d and
hindered the importation of foreign creeds and though we may see some
resemblance between Sufis and Vedantists, it does not appear that the
Moslim civilization of Iran owed much to Hinduism.

But in all Asia north and east of India, excluding most of Siberia but
including the Malay Archipelago, Indian influence is obvious. Though
primarily connected with religion it includes much more, such as
architecture, painting and other arts, an Indian alphabet, a
vocabulary of Indian words borrowed or translated, legends and
customs. The whole life of such diverse countries as Tibet, Burma, and
Java would have been different had they had no connection with India.

In these and many other regions the Hindus must have found a low state
of civilization, but in the Far East they encountered a culture
comparable with their own. There was no question of colonizing or
civilizing rude races. India and China met as equals, not hostile but
also not congenial, a priest and a statesman, and the statesman made
large concessions to the priest. Buddhism produced a great
fermentation and controversy in Chinese thought, but though its
fortunes varied it hardly ever became as in Burma and Ceylon the
national religion. It was, as a Chinese Emperor once said, one of the
two wings of a bird. The Chinese characters did not give way to an
Indian alphabet nor did the Confucian Classics fall into desuetude.
The subjects of Chinese and Japanese pictures may be Buddhist, the
plan and ornaments of their temples Indian, yet judged as works of art
the pictures and temples are indigenous. But for all that one has only
to compare the China of the Hans with the China of the T'angs to see
how great was the change wrought by India.

This outgrowing of Indian influence, so long continued and so wide in
extent, was naturally not the result of any one impulse. At no time
can we see in India any passion of discovery, any fever of conquest
such as possessed Europe when the New World and the route to the East
round the Cape were discovered. India's expansion was slow, generally
peaceful and attracted little attention at home. Partly it was due to
the natural permeation and infiltration of a superior culture beyond
its own borders, but it is equally natural that this gradual process
should have been sometimes accelerated by force of arms. The Hindus
produced no Tamerlanes or Babers, but a series of expeditions, spread
over long ages, but still not few in number,