Thru’ the Desk of the Editors
India India as an ancient civilisation always believed in universal brotherhood, peaceful existence and harmony, keeping its heart open for people across the globe. The philosophy of mutual respect, tolerance and peaceful coexistence of all races, religions, faiths and community has been its primal policy of foreign relations. From time immemorial, India and countries of West Asia have been connected in terms of exchange of knowledge, goods, ideas, resources and cultures. The cultural roots between India and West Asia point towards similarities between them as no other country in Asia had sustained historical engagement with the West Asia as that of India..
Socio-economic Relations:
India‘s links with the West Asia by land as well as sea routes goes back to very ancient times. These ties between the two cultural zones consolidated gradually with fast spreading social, economic and cultural interactions between the two societies. The Arabs admired with keen interest many other aspects of Indian culture and civilization as well. They translated several Indian works on variety of subjects and went on to work out original compositions based on the treatises they translated. Other fields of Indian knowledge they studied included logic, philosophy, ethics, politics and science of war. About economic relations between them, there are accounts from mid-ninth century by travelers such as Sulaiman the merchant, Al-Masudi, IbnHnqual, Al-Idrisi, etc., which indicate flourishing commercial exchange between both.
Customs and traditions:
Social rituals of both societies manifest many common features regarding common assembly for deliberations on social and political issues, marriage proceedings, birth and death ceremonies.
Religion:
Many religious rituals and religious symbols of both societies reflect several commonalities. The Aryan diety ‗agni‘ occupies second important place among Vedic devmandal (group of gods), and that also figures prominently in Zoroastrianism as manifested in Zend-Avesta.
Trade relations:
India and West Asia had pre-historical ties since trade relations were established between civilizations of Mesopotamia and Indus Valley & Harrapa. One of mankind‘s oldest maritime trading routes ran from ancient Sumeria via Bahrain to the Indus Valley civilization and Harappa. The British imperial interests on Persian Gulf were preserved through India and at that time countries like Kuwait and Oman used rupee as genuine tender for exchanging commodities and goods in normal human chores.
Architecture:
One common feature between the two cultures lies in common architectural designs of both societies manifested in making of domes, roof arches, decorations on house walls, doors etc.
Medicines and Science & Technology:
Some Arab sources dating back to the tenth and thirteenth centuries inform us about Indian works on medicines and therapeutics that were rendered into Arabic at behest of CaliphHarun-al-Rashid, the ruler of Baghdad from AD 286 to AD 809. Indian scholars were involved in these translations. Sushruta Samhita was translated into Arabic as Kitab Shah Shun al-Hindi’, also known as Kitab i-Susurud, in Baghdad during the early 8th century. Yahya ibn Barmak facilitated a major effort at collecting and translating Sanskrit texts such as Vagbhata‘s Astangahrdaya Samhita, Ravigupta‘s Siddhasara and Sushruta Samhita
In the field of Astronomy, the Brahama-Sphuta-Siddhant better known to the Arab world as Sindluin and Khandakhadyak (known as Arkand) were brought to Baghdad by embassies from Sindh with help of Indian Scholars. They were translated into Arabic by Alfarari. Aryabhatta and Varahmihira‘s works also were studied and incorporated into scientific literature of the Arabs.
Another contribution of India to Arab civilization was mathematics. The Arabs acknowledged their debts to India by calling mathematics ‗Hindisa‖ (about India). They were quick to appreciate the decimal system with its concept of zero. These ancient historical sources testify that India did share long and profound historical relationship with West Asia.
In the new millennium there has been an extraordinary turnaround in relationship between the Gulf Cooperation Council (G.C.C.) countries and India. About 8.5 million Indians living in the region remit a huge amount of money to India. The amount of remittance coming from the region was estimated to be US $ 40 billion. The gulf region has always been significant to India because of geo-strategic location, availability of energy resources, home for Indian diaspora. India‘s trade and economic ties with the region which are around US $ 160 billion and are growing. About 60 per cent of oil is imported from this region. India has a definite interest in balanced and peaceful strategic environment in the Gulf countries which are the source of twothird of India‘s crude oil requirements and form the largest trading regional block for India, accounting for 23.7 per cent of Indian trade. India believes strongly that it is not the business of foreign countries to impose forms of government on other countries. India believes that monarchies in G.C.C. countries are a factor of stability, fully in keeping with customs, ethos and traditions of the Arabian Peninsula. India‘s position remains guided by its long-cherished goals of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, and it maintains friendly and constructive cordial relations with all the countries of the region. Excellent relations with the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have developed even further since Shri Narendra Modi became India‘s Prime Minister in May 2014. There is strong multifaceted strategic partnership between India and these countries, sketched out in many agreements they have forged in variety of fields – energy, trade, to counterterrorism and defence cooperation.
Israel has become India‘s third-largest supplier of military equipment. As one of the most hi-tech and advanced economies in the Middle East, it potentially offered greater value-added trade and investment. In July 2017 Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister to travel to Israel. During the visit, Prime Minister Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed agreements on international development, agriculture and space cooperation. The visit arguably reduced the status and influence of Palestinians in India‘s foreign policy, which was compounded by a growing rapprochement in late 2018 between Arab Gulf Arab states, reflected in the hosting of Israeli leaders by Oman and the UAE. The relationship with Israel has not damaged India‘s relations with other West Asian countries.
The Indo-Iranian economic relationship is also poised for a dramatic upsurge. India‘s relations with Iran contain both a national security and an economic dimension. Indian policy makers see relations with Iran not only as a key energy supplier but as a way to contribute to enhancing India‘s security in Central and South Asia, by containing India‘s main rival, Pakistan. For Iran and India alike, the path to constraining Pakistan lies through Afghanistan. India and Iran first agreed to cooperate on the development of trade and transport links through Central Asia and channel them towards Iran‘s Chabahar port on the Indian Ocean in 2003. But it would take another decade before the two sides were able to reach agreement with Afghanistan, in 2016. India‘s crude oil imports from Iran is the most important aspect of the economic dimension of the bilateral relationship. Since the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in January 2016, India and Iran have renewed efforts to deepen the relationship. On May 24, 2016, Prime Minister Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed a historic deal to develop the strategic port of Chabahar and thereby open transport-and-trade corridor to and through Afghanistan to Central Asia and Europe. The meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yielded nine agreements which also covered taxation, customs duties, visa requirements, along with cooperation in agricultural, health and medical sectors.
Against the backdrop of these developments, the various articles in this edition of the journal on West Asia – Changing Dynamics, Strategic Perspectives, examine the geopolitical dimensions, economic ties and other aspects of India's links with West Asia — a region that plays a vital role in India's economy and its future. The growth of India‘s power and its active diplomacy can be seen in its renewed focus on West Asia.
