A History of Indian Literature v1.c7.s3.9

v1.c7.s3.9

Next to the Greeks it is the Chinese to whom we are indebted for some of the most important date-determinations of Indian literary history. Since the first century after Christ we hear of Buddhist missionaries who go to China and translate Buddhist works into Chinese, of Indian embassies in China and of Chinese pilgrims, who make pilgrimages to India in order to visit the holy places of Buddhism. Works of Indian literature are translated into Chinese, and the Chinese give us exact dates at which these translations were made. There are especially three Chinese pilgrims Fa-hien, who went to India in the year 399, Hsüan-Tsang, who made great journeys in India from 630 to 645, and I-tsing, who sojourned in India from 671 to 695, whose descriptions of their travels are preserved. These accounts give us many a valuable datum on Indian antiquity and works of literature. The chronological data of the Chinese are, contrary to those of the Indians, wonderfully exact and reliable. It is only too true of the Indians, what the Arabian traveller Albērūni, who in the year 1030 wrote a book on India, which is very important for us, said of them: “Unfortunately the Hindus do not pay much attention to the historical order of things, they are very careless in relating the chronological succession of their kings, and when they are pressed for information and are at a loss, not knowing what to say, they invariably take to romancing.”¹