A History of Agriculture in India v1.c35.s2.2

v1.c35.s2.2

Fa-hsien, the Chinese scholar, travelled in India from A.D. 401 to 410. He entered India via the Valley of the Swat and, after passing through Peshawar and Taxila, travelled through the Gangetic plain and reached Pataliputra. On his route from the frontier to Pataliputra, he found Buddhism flourishing in the Indo-Gangetic plain. At Mathura, he found twenty monasteries, with three thousand monks. The government appeared to him to be lenient. The people moved about freely without passports. Taxes were based on the richness of each locality. Soldiers and officials received their salaries regularly. Offences were punished only by fines; capital punishment was rare, and even mutilation was confined only to cases of obstinate rebellion. Public morality was high. Fa-hsien was not molested anywhere in the course of his long journey in India. In Magadha, he found many rich towns and there were lodging-houses for travellers. There were hospitals maintained by the rich. About Indians, he writes, ‘They do not kill animals, and do not drink wine or eat onions or garlic, there are neither butchers’ shops nor taverns in the market place.’