A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s7.5

c13.s7.5

The observation of Fa-hien, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who visited Java in A.D. 414, and found 'plenty of heretics and Brahmans, but not enough Buddhism to be worth mentioning',² is excellent evidence that a strong Indian colony professing the Brahmanical religion must have been then already settled in the island for a long time. The statement made in a late Chinese work that an Indian colony arrived in Java during the reign of the Han emperor, Kwang Wu-ti (\textsc{a. d.} 25–57), is credible, although the authority on which it is based has not been found.¹ From the testimony of Fa-hien and other indications there is no doubt that Brahmanical Hinduism reached Java long before Buddhism. According to the Chinese *History of the Sung Dynasty*, the conversion of the island to Buddhism was effected by Gunavarman, Crown Prince of Kashmīr, who had renounced his rank in order to become a monk. He then joined a monastery in China and died at Nanking in \textsc{a. d.} 431. This statement dates the conversion immediately after Fa-hien's visit.²