The Chronology of India, from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century c5.7

c5.7

The blanks left in Indian history by the absence of all authentic records have been, to some extent, filled by the information gleaned from the notices of foreign writers. Setting aside those of Greek origin, our most important authorities in this respect are the Chinese. The Travels of Fa-Hien, Hiuen-Tsang, and I-tsing have supplied many important data for the periods to which they belong, while the minute and careful State records of the Chinese have not only given us valuable details as to the history of the barbarous Scythian tribes, whose movements on the northern frontier of India in the first century of our era would otherwise be so obscure, but have further preserved to us the names of numerous Śramaṇas who visited China in the interests of Buddhism;