India and China: An Interface

Abstract

Human mind swims in the dark waters of deluge and dissatisfaction and varied human frailties in search of Knowledge to dispel this darkness. The Vedic prayer of Tamso ma jyotirgamaya underlines this quest. Om asto ma sadgamaya. Tamso ma sadagamaya mrityorya amrita gamaya. Om shanti shanti shanti.. Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (1.328)

Om, from falsehood lead me to Truth, From Darkness lead me to light, from death to immortality, peace in three states of life: physical, mental, and spiritual. This journey traverses across geographical and man- made boundaries and cross cultural interactions. This interface created a historical narrative enriching the corpus of all the disciplines of Knowledge.

A number of factors facilitated the interface between India and China. One of the significant factors has been the trade routes connecting the different geographical regions despite the existence of hazardous terrain. The well-known routes were the Silk route and the Sea route. There are references to both the countries in the ancient Indian literature—Vedas, epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. and the Chinese records.  The Indian monks as well as monks from Central Asia travelled to China and became instrumental in spreading Buddhism there through their translation works, establishment of monasteries etc. An attempt has been made here to present a detailed discussion on some of the monks who travelled to China and vice versa. The list is not exhaustive. The discussion is also made about the Chinese monks who visited India. The travelogues have provided a lot of information about the geography of India, Buddhist Stupas and Monasteries, Indian culture, climate, and calendar etc.