For millennia, the ideas, epics and aesthetics of Indian civilization have sailed with the monsoon winds, walked with pilgrims, and travelled with traders to the lands of Southeast Asia. As these relics travelled from India to Southeast Asia, they retraced the ancient path of the Dhamma, reminding us that compassion and wisdom have always flowed freely across Asia’s borders. The repatriation of the Leiden copper plates from Belgium, linked to the great Chola rulers and their maritime exchanges with Southeast Asia, is one such moment. Southeast Asia is not a distant region for us; it is family. We will continue to invest in preserving shared heritage, in celebrating shared epics, and in creating new avenues, whether in culture, education, tourism or technology, for our peoples to know each other better.