INDIAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON EARLY MALAY SOCIETY: CULTURAL TRANSMISSION, ADAPTATION AND CIVILIZATION EXCHANGE

Abstract

Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) played a significant role in shaping early Malay society through sustained maritime interactions across the Indian Ocean, facilitating extensive cultural, intellectual, and institutional exchanges. These interactions enabled the transmission of religious philosophies, political frameworks, linguistic traditions, and artistic expressions that profoundly influenced the socio-cultural evolution of the Malay world. This study aims to examine the processes of cultural transmission, adaptation, and civilizational exchange between India and early Malay societies. The study employs a qualitative and interdisciplinary research methodology based on the analysis and synthesis of historical, literary, epigraphic, and secondary scholarly sources. Relevant sources were selected through thematic relevance to India–Malay interactions and critically examined using historical-analytical and comparative approaches to understand patterns of cultural adaptation and localization. The findings reveal that elements such as Hindu-Buddhist cosmology, Sanskrit-derived vocabulary, concepts of divine kingship, legal-administrative systems, and aesthetic traditions were selectively incorporated into Malay socio-political and cultural structures. However, these influences were not passively adopted; rather, they were actively reinterpreted and localized in accordance with indigenous belief systems and regional contexts. The study concludes that IKS functioned as a dynamic and interactive knowledge network rather than a unidirectional cultural imposition, contributing to the emergence of a distinctive and hybrid Malay civilizational identity shaped by transregional connectivity and intercultural dialogue.