SHRI SAI LEELA - Under Construction

SHRI SAI LEELA – APRIL 1986the Land-Siva) whom they identify with Po Adam, the ancestor ofmankind. Other Hindu traces in Annamese Islam are: the head priestin pro gru or ong guru. Guru being a Sanskrit word and all Muslimclergy in Annam are addressed as acar (Acharya, preceptor inSanskrit).v. The Indonesia Archipelago and Beyond: Java, Suamatra, Bali,Borneo, the Phillipines: Java was known to Indians at the time theRamayana was composed i. e. about the first century of the Christianera. information about Java and about various other centres in SoutheastAsia was gleaned from Travellers' Tales that were current inIndians ports and inland marts from where they spread to thecountryside. The authorship of these travellers accounts goes toIndian businessmen who were engaged in overseas commerce longbefore the begining of the Christian era as also to traders andnavigators from countries of South-east Asia who plied their ships toIndian ports both in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea. Hinduimmigrants came to Java from these parts. One tradition in Java isthat Java received a Hindu colony from Kalinga (Orissa) about 75B.C. Another traditions current in Java ports suggests the firstcolonists came from Western India in the first century of the Christianera but they could not settle in their new habitant because of localepidemics and so they returned to their overseas home. Both thesetraditions are no doubt founded on facts lost in the mists of time.There is also a strong tradition in Java and elsewhere in Indonesiathat the Indian rishi Agastya visited Java with some followers andpromoted Hinduism there. Hindu influence seems to have taken rootsin Java during the early centuries of the Christian era. In 413 Fa-24WWW.SAILEELAS.ORG