NEW DELHI—Two thousand years ago when there was no internet, no social media, and no matrimonial apps for cross-cultural and cross-national alliances, a 16-year-old princess from India sailed to Korea to meet her husband in a journey that changed the course of dynastic history and continues to drive forward the diplomatic and cultural relations of India and South Korea.

The marriage of Indian princess Suriratna, know as Hur Hwang-ock to the Koreans and King Kim Suro of the Gaya Kingdom in 48 AD started the Karak dynasty to which six million Koreans today historically trace their ancestry.