Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s1.34

v1.c5.s1.34

Porcelain and porcelain sherds have been discovered in South Asia. For example, a batch of Chinese pottery from the Song and Yuan periods has been found by the Archaeological Authority of Pakistan since 1958 at Banbhore, 64 km south of Karachi. Earlier excavations conducted in 1854 at Brahminabad about 80 kmeters northeast of Hyderabad in Sindh Province yielded a large amount of ceramic chips which are now housed in the British Museum. These date from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the end of Song Dynasty. Investigations conducted by Aurel Stein in the Makran Area along the coast of Balochistan also yielded a bluish white porcelain from around the 10th century CE. Celadon from the Longquan kilns of the Song Dynasty and ceramic white ware from Fujian and Guangdong as well as dark brown glazed pottery relics from South of China were unearthed in Chandravalli, a Neolithic site in what is now south central Karnataka. Along with them, coins of the Northern Song in the Shenzong Period (1068-1085) were unearthed as well, which indicated that those porcelain arrived in the period 1078-1085 or later. French excavations at Arikamedu near Pondicherry on the southeast coast of India and other excavations have also led to the discovery of Chinese porcelain sherds. These have been found together with coins of the Northern Song period and copper coins of the Chola Dynasty from the 11ᵗʰ to 12ᵗʰ century CE. All this shows that Chinese porcelain was being shipped to different parts of India continuously during several hundred years from the 9ᵗʰ to 13ᵗʰ century CE.