Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.40

v2.c13.40

This period corresponds to the (Mongol) Yuan dynasty and the early Ming dynasty in China. To some extent, the passage from China to India through Central Asia, especially via Turfan, was facilitated by the establishment of Mongol rule over China, even though warfare among the different branches of the Mongol power did create some obstructions. In this period, contacts between India and China through Tibet were significant. The Yuan rulers were believers in Lama (Tibetan) Buddhism. Moreover, during this period, the relations between Tibet, India and Nepal were close. Tibetan lamas regularly went to northern India to study Buddhism while there were also several Indian monks who went to Tibet to propagate the Tantric form of Buddhism. We also hear of Indian and Nepali people at the royal court of Yuan dynasty serving in some official capacity. In the Ming period as well, overland contacts based on Buddhism and trade continued. Chinese sources tell us of an Indian monk Jusheng Jixiang who arrived at the sacred site of Wutai shan in China via the western region, having crossed the Turfan region (in present-day Xinjiang province) in the 2ⁿᵈ year of Hongwu (1369). There is also the instance of another such monk Shijia Yeshi, who arrived in China in the 12ᵗʰ year of Yongle reign period (1414). He too later he settled in Wutai shan.