toms cou­pled with pat­terns socio-polit­i­cal­ly dom­i­nat­ed king­doms like as Majapahit (1294–1520 AD) and Sri­wi­jaya (650‑1350 AD). Tra­di­tion­al dances such as Wayang Kulit along with tra­di­tion­al ways of the fine arts were based on Ramayana and Mahab­hara­ta epics influ­enc­ing Indone­sian cul­ture which gave it grounds for sus­tain­able inter­ac­tion. The his­to­ry of Indi­an­iza­tion has opened new chan­nels of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, in addi­tion to forg­ing the present bilat­er­al link between the two coun­tries. By 2024, bilat­er­al trade is expect­ed to cross $20 bil­lion, with Indone­sia becom­ing Indi­a’s sec­ond-largest ASEAN eco­nom­ic part­ner.

That, there­fore, indi­cates that eco­nom­ic inter­ac­tion has come to take pri­ma­cy in the mod­ern peri­od. Trade com­po­nents com­prise tex­tiles at $1 bil­lion apiece, coal at $4 bil­lion, and palm oil at $6 bil­lion. Such strong eco­nom­ic inter­ac­tion has been pos­si­ble owing to ear­li­er agree­ments such as the Com­pre­hen­sive Eco­nom­ic Coop­er­a­tion Agree­ment of 2005 and the Dou­ble Tax­a­tion Avoid­ance Agree­ment of 1986.

Tourism is yet anoth­er dynam­ic con­nec­tion in this rela­tion­ship. In 2025, over a mil­lion Indi­an tourists are expect­ed to arrive in Indone­sia as a des­ti­na­tion of choice, for exam­ples tem­ples of Borobudur and Pram­banan a major reli­gious tourist site for Indi­an. Tourism dri­ven Indi­an­iza­tion is linked with eco­nom­ic and cul­tur­al reci­procity, also Indi­an tourist spend­ing the $1000 an aver­age in every vis­it. Besides trade and tourism, coop­er­a­tion in tra­di­tion­al med­i­cine is anoth­er exam­ple of inno­v­a­tive cul­tur­al inte­gra­tion. For instance, the Indone­sia-India Biore­source Con­sor­tium seeks to inte­grate Jamu and Ayurve­da prac­tices to pro­mote bio­di­ver­si­ty and pro­tect tra­di­tion­al knowl­edge.

The link between India and Indone­sia is a per­fect mix of shared her­itage and strate­gic part­ner­ship, from the marine trades of the ancient world to the each oth­er cur­rent dynam­ic eco­nom­ic con­nec­tions. A new and more sus­tain­able lega­cy of Indi­an­iza­tion will be a cul­tur­al­ly and eco­nom­i­cal­ly much-need­ed bridge to a clear­er, brighter and pros­per­ous future two of Asi­a’s most well-known pow­er­hous­es as the two nations increas­ing­ly con­verge with one anoth­er.