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travelled along with the traders. Traders normally Fa Xian came to India about 1600 years ago,
accepted a pilgrim in their caravan. Xuan Zang came about 1400 years ago and

Chinese Pilgrims : I-Qing came 50 years after Xuan Zang. Their
Three Chinese pilgrims main purpose was to visit the places associated
became quite famous and with Buddha and Buddhism.
their names are; Fa Xian The accounts of these pilgrims give valuable
(pronounced as Fa Hian), information about this period. We come to know
Xuan Zang (pronounced about the tortuous routes, dangers involved in
as Huen Sang) and I – travel, social life in India and many more; from
Quing. All of them were their accounts.
Buddhist pilgrims.

Chinese Pilgrims

HOW FA XIAN RETURNED TO CHINA He says it took him 90 days to reach Java where
Bengal was the place from where Fa Xian began he broke the journey for five months and then
his return journey. He boarded a ship in which boarded another merchant ship that took him
merchants were going on trade trips. Barely two back to China.
days after he had boarded the ship, a huge storm Xuan Zang decided to take the road route back
struck. The ship was loaded to its full capacity to China (through the north-west and central
and it was difficult for the ship to sail smoothly in Asia). In his belongings, which he carried on the
that storm with such a heavy load. The passen- backs of 20 horses, were the statue of Buddha,
gers feared that the ship would sink, so in order made of gold, silver and sandalwood and along
to lighten the load they began to throw their with this, he had six hundred manuscripts with
merchandise over board and save themselves. Fa him. He further states that 50 of the manuscripts
Xian, too, had to throw his share of things, so he were lost in transit, when the boat in which he
decided to throw away his personal belongings was crossing the Indus, capsized. He spent the
but clung to his books and statues of Buddha rest of his life, translating the leftover manuscripts
that he had collected from all over the world he from Sanskrit into Chinese.
had travelled. 13 days later, the storm stopped
and they were back on a trouble free route. He
describes the sea as boundless to the extent that 1. Can you try and trace out the route taken by Fa
it was difficult to know east or west. They could Xian, to reach China?
know of this only by observing the sun, moon or 2. Give one reason as to why he threw his small
stars in their motion, but if it was dark, rainy personal belongings into the sea rather than the
weather, they could only steer by the wind. heavy books and statues that he was carrying?

NALANDA UNIVERSITY — A UNIQUE become a place of great scholarly debates. By
CENTRE OF BUDDHIST LEARNING the time Xuan Znag came to live at Nalanda,
The Buddhist monastery of Nalanda, in Bihar, because it had already become a famous center
was founded during the Gupta period. It had of learning. Over 5,000 students studied subjects

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