Ancient Indians settled in these far off lands -

Latvian and Lithuanians -
The Latvian language belongs to the Baltic group of the Indo-European family of languages. Its closest and only living relative is Lithuanian (Latvian is a non-Slavic and a non-Germanic language). Latvian has inherited a lot from the Indo-European Sanskrit, and as well as Lithuanian, it has preserved a lot of archaic features in its sound system and grammar. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages are among the oldest languages in the world. These languages are closely related but are not the same. Latvian endings for nouns, for example, are shorter than Lithuanian nouns. Latvian and Lithuanian are the only remnants of the ancient Indo-European language related to Sanskrit (Thieme, 1958). Estonian is more closely related to Finnish and is part of the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Uralic languages, which also relates to the Hungarian language (Raun, 1991).
Language
Saying
Latvian:
Dievs deva zobus, Dievs dos maizes donu
Lithuanian:
Dievas davė dantis, Dievas duos duonos
Sanskrit:
Devas adāt datas, Devas dāsyati dhānās
Russian:
[Bog dal zubi, Bog dast hlyeb]
German:
Gott gab die Zähne, Gott wird das Brot geben
Meaning in English:
God gave teeth, God will give bread
Next I will compare some verb conjugations in Sanskrit, Lithuanian, Greek and Latin. One of the most striking examples is the present tense conjugation of the verb 'to bei or 'is, are.' I must point out first that apparently Proto-Indo-European had a category denoting two items, in addition to a category denoting singular and plural such as we have in English. This is called the dual. It may be hard to understand why this was necessary, since in English we get along quite well with only the singular and the plural. On the other hand, speakers of certain oriental languages wonder why it is necessary to distinguish all the time between singular and plural. A real need to distinguish singular and plural arises very occasionally. Be that as it may, Sanskrit, Lithuanian and ancient Greek have this extra, and from our point of view, superfluous category. Compare then, the following conjugations:
Sanskrit
Lithuanian
Singular
1st as-mi 'I am' 2nd asi 'thou art' 3rd as-ti 'he, she, it is'

1st es-ù (older es-mi)2nd es-ì (<*es-si) 3rd ẽs-ti 'there is' Dual s-vah 'we two are's-thah 'you two are's-tah 'they two are' ẽs-ava (older es-va)ẽs-ata (older es-ta)—————— Plural s-mah 'we are' (more than two) s-tha 'you are' (more than two) s-anti 'they are' (more than two) ẽs-ame (older es-me) ẽs-ate (older es-te) —————— (yra 'is, are' may be an innovation or may be an ancient inheritance) (Contemporary Lithuanian does not distinguish any number in the third person verbal forms.) The Indian or Aistian peoples (Aestiorum gentes) first appear on the historical scene in chapter XLV of Cornelius Tacitus' Germania. Tacitus wrote, "Passing then to the east along the shore of the Suebic (Baltic — WRS) sea, we find the tribes of the Aestii, who have the same observances and general appearance as the Suebi, while their language is more like the British tongue. They worship the Mother of the Gods. As the symbol of their religion they carry figures of boars. They believe that, without weapons or protection of any other kind, this charm preserves a devotee of the goddess from harm even among his enemies. They rarely use iron weapons, far more frequently clubs. They labour at the cultivation of crops and fruit trees with a perseverance which is in contrast with the usual indolence of the Germans. They also scour the sea, and are the only people who gather amber. They themselves call it glesum and they find it in the shallow water or actually on the shore. Like barbarians they have never discovered or inquired by what natural process it is produced." (Translation from Fyfe, 1908, 117.) Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan has been tied to cultural diffusion on the Silk Road. The major center center for Hinduism in the region was Surakhani, the site of the Atashgah mandir.
In the Middle Ages, Hindu traders visited Azerbaijan for Silk Road trade. The area was traversed by Hindu traders coming mostly from Multan and Sindh. The Atashgah (in Surakhani) was created for those traders to worship while in the area. Most of the traders left after the advent of the British Raj. The ceremonies were officiated by a Punjabi pandit [2]. The locals of the Surakhani also worshiiped at the local mandir, and the population of Hindus swelled [3]
In the 1880's the Czar of Russia, Alexander III went to Azerbaijan to witness one of the last Hindu ceremonies performed there. After the 1890's nearly all of the original Hindus in Azerbaijan had passed away or left for India. [4]

Tajikistan -
The Tocharians or Tusharas as known in Indian literature were the easternmost speakers of an Indo-European language in antiquity, inhabiting the Tarim basin and Pamir region in what is now Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwestern People's Republic of China. Their unique culture spanned from the 1st millennium BC to the end of the 1st millennium AD. Their language is called Tocharian. Their descendants are the Tajiks of Tajikistan.
Sanskrit literature in numerous instances refers to the Tocharians as Tusharas, Tukharas, Tokharas and Tuharas etc.
The Atharavaveda-Parishishta [1] associates the Tusharas with the Sakas, Yavanas and the Bahlikas [2]. It also juxtaposes the Kambojas with the Bahlikas [3]. This shows the Tusharas probably were neighbors to the Shakas, Bahlikas, Yavanas and the Kambojas in Transoxian region.
The Rishikas are said to be same people as the Yuezhis [4]. The Kushanas or Kanishkas are also the same people [5]. Prof Stein says that the Tukharas (Tokharois/Tokarais) were a branch of the Yue-chi or Yuezhi[6]. Prof P. C. Bagchi holds that the Yuezhi, Tocharioi and Tushara were identical [7]. Thus, the Rishikas, Tusharas/Tukharas (Tokharoi/Tokaroi), Kushanas and the Yuezhis probably were either a single people, or members of a confederacy. But based on the syntactical construction of the Mahabharata verse 5.5.15 [8] and v 2.27.25 [9], outstanding Sanskrit scholars like prof. Ishwa Mishra believe that the Rishikas were a section of the Kambojas i.e Parama Kambojas.

Philippines -
Historians speculate that the Philippines was under the Sri Vijaya Empire from the 4th to the 10th centuries. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, partly in Sanskrit and party in local languages, dated to April 21, 900 C.E. mentions a pardon by the Commander in Chief of Tundun, represented by the Lord Minister of Pailah, Jayadewa.
Before the Spanish colonial period, the archipelagos of Southeast Asia were under the influence of the traders of Hindu-Malayan culture, such as the Majapahit Empire, which was being supplanted by Islamic conquest by the Sultanates of Malacca, who had converted from Hinduism to Islam in 1414, and of Borneo. In the Majapahit Empire the last Hindu kings in about 1500 retreated to Bali in order to keep their culture. Influences from the subcontinent may be traced earlier before the arrivals of the Arabs and the Europeans during the 1400s and 1500s respectively. The rulers of many of the islands were called Rajas, or Rajahs. he central region, Visayas, is said to be named after the last Southeast Hindu Prince Sri Vijaya who converted to Islam after which the local Filipinos were in the process of converting to Islam. Islamization was also halted by the colonizing Catholic Spaniards.

Malayasia -
Hinduism was more prevalent in Malaysia prior to the arrival of Islam in the 15th century. Traces of Hindu influence remain in the Malay language, literature and art.
The last prince of the Srivijayan kingdom of Sumatra, after the loss to the Majapahit, founded the Sultanate of Malacca on the Straits of Malacca between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. He later converted to Islam in 1414. As the Portuguese came to trade for spices, they began to ally with the Islamic powers, which did not help the Majapahit. One third of the Bataks, particularly the Toba and Karo Bataks.
Indian settlers came to Malaysia from Tamil Nadu in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of these came to work as labourers on rubber plantations, while those who were English-educated occupied more professional positions. A minority of Indian immigrants to Malaysia during this time period came from Northern India and Sri Lanka.

Indonesia -
Hinduism in Indonesia, also known by its formal Indonesian name Agama Hindu Dharma, refers to Hinduism as practised in Indonesia. It is practised by 93% of the population of Bali, but also in Sumatra, Java (especially by the Tenggerese people on the east), Lombok and Kalimantan. Although only about 3% of Indonesian population is officially Hindu, Indonesian beliefs are too complex to classify as belonging to a single world religion. In Java in particular, a substantial number of Muslims follow a non-orthodox, Hindu-influenced form of Islam known as 'Islam Abangan' or 'Islam Kejawèn', while across the archipelago the Hindu legacy, along with the older mystic traditions, influences popular beliefs.
The Singhasari kingdom fell to Kediri. The last Singhasari king's son-in-law, Wijaya took over the kingdom by allying himself with the Mongols in 1293 and created the Majapahit kingdom. The Majapahit then turned on Kublai Khan's forces and drove them out. This established Majapahit hegemony over Java. Today there are a few remaining Hindu communities in Java. The Tenggerese, some Osings, and to some extent the Baduis are still Hindus.
Both Java and Sumatra were subject to considerable cultural influence from the Indian subcontinent during the first and second millennia of the Common Era. Many Hindu temples were built, including Prambanan near Yogyakarta, which has been designated a World Heritage Site; and Hindu kingdoms flourished, of which the most important was Majapahit.
In the sixth and seventh centuries many maritime kingdoms arose in Sumatra and Java which controlled the waters in the Straits of Malacca and flourished with the increasing sea trade between China and India and beyond. During this time, scholars from India and China visited these kingdoms to translate literary and religious texts.
Majapahit was based in Central Java, from where it ruled a large part of what is now western Indonesia. The remnants of the Majapahit kingdom shifted to Bali during the sixteenth century as Muslim kingdoms in the western part of the island gained influence.

Pakistan -
Hinduism, once the main religion in Pakistan, has endured many conquests and invasions, different rulers, and ultimately political separation from the Hindu-majority India.
In August 1947, at the end of British Raj, the population percentage of Hindus in what is today Pakistan was as high as 25%, but would drop to its current total of less than 2 % in the years since partition. It remains the hope of many that a permanent peace between India and Pakistan will go a long way in making life better for the roughly 3 million Hindus living in Pakistan. The 1998 census recorded 2,443,614 Hindus in Pakistan.
The Sindh kingdom and its rulers play an important role in the Indian epic story of the Mahabharata. In addition, there is the legend that the Pakistani city of Lahore was first founded by Lava, the son of Rama of the Ramayana. The Gandhara kingdom of the Northwest, and the legendary Gandhara peoples are also a major part of Hindu literature such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
In Tharparkar district of Sindh adjoining India, Hindu percentage is highest at 40.5% and in Badin district of same province of Sindh they are 18.5%. Sindh has the highest percentage of Hindus at 7.5%.

Tibet -
Even though Hinduism and Buddhism are essentially two different beliefs (as mentioned above), in the modern world many Tibetan Buddhists are influenced by Hindu ideals and take part in Hindu religious gatherings and discussions. It is believed that this had resulted from the increase of Tibetan refugees (including that of the Dalai Lama) in India after the People's Republic of China's occupation of Tibet to prevent Tibet from successfully declaring independence. An example of Hindu influence on Tibetan Buddhists is the practice of Yoga, which originated as a major spiritual tradition within the Hindu society, though is practiced among Buddhists throughout Tibet in China. Even with the influence in the Modern China, Hinduism is still a very minor religion in China, practiced among only a few believers.

Bangladesh -
Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Bangladesh, covering about 10.5% of the population as of 1991 census reduced from 30% at 1947 during partition with India. Bangladeshi Hinduism closely resembles the forms and customs of Hinduism practised in neighbouring West Bengal, with which Bangladesh was united until the partition of India in 1947.
The Bangladesh Liberation War resulted in one of the largest genocides of the 20th Century. While the number of casulaties is 3,000,000 and 80% of them were Hindus who bore a disproportionate brunt of the Pakistan Army's onslaught against the Bengali population of what was East Pakistan. Also, 1,00,00,000 Hindus fled Bangladesh permanently to settle in India.
An article in Time magazine dated August 2, 1971, stated "The Hindus, who account for three-fourths of the refugees and a majority of the dead, have borne the brunt of the Muslim military hatred."

Cambodia -
Cambodia was first influenced by Hinduism during the beginning of the Funan kingdom. Hinduism was one of the Khmer Empire's official religions. Combodia is the home to one of the only two temples dedicated to Brahma in the world. Angkor Wat is also a famous Hindu temple of Combodia.

Laos -
Laos used to part of Khmer Empire. The Wat Phou is one of the last influences of that period. The Laotion adaption of the Ramayana is called Phra Lak Phra Lam.

Mayanmar -
Hinduism in Myanmar is practised by less than 2% of the population (approximately 240,000), with most practioners being Burmese Indians. Because a reliable census has not been taken in Myanmar since colonial times, the given figures are rough estimates. Despite its minority designation today, Hinduism has been greatly influential in Burmese history and literature. Hinduism, along with Buddhism, greatly influenced the royal court of Burmese kings in pre-colonial times, as seen in the architecture of cities such as Bagan. Likewise, the Burmese language contains many loanwords from Sanskrit and Pali, many of which relate to religion. Several aspects of Hinduism can be found in Myanmar today. In nat worship, which is practised by the dominant Bamar ethnic group, Burmese adaptations of Hindu gods are worshipped. For example, the king of the nats, Thagyamin, is identified with the Hindu god Indra. Burmese literature has also been enriched by Hinduism, including the Burmese adaption of the Ramayana, called Yama Zatdaw. Many Hindu gods are likewise worshipped by Burmese Buddhists, including Saraswati (known as Thuyathadi in Burmese), the goddess of knowledge, who is often worshipped before examinations.

Thailand -
A number of Hindus remain in Thailand. They are mostly located in the cities. In the past, the nation came under the influence of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots. The epic, Ramakien, is based on the Ramayana. The city, Ayutthaya, is named after Ayodhya, the birthplace of Rama. Numerous rituals derived from Brahminism are preserved in rituals, such as use of holy strings and pouring of lustral water from conch shells. Furthermore, Hindu deities are worshipped by many Thais alongside Buddhism, such as the famous Erawan shrine, and statues of Ganesh, Indra, and Shiva, as well as numerous symbols relating to Hindu deities are found, e.g., Garuda, a symbol of the monarchy.

Afghanistan -
Hinduism in Afghanistan has existed for almost as long as Hinduism itself. The religion was widespread in the region until the advent of Islam.
Hinduism in Afghanistan dates back to the Vedic periods when both countries shared a common culture. Along with Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, Hinduism was among the most practiced religions among the local people, who were a heterogeneous mix of Iranian, Nurestani and Indo-Aryan background. The Hindu Shahi Kings ruled Afghanistan till 10th century AD. Afghanistan gradually converted to Islam with the Islamic conquest.The Hindu-Sikh population in Afghanistan in 1990 was estimated to number around 30,000. It is also worth noting that Afghan Hindus and Afghan Sikhs often share places of worship [1]. The main ethnic groups in Afganistan which practice Hinduism are the Punjabis, Sindhis, Kabulis, and Kandharis.

Iran -
In ancient Iran/Persia and India a set that is common to all may be reconstructed. This set is then what is in academic circles recognized as the beliefs of the Proto-Indo-Iranians, and from which the various religions of the various Indo-Iranian peoples then descended. Divinities and divine concepts that can be reconstructed for this hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranian religion include *rta (Vedic rta, Avestan asha), *sauma (Vedic Soma, Avestan Haoma), *mitra (Vedic Mitra, Avestan Mithra).
However, the beliefs developed in different ways as cultures separated and evolved. For example, while in 'Indic' branch Bhaga is a divinity in its own right, in the Iranian branch 'Baga' is a generic term for a (otherwise nameless) deity or group of deities. Similarly, the cosmological mythology of the peoples that remained on the Central Asian steppes is to a great degree unlike that of the Indians, perhaps in part because the Indians tended to focus on the divinities individually, while in Iranian lore the greater scheme - in which the divinities each play a part - gained the attention. By the time of Zoroaster, Iranian culture had also been subject to the upheavals of the Iranian Heroic Age (late Iranian Bronze Age, 1800-800 BCE), an influence that the Indians were not subject to. Moreover, the Indians, unlike the more conservative Iranians, were quite creative in their treatment of their divinities. As a result, the figures with conflated with others, or hypostatical splitting occurred, that is, aspects of a divinity developed into divinities in their own right.
Sometimes legends developed into stories altogether different from their counterparts: For example, Rig-Vedic Saraswati is linguistically and functionally cognate with Avestan *Haravati Aredvi Sura Anahita. In the Rig-Veda (6,61,7) she battles a serpent called Vritra, who has hoarded all of the earth's water. In contrast, Iranian *Haravati is the world-river that flows down from the mythical Mount Hara upon which the world rests. But *Haravati does no battle - she is blocked by an obstacle (Avestan for obstacle: verethra) placed there by Ahriman. This tale, already attested in a very early portion of the Avesta, remained in common use as late as the 1st century CE, for from that century we have a Greek inscription dedicated to "Great Anaitis of High Hara". Avestan Verethra is also evident in the name Bahrain, the city next to the great barrier that divides the Persian gulf into two.

Maldives -
"Maldives" derives from the Sanskrit maladvipa, meaning "garland of islands."Historians have established that by the fourth century A.D. Theravada Buddhism originating from Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) became the dominant religion of the people of Maldives. Some scholars believe that the name "Maldives" derives from the Sanskrit maladvipa, meaning "garland of islands." In the mid-1980s, the Maldivian government allowed the noted explorer and expert on early marine navigation, Thor Heyerdahl, to excavate ancient sites. Heyerdahl studied the ancient mounds, called hawitta by the Maldivians, found on many of the atolls. Some of his archaeological discoveries of stone figures and carvings from pre-Islamic civilizations are today exhibited in a side room of the small National Museum on Male.
Heyerdahl's research indicates that as early as 2,000 B.C. Maldives lay on the maritime trading routes of early Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Indus Valley civilizations. Heyerdahl believes that early sun-worshipping seafarers, called the Redin, first settled on the islands. Even today, many mosques in Maldives face the sun and not Mecca, lending credence to this theory. Because building space and materials were scarce, successive cultures constructed their places of worship on the foundations of previous buildings. Heyerdahl thus surmises that these sun-facing mosques were built on the ancient foundations of the Redin culture temples who were Hindu Indians settled in the islands.

Descendants of Indian traders and commoners in Central Asia - Luli

Luli or Lyuli [lju`li:] are a people from Central Asia, primarily Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. They are also known as Central Asian Gypsies or False Romas.Probably, like the Roma, they originate from India. The Luli practice Islam. They have a clan organization (Luli for clan is tupar). Division into sub-clans is also practiced. The Luli community is extremely closed towards non-Luli. [1]Luli speak a Luli dialect of Domari language.[2]Contents
1 Luli in Kyrgyzstan 2 Luli in Russia 3 References 4 External links Luli in KyrgyzstanThe Luli live in the south of Kyrgyzstan, Osh oblast. Their living standard is extremely low. Many children are devoid of education in their mother tongue and many people have no documents. Luli society is working towards improvement of their living standards and preservation of their culture.[3]Luli in RussiaIn the beginning of the 1990s, Luli started migrating into Russian cities, placing especially near railway stations and markets. At first, Russians mistakenly identified them as Tajik refugees, ethnically Tajiks and Uzbeks, due to their dress in traditional Oriental robes.Russian Romas disclaim any relationship to the Luli people. However, Russians consider the Luli to be Gypsies, due their mode of life. Many Luli move from one city to another, and many Luli women and children make a living by begging. This fact, and the association of Central Asian people with drug traffic and international terrorism, gave rise to tensions between Luli and Russians. Luli are a frequent target of Russian far right skinheads.