Indianisation (also spelt as Indianization) may refer to the spread of Indian languages, culture, diaspora, cuisines, economic reach and impact beyond the Indian subcontinent.
History
Ancient era
Indianisation took place in Southeast Asia mainly from the first millennium onwards through trade and religion.[1]
Colonial era
The term Indianisation was used in British India to describe the inclusion of native people in running India. For example, the Indian Armed Force began to Indianise in 1917.[2] In the early 20th century, discourse around Indianisation also revolved around the emerging scholarship on an ancient Greater India and the possibility to re-assert India’s value and independence. Initially, the theory considered it likely that Indians had colonised Southeast Asia in developing it, though later it became clear that influence occurred mainly through trade and peaceful contact.[3]
Indian cultural influence
Historical spread of Indian culture beyond India proper:
- Indomania or Indophilia refers to the special interest that Indian culture has generated in the world, more specifically the western world where though the 19th century European writers had seen India as a cradle of civilization, their romantic vision of India was gradually replaced by “Indophobia“.[4] Indology has evolved as the academic study of Indian history and culture, which is sometimes replaced by the term “South Asian studies”.[5]
- East Indies or Indies in Southeast Asia under Indian cultural influence, e.g. Indonesia and Philippines
- Indochina, Indianised Southeast Asia under French colonial rule
Indian inventions & STEM influence
- List of Indian inventions and discoveries
- Indian numeral system, disseminated from India to Arabia and then to Europe.
Indian soft power
Global spread of Indian soft power:
- Global influence of India’s:
- Architecture
- Cuisine
- Martial arts, especially on Southeast Asian martial arts
- Movies and Bollywood
- Music
- Physical culture
- India at the Big Four international beauty pageants
Names
- Global influence of India in names of people
- Global influence of India in names of places
- Influence of Indian honorifics in Southeast Asia
- Renaming of cities in India, for decolonisation and re-indianisation of city names
Hard power
India, one of the emerging superpower and existing regional power ranked second in Asia Power Index, has world’s third largest military in terms of number of active soldiers, among world’s top five spender on annual military budget, and ranks moderate in terms of per capita Militarization Index.
- Overseas military bases of India of Indian Military
- Equipment of the Indian Army
- India and weapons of mass destruction
- Weapon systems of the Indian Navy
- List of active Indian military aircraft
- Guided missiles of India
- Indian military satellites
- Indian Human Spaceflight Programme
- Defence industry of India
Indian economic impact on the world
Impact of Economy of India on world economy as well as globalisation:
- Current GDP (PPP), India is ranked on 3rd place
- Current Nominal GDP, India is ranked on 4th place
- Current GDP growth rate, India is ranked among top 7
- Current top recipient of remittance, India is ranked on 1st place for last several years
- Production in India, one of the top producer and consumer country
- Foreign trade of India
- Exports of India
- Business process outsourcing to India
- H-1B visa, over 80% of all these visas are granted to Indian IT professionals
- Pharmaceutical industry in India
- Exports of India
Indian diaspora
Global Indian diaspora is world’s largest diaspora, which includes NRIs, OCI, PIO, and mixed races:
- Indian diaspora (PIO and NRI), world’s largest diaspora
- Overseas Citizenship of India
- List of heads of state and government of Indian origin, Indian diaspora’s influence on policy making of other nations
- List of foreign politicians of Indian origin, Indian diaspora’s influence on policy making of other nations
- British colonial era diaspora
- Coolies, Girmityas, and Indian indentured labourers, such as Indian South Africans, Malaysian Indians, Indo-Caribbeans, Indo-Fijians, Mauritians of Indian origin, Indian diaspora in Southeast Africa, Indian Singaporeans
- Anglo-Indians, such as Eurasians in Singapore, Irish Indians, Luso-Indian, Macanese people, Scottish-Indian
- Commonwealth diaspora – Diaspora of the British Commonwealth
- Other mixed diaspora
- Indian-origin religions diaspora:
- Buddhist diaspora: Tibetan diaspora
- Hindu diaspora: Bengali Hindu diaspora
- Jain diaspora
- Sikh diaspora
- Foreign-origin religions diaspora of overseas Indians
- Global influence of Indian diaspora organisations and lobby groups
See also
- Acculturation – Adjusting to a new cultural environment
- Arabization – Process of growing Arab influence on non-Arab populations
- Christianization – Conversion of society or culture to Christianity
- Islamization – History of Islam
- Persianization – Cultural assimilation of Persian traits
- Westernization – Global adoption of western culture and values
- Americanization – Global influence of US culture
- Anglicization – Form of cultural assimilation
References
- ^ Smith, Monica (1999-01-01). ““Indianization” from the Indian Point of View: Trade and Cultural Contacts with Southeast Asia in the Early First Millennium C.E.”. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 42 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1163/1568520991445588. ISSN 1568-5209.
- ^ Sundaram, Chandar S. (2019-04-25). Indianization, the Officer Corps, and the Indian Army: The Forgotten Debate, 1817–1917. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-1-4985-7952-0.
- ^ Vivekanandan, Jayashree (2018-01-02). “Indianisation or indigenisation? Greater India and the politics of cultural diffusionism”. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. 56 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1080/14662043.2018.1411232. ISSN 1466-2043.
- ^ Trautmann, Thomas R. 1997, Aryans and British India. Berkeley: University of California Press., Bryant 2001.
- ^ “Indology | Definition of Indology by Lexico”. Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019.
- ^ Statistical Review of World Energy 2024, Energy Institute, 2024, accessed March 2026.
- ^ Annual Statistical Bulletin 2024, OPEC, 2024, accessed March 2026.