A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c6.50.1

c6.50.1

Intercourse between China and South India by sea as early as the second century B.C. is attested to by the record of a Chinese embassy to Kāñchi (‘Houang-tche’) and the discovery of a Chinese coin of about the same date from Chandravalli in Mysore. Entries in the Chinese annals of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries A.D. show clearly that the Hindu kingdoms of Indo-China and the archipelago were in active touch with South India on the one side and China on the other: they are said to have sent to the Chinese court on many occasions presents of vaiḍūrya (the semi-precious ‘cat’s eye’), sandalwood and pearls which are specifically South Indian products. Fa-hien did not visit the mainland of South India: he took ship from Tamluk to Ceylon, and his account of the Deccan and the ‘pigeon monastery’ is just edifying gossip. Many Buddhist monks went from South India and Ceylon to China by sea and settled there, helping to spread Buddhism in that land and to translate Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Cosmas mentions the arrival of Chinese ships bringing silk to Ceylon. The celebrated Yuan Chwang, Master of the Law (of Buddhism), travelled much more extensively in India than any of his compatriots who came on similar missions, and on the whole he was much less of a recluse than they. He spent a number of months in the states of the Deccan and South India (A.D.