VISAKHAPATNAM: Indians and Armenians have a history going back centuries dating back to 149 BC, according to Achal Kumar Malhotra, a former Indian ambassador to

.

Speaking to TOI on the sidelines of a guest lecture at Andhra University on ‘India’s Foreign Policy: Current Priorities and Relevance of SAARC’, Malhotra said two Indian princes with their retinue, troops and people travelled all the way to Armenia, which is some 4,000 km away from India, in the second century BC. “They were offered a royal reception by the then king of Armenia, who gave them a vast chunk of land as their principality upon which they built their colonies. The Indians and Armenians lived together for almost 450 years during which they worshipped multiple gods and goddesses, which could explain the harmonious

relations

,” Malhotra said.

He said in the year 301 AD, the Armenian king declared and adopted Christianity as the state religion. Despite the initial resistance from both the Indians and some of the Armenians against the dissemination and establishment of the new religion, all the people were evangelised by force or persuasion.

“Nobody knows whether all the Hindus were also converted to Christianity or left the country as there was no mention of Indians in the Armenian history from the 4th century,” said Malhotra.

The ‘History of Taron’, written by fourth century author

, depicted all these details of Hindu migration to Armenia. “Even hundreds of Armenians lived in India during medieval and British period. They built at least five to six churches in India and the churches constructed by them in Chennai and Kolkata are still intact. At a time when India was heading towards Independence, they misread the situation and miscalculated India’s future. As the majority of them were merchants, a mass exodus of Armenians was observed to Australia, United States, New Zealand, etc. before India’s Independence,” said Malhotra.

Malhotra opined it was inevitable for India and China to work together if they want to ensure that the 21st Century belongs to Asia. “If they keep fighting with each other, somebody else will benefit and Asia will never a superpower,” said Malhotra.