The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.89

v1.c15.89

We have now completed the itinerary of the inner parts of India. What remains to be described is the north-western land of passage where India merges with Irān and Turān—Persia and Turkestān. The Himālayan barrier, and the desert plateau of Tibet in rear of it, so shield the Indian world from the north and north-east that the medieval Buddhist pilgrims from China to Gayā were in the habit of travelling westward by the desert routes north of Tibet as far as the river Oxus, and then southward over the Hindu Kush. Thus they came into India from the north-west, having circumvented Tibet rather than cross it. Great mountain ranges articulate with the Himālayas at their eastern end, and extend into the roots of the peninsula of Further India. Thus the direct way from China into India by the east is obstructed. Today as we have seen the railway systems of Burma and India are still separate.