Ancient Indian history with its special climate, and religion especially Buddhism was the center of attraction for foreigners. Travelers from China visited India along with Rome, Greece, Iran, and Arabia. Chinese travelers came to India inspired by Buddhism. Come, in this blog, we will know about those prominent Chinese travelers who came to India.
.jpg "Foreign travelers to ancient India - with reference to major Chinese travelers")
Major Chinese travelers
In ancient times, there was a lot of development of knowledge, science, trade, religion, and spirituality in the Indian subcontinent. The news of this development reached Persia, Greece, and Rome orally through traders. Because of this, traders, tourists, Buddhist monks, and many foreign invaders also kept coming to India.
Some of them wrote memoirs. Some invaders like Sikandar, Babur, or Ghaznavi also brought with them poets and writers who wrote articles on northern India at that time. Such articles, books, and maps have proved to be very important in knowing history. The first part of this article, it was written about Greek travelers, now this article mentions Chinese travelers. This information is collected from the internet. Please read history books for more details.
The Chinese travelers were mainly Buddhist monks, whose main reason for coming was the knowledge and deep study of Buddhism. But his writings about the roads, villages, cities, and governance of that time are a good means of knowing history.
Fahien (Fahien or Faxian)
Image Sources:Wikipedia
He was the first Chinese traveler to visit India. He was born in the year 337 and died in the year 422. Fahien became a Buddhist monk at an early age. He had a great desire that the Buddhist text 'Tripitak' should be read in the original language. For this, along with his companions Hui-ching, Taocheng, Hui-ming, and Huiwei, crossed the Gobi desert and the icy pass and reached Pataliputra. When Fahien reached Pataliputra, it was ruled by Chandragupta (II) Vikramaditya. This rule lasted till 380-412 AD.
Our senior citizen friends note that Fa-Hien left China at the age of 65 and when he returned, he was 77. Fahien's route was very difficult and it is difficult to imagine how he would have traveled. He made his journey via Shenshen, Dunhuang, Khotan, Kandahar, and Peshawar.
He lived in several Buddhist monasteries in northern India and also learned Sanskrit. On the return voyage from Sri Lanka, a storm hit on the way and after about 100 days the ship left for Java (Indonesia). From there he reached China and translated many Buddhist texts. Along with this, Fahyan has discussed in detail the ancient silk route, religion, society, and customs in his book 'Fahyan's Journey'. This book is also called 'record of Buddhist countries'. These books were published in the year 414.
He wrote about the rule of Chandragupta (II) Vikramaditya that the people were happy, taxes were less, physical or capital punishment was not given, only monetary punishment was given.
Sanyugan
It came to India in 518 AD. He traveled to Buddhist monasteries in northern India for three years.
Hiuen Tsang (Hiuen Tsang or Hiuen Tsang):
Image-Wikipedia
Hiuen Tsang or Yuwen Chang was another important Chinese Buddhist monk traveler whose writings discuss India, religion, society, and customs of the time. It is estimated that he was born in China around 600 and died around 664. He became a Buddhist monk at the age of just twenty.
Hiuen Tsang left for India at the age of 29 for the purpose of pilgrimage to Buddhist sites. Hiuen Tsang's path was slightly different. He came to North India via Turfan, Kucha, Tashkent, Samarkand, and from there Hindukush. After living in different parts of India - Kashmir, Punjab, and Magadha from 629 to 645, he also went to South India. Hiuen studied Sanskrit and Buddhism at Nalanda. For this reason, Hiuen Tsang's name reached King Harshavardhan (born in 590 AD, became king in 606 AD, and died in 647 AD) and spent a lot of time in Kannauj on the invitation of the king.
Due to political recognition, Hiuen Tsang's further journey became easier. On his way back he took with him 657 articles, books, and texts. Around the year 645, Hiuen Tsang published his 442-page book 'Hiuen Tsang's Travels to India'. He has written about Emperor Harshavardhana that during his reign crimes were less and criminals were given social boycotts or economic punishment. The emperor's army consisted of fifty thousand soldiers, one lakh horsemen, and sixty thousand elephants.
The king used to go on inspection several times a year. In the first part of the day he used to do Raj work and in the second part he used to do religious work. An excerpt from the Hindi translation of Hiuen Tsang's book -
Takshashilo (Taxashila): The kingdom of Taxila is 2000 m wide and the area of the capital is 10 m. Ever since it came under Kashmir's authority. This country is famous for its good crops. Crops are good. There are many rivers and springs. People are brave and courageous and believe in the Ratnatraya. Although there are many unions, all of them are ruined. And there are broken ones in which the number of sadhus is also just a name. These people are the followers of the Mahayana sect.
Itsing (I Ching):
Image-Wikipedia
Itsing was a Chinese Buddhist monk who came to India in 675 AD. Instead of traveling through the mountains, he did his journey by sea from Sumatra. He started the journey from China with 37 monks but Itsing was left alone during the sea journey. Itsing stayed at Nalanda University for ten years where he learned Sanskrit and studied Buddhism. On his return, he took with him 400 copies of Sutta Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka, and Abhidhamma Pitaka. From 700 to 712 AD, Itsing published translations of 56 texts. One of his major books was 'Description of Buddhism prevalent in India and Malay Islands'.
Like the first Chinese travelers, he did not describe the political and governance system of North India but made an important discussion on Buddhism and Sanskrit literature of that time. He wrote that King Shrigupta had built a Chinese temple on the river bank some distance away from Nalanda. King Harsh Vardhan's charity and love of religion have been praised.
