The Ramayana Tradition in Southern India and its Diffusion in Southeast Asia : a philological and ethnographical study

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This study aimed at an extensive research covering such methodologies as philology and ethnology and such areas as South Asia and Southeast Asia, as different from previous disciplines of Indology or Classical Indian studies which has been restricting itself in purely philological research methods. The focus of the research project was twofold : Buddhism and Hinduism as spread in Southeast Asian countries, and the religio-cultural influences of South Asia on the formation of traditions in Southeast Asia including Indo-china, Malay peninsula and Indonesian archipelago where different religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam coexist side by side.My attention was duly paid inparticular to (1) the Thai Buddhism and the impact of international tourism thereupon, (2) Ramakien, an Thai epic of Indian origin and its royal patronage, (3) the epic tradition of present-day Myanmar, (4) the Indian epic traditions in Central and Eastern Java, and (5) the epicd tradition of Bali and its transformation under globalization and international tourism.I have so far produced several publications including independent books in different topics related to this project. In those works a new perspective to view Indian religious tradition, that of epics in particular, which historically exercised vast influence upon the formation of religious cultures and mentality of the peoples in Southeast Asia.Following the analysis of the collected materials in this project, as one of the focal points in my anticipated research, intensive coverage of the Buddhist and Hindu relics scattered in the eastern part of Java (Java Timor) will be made as the extension of this research activities.