ABSTRACT
As crossroads of maritime trade between east and west, Southeast Asia had long been exposed to external influences-from India, China and later Europe. Influences which the region had ‘localized’, i.e. selectively absorbed, adapted and accommodated within its own indigenous traditions. From the early centuries AD to the nineteenth century (even now), India had maintained strong economic links with Southeast Asia. Besides commercial links, India was an important source of inspiration for the peoples in this region for its religious, political, philosophical, literary and aesthetic exports. This chapter does not attempt the ambitious goal of explicating such varied links that span such a long period of time. Its more modest aim is to focus on Aceh-India commercial and literary relations in the seventeenth century. Based on Aceh’s unique location at the northern-most tip of the island of Sumatra and the first land on sight by merchants traversing the Indian Ocean on its way south, Aceh had more links and in turn was more influenced by India than any other state in the Malay Archipelago. These influences were in turn transmitted through Aceh to the rest of Southeast Asia.
