India has a long, colourful and storied history, with the Indian subcontinent being the birthplace of Buddhism and Hinduism.

Even during ancient times, Indian civilisation was highly sophisticated by the standards of that period, with arts and sciences flourishing under the rule of great kings.

But India was hardly the only place in Asia where great civilisations had taken root.

Just across the mighty Himalayas, Chinese emperors ruled over a vast and populated empire, mostly concentrated around the Yellow River basin.

The question that has to be asked is, what did these civilisations know of each other?

Given their proximity, contact between China and India was inevitable, though difficult, since they were separated by a massive mountain range.

Still, the Indian epic, ‘Mahabharata’, mentions China, then unified under the rule of the Qin Dynasty.

And since the second century BC, Buddhism had reached China from India, and the Silk Road that connected China to the West passed through parts of India.

It was Buddhism that spurred many Chinese pilgrims to journey to India, and among these was a fourth-century monk named Faxian.

While he was unlikely to be the first Chinese to visit India, he did write about his journeys extensively, and his work still remains an interesting read today.

He was motivated to visit India as Chinese Buddhists then were in dire need of new religious texts and material.

Impressively, he was in his sixties when he crossed the scorching desert and freezing mountains.

“Not one in ten thousand of those who encounter these dangers escapes with his life,” he morbidly wrote of the perilous journey.

He and his posse safely reached their destination though, entering what is today known as Kashmir, where they found local Buddhist monks.

Travelling southeast, he passed through the city of Mathura, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, which was then under the rule of Chandragupta II, the Emperor of the Gupta Empire.

He took note of the staunch Buddhist beliefs of the people there, and also, the pleasant weather which was neither too hot nor too cold.

Faxian was particularly impressed by the lack of capital punishment in the empire, writing that “the king governs without decapitation or other corporal punishments”.

Instead, he noted, petty criminals were mostly punished through the use of fines, and the worst rebels could expect was to have their right hand cut off.

“The people are numerous and happy; they have not to register their households, or attend to any magistrates or their rules; only those who cultivate the royal land have to pay a portion of the gain from it,” Faxian wrote.

“Throughout the whole country, the people do not kill any living creature nor drink intoxicating liquor nor eat onions or garlic.”

The monk also recorded how the Indians did not keep pigs, fowl or cattle for meat, with no butchers or alcohol sellers to be found.

He also touched on the caste system in his writings, mentioning the lower caste called the Chandala who had the unhappy duty of body disposals.

“When they enter the gate of a city or marketplace, they strike a piece of wood to make themselves known, so that men know and avoid them and do not come into contact with them,” added Faxian.

Faxian did not stay put, however, and paid a visit to Pataliputra, the ancient capital of the Gupta Empire, which is known as Patna today.

He wrote rather fantastically about how the ancient King Ashoka (268-232BC) had built his palaces by calling up spirits who piled up the stones.

It might have been Faxian’s way of telling just how intricately built and beautiful the city was.

“The inhabitants are rich and prosperous and vie with one another in the practice of benevolence and righteousness,” he wrote.

Interestingly, he wrote of how the members of the upper Vaishya caste were responsible for providing charity and medicine to the needy.

“All the poor and destitute in the country, orphans, widowers and the childless men, maimed people and cripples and all who are diseased go to these houses and are provided with every kind of help and doctors examine their diseases.”

These underprivileged citizens would be provided with necessities and were allowed to stay until they felt better and left on their own accord, wrote Faxian.

Faxian would stay in India for some years, collecting religious texts from Indian monasteries and temples before deciding to return to China via ship, instead of by land.

He would hitch a ride with some merchants, a common practice for Buddhist pilgrims of the time.

The sea route was not any easier than the land route, however, and during the voyage, the ship that Faxian was on sprang a leak.

With the merchants throwing their goods overboard to lighten the ship, Faxian was apparently terrified they would throw his collection of sacred texts and personal writings into the sea.

Thankfully for him and history, the ship managed to limp to Java where it was duly repaired before it continued on its way to China.

Faxian, who was about 77 years old when he returned home, would spend the last decade of his life in his homeland translating Sanskrit texts into Chinese.

His writings afterwards were voraciously read by fellow Chinese Buddhists, who wished to know more of the holy land of India.

Given that ancient Chinese people often dismissed other cultures as “uncivilised”, it is rather interesting to note that India was spared that perception.

Later visits by other pilgrims and their writings cemented the idea of an India with knowledgeable people and rich, religious culture.