Indianization

The Indian influences in early Philippine polities, particularly the influence of the Srivijaya and Majapahit thalassocracies on cultural development, is a significant area of research for scholars of Philippine, Indonesian, and Southeast Asian history, and is believed to be the source of Hindu and Buddhist elements in early Philippine culture, religion, and language. 

The latest theories suggest that the Philippines / Indian relationship was born from the interaction with the Sriwijaya and Majapahit empires, between the 10th and 14th centuries.  This places the Philippines outside the main 'Indianization' wave that occurred through South East Asia much earlier on, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. 

The Sriwijaya Empire (7th to 13th centuries) based in Palembang, Sumatra, was a Buddhist thalassocracy that engaged in light trading with the Philippines. The Majapahit Empire (1293 to 1527) was a major Hindu-Buddhist thalassocracy centered in Java in what is now Indonesia. It was very influential in the South East Asian region and left its cultural mark in the Philippines.