Guest Column
India-China relations: Enduring legacy of Nalanda
By Rup Narayan Das
The ancient ruins of Nalanda University in Bihar, India.
Photo by Tushar Dayal from Flickr.
At a time when there is some disquiet in the relationship between India and China after COVID-19 outbreak and the confrontations at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), it is propitious to revisit the hallowed Nalanda as the cultural and civilizational linkage between the two countries and their peoples, while both prepare to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relation. It is also appropriate in the context of the International Day for Monuments and Sites (on April 18), given that Nalanda has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016.
Nalanda, in the erstwhile Magadh empire, now in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, had flourished in the 6th and 7th centuries under the Gupta empire, as a centre of learning. It attracted scholars from different parts of the ancient world, including China, Korea and Central Asia. It is believed that Mahavira and Gautam Buddha had lived in Nalanda. The great Chinese scholar Xuanzang, also known as Hiuen Tsang, during his sojourn in India between 630 CE and 643 CE, visited Nalanda first in 637 CE and then again in 642 CE to study Buddhist scriptures and texts. He started his odyssey at the age of 26 in the seventh century and covered a distance of 8,333 miles from Chang-an to Rajagraha spending all together seventeen years on his journey before returning to China. He was received at Nalanda with great honour and was accorded a seat near the chief monk. He paid his respects to the venerable Silabhadra who was very pleased to welcome him. Besides Buddhism, he also studied Sanskrit, logic and grammar. It is believed that he returned to China with 657 Buddhist texts and 150 relics. He bequeathed not only a rich heritage of Buddhist scholarship, but also the enduring legacy of civilizational connections between India and China.
Today Nalanda is remembered as a continuum of the civilizational linkage between India and China, and Xuanzang has become an icon of their relationship. This article elucidates how the historical site with all its remnants nourishes the civilizational interface between India and China and how the top leadership of the two countries incorporates this enduring legacy as facets of soft power.
During the 1950s, Bhikku Jagdish Kashyap, the founding director of the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, broached the idea to commemorate the legacy of Xuanzang at Nalanda, with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Construction of the Xuanzang Memorial Hall was initiated in January 1957 and completed in 1984. The Chinese government provided assistance in the form of an endowment, and contributed some relics of Xuanzang, along with some Chinese Buddhist texts. Plans were initiated for the renovation of the memorial in 2001, and a team of experts from China and India in 2005 put forward some recommendations for the renovation works and use of creative artwork designs. These suggestions were incorporated, and the memorial was jointly inaugurated by dignitaries from both China and India on February 12, 2007.
Yet another initiative to resurrect Nalanda was taken in March 2006 when the former President of India Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, while addressing the Bihar Legislative Assembly, proposed the idea of reviving the university. Almost simultaneously, the Singapore government put forward the “Nalanda Proposal” to India, which sought the re-establishment of a university like Nalanda which would once again be the focal point of Asia.
Over the years, the leaders of China and India have invoked Nalanda and the contributions of Buddhist seers and scholars like Xuanzang to the relationship between the two societies. The cultural and civilizational linkages between China and India have received much traction under the present government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi in his engagement with China has often referred to the historical legacy of Buddhism. The Chinese leadership has responded to such gestures positively. Ahead of President Xi’s visit to Gujarat in September 2014, Modi posted various slides depicting Gujarat’s rich Buddhist heritage, including the excavation at Vadnagar—his hometown—on his Twitter account. “Ashokan Edict in Junagadh shows Samrat Ashok’s reverence towards Buddhism & focuses on social & moral precepts,” said one tweet, while another said, “the place where I was born, Vadnagar too has a rich Buddhist influence including a Monastery.” He also observed that, “Well known Chinese traveller Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) noted the presence of Buddhist monasteries, monks in parts of Guj[arat].”
Xi reciprocated the gesture in equal measure when he received Modi in his hometown of Xi’an in May 2015, where Xuanzang spent his twilight years. Receiving Modi, Xi said, “You received me very warmly in your hometown. I am very glad to receive you in my home town.” This was the first time that the Chinese leader has received a foreign leader in Xi’an.
Re-invoking the spiritual and civilizational linkage between the two countries, Modi during his visit to China in May 2015, presented Xi with gifts, including replicas of Buddhist relics excavated from a 3rd–4th century CE stupa at Dev-ni-Mori, as well as archaeological drawings of the excavation at Vadnagar, which Xuanzang had visited around 641 CE. Modi also visited the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda where Xuazang worked for years to translate the sutras that he brought to China from India.
Excavations carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have unearthed structures resembling a Buddhist monastery in Vadnagar. In his writings, Xuanzang had recorded that in ten monasteries in Vadnagar, there were more than 1000 monks of the Sammitiya School, suggesting that the region was an important centre of Buddhist learning in western India during the period. In ancient times, Vadnagar was situated at a strategic location where two major ancient trade routes crossed each other. One connected central India to Sindh and the further northwest while the other was from the port town on the Gujarat coast to Rajasthan and north India. Therefore, it could have been a city of great opportunities while these routes remained vibrant.
A significant outcome of Modi’s visit to China in May 2015 was the decision on joint production of films depicting cultural ties between the two countries. During Modi’s visit to China in a press briefing in Beijing it was announced that the China Film Corporation and Eros International together with India would co-produce films. The first film was on Xuanzang. It is a historical adventure movie based on Xuanzang’s seventeen-year overland journey to India during the Tang dynasty. The film is directed by Huo Jianqi and produced by the famous Chinese film director Wong Kar-wai. It stars recognizable actors from both China and India—Huang Xiaoming, Kent Tong, Purba Rgyal and Tan Kai. The film was released in China and India on April 29, 2016 with distribution in China by the China Film Group Corporation. It was selected as the Chinese entry for the best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It was, however, screened at the 2nd Annual Asian World Film Festival on October 31, 2016.
Today, Nalanda has re-established itself as a place of higher learning, with a new modern campus situated within walking distance of the excavated ruins of the ancient university. Just like its ancient counterpart, modern Nalanda University is connecting students of different cultures, languages and religions, establishing itself as a centre for inter-civilizational dialogue. The university is in a position to promote the pedagogical traditions and teachings of Xuanzang. More importantly, it could re-establish inter-Asian linkages that would benefit future generations of Chinese and Indians.
(This is a revised and updated version of a paper presented at the International Academic Conference on Historical Monuments and Modern Society organised by the Wellington Koo Institute for Modern China in World History, College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, on December 1-2, 2018.)
Rup Narayan Das is a Senior Fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. He was previously a Senior Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi on deputation from the Lok Sabha Secretariat of Indian Parliament.
The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy or the National University of Singapore.
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Books and Journals
China-India Relations: Geo-political Competition, Economic Cooperation, Cultural Exchange and Business Ties
Springer (2020)
By Young-Chan Kim, Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Business and Economics at the University of Greenwich, London
This book examines India-China relations throughout history as well as in the context of current business cooperation and competition. It also explores geo-political and societal factors, such as religion or class models, that influence and shape bilateral relations, and provides thorough analyses and comparisons of networks between the two countries. The book will appeal to researchers and graduate students interested in India-China relations as well as Chinese and Indian business ties.
Compiled and sent to you by Centre on Asia and Globalisation and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
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