Vedic China

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The cultural relations between India and China can be traced back to

very early times. There are numerous references to China in Sanskrit

tests, but their chronology is sketchy. The Mahabharata refers to

China several times, including a reference to presents brought by

the Chinese at the Rajasuya Yajna of the Pandavas; also, the

Arthasastra and the Manusmriti mention China. According to French

art historian, Rene Grousset, the name China comes from "an ancient"

Sanskrit name for the regions to the east, and not, as often

supposed, from the name of the state of Ch'in," the first dynasty

established by Shih Huang Ti in 221 B.C. The Sanskrit name Cina for

China could have been derived from the small state of that name in

Chan-si in the northwest of China, which flourished in the fourth

century B.C. Scholars have pointed out that the Chinese word for

lion, shih, used long before the Chin dynasty, was derived from the

Sanskrit word, simha, and that the Greek word for China, Tzinista,

used by some later writers, appears to be derivative of the Sanskrit

Chinasthana. According to Terence Duke, martial arts went from India

to China. Fighting without weapons was a specialty of the ancient

Kshatriya warriors of India. Both Arnold Toynbee and Sir L. Wooley

speak of a ready made culture coming to China. That was the Vedic

culture of India.

 

Until recently, India and China had coexisted peacefully for over

two thousand years. This amicable relationship may have been

nurtured by the close historical and religious ties of Buddhism,

introduced to China by Indian monks at a very early stage of their

respective histories, although there are fragmentary records of

contacts anterior to the introduction of Buddhism.

 

Gerolamo Emilio Gerini (1860 -1913) has said: "During the three or

four centuries, preceding the Christian era, we find Indu (Hindu)

dynasties established by adventurers, claiming descent from the

Kshatriya potentates of northern India, ruling in upper Burma, in

Siam and Laos, in Yunnan and Tonkin, and even in most parts of

southeastern China." The Chinese literature of the third century is

full of geographic and mythological elements derived from India. "I

see no reason to doubt," comments Arthur Waley in his book, The Way

and its Power, "that the 'holy mountain-men' (sheng-hsien) described

by Lieh Tzu are Indian rishi; and when we read in Chuang Tzu of

certain Taoists who practiced movements very similar to the asanas

of Hindu yoga, it is at least a possibility that some knowledge of

the yoga technique which these rishi used had also drifted into

China."

 

 

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Bhaarat: Teacher of China

Trade & Commerce

Contributions

Bhaarat's influence on Japan

Conclusion

Articles

 

 

 

Bhaarat: Teacher of China

 

Hinduism and Buddhism, both have had profound effect on religious

and cultural life of China. Chinese early religion was based on

nature and had many things in common with Vedic Hinduism, with a

pantheon of deities.

 

 

"Never before had China seen a religion so rich in imagery, so

beautiful and captivating in ritualism and so bold in cosmological

and metaphysical speculations. Like a poor beggar suddenly halting

before a magnificent storehouse of precious stones of dazzling

brilliancy and splendor, China was overwhelmed, baffled and

overjoyed. She begged and borrowed freely from this munificent

giver. The first borrowings were chiefly from the religious life of

India, in which China's indebtedness to India can never be fully

told."

 

(source: India and World Civilization - By D. P. Singhal p. 338).

 

The story of Sun Hou Tzu, the Monkey King, and Hsuan Tsang. It is a

vicarious and humorous tale, an adventure story akin to the Hindu

epic of Ramayana, and like Ramayana, a moral tale of the finer

aspects of human endeavor which come to prevail over those of a less

worthy nature. The book ends with a dedication to India: I dedicate

this work to Buddha's pure land. May it repay the kindness of patron

and preceptor, may it mitigate the sufferings of the lost and

damned....'

 

(source: Eastern Wisdom - By Michael Jordan p -134-151).

 

Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren (1760-1842) an Egyptologist and author

of Historical researches into the politics, intercourse, and trade

of the Carthaginians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians observes that:

 

"the name China is of Hindu origin and came to us from India."

 

"M. de Guigues says that Magadha was known to the Chinese by the

name Mo-kiato, and its capital was recognized by both its Hindu name

Kusumpura, for which the Chinese wrote Kia-so-mo-pon-lo and

Pataliputra, out of which they made Patoli-tse by translating putra,

which means son in Sanskrit, into their own corresponding word, tse.

Such translation of names has thrown a Veil of obscurity over many a

name of Hindu origin. Hindu geography has suffered a great loss."

 

(source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Volume. V).

 

Lin Yutang (1895-1976) author of The Wisdom of China and India:

 

"The contact with poets, forest saints and the best wits of the

land, the glimpse into the first awakening of Ancient India's mind

as it searched, at times childishly and naively, at times with a

deep intuition, but at all times earnestly and passionately, for the

spiritual truths and the meaning of existence - this experience must

be highly stimulating to anyone, particularly because the Hindu

culture is so different and therefore so much to offer." Not until

we see the richness of the Hindu mind and its essential spirituality

can we understand India...."

 

"India was China's teacher in religion and imaginative literature,

and the world's teacher in trignometry, quandratic equations,

grammar, phonetics, Arabian Nights, animal fables, chess, as well as

in philosophy, and that she inspired Boccaccio, Goethe, Herder,

Schopenhauer, Emerson, and probably also old Aesop."

 

(source: The Wisdom of China and India - By Lin Yutang p. 3-4).

 

Sir William Jones (1746-1794) came to India as a judge of the

Supreme Court at Calcutta. He pioneered Sanskrit studies. His

admiration for Indian thought and culture was almost limitless. He

says that the Chinese assert their Hindu origin."

 

(source: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan; or the Central and

Western Rajput States - By James Tod Volume I, p. 35-57).

 

Amaury de Reincourt (1918 - ) was born in Orleans, France. He

received his B.A. from the Sorbonne and his M.A. from the University

of Algiers. He is author of several books including The American

empire and The Soul of India, he wrote: " The Chinese travelers'

description of life in India... reveals great admiration from all

concerned for the remarkable civilization displayed under their

eyes."

 

"India sent missionaries, China sending back pilgrims. It is a

striking fact that in all relations between the two civilizations,

the Chinese were always the recipient and the Indian the

donor." "Indian influence prevailed over the Chinese, and for

evident reasons: an undoubted cultural superiority owing to much

greater philosophic and religious insight, and also to a far more

flexible script."

 

(source: The Soul of India – by Amaury de Riencourt p 141 and 161).

 

 

 

China (Cinaratha) in the Epic of Mahabharata

 

It is well known that in the Mahabharata the Cinas appear with the

Kiratas among the armies of king Bhagadatta of Pragjyotisa or Assam.

In the Sabhaparvan this king is described as surrounded by the

Kiratas and the Cinas. In the Bhismaparvan, the corps of Bhagadatta,

consisting of the Kirtas and the Cinas of yellow color, appeared

like a forest of Karnikaras. It is significant that the Kiratas

represented all the people living to the east of India in the

estimation of the geographers of the Puranas. Even the dwellers of

the islands of the Eastern Archipelago were treated as Kiratas in

the Epics. The reference to their wealth of gold, silver, gems,

sandal, aloewood, textiles and fabrics clearly demonstrates their

association with the regions included in Suvarnadvipa. Thus, the

connection of the Kiratas and Cinas is a sure indication of the fact

that the Indians came to know of the Chinese through the eastern

routes and considered them as an eastern people, having affinities

to the Kiras, who were the Indo-Mongoloids, inhabiting the Tibeto-

Burman regions and the Himalayan and East Indian territories, the

word Kirata being a derivation from kiranti or kirati, the name of a

group of people in eastern Nepal.

 

 

 

 

In early Indian literature China is invariably shown to be connected

with India by a land-route across the country of the Kiratas in the

mountainous regions of the north. In the Vanaparvan of the

Mahabharata the Pandava brothers are said to have crossed the

country of the Cinas in course of their trek through the Himalayan

territory north of Badri and reached the realm of the Kirata king

Subahu. The Cinas are brought into intimate relationship with the

Himalayan people (Haimavatas) in the Sabhaparvan also. The land of

the Haimavatas is undoubtedly the Himavantappadesa of the Pali

texts, which has been identified with Tibet or Nepal. In the

Sasanavamsa this region is stated to be Cinarattha. Thus, it is

clear that China was known to the Indians as lying across the

Himalayas and was accordingly included in the Himalayan territories.

In the Nagarjunikonda inscription of Virapurusdatta, China (Cina) is

said to be lying in the Himalayas beyond Cilata or Kirata. These

references to the proximity of China to the Himalayan regions,

inhabited by the Kiratas, show that there were regular routes

through the Tibeto-Burman territories, along which the Indians could

reach China.

 

Some such land-route is implied in the remark of the Harsacarita of

Banabhatta that Arjuna conquered the Hemakuta region after passing

through Cina. Of course, the route across Central Asia is perhaps

alluded to in the itinerary of Carudatta from the Indus Delta to

China across the country of the Hunas and the Khasas, described in

the Vasudevakindi, and there is probably a reference to the sea-

route, passing through Vanga, Takkola and Suvarnadvipa, in the

Milindapanho. But there is no doubt that in a large number of

ancient Indian texts China is mentioned near the eastern Himalayan

regions, through which regular routes, connecting this country with

India, passed from fairly early times. It was along these routes

that India came into contact with China for the first time and

developed commercial relations with her, that are referred to by

Chan K'ien in the second century B.C.

 

In Yunnan there is a large number of old pagodas. Some of them are

the oldest and most beautiful in China. Their cornices and corner

decoration, showing rows of pitchers (mangala ghata), betray

unmistakable Indian influence. Many bricks of these pagodas bear

Sanskrit inscriptions, containing Buddhist mantras and formulae in a

script, which is identical with that current in Nalanda and Kamarupa

in the 9th century. The beautiful bronze statue of Avalokitesvara

from the pagoda of Ch'ung Sheng Ssu near Ta-li is an index to the

high standard of culture and craftsmanship attained by the Buddhists

of Yunan.

 

In earlier times, the people of the east, Magadha and Videha, were

in contact with Yunan, as the traditions of Purvavideha show. The

two names, Purvavideha and Gandhara, seem to represent these two

successive eastern and western streams of Indian colonial and

cultural expansion in this region.

 

Henry Rudolph Davies (1865 - ) says that Besides Buddhism, Shaivism

was also popular in Yunan as is manifest from the prevalence of the

cult of Mahakala there. This ancient Indian colony in the south of

China was the cradle of Sino-Indian cultural relationship for a long

time.

 

It was an important outpost of Indian cultural expansion along the

eastern land-routes, which Colonel Gerolamo Emilio Gerini (1860 -

1913) author of Researches on Ptolemy's geography of eastern Asia

(further India and Indo-Malay archipelago p. 122 -124 has described

as follows:

 

"During the three or four centuries, preceding the Christian era, we

find Indu (Hindu) dynasties established by adventurers, claiming

descent from the Kshatriya potentates of northern India, ruling in

upper Burma, in Siam and Laos, in Yunnan and Tonkin, and even in

most parts of southeastern China. From the Brahmaputra and Manipur

to the Tonkin Gulf we can trace a continuous string of petty states,

ruled by those scion of the Kshatriya race, using the Sanskrit or

Pali language in official documents or inscriptions; building

temples and other monuments after the Indu (Hindu) style and

employing Brahmana priests for the propitiatory ceremonies,

connected with the court and state. Among such Indu (Hindu)

monarchies (Theinni) in Burma, of Muang Hang, C'hieng Rung, Muang

Khwan and Dasarna (Luang P'hrah Bang) in the Lau country; and of

Agranagara (Hanoi) and Campa in Tonkin and Annan."

 

"The names of peoples and cities, recorded by Ptolemy in that

region, however few and imperfectly preserved, are sufficiently

significant to prove the presence of the Indu (Hindu) ruling and

civilizing element in these countries, undoubtedly not so barbarous

as the Chinese would make them appear."

 

"It is evident through the medium of those barbarians that China

received part of her civilization through India."

 

Among these colonies Tagong and upper Pugan were called Mayura;

Prome was Sriksetra; Sen-wi (Theinni) was Sivirastra; Muang Hang,

Chieng Rung and Muang Khwan were the three divisions of Ching Rung

kingdom, which the prince of Yong, named Sunandakumara, united under

Mahiyagananagara; Luang P'hrah Bang was Dasarna; Hanoi was

Agranagara; Tagaung was Brahmadesa (P'o-;o-men), where a Sanskrit

inscription, dated in Gupta era 108 – 426 A.D. refers to

Hastinapura, situated in that country; and, of course, Yunana was

Purvavideha or Gandhara. Thus, from Arakan, where the Mrohaung

inscriptions attest the efflorescence of Indian culture, language

and literature, to Yunnan, whose history we have traced above,

Indian culture made a triumphant advance in ancient times.

 

(source: Yün-nan; the link between India and the Yangtze – by Henry

Rudolph Davies Cambridge University press 1909 an India and The

World - By Buddha Prakash p. 141-150).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

India was known as T'ien-chu to the Chinese.

 

China, like Southeast Asia too, was colonized to some extent by the

ancient Hindus. The religion and culture of China are undoubtedly of

Hindu origin. According to the Hindu theory of emigration,

Kshatriyas from India went and established colonies in China. India

was known as T'ien-chu to the Chinese.

 

Colonel James Tod (1782-1835) author of Annals and Antiquities of

Rajasthan: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India has

written:

 

"The genealogies of China and Tartary declare themselves to be the

descendents of "Awar," son of the Hindu King "Pururawa."

 

According to the traditions noted in the Schuking, the ancestors of

the Chinese, conducted by Fohe, come to the plains of China 2,900

years before Christ, from the high mountains Land which lies to the

west of that country. This shows that the settlers into China were

originally inhabitants of Kashmir, Ladakh, Little Tibet and the

Punjab, which were parts of Ancient India.

 

Kakuzo Okakura, speaking of the missionary activity of Indian

Buddhists in China, says that at one time in the single province of

Lo-yang there were more than 3,000 Indian monks and 10,000 Indian

families to impress their national religion and art on Chinese soil.

 

(source: The Ideals of the East With Special Reference to the Art of

Japan - By Kakuzo Okakura p. 113).

 

Hu Shih, (1891-1962), Chinese philosopher in Republican China. He

was ambassador to the U.S. (1938-42) and chancellor of Peking

University (1946-48). He said:

 

"India conquered and dominated China culturally for two thousand

years without ever having to send a single soldier across her

border."

 

Court Bjornstjerna (1779-1847) author of The Theogony of the Hindoos

with their systems of Philosophy and Cosmogony says: " what may be

said with certainty is that the religion of China came from India."

 

Chinese authors, too, according to Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-

1859) noted, Indian ambassadors to the court of China.

 

The Mahabharata refers to China several times, including a reference

to presents brought by the Chinese at the Rajasuya Yajna of the

Pandavas; also, the Arthasastra and the Manusmriti mention China.

 

According to Rene Grousset (1885-1952) French art historian in his

book Rise and Splendour of Chinese Empire ASIN 0520005252 p. 79:

 

"the name China comes from "an ancient" Sanskrit name for the

regions to the east, and not, as often supposed, from the name of

the state of Ch'in," the first dynasty established by Shih Huang Ti

in 221 B.C.

 

 

 

 

 

Brahma - Chinese version

(source: Our Heritage and Its Significance - By S. R. Sharma)

 

 

The Sanskrit name Cina for China could have been derived from the

small state of that name in Chan-si in the northwest of China, which

flourished in the fourth century B.C. Scholars have pointed out that

the Chinese word for lion, shih, used long before the Chin dynasty,

was derived from the Sanskrit word, simha, and that the Greek word

for China, Tzinista, used by some later writers, appears to be

derivative of the Sanskrit Chinasthana. The Chinese literature of

the third century is full of geographic and mythological elements

derived from India.

 

" I see no reason to doubt," comments Arthur Waley in his book, The

Way and its Power, "that the 'holy mountain-men' (sheng-hsien)

described by Lieh Tzu are Indian rishi; and when we read in Chuang

Tzu of certain Taoists who practiced movements very similar to the

asanas of Hindu yoga, it is at least a possibility that some

knowledge of the yoga technique which these rishi used had also

drifted into China."

 

Both Sir L. Wooley and British historian Arnold Toynbee speak of an

earlier ready-made culture coming to China. They were right. That

was the Vedic Hindu culture from India with its Sanskrit language

and sacred scripts. The contemporary astronomical expertise of the

Chinese, as evidenced by their records of eclipses; the philosophy

of the Chinese their statecraft, all point to a Vedic origin. That

is why from the earliest times we find Chinese travelers visiting

India very often to renew their educational and spiritual links.

 

Author Kenneth Ch'en has said:

 

"Neo-Confucianism was stimulated in its development by a number of

Buddhist ideas. Certain features of Taoism, such as its canon and

pantheon, was taken over from Buddhism. Works and phrases in the

Chinese language owe their origin to terms introduced by Buddhism.

Chinese language owe their origin to terms introduced by Buddhism,

while in astronomical, calendrical, and medical studies the Chinese

benefited from information introduced by Indian Buddhist monks.

Finally, and most important of all, the religious life of the

Chinese was affected profoundly by the doctrines and practices,

pantheon and ceremonies brought in by the Indian religion."

 

(source: Buddhism in China - By Kenneth Ch'en ISBN 0691000158 p. 3).

 

How China was part of the Indian Vedic empire is explained by

Professor G. Phillips on page 585 in the 1965 edition of the Journal

of the Royal Asiatic Society. He remarks,

 

"The maritime intercourse of India and China dates from a much

earlier period, from about 680 B.C. when the sea traders of the

Indian Ocean whose chiefs were Hindus founded a colony called Lang-

ga, after the Indian named Lanka of Ceylon, about the present gulf

of Kias-Tehoa, where they arrived in vessels having prows shaped

like the heads of birds or animals after the pattern specified in

the Yukti Kalpataru (an ancient Sanskrit technological text) and

exemplified in the ships and boats of old Indian arts."

 

Chinese historian Dr. Li-Chi also discovered an astonishing

resemblance between the Chinese clay pottery and the pottery

discovered at Mohenja daro on the Indian continent. Yuag Xianji,

member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference,

speaking at the C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation, Madras, March 27

1984 said,

 

" Recent discoveries of ruins of Hindu temples in Southeast China

provided further evidence of Hinduism in China. Both Buddhism and

Hinduism were patronized by the rulers. In the 6th century A.D. the

royal family was Hindu for two generations. The following Tang

dynasty (7th to the 9th century A.D.) also patronized both Hinduism

and Buddhism because the latter was but a branch of Hinduism.

Religious wars were unknown in ancient China. There was extensive

maritime trade and religious exchanges between India and China at

this period (Ad 1-600) and the massive expansion of Indian

influence into southern China through Jih-nan and Chiao-chih, in

what is now northern Vietnam.

 

Albert Etienne Terrien de Lacouperie, author of Western Origins of

Chinese Civilization states that the maritime intercourse of India

with China dates from about 680 B.C. when the sea traders of the

Indian ocean" whose "Chiefs were Hindus" founded a colony, called

Lang-ga, after the Indian name Lanka, about the present gulf of

Kiaotchoa....And throughout this period the monopoly of the sea

borne trade of China was in their hands."

 

In the second century A.D., Indians from the Sindhu during the time

of Rudradaman, the Khshatrapa Satrap of Kattiawad, took presents by

sea to China.

 

(source: Milinda Panha - Vide p. 127-327).

 

The sea route from India and China through the port of Tamraliptis

was under the special protection of the Indian kings. When the

Chinese pilgrim, Hiuen-Tsiang, wanted to return to China in A.D.

645, Bhashkarvarman the king of Kamrup (Assam) and a vassal of King

Harsha, told him: "But I know not, if you prefer to go, by what

route you propose to return; if you select the southern sea route,

then I will send official attendants to accompany you." Itsing

sailed from China for India in A.D. 671 and returned to China twenty-

four years later by the sea route from Tamralipiti.

 

Through its compassionate Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and its promise

of salvation to all alike, its emphasis on piety, meditation, its

attractive rituals and festivals, its universality and its

tolerance, "the religious life of the Chinese has been enriched,

deepened, broadened, and made more meaningful in terms of human

sympathy, love, and compassion for all living creatures." The

doctrine of karma brought spiritual consolation to innumerable

people. The concept of karma is to be found in all types of Chinese

literature from poetry to popular tales.

 

India never imposed her ideas or culture on any nation by military

force, not even on the small countries in her neighborhood, and in

the case of China, it would have been virtually impossible to do so

since China has been the more powerful of the two. So the expansion

of Indian culture into China is a monument to human understanding

and cultural co-operation - the outcome of a voluntary quest for

learning. While China almost completely suppressed other foreign

religions, such as Zoranstrianism, Nestorian Christianity, and to

some extent Manichaeanism, she could not uproot Buddhism. At times,

Buddhism was persecuted, but for two thousand years it continued to

Indianize Chinese life even after it had ceased to be a vital force

in the homeland and long after it had lost its place as the dominant

religion of China. In fact, Indianization became more powerful and

effective after it was thought that Buddhism had been killed in

China.

 

The introduction of Buddhism is one of the most important events in

Chinese history, and since its inception it has been a major factor

in Chinese civilization. The Chinese have freely acknowledged their

debt to India, often referring to her as the "Teacher of China," and

Chinese Buddhists have pictured India as a Western Paradise,

Sukhavati. That Chinese philosophy blossomed afresh after the

impact of Buddhism indicates both a response to and a borrowing of

Indian ideas. The advent of Buddhism meant for many Chinese a new

way of life, and for all Chinese, a means of reassessing their

traditional beliefs. A new conception of the universe developed, and

the entire Chinese way of life was slowly but surely altered. The

change was so gradual and so universal that few people realized it

was happening.

 

The Chinese Quietists practiced a form of self-hypnosis which has an

indisputably close resemblance to Indian Yoga. The Chinese Taoist

philosopher Liu-An (Huai-nan-tzu) who died in 122 B. C, makes

use "of a cosmology in his book which is clearly of Buddhist

inspiration."

 

The first mention of India to be found in Chinese records is in

connection with the mission to Ta-hsia (Bacteriana) of a talented

and courageous Chinese envoy, Chang Chien (Kien), about 138 B.C.

Fourteen years later, having escaped after ten years as a captive of

the Huns, he returned home and in his report to the Chinese Emperor

he referred to the country of Shen-tu (India) to the southeast of

the Yueh-chih (Jou-Chih) country. There are other traditional

stories suggestive of earlier links, but Chang Chien's reference to

Indian trade with the southwestern districts of China along the

overland route corresponding to the modern Yunnan road indicates the

existence of some sort of commercial relations well before the

second century B.C. The find of Chinese coins at Mysore, dated 138

B.C. suggests maritime relations between India and China existed in

the second century B.C. Passages in a Chinese text vaguely refer to

Chinese trade relations with countries in the China Sea and Indian

Ocean, such as Huang-che (Kanchi or a place in the Ganges delta), as

well as to the exchange of diplomatic missions.

 

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Trade & Commerce

 

The chronicle 'Sung-chu' states that all the precious things of land

and water came from India. Gems made of rhinoceros' horns and king-

fishers' stones, serpent pearls and asbestos cloth, they are being

innumerable varieties of these curiosities, were imported into China

from India. According to the Chin-hsi-yu-chiu-t' u rare stone came

to China from the countries of Chi-pin (Gandhara or Kashmir).

Moreover, po-tie ( a fine textile, probably muslin) was produced in

India; and as early as A.D. 430 Indian po-tie was sent to China from

Ho-lo-tan or Java. In A.D. 519, King Jayavarman of Fu-nan

(Kamboja/Cambodia) offered saffron with storax and other aromatics

to the Chinese court. Laufer also suggests that in the sixth century

saffron was traded from India to Cambodia. In the T'ang Annals,

India in her trade with Cambodia and the interior orient, "export to

those countries diamonds, sandalwood and saffron." India was a good

market for Chinese silk. Kalidasa mentions this silk fabric

(Chinamsuka) as one of the most fashionable textiles among the

richer sections of society. Silk and silk-products were also much

demanded luxury articles even in the reign of Harshavardhana. The

countries lying on the route from Kashgar (India) to China, were

collectively called by historians and geographers as 'Ser-India',

first imbibed Indian culture and then developed into important trade

centers.

 

(source: Cultural Heritage of Ancient India - By Sachindra Kumar

Maity p.119-124). For more information refer to chapter on

Suvarnabhumi and Seafaring in Ancient India).

 

There can be little dispute that trade was the main motivation for

these early contacts. This is supported by finds of beads and

pottery, in addition to specific references in historical texts. By

the early centuries of the Christian era, Sino-Indian trade appears

to have assumed considerable proportions. Chinese silk, Chinamsuka,

and later porcelain were highly prized in India, and Indian textiles

were sold in southwest China. The similarity between the Chinese and

Indian words for vermilion and bamboo, ch'in-tung and ki-chok, and

sindura and kichaka, also indicates commercial links. At least by

the fifth century, India was exporting to China wootz steel (wootz

from the Indian Kanarese word ukku), which was produced by fusing

magnetic iron by carbonaceous matter.

 

With goods came ideas. It has often been contended that merchants

were not likely to have been interested in philosophy or capable of

the exchange of ideas. This is an erroneous belief which disregards

historical evidence and, as Arthur Waley points out, is "derived

from a false analogy between East and West. It is quite true that

Marco polo 'songeait surtout a son negoce'. But the same can hardly

be said of Indian or Chinese merchants. Buddhist legend, for

example, teems with merchants reputedly capable of discussing

metaphysical questions; and in China Lu Puwei, compiler of

philosophical encyclopedia Lu Shih Ch'un Chiu, was himself a

merchant. Legend even makes a merchant of Kuan Chung; which at any

rate shows that philosophy and trade were not currently supposed to

be incompatible."

 

 

India had contact with China from the early period through three

routes. One was through the Central Asian region, the second was

through Yunan and Burma. The third was by sea to the South Indian

ports. The Arthasastra, the Mahabharata, and the Manu-Smriti show

knowledge of China. Through all these routes trade and Hindu culture

passed to China. Indian arts and sciences were carried to China

along with Buddhism. Images, rock-cut caves and the fresco paintings

show distinctly Indian influence on the Chinese art. Indian

astronomy, mathematics and medicine were spread in China by the

scholars who visited it. Several Sanskrit works on these sciences

were translated into Chinese.

 

Chushu-King, a Chinese monk started for India in 260 A.D. But he

returned from Khotan. Fa-hien, the first Chinese pilgrim to India

stayed here during the Gupta period for some years. Che-mong another

monk accompanied by a few others spent 20 years (404-424) in the

pilgrimage of India. Hieun Tsang and I-Tsing during the 7th century

are well-known. On his return to China, Hiuen Tsang was given a

great national welcome by his emperor and the people as well.

 

(source: Ancient Indian History and Culture - By Chidambara Kulkarni

p.233 -234).

 

Land and Sea Routes

 

The art of shipbuilding and navigation in India and China at the

time was sufficiently advanced for oceanic crossings. Indian ships

operating between Indian and South-east Asian ports were large and

well equipped to sail cross the Bay of Bengal. When the Chinese

Buddhist scholar, Fa-hsien, returned from India, his ship carried a

crew of more than two hundred persons and did not sail along the

coasts but directly across the ocean. Such ships were larger than

those Columbus used to negotiate the Atlantic a thousand years

later. Uttaraptha was the Sanskrit name of the ancient highway which

connected India with China, Russia and Persia (Iran).

 

The trade routes between China and India, by both land and sea, were

long and perilous, often requiring considerably more than two years

to negotiate. The overland routes were much older and more often

used, but the sea routes gained popularity with progress in

shipbuilding and seamanship. Formidable and frightening as the

physiography of the land routes was, the traffic through the passes

and along the circuitous routes around the mountains was fairly

vigorous.

 

According to the work of mediaeval times, Yukti Kalpataru, which

gives a fund of information about shipbuilding, India built large

vessels from 200 B.C. to the close of the sixteenth century. A

Chinese chronicler mentions ships of Southern Asia that could carry

as many as one thousand persons, and were manned mainly by Malayan

crews.

 

Long before the northwestern routes were opened about the second

century B.C. and long before the development of these Indianized

states, there were two other routes from India to China. One of

these began at Pataliputra (modern Patna), passed through Assam

(Kamarupa of old) and Upper Burma near Bhamo, and proceeded over the

mountains and across the river valleys to Yunnanfu (Kunming), the

main city of the southern province of China. The other route lay

through Nepal and Tibet, was developed much later in the middle of

the seventh century when Tibet had accepted Buddhism.

 

In addition to land routes, there was an important sea link between

India and China through Southeast Asia. During the course of the

first few centuries of the Christian era, a number of Indianized

states had been founded all over Southeast Asia. Both cultures met

in this region, and the Indianized states served as an intermediary

stave for the further transmission of Indian culture and Buddhism to

China.

 

Ancient Greek geographers knew of Southeast Asia and China (Thinae)

were accessible by sea. Ptolemy mentions an important but

unidentified Chinese port on the Tonkinese coast. Ports on the

western coast of India were Bharukaccha (Broach); Surparka (Sopara);

Kalyana; on the Bay of Bengal at the mouth of the Kaveripattam

(Puhar); and at the mouth of the Ganges, Tamaralipti (Tamluk). At

least two of these ports on the Bay of Bengal - Kaveripattam and

Tamaralipti - were known to the Greek sailors as Khaberos and

Tamalitis. At first Indian ships sailed to Tonkin (Kiao-Che) which

was the principal port of China, Tonkin being a Chinese

protectorate. Later all foreign ships were required to sail to

Canton in China proper. Canton became a prosperous port and from the

seventh century onward the most important landing place for Buddhist

monks arriving from India. Generally Chinese monks set out for the

famous centers of learning in India, like the University of Taxila,

and Nalanda.

 

India had census enumeration earlier than China, since such

enumeration is mentioned in Kautilya's Arthasastra. China had its

first census in 2 A.D.

 

Top of Page

 

 

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Contributions

 

Mathematics:

 

The Chinese were familiar with Indian mathematics, and, in fact,

continued to study it long after the period of intellectual

intercourse between India and China had ceased."

 

(source: Cited in Sarkar, Hindu Achievements in Exact Science, p.

14).

 

Literature: The great literary activity of the Buddhist scholars

naturally had a permanent influence on Chinese literature, one of

the oldest in the world. In a recent study a Chinese scholar Lai

Ming, says that a significant feature in the development of Chinese

literature has been the "the immense influence of Buddhist

literature on the development of every sphere of Chinese literature

since the Eastern Chin period (317 A.D.)." The Buddhist sutras were

written in combined prose and rhymed verse, a literary form unknown

in China at the time. The Chinese language when pronounced in the

Sanskrit polyphonic manner was likely to sound hurried and abrupt,

and to chant the Sanskrit verses in monophthongal Chinese prolonged

the verse so much the rhymes were lost. Hence, to make the Chinese

sutras pleasant to listen to, the Chinese language had to be

modified to accommodate Sanskrit sounds. Consequently, in 489, Yung

Ming, Prince of Ching Ling, convened a conference of Buddhist monks

at his capital to differentiate between, and define the tones of,

the Chinese language for reading Buddhist sutras and for changing

the verses. A new theory emerged called the Theory of Four Tones.

The introduction into China of highly imaginative literature such as

the Mahayana sutras and the Indian epics, like Ramayana and

Mahabharata, infused into Chinese literature the quality of

imagination which had been hitherto lacking. Taoist literature, such

as the book Chuang-tzu, did perhaps show some quality of imaginative

power, but on the whole Chinese literature, especially Confucianist,

was narrow, formal, restricted, and unimaginative.

 

Mythology: The Chinese sense of realism was so intense that there

was hardly any mythology in ancient China, and they have produced

few fairy tales of their own. Most of their finest fairy tales were

originally brought to China by Indian monks in the first millennium.

The Buddhists used them to make their sermons more agreeable and

lucid. The tales eventually spread throughout the country, assuming

a Chinese appearance conformable to their new environment. For

example, the stories of Chinese plays such as A Play of Thunder-

Peak, A Dream of Butterfly, and A Record of Southern Trees were of

Buddhist origin.

 

Drama: Chinese drama assimilated Indian features in three stages.

First, the story, characters, and technique were all borrowed from

India; later, Indian technique gave way to Chinese; and finally, the

story was modified and the characters became Chinese also. There are

many dimensions to Chinese drama, and it is not easy to place them

accurately in history. However, the twelfth century provides the

first-known record of the performance of a play, a Buddhist miracle-

play called Mu-lien Rescues his Mother based on an episode in the

Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The subject matter of the Buddhist

adaptation of the story, in which Maudgalyayana (Mu-lien in Chinese)

rescues the mother from hell, occurs in a Tun-huang pien wen.

Significantly, the play was first performed at the Northern Sung

capital by professionals before a religious festival.

 

***

 

Amartya Sen Nobel Prize winner writes in the Times of India:

 

"It is not often realized "that even such a central term in Chinese

culture as Mandarin is derived from a Sanskrit word, namely Mantri

which went from India to China via Malaya."

 

Chinese translation - the first printed book in the world was the

Chinese translation by Kumarajiva (a half Indian half Turkish

scholar) of a Buddhist Sanskrit text, Vajrachchedikaprajnyaparamita

 

(source: India, according to Amartya Sen - by M.V. Kamath

Publication: Afternoon Despatch & Courier)..

***

 

Grammar: Phrases and words coined by Buddhist scholars enriched the

Chinese vocabulary by more than thirty-five thousand words. As the

assimilation was spread over a long period of time, the Chinese

accepted these words as a matter of course without even suspecting

their foreign origin. Even today words of Buddhist origin are widely

used in China from the folklore of peasants to the formal language

of the intelligentsia. For example, poli for glass in the name of

many precious and semi-precious stones is of Sanskrit origin. Cha-

na, an instant, from kshana; t'a, pagoda, from stupa; mo-li,

jasmine, from mallika, and terms for many trees and plants are

amongst the many thousands of Chinese words of Indian origin. Indian

grammar also undoubtedly stimulated Chinese philological study.

Chinese script consists of numerous symbols, which in their earliest

stage were chiefly pictographic and ideographic.

 

The word used in the old Sanskrit for the Chinese Emperor is deva-

putra, which is an exact translation of ' Son of Heaven.'

I-tsing, a famous pilgrim, himself a fine scholar of Sanskrit,

praises the language and says it is respected in far countries in

the north and south. ..'How much more then should people of the

divine land (China), as well as the celestial store house (India),

teach the real rules of the language.'

 

Jawaharlal Nehru has commented:

 

"Sanskrit scholarship must have been fairly widespread in China. It

is interesting to find that some Chinese scholars tried to introduce

Sanskrit phonetics into the Chinese language. A well-known example

of this is that of the monk Shon Wen, who lived at the time of the

Tang dynasty. He tried to develop an alphabetical system along these

lines in Chinese."

 

(source: The Discovery of India - By Jawaharlal Nehru p. 197-198).

 

Art: Indian art also reached China, mainly through Central Asia,

although some works of Buddhist art came by sea. Monks and their

retinues, and traders brought Buddha statues, models of Hindu

temples, and other objects of art to China. Fa-hsien made drawings

of images whilst at Tamralipiti. Hsuan-tsang returned with several

golden and sandalwood figures of the Buddha; and Hui-lun with a

model of the Nalanda Mahavihara. Wang Huan-ts'e, who went to India

several times, collected many drawings of Buddhist images, including

a copy of the Buddha image at Bodhgaya; this was deposited at the

Imperial palace and served as a model of the image in Ko-ngai-see

temple. The most famous icon of East Asian Buddhism know as

the "Udayana" image was reported to have been brought by the first

Indian missionaries in 67, although there are various legends

associated with this image and many scholars believe it was brought

by Kumarajiva. However, this influx of Indian art was incidental and

intermittent, and was destined to be absorbed by Chinese art. This

combination resulted in a Buddhist art of exceptional beauty.

 

One of the most famous caves - Ch'ien-fo-tung, "Caves of the

Thousand Buddhas," because there are supposed to be more than a

thousand cave. So far, about five hundred caves have been

discovered. These caves were painted throughout with murals, and

were frequently furnished with numerous Buddha statues and

sculptured scenes from the Jatakas.

Many other caves were initiated in the reign of Toba Wei Emperor,

T'ai Wu. Some also contain images of Hindu deities, such as Shiva on

Nandi and Vishnu on Garuda.

 

Images coming from India were considered holy, as suggested by

Omura, in his History of Chinese Sculpture. This significantly

underlines the depth of Chinese acceptance of Indian thought.

 

Music: The Chinese did not regard music as an art to be cultivated

outside the temples and theatres. Buddhist monks who reached China

brought the practice of chanting sacred texts during religious

rites. Hence, Indian melody was introduced into Chinese music which

had hitherto been rather static and restrained. Indian music was so

popular in China, that Emperor Kao-tsu (581-595) tried

unsuccessfully to proscribe it by an Imperial decree. His successor

Yang-ti was also very fond of Indian music. In Chinese annals,

references are found to visiting Indian musicians, who reached China

from India, Kucha, Kashgar, Bokhara and Cambodia. Even Joseph

Needham, the well-known advocate of Chinese cultural and scientific

priority admits, "Indian music came through Kucha to China just

before the Sui period and had a great vogue there in the hands of

exponents such as Ts'ao Miao-ta of Brahminical origin." By the end

of the sixth century, Indian music had been given state recognition.

During the T'ang period, Indian music was quite popular, especially

the famous Rainbow Garment Dance melody.

 

A contemporary Chinese poet, Po Chu-yi, wrote a poem in praise of

Indian music. "It is little wonder," an official publication of the

Chinese Republic says, "that when a Chinese audience today hears

Indian music, they feel that while possessing a piquant Indian

flavor it has a remarkable affinity with Chinese music."

 

Science: A major Buddhist influence on Chinese science was in

scientific thought itself. Buddhist concepts, such as the infinity

of space and time, and the plurality of worlds and of time-cycles or

Hindu Kalpas (chieh) had a stimulating effect on Chinese inquiry,

broadening the Chinese outlook and better equipping it to

investigate scientific problems. For example, the Hindu doctrine of

pralayas, or recurrent world catastrophes in which sea and land were

turned upside down before another world was recreated to go through

the four cycles- differentiation (ch'eng), stagnation (chu),

destruction (juai), and emptiness (kung) - which was later adopted

by Neoconfucianists, was responsible for the Chinese recognition of

the true nature of fossils long before they were understood in

Europe. Again, the Indian doctrine of Karma (tso-yeh), or

metempsychosis, influenced Chinese scientific thought on the process

of biological change involving both phylogeny and ontogeny. Buddhist

iconography contained a biological element. Buddhism introduced a

highly developed theory of logic, both formal and dialectical, and

of epistemology.

 

Tantric Buddhism reached China in the eighth century and the

greatest Chinese astronomer and mathematician of his time, I-hsing

(682-727), was a Tantric Buddhist monk. While the work of Indian

mathematicians was carried westward by the Arabs and transmitted to

Europe, it was taken eastward by Indian Buddhist monks and

professional mathematicians.

 

Astronomy: There is also some evidence that works on Indian

astronomy were in circulation in China well before the T'ang period.

In the annuals of the Sui dynasty, numerous Chinese translations of

Indian mathematical and astronomical works are mentioned, such as Po-

lo-men Suan fa (The Hindu Arithmetical rules) and Po-lo-men Suan

King. These works have vanished, and it is impossible to assess the

degree of their influence on Chinese sciences. However, there is

definite evidence of Indian influence on Chinese astronomy and

calendar studies during the T'ang dynasty. During this period,

Indian astronomers were working at the Imperial Bureau of Astronomy

which was charged with preparing accurate calendars. Yang Ching-

fang, a pupil of Amoghavajra (Pu-k'ung), wrote in 764 that those who

wished to know the positions of the five planets and predict what

Hsiu (heavenly mansion) a planet would be traversing, should adopt

the Indian calendrical methods. Five years earlier, Amoghavajra had

translated an Indian astrological work, the Hsiu Yao Ching (Hsiu and

Planet Sutra), into Chinese.

 

At the time there were three astronomical schools at Chang-an:

Gautama (Chhuthan), Kasyapa (Chiayeh), and Kumara (Chumolo). In 684

one of the members of the Gautama school, Lo presented a calendar,

Kuang-tse-li, which has been in use for three years, to the Empress

Wu. Later, in 718, another member of the school, Hsi-ta

(Siddhartha), presented to the Emperor a calendar, Chiu-che-li,

which was almost a direct translation of an Indian calendar,

Navagraha Siddhanta of Varahamihira, and which is still preserved in

the T'ang period collection. It was in use for four years. In 729

Siddhartha compiled a treatise based on this calendar which is the

greatest known collection of ancient Chinese astronomical writings.

This was the first time that a zero symbol appeared in a Chinese

text, but, even more important, this work also contained a table of

sines, which were typically Indian. I-hsing (682-727) was associated

with the Kumara school and was much influenced by Indian astronomy.

Indian influence can also be seen in the nine planets he introduced

into his calendar, Ta-yen-li. The nine planets included the sun,

moon, five known planets, and two new planets, Rahu and Ketu, by

which the Indian astronomers represented the ascending and

descending nodes of the moon.

 

Chinese New Year

Dates from 2600 BC - A complete cycle takes 60 years, divided into

12 year elements. Each of these 12 years is named after an animal

favored by the Buddha.

 

 

(source: China welcomes the New Year - BBC). Chinese 60 year cycle

has strong resemblance to Tamil Calendar and Indian Hindu Calendars.

For more refer to The Tamil Calendar).

 

Medicine

 

Chinese medicine, was influenced by Ayurveda, and similarities

include the extensive use of natural herbs.

 

 

(source: Balm from the East - By Jenny Hontz - LA Times).

 

According to Terence Duke " Many Buddhists were familiar with the

extensive knowledge of surgery common to Indian medicine and this

aided them both in spreading the teachings and in their practice of

diagnosis and therapy. Surgical technique was almost unknown within

China prior to the arrival of Buddhism.." The renowned Buddhist

teacher Najarjuna is said to have translated at least two

traditional works dealing with healing and medicines in the first

centuries of our era. A section of his Maha-Prajnaparamita Sutra is

quoted by the Chinese monk I Tsing in his commentary upon the five

winds (Chinese: Wu Fung; Japanese: Gofu). This description enables

us to see that the breath Hatha Yoga termed prana is in fact forming

only part of a wider system known in Buddhism."

 

(source: The Boddhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy,

History and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and

China p.139-145).

 

Evidence of Indian influence on Chinese medicine is even more

definite. A number of Indian medical treatises are found in Chinese

Buddhist collections: for example, the Ravanakumaratantra and

Kasyapasamhita. From its very inception, Buddhism stressed the

importance of health and the prevention and cure of mental and

physical ailments. Indian medical texts were widely known in Central

Asia, where parts of the original texts on Ayur Veda have been found

as well as numerous translations.

 

The T'ang emperors patronized Indian thaumaturges (Tantric Yogis)

who were believed to possess secret methods of rejuvenation. Wang

Hsuan-chao, who returned to India after the death of King Harsha

had been charged by the Chinese Emperor in 664 to bring back Indian

medicines and physicians.

 

Considering that Indian medicine, especially operative surgery, was

highly developed for the time, it is not surprising that the

Chinese, like the Arabs, were captivated by Indian medical skills

and drugs. Castration was performed by Chinese methods but other

surgical techniques, such as laparotomy, trepanation, and removal of

cataracts, as well as inoculation for smallpox, were influenced by

Indian practices.

 

Acupuncture

 

In modern day acupuncture lore, there is recounted a legend that the

discovery of the vital bodily points began within India as a result

of combative research studies undertaken by the Indian ksatreya

warriors in order to discover the vital (and deadly) points of the

body which could be struck during hand-to-hand encounters. It is

said that they experimented upon prisoners by piercing their bodies

with the iron and stone "needles' daggers called Suci daggers.

common to their infantry and foot soldiers, in order to determine

these points.

 

This Chinese legend reflects and complements the traditional Indian

account of its origins, where it is said that in the aftermath of

battles it was noticed that sometimes therapeutic effects arose from

superficial arrow or dagger wounds incurred by the Khastriya in

battle.

 

(source: The Boddhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy,

History and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and

China p.139-145).

 

The alternative form of medicine known as acupuncture is believed to

have originated in China. In Korean academics, students are

correctly told that acupuncture originated in India. An ancient

Sanskrit text on acupuncture preserved in the Ceylonese National

Museum at Columbo in Sri Lanka.

 

The custom of ancestor worship was an adoption of Indian custom.

There is presence of Indian motifs in various Buddhist caves in

China.

 

Martial Arts/Games

 

According to author Terence Dukes:

 

"Fighting without weapons was a specialty of the Ksatreya (caste of

Ancient India)and foot soldier alike. For the Ksatreya it was simply

part and parcel of their all around training, but for the lowly

peasant it was essential. We read in the Vedas of men unable to

afford armor who bound their heads with turbans called Usnisa to

protect themselves from sword and axe blows. Fighting on foot for a

Ksatreya was necessary in case he was unseated from his chariot or

horse and found himself without weapons. Although the high ethical

code of the Ksatreya forbid anyone but another Ksatreya from

attacking him, doubtless such morals were not always observed, and

when faced with an unscrupulous opponent, the Ksatreya needed to be

able to defend himself, and developed, therefore, a very effective

form of hand-to-hand combat that combined techniques of wrestling,

throws, and hand strikes. Tactics and evasion were formulated that

were later passed on to successive generations. This skill was

called Vajramukhti, a name meaning "thunderbolt closed - or clasped -

hands." The tile Vajramukti referred to the usage of the hands in a

manner as powerful as the vajra maces of traditional warfare.

Vajramukti was practiced in peacetime by means of regular physical

training sessions and these utilized sequences of attack and defense

technically termed in Sanskrit nata."

 

 

"Prior to and during the life of the Buddha various principles were

embodied within the warrior caste known as the Ksatreya (Japanese:

Setsuri). This title - stemming from Sanskrit root Ksetr

meaning "power," described an elite force of usually royal or noble-

born warriors who were trained from infancy in a wide variety of

military and martial arts, both armed and unarmed.

 

In China, the Ksatreya were considered to have descended from the

deity Ping Wang (Japanese: Byo O), the "Lord of those who keep

things calm." Ksatreyas were like the Peace force - to keep kings

and people in order. Military commanders were called Senani - a name

reminiscent of the Japanese term Sensei which describes a similar

status. The Japanese samurai also had similar traits to the

Ksatreya. Their battle practices and techniques are often so close

to that of the Ksatreya that we must assume the former came from

India perhaps via China. The traditions of sacred Swords, of

honorable self-sacrifice, and service to one's Lord are all found

first in India.

 

"In ancient Hinduism, nata was acknowledged as a spiritual study and

conferred as a ruling deity, Nataraja, representing the awakening of

wisdom through physical and mental concentration. However, after the

Muslim invasion of India and its brutal destruction of Buddhist and

Hindu culture and religion, the Ksatreya art of nata was dispersed

and many of its teachers slain. This indigenous martial arts, under

the name of Kalari or Kalaripayit exists only in South India today.

Originating at least 1,300 years ago, India's Kalaripayit is the

oldest martial art taught today. It is also the most potentially

violent, because students advance from unarmed combat to the use of

swords, sharpened flexible metal lashes, and peculiar three-bladed

daggers.

 

When Buddhism came to influence India (circa 500 B.c), the Deity

Nataraja was converted to become one of the four protectors of

Buddhism, and was renamed Nar (y)ayana Deva (Chinese: Na Lo Yen

Tien). He is said to be a protector of the Eastern Hemisphere of the

mandala."

 

 

INDIA

 

Ksatreya Vajramukti

 

Simhanta

 

Bodhisattva Vajramukti

 

Trisatyabhumi

 

Trican Nata

 

Dharmapala

 

Mahabhuta Pratima

 

CHINA

 

Seng Cha

 

Pu Sa Chin Kang Chuan

(Bodhisattva Vajramukti

 

(Po Fu) (Huo Ming) (Pa She) (Pai Chin)

 

Seng Ping

 

Chuan Fa or Kung Fu

 

(Karate) (Tae Kwon Do) (Thai Boxing) (Ju Jitsu) (Judo) (Aikido)

 

(source: The Boddhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy,

History and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and

China p.3 - 158-174 and 242).

 

Kalaripayattu, literally "the way of the battlefield," still

survives in Kerala, where it is often dedicated to Mahakali. The

Kalari grounds are usually situated near a temple, and the pupils,

after having touched the feet of the master, salute the ancestors

and bow down to the Goddess, begin the lesson. Kalari trainings have

been codified for over 3000 years and nothing much has changed. The

warming up is essential and demands great suppleness. Each movement

is repeated several times, facing north, east, south and west, till

perfect loosening is achieved. The young pupils pass on to the

handling of weapons, starting with the "Silambam", a short stick

made of extremely hard wood, which in the olden times could

effectively deal with swords. The blows are hard and the parade must

be fast and precise, to avoid being hit on the fingers! They

continue with the swords, heavy, and dangerous, even though they are

not sharpened any more, as they are used. Without guard or any kind

of body protection; they whirl, jump and parry, in an impressive

ballet. Young, fearless girls fight with enormous knives, bigger

than their arms and the clash of irons is echoed in the ground. The

session ends with the big canes, favorite weapons of the Buddhist

traveler monks, which they used during their long journey towards

China to scare away attackers.

 

The "Urimi" is the most extraordinary weapon of Kalari, unique in

the world. This double-edged flexible sword which the old-time

masters used to wrap around the waist to keep coiled in one hand, to

suddenly whip at the opponent and inflict mortal blows, is hardly

used today in trainings, for it is much too dangerous.

 

This indigenous martial arts, under the name of Kalari or

Kalaripayit exists only in South India today. Kalarippayat is said

to be the world's original martial art. Originating at least 1,300

years ago, India's Kalaripayit is the oldest martial art taught

today. It is also the most potentially violent, because students

advance from unarmed combat to the use of swords, sharpened flexible

metal lashes, and peculiar three-bladed daggers. More than 2,000

years old, it was developed by warriors of the Cheras kingdom in

Kerala. Training followed strict rituals and guidelines. The

entrance to the 14 m-by-7 m arena, or kalari, faced east and had a

bare earth floor. Fighters took Shiva and Shakti, the god and

goddess of power, as their deities. From unarmed kicks and punches,

kalarippayat warriors would graduate to sticks, swords, spears and

daggers and study the marmas—the 107 vital spots on the human body

where a blow can kill. Training was conducted in secret, the lethal

warriors unleashed as a surprise weapon against the enemies of

Cheras.

 

Father and founder of Zen Buddhism (called C'han in China),

Boddidharma, a Brahmin born in Kacheepuram in Tamil Nadu, in 522

A.D. arrived at the courts of the Chinese Emperor Liang Nuti, of the

6th dynasty. He taught the Chinese monks Kalaripayattu, a very

ancient Indian martial art, so that they could defend themselves

against the frequent attacks of bandits. In time, the monks became

famous all over China as experts in bare-handed fighting, later

known as the Shaolin boxing art. The Shaolin temple which has been

handed back a few years ago by the communist Government to the C'han

Buddhist monks, inheritors of Boddhidharma's spiritual and martial

teachings, by the present Chinese Government, is now open to

visitors. On one of the walls, a fresco can be seen, showing Indian

dark-skinned monks, teaching their lighter-skinned Chinese brothers

the art of bare-handed fighting. On this painting are

inscribed: "Tenjiku Naranokaku" which means: "the fighting

techniques to train the body (which come) from India…"

 

(source: A Western Journalist on India: a ferengi's columns - By

Francois Gautier Har-Anand Publications ISBN 8124107955 p. 155-158).

 

Yoga has had an enormous influence on all forms of Indian

spirituality, including Hinduism, Buddhist, and Jain and later on

the Sufi and Christian. The teaching of Buddhism which arose in

India are similar to those of yoga: striving toward nirvana and

renouncing the world. Indeed, some kind of meeting between yoga and

early Buddhism certainly took place, and one of the Buddhist schools

is actually called Yogachara (practice of Yoga). Indian Buddhism

spread throughout Asia, some ideas from Yoga were carried into

Tibet, Mongolia, China, and from there on into Japan. Indeed, Zen is

a specific form of Yoga's dhyana or 'transcendental meditation' and

the word Zen (like the Chinese tchan) is a simple phonetic

development from Sanskrit dhyana.

 

(For information on Yoga, refer to chapter on Yoga and Hindu

Philosophy).

 

 

The famous Shao-lin style of boxing is also attributed to Indian

influence. Bodhidharma, (8th century AD) who believed in a sound

mind in a sound body, taught the monks in the Shao-lin temple this

style of boxing for self-defense for rejuvenating the body after

exacting meditation and mental concentration.

 

According to the History channel martial arts were introduced in

China by an Indian named Bodhidharma, who taught it to the monks so

that they could defend their monasteries. He was also said to have

introduced the concept of vital energy or chi ("prana" probably

corresponds to this). This concept is the basis acupuncture.

 

Chuan Fa, the Buddhist martial arts, preserved many Ksatreya

techniques in their original forms. The monks to practiced Chuan Fa

were often the sole preservers of the Ksatreya art of Avasavidya,

called in Chinese Huo Ming or Hua Fa.

 

During the first millennium, Indian racing games reached China. The

well-known expert on the history of Chinese games, Karl Himly, on

the authority of a passage from the Jun Tsun Su, a work of the Sung

period (960-1279), suggests that the Chinese game t'shu-p'u was

invented in western India and spread to China in the time of the Wei

dynasty (220-265). T'shu'p'u is, in fact, the Chinese adaptation of

the Indian chatus-pada (modern chupur).

 

Chess was introduced from India, ca. 700. through the ancient trade

route from Kashmir. The oldest and best of the native Chinese games,

wei-ch'i, did not appear until 1000. Cubical dice (chu-p or yu-p'i),

although found in ancient India and Egypt, are generally believed to

have reached China from India, possibly quite early. Arthur Waley is

of the opinion that the prominence of the number six in the Book of

Changes was derived from the six sides of cubical dice. In China the

first indisputable sources appeared only around 800 AD. "The King of

Kanauj had sent the game of chess to the court of Sasanian King

Kusrau I Anshirvan (531-579).

 

Education

 

The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BCE was one of

the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of

education. The Chinese scholar and traveler Hiuen Tsang (600-654 AD)

stayed at the Nalanda University in the 7th century, and has left an

elaborate description of the excellence, and purity of monastic life

practiced here. He found Indians "high-minded, upright and

honorable.

 

China received Mahayanic Buddhism and Sanskrit texts from the

Central-Asian provinces of India in 67 A.D. After that China became

Hinduized not only in theology and metaphysics, but in every

department of thought and activity. Thousands of Hindus lived in

Chinese cities, eg. at Changan in the N.W. and at Canton on the sea,

as priests, teachers, merchants, physicians, sculptors

and "interpreters." The name of Chinese tourists, students,

philosophers, and translators, also, in India is legion. The Chinese

founded their drama on Hindu precedents, imported musical

instruments (stringed) from India, and introduced even some of the

acrobatic feats, dances and sports prevalent among the Hindus.

 

During his Indian tour the great Itsing (634-712) mastered Hindu

medicine at the University of Nalanda. Hindu mathematics and logic

were cultivated among the intellectuals of China; Sanskrit treatises

on painting and art criticism, eg. Sadamga (six limbs of painting)

in Vatsayana's Kamasutra (erotics), Chitralaksana (marks of

painting), etc. furnished the canons of the Chinese art during its

greatest epoch (Tang and Sung Dynasties 600-1250); and the

traditional Confucianism had to be reinterpreted, eg. by Chu-Hsi

(1130-1200) in the light of the imported Hindu philosophy. China

became a part of "Greater India" in poetry, aesthetics, folk-

festivals, morals, manners, and sentiments. The "Augustan Age" of

Chinese culture, the age of the mighty Tangs and brillant Sungs, was

the direct outcome of the "holy alliance" for centuries between

India and China.

 

(source: Creative India - By Benoy Kumar Sarkar p. 78-79). For more

on education, refer to chapter on Education in Ancient India).

 

***

 

Ling Yin Temple and India

Lin Yin Temple is home to the 19-metre-high Golden Buddha statue.

Inscriptions found in the temple say the statue came flying from

India.

Fei Lai Feng - Peak Flown From Afar (also named Ling Jiu Feng),

stands next to Lin Yin Temple and is a must-see in Hangzhou,

Zhejiang Province. There are many legends about the peak's name. A

well-known legend states that an Indian monk named Huili arrived in

the valley 1,600 years ago and was surprised to see a peak so

dissimilar from any other one in the valley. He believed that the

peak had flown over from India because the shape, although unique in

China, was common in India. However, he did not know why the peak

would have flown to this spot so far from his country.

 

 

 

 

 

Inscriptions found in the temple say the statue came flying from

India. Big Wild Goose Pagoda - Dayanta - Sanskrit scriptures he

had brought back from India.

 

Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Da Yan Ta - Dayanta) which was built in 652

AD in the Tang Dynasty. Xuanzang, a prominent Buddhist scholar of

the time, planned to have a huge stone pagoda built to house the

Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures he had brought back from India. It

contains a large volume of Buddhist scriptures which were obtained

from India by the eminent monk Xuanzang. The pagoda was modeled

after the one in India. It was given the same name in memory of Xuan

Zang in praise of Buddhism.

 

(source: Ling Yin Temple and travelchinaguide.com and visitchina

 

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Bhaarat's influence on Japan

 

Hinduism and Buddhism went from India to China and Korea to Japan.

Images of Ganesha and Vishnu have been found throughout Japan.

Numerous Buddhist deities were introduced into Japan and many of

these are still very popular.

 

According to D. P. Singhal, "some Hindu gods, who had been

incorporated into the Buddhist pantheon, were amongst them. For

example, Indra, originally, the god of thunder but now also the king

of gods, is popular in Japan as Taishaku (literally the great King

Sakra); Ganesha is worshipped as Sho-ten or Shoden (literally, holy

god) in many Buddhist temples, and is believed to confer happiness

upon his devotees. A sea-serpent worshipped by sailors is called

Ryujin, a Chinese equivalent of the Indian naga. Hariti and Dakini

are also worshipped, the former as Kishimo-jin, and the latter by

her original name. Bishamon is a Japanese equivalent of the Indian

Vaisravana (Kubera), the god of wealth.

 

 

 

 

 

Brahma - Japan

 

Even Shinto adopted Indian gods, despite its desperate efforts after

the Meiji Revolution to disengage itself from Buddhism. The Indian

sea god Varuna, is worshipped in Tokyo as Sui-ten (water-god); the

Indian goddess of learning, Saraswati, has become Benten (literally,

goddess of speech), with many shrines dedicated to her along sea

coasts and beside lakes and ponds. Shiva is well known to the

Japanese as Daikoku (literally, god of darkness), which is a Chinese

and Japanese equivalent of the Indian Mahakala, another name of

Shiva. Daikoku is a popular god in Japan. At the Kotohira shrine on

the island of Shikoku, sailors worship a god called Kompera, which

is a corruption of the Sanskrit word for crocodile, Kumbhira. The

divine architect mentioned in the Rig Veda, Vishvakarma, who

designed and constructed the world, was regarded in ancient Japan as

the god of carpenters, Bishukatsuma. The Indian Yama, the god of

death, is the most dreaded god of Japan, under the name of Emma-o,

the king of hell.

 

According to author Donald A. Mackenzie: "The Indian form of myth of

the Churning of the Milky Ocean reached Japan. In a Japanese

illustration of it the mountain rests on a tortoise, and the supreme

god sits on the summit, grasping in one of his hands a water vase.

The Japanese Shinto myth of creation, as related in the Ko-ji-ki and

Nihon-gi, is likewise a churning myth. Twin deities, Izanagi, the

god, and Izanami, the goddess, sand on "the floating bridge of

heaven" and thrust into the ocean beneath the "Jewel Spear of

Heaven". With this pestle they churn the primeval waters until they

curdle and form land."

 

(source: Myths of Pre-Columbian America - By Donald A. Mackenzie

ASIN 185958490X p.190-191).

 

The climbers wearing traditional white dress, who scale the sacred

Mount Ontake as a religious observance, sometimes have inscribed on

their robe Sanskrit Siddham characters of an ancient type. Sometimes

they put on white Japanese scarfs (tenugui) which carry the Sanskrit

character OM, the sacred syllable of the Hindus.

 

According to Terence Dukes, "The Gagaku dances of Japan contain many

movements derived from the Indian Nata and the Chinese Chuan Fa."

 

(source: The Boddhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy,

History and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and

China p.206).

 

The cultivation of cotton in Japan is traced to an Indian who had

drifted to the shore of Aichi Prefecture in 799. To commemorate the

event, the Japanese named the village where the shipwrecked Indian

had landed Tenjiku; Tenjiku was the Japanese name for India, and

means Heaven.

 

The popular Japanese game of sunoroku or sugoroku (backgammon played

at the royal of the Nara rulers and still popular in Japan is of

Indian origin. In Japan the game is played as nard. Nard is

generally regarded as an Iranian game, but the ninth century Arab

scholar, Al Yaqubi, considered nard an Indian invention used to

illustrate man's dependence on chance and destiny. According to Wei-

Shu, sugoroku was brought to China in ancient times from Hu country,

which at that time meant a country somewhere in the vicinity of

India. Again, as Karl Himly has pointed out, the Hun Tsun, Sii,

written during the Sung period (960-1279), states that t'shu-pu,

another Chinese name for sugoruku, was invented in western India,

that it was known in its original form as chatushpada, and that it

reached China during the Wei period (220-265).

 

There is some Indian influence on Japanese art. A similarity between

Shinto rituals and Hindu rituals (for example ringing the bell as

one enters the temple). Narushima (Narasimha) Bishamondo is a

famous temple in Japan.

 

(source: India and World Civilization - By D. P. Singhal). For more

on Japan refer to chapter on Suvarnabhumi).

 

The influence of Indian thought and culture on Japan was very great.

Maurice Winternitz, while reviewing Geschichte der Japanischen

Literature, says:

 

"In view of so much Indian influence in Japanese literature, it is

possible to assume that the 'Keuyogen' or double meaning of Japanese

poetry may in any way be connected with that form of Alankara of the

Indian Kavya, which is exactly in the same method."

 

The distinguished Japanese scholar, Mr. J. Taka Kusu, says: " But I

should like to emphasize the fact that the influence of India,

material and intellectual, must have been much greater in an earlier

period than we at present consider to have been the case. There

were, for instance, several Indians, whom the Kuroshiwo current,

washing almost the whole southern coast, brought to the Japanese

shore." He further says, " It cannot be denied that several Indians

came to Japan, especially in view of so many Indians finding their

way to China by sea."

 

He then relates how a Brahmin Bodhisen Bharadvaja, known generally

as the "Brahmin Bishop" came with another priest from India via

Champa (Cochin China) to Osaka, then to Nara, where they met another

Indian ascetic and taught Sanskrit to the Japanese. "His monastery

and tombstone, with a written eulogy, still exist in Nara. Just at

the time a Japanese alphabet or syllables is said to have been

invented. The fifty syllables, Gojuin, are arranged by a hand,

evidently with a practical knowledge of Sanskrit method."

 

(source: Journal of Royal Asiatic Society for 1905, p. 872-873). The

official record of Japan, Nihon-ki and Ruijukokushi describe how

cotton was introduced in Japan by two Indians who reached Japan in

July 799 and April 800 A.D.

 

(For more refer to Vide Dr. Taka Kusu's "What Japan owes to India"

in the Journal of the Indo-Japanese Association for January, 1910).

It is noteworthy that some of the scriptures of the Japanese priests

preserved in the Horyuji Temple of Japan are written in Bengali

characters of the eleventh century.

 

(source: Daito Shimaji's " India an Japan in Ancient Times," in the

Journal of Indo-Japanese Association for January 1910).

 

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Common Terms: Sanskrit/Chinese/Japanese

 

Archarya - Master Achali Ajari

Dharma - Law FA Ho

Pratima - movement warrior techniques of the Hindu ksatreyas Hsing

Kata

Sunyatapani - Tang-Shou Karate/To De

Dharmahasta Chuan Fe Kempo

Marga - The Way Tao Do

Guhya-Sutra Mi-Ching Mikkyo

Nagarjuna Lung Shu Ryuju/Ryusho/Ryumyo

Mudra - ritual gesture Yin In

Mandala a special zone or area Mantolo Mandara

Vajramukti Ching Kang, Chieh T'o Kongogedastsu

Sangha - congregation or group followers Seng So

Narya - strong or manly Na-Li Nara, Naha

Nata Na-Pa, Na-Ra Nara, Napa, Nafa

Yoga - to yoke Yui Cha Yu Ga

 

(source: The Boddhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy,

History and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and

China p.485-491).

 

 

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Conclusion

 

In conclusion, it can be said that China was more influenced by

India than India by China. Whilst Chinese monks came to acquire

knowledge and take it back, the Indian monks went to China on

specific religious missions to impart knowledge. There is hardly any

evidence that the Chinese monks brought with them any work which was

translated into an Indian language. It seems that during this period

of Sino-Indian contact, the psychological atmosphere was one in

which India was naturally accepted as the giver and China as the

taker. Whilst the best in Indian thought was carefully studied and

carried back to China, Chinese ideas filtered through India whether

they represented the best of their culture or not.

 

According to Jawaharlal Nehru in his book "The Discovery of India"

 

"The most famous of the Chinese travelers to India was Hsuang Tsang

who came in the seventh century when the great T'sang dynasty

flourished in China and King Harshavardhana ruled over in North

India. Hsuang-Tsang took a degree of Master of the Law at Nalanda

University and finally became vice-principal of the university.

 

His book the Si-Yu-Ki or the Record of the Western Kingdom (meaning

India), makes fascinating reading. He tells us of the system of the

university where the five branches of knowledge were taught. 1.

Grammar 2. Science of Arts and Crafts 3. Medicine 4. Logic and 5.

Philosophy. Hsuan-Tsang was particularly struck by the love of

learning of the Indian people. Many Indian classics have been

preserved in Chinese translation relating not only to Buddhism but

also to Hinduism, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, etc. There are

supposed to be 8,00 such works in the Sung-pao collection in China.

Tibet is also full of them. There used to be frequent co-operation

between Indian, Chinese and Tibetan scholars. A notable instance of

this co-operation, still extant, is a Sanskrit-Tibetan-Chinese

dictionary of Buddhist technical terms. This dates from the ninth

century and is named the 'Mahavyutpatti.'

 

Soon after Hsuan-Tsang's death in China, yet another famous pilgrim

made the journey to India - I-tsing (or Yi-tsing). He also studied

at Nalanda University for a long time and carried back several

hundred Sanskrit texts. He refers to India as the West (Si-fang),

but he tells us that it was known as Aryadesha - Arya means noble,

and desha region - the noble region. It is so called because men of

noble character appear there successively, and people all praise the

land by that name. It is also called the Madhyadesha - the middle

land, for it is in the center of a hundred myriads of countries.

 

(source: The Discovery of India - By Jawaharlal Nehru p. 193-194).

 

Yet Chinese culture had some influence on India. The gabled roofs of

houses on the western coast of India show a Chinese influence, as do

the temples and houses in the Himalayan regions. Some Chinese

influence is noted on Gupta coins. The use of a certain kind of silk

(china-msuka) in India, different kinds of fruits including pears

(cinaraja-putra), peaches (cinani), and lichis, the technique of

fishing in the backwaters, and the porcelain industry all owe

something to Chinese influence. Indians also learned the art of

papermaking from China.

 

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Articles

 

 

India and China

By V. B. Metta

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/5185/2-2china.html

 

It is a curious fact that Chinese culture, though so distinctive,

all-pervasive and compulsive, could not come to India, or if it did

come, it could not leave any lasting marks behind it.

 

Archaeologists and scholars tell us that Chinese ideas and ideals

came to India with the Kushan Kings of the North, who were Tartars,

but the influence that that dynasty has left on India is almost

negligible. We are also told that there is influence of Chinese art

on the Ajanta paintings. But that is only a theory, since there is

nothing characteristically Chinese about these frescoes. The

influence of India on China however is undeniable. It is not merely

in religion that India influenced China, but in most subjects that

go to make up national culture.

 

The Chinese, always proud of their civilization, looked upon the

outside world with contempt. They called the tribes living to their

North "Hun slaves," and the tribes living to the North-

West "barbarians," while the Japanese were denominated by

them "Dwarf Pirates." But their attitude towards India was

different. India was known to them by a number of names, not one of

which was contemptuous. She was called Hsin Tu, the Kingdom of the

Hindus, or Ti Yu, the Western Land; to Buddhists she was Fu Kuo, the

Land of the Buddhas.

 

Pre-Buddhistic Influence

 

It is probable that there was contact between India and China even

before the birth of Buddha; certain similarities of thought and

belief between pre-Buddhist Indians and pre-Confucian Chinese go to

strengthen that theory. According to Hindus, the world sprang from

the union of Purusha and Prakriti, the Male and Female Principles;

the ancient Chinese writers thought the same—the Purusha and

Prakriti of Indians being called Yang and Yin in China. There is

also the worship of mountains in both countries; what the Himalayas

have been to Hindus that Mount Tai has been to the Celestials. I do

not think that these are mere coincidences due to the similarity of

all early beliefs. There was a good deal of action and reaction of

early Asiatic civilizations upon each other of which a proper

history has yet to be written.

 

With the rise of Buddhism we are, historically speaking, on firmer

ground. It is said that Asoka's missionaries had gone to China.

There are however no records left of it. But we do know as a matter

of historical fact that in 67 A.D., the Emperor Ming Ti received

Kashyapamadanya from India, who bore with him presents of images and

sculptures for the Chinese emperor. Since then the intercourse

between the two countries continued uninterrupted till at least the

eighth century. During that time it is estimated that between thirty

to forty Indian scholars went to China, and some two hundred Chinese

scholars came to India, who took back with them to their country

Indian books, paintings, and statues.

 

The influence of India on China can be traced on Music,

Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Literature, Mythology, Philosophy

and Science.

 

Influence of Hindu Music

 

We learn from Chinese writers that Indian music had displaced

Chinese music in the seventh century in northern China; records of

this music are said to be preserved in Japan. Although Chinese

architecture is mainly wooden, still Indian architecture has

succeeded in influencing it. There were certain temples built during

the Tang Period in China which were the offspring of Indian and

Chinese styles of architecture. Those temples are however in ruins

now, and so they cannot be studied properly. But the Chinese pagoda

fortunately still exists. It is called Chinese, though the country

of its origin was Nepal. The Newars, a people living in the Valley

of Nepal, evolved it by making certain alterations in the Hindu

temple. Those alterations were: (1) They built the pagoda on a

platform and not on the ground direct like the Hindu temple; (2)

They tilted up the roof of their building, mainly because the

rainfall in the country is very heavy. Mr. Ernest Havell is of

opinion that the pagoda was a modification of the stupa, while Mr.

Sylvain Levi thinks that it represents an Indian style of

architecture which has now disappeared. When the pagoda went from

Nepal to Tibet and from thence to China is not definitely known yet.

The oldest pagoda in China is, I think, of the sixth century.

 

In painting, India influenced China considerably. From the East Chin

dynasty to the Tang dynasty there was continuous intercourse between

the two countries, and Indian paintings went to China in great

numbers and influenced, if not actually displaced for a time Chinese

painting in the North. This Indian School of Painting flourished in

China till the rise to power of the Southern Sungs who favored the

purely Chinese style of painting. I shall never forget the

exquisite, ethereally delicate pictures painted on silk of this

period which I saw at an exhibition at Messrs. Yamanaka's art

galleries in New York in 1923. The manager of the galleries on

seeing that I was an Indian, approached me, and pointing at the

pictures in front of us, remarked with his inimitable Japanese

smile, "They are all Indian really!" Then there are the wall

paintings of the Tun Huang Caves (the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas)

which Sir Aurel Stein and others have recently excavated in Chinese

Turkestan.

 

A Chinese writer tells us that before the introduction of Buddhism

there was no sculpture in three dimensions in China. But most of the

early Chinese Buddhist sculpture was destroyed by an Emperor who was

anti-Buddhist. There are, however, the rock sculptures and reliefs

at Lo Yang and Lung Men of that period still left intact which show

the influence of Indian sculpture on them. There are also sculptures

to be found at Yung Kwang which closely resemble the Indo-Greek

sculptures of Gandhara.

 

The Sanskrit language and literature have influenced China to a

certain extent, since the Buddhist Scriptures had to be translated

into Chinese. On account of the study of Sanskrit—which, by the way,

is the language of the Mahayana Buddhism and not Pali as some people

imagine—the Chinese were inspired to invent an alphabetical system.

This alphabetical system which has now disappeared, was called Ba-

lamen Shu or Brahminical writing. Sakuntala, the masterpiece of the

great Indian dramatist Kalidasa, was translated into Chinese, and is

said to have influenced the Chinese drama. In mythology, many

Buddhist deities of India were adopted by the Chinese; for example,

Kwan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, was the Indian Tara. It has

been suggested that Lao Tze got his idea of Tao—the Way—from the

Hindu Brahman, Universal Soul. It is likely that the Indian sciences

of Astronomy and Medicine influenced the astronomical and medical

sciences of the Chinese. There is very good scope for a competent

scholar to make a full study of Indian influence on China and other

Far-Eastern countries, and write a book on the subject.

 

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British Imperialism and Christian Missionaries in China

(excerpts from Glimpses of World History - By Jawaharlal Nehru

(1934) p. 445-449)

 

India had sent in the past many a good thing to China. Bt the Opium

war with Britain was a beginning of a unsavory chapter in Chinese

history.

 

This was the beginning of China's troubles with the imperialistic

Powers of the West. Her isolation was at an end. She had to accept

foreign trade; and she had to accept, in addition, Christian

missionaries. These missionaries played an important part in China

as the vanguard of imperialism. Many of China's subsequent troubles

had something to do with missionaries. Their behavior was often

insolent and exasperating, but they could not be tried by Chinese

courts. Under the new treaty foreigners from the West were not

subject to Chinese law or Chinese justice. They were tried by their

own courts. This was called "extra-territoriality", and it still

exists, and is much resented. The converts of the also claimed this

special protection of 'extra-territoriality." They were in no way

entitled to it; but that made no difference, as the great

missionary, the representative of a powerful imperialist nation, was

behind them. Thus village was sometimes set against village, and

when, exasperated beyond measure, the villagers or others rose and

attacked the missionary, and sometimes killed him, then the

imperialist Power behind swooped down and took signal reparation.

Few occurrences have been so profitable to European Powers as the

murders of their missionaries in China! For they made each such

murder the occasion for demanding and extorting further privileges.

 

It was also a convert to Christianity who started one of the most

terrible and cruel rebellions in China. This is the Taiping

Rebellion, started about 1850 by Hung Hsin-Chuan. This religious

maniac had extraordinary success and went about with the war-

cry "Kill the idolaters", and vast numbers of people were killed.

The rebellion devastated more than half China, and during a dozen

years or so it is estimated that at least 20,000,000 people died on

account of it. At first the missionaries blessed it and later

repudiated Huang. To the Chinese government, the missionary did not

come as a messenger of religion and good will. He was an agent of

imperialism.

 

"First the missionary, then the gunboat, then the land-grabbing -

this is the procession of events in the Chinese mind."

 

The foreign barbarians cared little what the Chinese thought of

them. They felt secure in their gunboats and with their modern

weapons of war.

 

"Whatever happens,

We have got

The Maxim gun,

And they have not!"

 

***

England waited in the wings as they vied for the key to absolute

control of China. Western culture and beliefs moved slowly into the

foreground in China, especially the Christian doctrine spread by

missionaries which found itself at the center of the Taiping

ideology.

 

The English, when told "Take away your opium, and your missionaries,

and you will be welcome" chose to come with both and throw welcome

to the wind. The fact that the English had the power in the first

place to disregard the Emperor and his ambassadors was a blow to

Chinese esteem. Suddenly these little European nations from far away

were threatening the traditions and tenements kept by China for

thousands of years. For the next ten years, Hung joined Leang-afa as

a street preacher. With several close friends, he founded the

Society of God Worshippers and remained the head of that

organization until the March of 1847, when he returned to Canton to

study with Isaachar T. Roberts. Roberts was an American Southern

Baptist missionary, who adopted Hung as a special student and

encouraged his ideas of rebellion. Later, the missionary was to

change his mind, calling Hung and his fellow revolutionists "coolie

kings" who were "crazy and unfit to rule".

 

"In search of further guidance, Hong spent two months with an

American Baptist missionary, the Reverend Issachar Jacox Roberts,

receiving scriptural instruction. Leaving before he was ready for

baptism – on which score the Reverend Mr. Roberts was quite right –

Hong returned to his native place near Canton. There he and his

followers, now calling themselves God Worshipers, made themselves

socially unacceptable by smashing idols and Hong lost his position

as schoolmaster."

 

(source: Dragon by the Tail; American, British, Japanese, and

Russian Encounters With China and One Another By John Paton Davies

Jr.

 

Christian influence upon the ideology of the Taiping Rebellion, 1851-

1864

by Eugene Powers Boardman )

 

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Hindu-Chini bhai bhai

Jyoyti Malhotra

http://www.indian-express.com/ie20010521/nat19.html

 

New Delhi, May 20: China and India are expected to take a great leap

forward in their relationship, with Beijing inviting the

Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Sri Jayendra Saraswati, on a tour of China

later in October this year.

 

The Shankaracharya is among a handful of major religious leaders

worldwide who have ever been invited by officially atheist China, on

a red carpet journey that will take him and his 15-member team

across the old cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

 

The Shankaracharya's trip is being described as a ``civilisational

journey'', in the manner of the ancient travelers who travelled from

India to the Middle Kingdom and back. But it is bound to add an

interesting new dimension to modern-day contacts between Asia's

giants, who at the best of times seem to regard each other as

competitors.

 

Clearly, the Shankaracharya's trip from October 10 to 17 is also an

attempt to break the gathering distrust between the two countries.

The fact that the invitation comes from the China Association of

International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) in Beijing —

all ``autonomous'' and ``independent'' bodies in China are linked to

the government — whose president is the former Chinese foreign

minister Huang Hua, makes it even more significant.

 

Beijing, in fact, seems to be rolling out the red carpet with

deliberate intent. Jayendra Saraswati will meet Li Peng, the second-

most important leader in all China as well as Chinese Premier Zhu

Rongji in Beijing, besides Buddhist and Taoist leaders (both groups

are native to China) in Shanghai.

 

Significantly, during the week the Shankaracharya will visit,

Beijing will also throw open the gates of the formerly forbidden

city to Hindu devotees from the rest of the world, Kanchi sources

said. The political importance of the journey has not escaped New

Delhi, although diplomats wished not to make comments.

 

For example, the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou trip is the same route

that was given to former US president Richard Nixon when he made his

pathbreaking visit to China in 1972.

 

Analysts pointed out that Beijing has been ``under siege'' for some

years now, with the banned Falun Gong sect gathering worshipers

across the country and the West pressurizing China to allow more

religious freedom.

 

By letting in Shankaracharya, the analysts added, the Chinese seem

to be sending many messages at the same time. First, that the people

of India must be engaged at many levels, not only political. Second,

Hinduism is certainly no threat to sects like the Falun Gong. And

third, as China opens up slowly, ``Western nations, along with their

cultural motifs, must back off.''

 

The Kanchi group, comprising of the pontiff's close aides

Venkateshwaran, Rajaram, M.D. Nalapat, Sundar and R. Sarathy, who

visited Beijing in end-April to finalise details, said they

were ``very pleasantly surprised'' at the extremely warm reception

they received.

 

They said they were able to wrap up both major details as well as

the finer points of the trip in a matter of weeks. The Catholic

Pope, they pointed out, has been trying to go to China or even Hong

Kong for the last 17-odd years, but Beijing has steadfastly refused

to give him a visa.

 

On the other hand, the letter formally delivered by CAIFC emissaries

to Kanchipuram a few days ago, is extremely warm in tone,

inviting ``Your Holiness'' to visit China as ``distinguished guests

of the Chinese people as well as the goodwill ambassadors of our

great neighbor India with which China has a history of thousands

(of) years of friendly exchanges''.

 

Interestingly, it is the small details that seemed to have warmed

the cockles of the Shankaracharya camp. Such as the fact that the

pontiff will be able to carry his personal cook with him along with

the special rice that he eats. And though the vegetables will be

provided by the Chinese side, water will come straight from a

borewell in the earth and not from an impersonal tap in the wall.

 

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Did You Know

 

Tea - (Chai), the national drink of the Anglo-Saxons, is an indirect

Indian legacy to the Western civilization.

 

It is also a favored drink of the Chinese, Japanese, Russians and

others. The original home of this shrub was in Assam, (Kamarupa of

old) India, and from there in the third century A.D. it traveled to

China and by the middle of the seventeenth century, it appeared in

England. In the eighteenth century "tea gardens" began to appear in

London and attracted especially women who preferred them to the

stuffy tea houses in the congested city. Scholars too were

attracted - Dr Samuel Johnson and Boswell lent distinction to these

gardens.

 

(Source: India and World Civilization - By D. P. Singhal p- 396)