Indianization of Nusantaria

From Empire of the Winds: The Global Role of Asia’s Great Archipelago, by Philip Bowring (I.B. Tauris, 2018), Kindle pp. 92-93: Local rulers imported Indian practices as a means of strengthening their own power. They used kingship systems allied to priests and religious practices to formalize power structures, and founded dynasties from what had been often transient political entities reliant on the strength of individuals. There was no sudden transition, and it was probably not until around 400 CE that Indian cultural influence was well advanced beyond the ports, and states were using an Indian calendar and adding Indian words to local vocabulary. Indian cultural and political ideas also spread gradually up the Mekong through the Tonle Sap lake to much of modern Cambodia and Thailand’s Chao Phraya valley. Indian influence was stronger on the peninsula because of the greater presence of Indian merchants who conducted the westward trade, while those from Nusantaria took charge from…