Abstract
The post-Stalinist interest shown by the Soviet Union in the non-aligned nations of Southern Asia has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in the quantity and quality of material dealing with this area appearing in leading Soviet scholarly journals. Though there has been the usual spate of propagandistic articles lauding the growing evidences of expanding cultural, economic, and political relations between the Soviet Union on the one hand, and India, Afghanistan, Burma, and Indonesia on the other, it would be a mistake to dismiss all such Soviet endeavors as unworthy of serious attention. Much of the material reflects a diligent effort by Soviet orientalists to analyze the past and the present of the nations of Southern Asia with a view toward making up for the previous period of flagrant neglect.
