The Cultural History of Lower Krsna Valley: Its Contacts with Southeast Asia

This book mainly confines itself to the study of cultural history of Krsna – Guntur dists, (lower Krsna valley), the hard core area of Andhra Pradesh in the context of establishing its cultural relations with the Southeast Asian countries including Srilanka. It tries to make it clear that the lower Krsna Valley was the life centre of entire Andhradesa. Thereafter it diffused in establishing its pacified cultural relationship with Southeast Asian countries. The cultural contacts of lower Krsna Valley and Southeast Asia were firmly established, directly and indirectly through Srilanka. In this venture of facilitating such contacts, the navigable Krsna played no small role. The intensified cultural interactions between Southern India and Southeast Asia can well be ascertained through many evidences. An important finding in this study indicates, that the various Kun lun elements of Southeast Asia were emanated from Southeast India and have been introduced there by the Kaundinya immigrants of Krsna Valley. While carefully deviating from the stereo-typed way of eulogising the past Indian cultural expansion of Southeast Asia, this book stresses the reciprocal cultural interaction of the countries concerned rather than giving a cultural colonisation approach.