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This book emphasizes the enormous historical importance of the varied cultural interactions across the Asian regions in the pre-modern and early modern periods. It discusses the long-standing engagement between India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, and the Southeast and Central Asian regions, examining the historical contexts in which these interactions evolved and the avenues, agents, and manifestations of cultural transmission. It addresses issues ranging from war and diplomacy to trade and shipwrecks; from the making of grand monumental edifices to the circulation of coveted carpets and small artefacts; and from the religious to the secular domains in the exchange of cultural ideas and forms.

Underlining the intersection of politics, trade, religion, and intellectual and artistic exchange, these essays by leading scholars show how certain ideas and forms in religion, art, and literature were selected, assimilated and transformed as they travelled from one region to another. The book points to the urgent need for sustained collaborative and inter-disciplinary research in the field of Asian studies and for the need to arrive at new, more comprehensive understandings of early Asian interactions.