Xuanzang

Also called: Hiuen Tsang, Hsuan Tsang, Xuan Zang · Topic: Early Medieval North India: Harsha to the Rajputs · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 5 "India, That Is Bharat"; Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"; Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

Xuanzang (also written Hiuen Tsang or Hsuan Tsang) was a Chinese Buddhist monk who came to India to study Buddhism. He stayed from about 630 to 644 CE, in the reign of Harshavardhana, and studied at Nalanda. His travel account is a major source for Harsha's time. He also carried over 600 Sanskrit manuscripts back to China, which spread Indian Buddhist thought in East Asia.

Explanation

Why he came to India

• Xuanzang wanted to study Buddhism in the land where it began.
• He set out from China in 629 and crossed Central Asia on foot [3].
• He was in India from 630 to 644, according to NCERT.

What he did in India

• Study at Nalanda
• He spent much of his stay at the Nalanda monastery (a great Buddhist centre of learning in Bihar).

• There he learnt Sanskrit and Buddhist philosophy [3].

• Pilgrimage

• He visited every sacred site linked to the Buddha's life [3].

• He travelled along both the east and west coasts of India [3].

• Friendship with Harsha

• Xuanzang became a personal friend of the king [3].
• Harsha held a grand religious assembly at Kannauj in Xuanzang's honour.
• Xuanzang also describes Harsha's giving ceremony at Prayaga (Prayagraj), held every five years. There Harsha gave away his wealth to Buddhists, Brahmins and the poor.

What he saw and wrote down

• Harsha's religion: Xuanzang describes Harsha as a Buddhist, though earlier in life Harsha seems to have followed Hindu practice [3].
• Towns: According to NCERT, he found Pataliputra, the old Mauryan capital, in ruins with very few people living there. This hints that some old cities had declined by the 7th century.
• Society: NCERT notes that he saw executioners and scavengers forced to live outside cities. This shows how harshly "untouchable" groups were treated.

Return and results

• Harsha helped arrange his return journey in 643 [3].
• He reached China in 645, after 16 years away [3].
• He took back over 600 Sanskrit manuscripts.
• He spent the rest of his life translating these texts into Chinese [3].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: first half of the 7th century CE (in India c. 630–644; full journey 629–645 [3]).
• Ruler: Harshavardhana of the Pushyabhuti (Vardhana) dynasty, who ruled from 606 to 647 CE, with his capital at Kannauj (Kanyakubja).
• Key places: Nalanda (study), Kannauj (assembly in his honour), Prayaga (five-yearly charity), Pataliputra (seen in ruins), and Buddhist sacred sites.
• Key people: Harsha (his patron and friend), and the court poet Bana, whose Harshacharita (c. 640 CE) is the other main literary source for the reign [2].
• Evidence: Xuanzang's travelogue (travel account). Historians cross-check it against Bana's Harshacharita and against inscriptions, which call Harsha a Shiva devotee.

Don't confuse with

• Faxian (Fa-Hien): an earlier Chinese pilgrim who came in the Gupta age (reign of Chandragupta II). Xuanzang came in Harsha's reign.
• Yijing (I-Tsing): another Chinese pilgrim who studied at Nalanda later in the 7th century, after Harsha. Xuanzang was Harsha's own friend.
• Bana: an Indian court poet who wrote Harshacharita, a Sanskrit biography of Harsha [2]. Xuanzang was a foreign monk who wrote a travel account.
• Al-Biruni: came to India in the 11th century with Mahmud of Ghazni and wrote Kitab-ul-Hind. He was a Muslim scholar, not a Buddhist pilgrim.

Prelims Hooks

• Xuanzang was in India 630–644, during the reign of Harshavardhana. He left China in 629 and was back in 645 [3].
• He studied Sanskrit and Buddhist philosophy at Nalanda [3].
• He took back over 600 Sanskrit manuscripts to China.
• Harsha held a special assembly at Kannauj for him. Harsha's five-yearly charity ceremony was held at Prayaga.
• Order of Chinese pilgrims: Faxian (Gupta) → Xuanzang (Harsha) → Yijing (late 7th century).
• Trap: Xuanzang calls Harsha a Buddhist, but inscriptions call him a Shiva devotee [3].

Mains Points

• Using a foreign account carefully
• Xuanzang was a Buddhist monk and a personal friend of Harsha [3], so he praises the king and shows him as a Buddhist.
• Inscriptions call Harsha a Shiva devotee. NCERT's balanced view is: devotee of Shiva, close to Buddhism, tolerant of all faiths.

• This is a good example of checking literary sources against epigraphy (the study of inscriptions).

• A window on social and urban change

• Pataliputra in ruins points to the decline of some old towns in early medieval India.
• Executioners and scavengers living outside cities shows that untouchability was hardening.

• Both points are useful for GS-I answers on early medieval society.

• India's cultural links with Asia

• Xuanzang's 600+ manuscripts and his translations carried Indian Buddhist thought into China and East Asia [3].
• Nalanda's fame as an international centre of learning also shows India's role as a knowledge hub. Good examples for questions on Indian heritage abroad.

Related concepts

• Pushyabhuti dynasty
• Harshavardhana
• Kannauj
• Banabhatta
• Harshacharita
• Kadambari
• Kamarupa
• Varman dynasty
• Prayaga assembly

Read more

• Harshavardhana and the age of Kannauj