Question: Write about Fa-hien?

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Question: Write about Fa-hien?

Answer: Fa-hien, a Chinese pilgrim, visited India during the reign of Chandra Gupta II. His primary aim was to visit the Buddhist religious places and to take with him the copies of the Buddhist religious texts. He, therefore, travelled through the Gupta empire and also wrote down his impressions about India. As his main interest was religion, we know nothing about the political condition of India from his account. However, his account helps us to know something about the social and religious condition of that period.

Fa-hien started his voyage to India in 399 C.E.He travelled through the desert of Gobi and reached Khotan where he found many Buddhist monasteries. He then visited Shanshan. Tarter Pradesh and Kasagara. The then ruler of Kasagara was a Buddhist. Therefore, he met Buddhist monks and found many monasteries there also. After that, he crossed the Pamir plateau, Swat and entered Gandhara Pradesh.

He reached India about 400 C.E.and remained here up to 411 C.E.He visited Peshawar, Taxila, Mathura, Kannauj. Sravasti, Kapilavastu, Sarnath and many other places. He embarked for Ceylon at the sea-port of Tamralipti (West Bengal). He remained in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for two years and then reached back China via Jawa in 414 A.D.

The Social Condition:

The people were prosperous and content with their lives. Public morality was high. Mostly the people were vegetarians and avoided meat and onions in their meals. They did not use alcohol and other intoxicants. Only Chandalas (Untouchables), who lived outside cities, engaged in hunting and fishing and were meat eaters.

The rich people vied with each other in practice of benevolence and righteousness. They established houses for dispensing charity and medicine and gave large donations to temples, monasteries, Sanghas etc. All this suggests that the people were prosperous, happy, liberal and simple in morals.

The Religious Condition:

Buddhism and Hinduism were the most popular religions at that time. Buddhism was more popular in Punjab, Bengal and the region around Mathura. In Mathura, there were many Buddhist monasteries and even government servants respected Buddhist monks. The Hindu religion was more popular in the ‘middle kingdom’ (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and a part of Bengal) which formed the heart of Chandra Gupta II’s dominions.

The emperor worshipped Vishnu but he was tolerant to other faiths. Buddhism and Hinduism flourished side by side which suggests that the people observed tolerance in religious matters.

The City of Pataliputra:

Fa-hien lived in Pataliputra for nearly three years and studied the Sanskrit language. He described that there were separate Sanghas both of the Hinayana and Mahayana sects, which provided education to students gathered from all parts of India. The Palace of Emperor Asoka also existed at that time, about which Fa-hien remarked that “it might have been built not by men but by gods’.

Fa-hien was also very much impressed by chariot-processions here. He mentioned that on the eighth day of the second month of every year, a huge procession earning images of the Buddha and Bodhisattavas was arranged by the people. The rich people of Pataliputra had established a big hospital in the city where free medicines and food were distributed to the poor people.

Other Cities:

Fa-hien described that places like Bodh-Gaya, Kapilvastu, Sravasti, Kusinagar etc. which were

 

the religious places of Buddhism no longer existed as cities. This suggests that Buddhism was no more popular in the ‘Middle Kingdom”. Fa-hien visited Malwa as well and praised its climate.