Synopsis Mapping Connections: Indo-Thai Historical and Cultural Linkages, a collection of incisive essays by some of the best-known names from India and Thailand, is an important initiative in the growth of civilizational relations between the two countries. This book emerges from a seminar, “Indo-Thai Historical and Cultural Linkages,” co-hosted by the Royal Thai Embassy and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The Seminar was visualized as an academic preparatory exercise to further the age-long existing relationship between India and Thailand. It main objective was to analyze and outline the uniqueness of Indo-Thai culture and its contribution to the formation of a global Asian for at least two thousand years of recorded history. The Seminar, and by extension, this volume of essays, provides new directions in linguistic studies, offering further clarities about the process of Indo-Thai cultural contacts. It is also hoped that this ongoing process of studying language, religion, society and art-archaeology will help in identifying the linkages in the contemporary fields of economy, trade, science and technology as essential components to build vital future programmes of cooperation between India and Thailand.