The oldest written artifact found in Indonesia, the Yupa inscription, dating back to the 4th century CE during the reign of King Mulavarman of the Kutai Martadipura Kingdom, now located in East Kalimantan, was engraved in the early Pallava script and Sanskrit language. It serves as the earliest evidence of contact between the two regions.

Meanwhile, India’s earliest epic Ramayana, composed by the poet Valmiki around 300 BCE, mentioned Sumatra and Java as Swarnadwipa and Yawadvipa, respectively.

But the enormous proof of India's influence in Indonesia is found in its monumental Hindu and Buddhist temples, like Prambanan and Borobudur, both commissioned by the ancient Mataram Kingdom.

Scottish historian William Dalrymple, author of The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, said that Southeast Asian rulers and elites adopted Indian religious forms and architecture but transformed them so thoroughly that these sites appear grander and differently proportioned than their Indian prototypes.

The 9th-century Prambanan complex, dedicated to the Hindu trinity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, was built following an Indian model but with distinctly Javanese motifs. Its relief panels depict a localized adaptation of the Ramayana epic.

“Prambanan’s relief is the Javanese Ramayana, not Valmiki’s Ramayana. It’s a slightly different version,” Dalrymple said during a discussion hosted by the Indian Embassy in Jakarta on Oct. 22.

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