There are two main reasons behind the cultural expansion of India:
1. Trade Exchange
2. The trend of Religious Treatises/Missions
This was the result of commercial and trade exchange with the countries like China, Korea, Philippines, etc. that Buddhism spread rapidly and Buddhist culture was comprehensively embraced in such countries. Due to this, in this first millennium BC, many Indians, in large number, settled and established their colonies and had their kingdoms at different places in Indonesia and entire Indo – China.
Thus, India began to exercise a profound cultural influence on its neighbours to the east as a result of trading and peaceful penetration by missionaries and its result can be seen even today. The priests and Buddhists living in Siam in Bangkok and Cambodia wear ‘Janeu’ and worship idols of Buddha and Hindu Gods and Goddesses and perform religious priestly rituals.
Till date, the subject of dramas, dances, puppet shows, etc. are taken from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Hindu mythology. This spiritual and cultural affinity became an inseparable part of their ethos and way of life. The result of commercial trade exchange with the countries was that Buddhism spread rapidly and Buddhist culture was comprehensively embraced in such countries
Dharmratna and Kashyap Matang, the two Buddhist monks, were the first missionaries to go to China, who took along Buddhist scriptures and ashes of Lord Buddha along with them. This proves that commercial trade exchange with the countries, and also the spread of cultural exchange was done by India.
