Archipelago-subcontinent ties ancient

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.