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From Anthea Fraser Gupta, University of Leeds

You say that 20 per cent of the Balinese gene pool came from Indian male ancestors which implies that Bali became Hindu because of its location (7 February, p 43).

Many readers may not realise that Bali is a relic area of Hinduism. Hinduism and, later, Buddhism, dominated the whole of south-east Asia from around the 1st to the 16th century. Rulers of many places, including Java, Bali, and the Malay peninsula, adopted Hindu practices, and had links at many levels with India and with other cultures influenced by India (such as those in what is now Thailand).

From the 16th century onwards, most of the rulers converted to Islam, but Bali remained Hindu.

I wonder whether the Brahmans in Bali had the highest percentage of Indian YDNA? One of the groups imported by the Hindu rulers was priests, some of whom would have been likely to have moved from Java to Bali when their masters there became Muslim.

Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK