Asian Encounters ─ Exploring Connected Histories

The centuries-old interactions between the different regions of Asia took various forms including the migration of people, trade in raw materials and goods, and the exchange of religious, literary, and aesthetic ideas and forms. Covering diverse aspects of these interactions, this volume studies the connections between India and other parts of Asia including China and Southeast Asia.

It, therefore, approaches the subject of Asian cultural interactions during the pre-modern and early modern periods through the prism of politics, art, religion, and trade. By bringing together these inter-related aspects of cultural encounters, it explores the complex connected histories of the Asian people in a comprehensive manner.

The diversities of cultural interactions addressed in this book range from issues of war and diplomacy to trade, trade routes and ship-wrecks; from the making of grand monumental edifices to the circulation of tiny terracottas and coveted carpets, and from the religious to the secular domains in the exchange of cultural ideas and forms. Crucial for a comprehensive understanding of contemporary networks between the Indian subcontinent and various other parts of Asia, this work shows that interactions across cultures in pre-modern Asia were motivated not only by commercial but also cultural ties and explores the historical context in which they took place.

Upinder Singh is Professor in the Department of History, University of Delhi

Parul Pandya Dhar is Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of History, University of Delhi.