Around 1200 years ago, in 731 CE, a 12 year old boy sailed all the way from Champa, present day central and southern Vietnam, to Kanchipuram, the powerful Pallava capital of the time, and was anointed King. Few people who come across the name of the 8th century Pallava ruler King Nandivarman II, realise that he wasn't a home born heir- or that he came from so far afield.

Since ancient times, India has had close links with South East Asian counties like Vietnam and Cambodia, which were known in Indian texts as Champa (Southern Vietnam) and Kambujadesa (Cambodia) respectively. Indian merchants regularly traded with ports in Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam and often even settled there. In fact one of the oldest pieces of epigraphy found in South East Asia is the Vo Cahn inscription found in the village of Vo Cahn in central Vietnam dated to sometime in the 7th century CE. This is a Sanskrit inscription written in the Pallava-Grantha script used at the time of the Pallava dynasty from 6th to 9th century CE in South India.