India's Connect with Global South: A Bridge of Shared Heritage

A year earlier, India had organized the first International Conference on Shared Buddhist Heritage, followed by another major Buddhist conference held in Arunachal Pradesh in the same year.

In line with its efforts to strengthen cultural ties, India’s Ministry of Culture signed Cultural Exchange Programmes (CEPs) with 78 countries in 2024—most of them from the Global South. For example, India partnered with Vietnam and Thailand to document, conserve, and digitize Indic manuscripts preserved in these countries. Similarly, the Archaeological Survey of India collaborated with Egypt for the protection and preservation of monuments, archaeological sites, and remains. Archival cooperation has also been pursued with Mozambique, Suriname, and Iran.

Experts view these engagements as key instruments of India’s cultural diplomacy. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has played an active role in promoting cultural exchange across the Global South, through initiatives in dance, music, art, and literature.

However, the term “Global South” is not just an artifact of present-day geopolitical realities or a sentiment born from only post-colonial shared experiences and aspirations. There is more intensity, more merit, and more context to its philosophy. Global South captures the historicity of the interconnectedness of the economic and cultural landscapes and social fabric of all the, otherwise known as, “third-world” countries.

First things first, India, being the largest democracy and also one of the most well-functioning ones, has been the beacon of pluralism and democratization of the global order. With its focus on multiculturalism and syncretism, well-evident from its relations across the Global South including Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania, India and the rest of the Global South have consistently focused on enhancing their engagements on various political, cultural, and economic fronts.

India’s leadership in the Global South right after the attainment of its sovereignty from British Rule speaks for itself. The beginning of the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM), joining hands with Egypt, Ghana, and Indonesia was one of the first incidents in the post-colonial period. The bond strengthened and continues to be so, due to their shared commitment to refuse any hegemony, and mutual respect for each others’ sovereignty, culture, and endurance to achieve independence and self-reliance. These are not just perfunctory words thrown here and there, these were rather the principles of political leadership, constitutions, and their citizens held strong.

But as mentioned, the relationship between India and the rest of the Global South is not quite unidirectional. It is definitely an outcome of the commonality of independence struggles and post-colonial experiences, bit it goes back to ancient times. The interaction looks back many many centuries back, through trade routes, exchange of culture, commodities and citizens.

Whether it’s the religion born on Indian lands, or the epics and the folklores, textiles, or food: the exchange has been multi-directional and multi-dimensional. For example, Ikat, a weaving pattern which implies "to tie" or "to bind" in Malay-Indonesian languages and originated in Southeast Asia, has been a very crucial part of India's textile heritage as well, with weavers from Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat producing artisanal handwoven fabric for many centuries. As a result, Indian handwoven ikkat is a much-desired textile variety across the globe. A very major part of India and its sea-trade history in the Indian Ocean in the 17-18thcentury would be half-baked without the mention of trade routes passing through the Gulf of Malaccha and the Indonesian Archipelago. Textiles from India Coromandel textiles “penetrated deep into Southeast Asian markets in the 1800s, through already established trade centres of Acheh, Melaka, Makassar and Bantam and from these to interior markets of Sumatra, Java, the Moluccas and the Malay Peninsula”.

Ramayana and Mahabharata, the epics with origins in India, have traveled across many seas and lands over centuries and got internalized into the cultures of the Southeast, assimilating with their traditions and synthesizing diverse and unique narratives.

India’s relations with African nations are also a story with aspects of trade, cuisine, colonization, and labour. From the many indentured labourers from India who were taken to South Africa and Mauritius, to the fondness of national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, and the current presence of Indian merchant communities in East and South Africa, one finds multi-faceted connections. The fusion of Indian cuisine with Southern and Eastern Africa, including countries like Ethiopia and South Africa, has led to the evolution of Afro-Indian cuisine, with famous dishes like Bunny Chow with all plant-based versions as well. Indeed, Indian soap operas have a wide base of popularity in many African countries. Many small African nations have also been quite dependent on their exports of primary products to India. India’s strong support to Africa and voice against the prevalence of apartheid has been a cornerstone of their relationship for a long.

Similarly, India’s relations with nations in the Caribbean and Oceania date back to the introduction of Indian indentured labourers in these regions, and since then the series of assimilation, fusion, and evolution began. Given India’s massive presence in these nations for ages, it is rather obvious that they not only share common and interconnected histories but also cultures, customs and traditions.

The Global South also has shared experiences of massive historical economic exploitation and repeated incidences of Western influences on their political and economic systems, crippling them further through neo-colonial economic warfare. The shared trauma of economic exploitation, resulting in vices of poverty, has also brought them together on various international platforms to collaborate and march towards the path of sustainable economic development. This is well reflected in India's bilateral and multi-lateral ties with these nations, through India's look east policy and India-Africa relations, as well India’s relations with Small Island Developing States.

What is the way forward to the past and present of this shared heritage? The vision is well-echoed in the South-South Cooperation, which refers to the exchange of knowledge, skills, resources, and technical know-how between developing countries (the Global South) to achieve shared development objectives. It's a framework for collaboration and mutual support, guided by principles like horizontality, solidarity, and respect for national sovereignty. This converges into the desire for a multi-polar world, with the amalgamation of cultural and economic systems, and not dominance of one economy, political lens, or culture over the other. The vision expands to ensure sustainable protection and support to not just each others’ economies, culture, and sovereignty but also protection of the natural environment and climate change. South-south cooperation allows us to create a coalition of resilience, solidarity, and action against poverty, discrimination at international platforms, and access to financial resources. These nations realize that their needs are humongous and overlapping, ranging from infrastructure to education, health services, employment, and enhanced standards of living. Thus, the rich past of shared cultures and heritages should act further as a fulcrum for the Global South and India to find a common platform for cooperation, sharing responsibilities, and pursuing development.