Archipelago-subcontinent ties ancient

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

A global trade system involving Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Mediterranean basin might have existed since pre-historic times based on various archaeological findings on the island of Bali and several archaeological sites across Indonesia, a noted archaeologist says.

I Wayan Ardhika, professor of archaeology at the University of Udayana in Denpasar, theorized that the findings in northeastern coast of Bali, especially at the pre-historic sites of Sembiran and Pacung revealed innumerable Indian ceramics, believed to be the largest collection of ancient Indian-made roulette ware (between 150 BC and AD 200) in Indonesia.

Further evidence includes glass beads, carnelian beads (believed to be brought from India) and gold foil eye covers found in Gilimanuk, West Bali, and in sarcophagus burial sites in Pangkungliplip, the professor said.

"Archaeological finds suggest that there were strong indications of contacts between India and Indonesia, particularly Bali. These contacts might have been stimulated by the emergence of an ancient trade system in the region," he told a seminar here on Saturday.

Jointly organized by the Indian Embassy, the Indian Cultural Center in Bali and the University of Udayana, the seminar titled India-Indonesia Cultural Relations, was part of the state university's anniversary.

"The seminar is another milestone in efforts to strengthen relations between the two countries," Indian Ambassador to Indonesia H.K. Singh said while opening the one-day seminar attended by scholars from India and Indonesia.

"Friendly relations between India and Indonesia have been strong since ancient times and have continued to be so in modern times," the ambassador told The Jakarta Post after the seminar.

While in the past, Indian influences were obvious in many fields including religion, culture, arts and architecture, the present relations between the two nations are marked by various joint projects in several sectors including science and technology, education, human resource development, information technology, trade and investment and many other fields of cooperation.

"We are happy to be able to take part in human resource development cooperation by providing training and education for Indonesian government officials in diverse kinds of courses and workshops in areas of governance such as mass communications, auditing, accounting, etc.," the envoy explained.

In the field of education, the Indian government has doubled its scholarship programs from 75 in the last two years to 150 scholarships a year for under-graduate, graduate and post graduate programs in universities across India and specialized training programs.

"Indonesia is among the largest recipients of India's scholarship programs. We are eager to increase the quota in the coming years," he said.

Three books were launched on the occasion. They were published by an industrialist from Mumbai and chairman of the Somaiya trust, Dr. S.K. Somaiya, who came from India for the occasion. The first was Dictionary of Sanskrit words in Southeast Asia, of which the Indonesian section was jointly compiled by Prof. Edi Sedyawati and Dr. Somvir. The other two books written by Dr. Somvir are Niti Sataka and 108 Vedic hymns.