Xuanzang: The Pilgrim Who Chronicled Harsha’s India

Xuanzang was a Chinese Buddhist monk. His name is also spelled Hiuen Tsang or Yuan Chwang. He went to India to study Buddhism where it began and to bring its books home.

When did he live and travel?

• Born: in 603 CE, in Ho-nan province, China. He was the youngest of four brothers, and one brother was a monk.
• Left China: about 629. His biographer Hwui Li gives 630, so sources differ by a year.
• In India: Vincent Smith dates his stay from 630 to 645.
• Home: he reached the Chinese capital in the spring of 645.

What is the Si-yu-ki?

It is the name given to his travel record. It means “Buddhist Records of the Western World”. Historians read it to learn how India looked in his time.

Xuanzang wanted to study in India. But the Chinese state did not allow it. He had to leave without permission.

What did the ban say?

An imperial rescript forbade the plan of going abroad. A rescript is a written order from the emperor. The emperor then was Taizong, who ruled from 627 to 649. Other monks gave up the plan. Xuanzang chose to go alone.

How did he get past the guards?

He hid by day and walked at night. At Kwa-chow, the governor To-Kiu heard of his coming. The governor was pleased and gave him all the supplies he needed.

Gaochang was a kingdom on the road west. Its king was Qu Wentai. He tried to keep Xuanzang there, and the monk answered with a hunger strike.

Why did the king hold him back?

The king said his realm had no teacher and guide. He wanted Xuanzang to stay and teach. He even threatened to keep him by force. Xuanzang answered that the king had power over his body, not over his will.

How did the hunger strike end?

Xuanzang vowed to eat nothing. He sat for three days without food or drink. On the fourth day the king bowed to him and gave him free leave to go west.

What did the king give him?

The king gave him 30 horses and 24 servants. He also wrote 24 official letters for 24 countries on the road. These letters asked each ruler to let him pass.

Nalanda was a great Buddhist monastery in Bihar. Xuanzang went there to study under its senior teacher, Silabhadra. He came to learn the Yoga Sastra.

Who was Silabhadra?

Hwui Li calls Silabhadra the chief member of the community, by virtue and age. He says the temple arranged about 100 pulpits for preaching every day. Students attended these talks without fail. A pulpit here is a raised seat for a teacher.

What is the Yoga system?

It is one of two branches of the Great Vehicle, or Mahayana. The other branch is the Madhyamikas. Hwui Li says the Yoga followers hold that outward things are nothing and inward things are everything.

Taxila was an old centre of learning in the north-west. Xuanzang saw it on his way into India. It was no longer at its peak.

What was its political state?

Beal’s translation says the royal family was extinct. The nobles contended for power. The region had once been subject to Kapisa. It was now a tributary of Kashmir. A tributary pays a regular payment to a stronger king.

What was left of its monasteries?

Beal says the monasteries were ruinous and deserted. Smith adds that Kashmir had reduced Taxila. So Xuanzang saw a place in decline. He did not see a thriving university.

Harsha was the king of north India. He is also called Siladitya. Xuanzang met him and joined the great assembly at Kanauj.

Who was Harsha?

Harsha ruled much of north India. Smith says that his vassals included Kumara of Kamarupa in the east and the Raja of Valabhi in the west. A vassal is a lord who serves a stronger king.

Why did Harsha call an assembly?

Smith says the assembly met in Kanauj in February or March 644. Harsha marched there with a huge crowd. Kumara kept pace on the other bank of the Ganges. The march took ninety days.

The Kanauj assembly was a huge religious gathering. Kings, monks and scholars came to hear Xuanzang defend the Mahayana school. A debate of this kind is called a disputation.

Who attended?

• Kings: Harsha, Kumara of Kamarupa, the Raja of Valabhi and 18 other tributary rajas.
• Monks: four thousand Buddhist monks, a thousand of them from Nalanda.
• Others: some three thousand Jains and Brahmans.

What happened there?

A golden image of the Buddha, as tall as the king, stood in a tower 100 feet high. Harsha dressed as the god Sakra. Kumara played Brahma. Smith calls the debate one-sided.

Why did nobody debate?

Harsha’s notice threatened beheading for anyone who hurt Xuanzang. It threatened loss of the tongue for anyone who spoke against him. After 18 days, no one came forward to debate.

Xuanzang watched Harsha govern from close by. Smith used his account, with Bana’s court poem, to describe the reign. Together the two give a fuller picture.

How did Harsha govern?

Smith says Harsha relied on his own supervision more than on trained officials. He kept moving. Except in the rainy season, the king toured his lands with his court.

Was the country safe?

Not always. Smith says the roads were less safe than in Fa-hien’s time. Xuanzang himself was stopped and robbed by brigands more than once. Prison was the usual penalty.

Xuanzang left India with royal help. He returned to China in 645 with books and relics. A relic is a sacred object linked to the Buddha.

How did he get home?

Harsha gave him 3,000 gold and 10,000 silver pieces, carried on an elephant. A raja named Udhita led a mounted escort to see him safely on his way.

What did he carry?

He brought back 657 volumes of Buddhist books, packed in 520 fasciculi. A fasciculus is a bundle of manuscript rolls. He also brought 150 relics. Twenty horses carried the load.

How much did he translate?

He translated 74 of the 657 works into Chinese. A pagoda was built in 652 at the south gate of the Hong-fu temple.

Historians need records made by people with different motives. Xuanzang was an outsider. He wrote to explain India to China. He did not write to flatter Harsha.

What is the other main source?

Bana’s Harsha-charita, the Harshacharita, is a court poem. Smith calls it a panegyric, a work of praise. It praises the king. A court poet has a reason to please.

How do the two sources help each other?

Bana tells the story from inside the court. Xuanzang tells it from outside. Smith uses both, since the period has two contemporary literary works.

What are the key points?

• Who: a Chinese Buddhist monk, born in 603.
• Ban: an imperial order forbade travel, so he left in secret.
• Gaochang: King Qu Wentai freed him after a three-day hunger strike.
• Nalanda: he studied the Yoga Sastra under Silabhadra.
• Taxila: he saw ruinous monasteries, under Kashmir.
• Kanauj: the assembly met in 644.
• Return: 657 volumes, 150 relics, twenty horses, in 645.
• Value: an outsider’s record of Harsha’s time.

What are the traps?

1. Two pilgrims. Fa-hien came around 399–414 in Chandragupta II’s time. Xuanzang came in Harsha’s time.
2. Whose ban? An imperial order of China forbade travel. Harsha had nothing to do with it.
3. Kanauj year. Smith dates the assembly to 644.
4. Numbers. He brought 657 volumes and translated 74. He carried 150 relics.
5. Nalanda or Taxila. He studied at Nalanda. He found Taxila’s monasteries ruinous.
6. Two sources. Bana’s poem is a court work. Xuanzang is an outsider.
7. Spellings. Hiuen Tsang, Yuan Chwang and Xuanzang are one man.

Has this come up in the exam?

The answer is (b), Chandragupta II. The question is on Fa-hien, not on Xuanzang. Mixing up the two pilgrims is the trap.