Cultural Ties between India and the Caravan Cities of Silk Road- During Classical Period as Reflected in Art

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Tus research work entitled Cultural Ties between India and the Caravan Cities of the Silk Road. During Classical Period as Reflected in Art would be an interesting contribution to the study of cultural history of ancient India, essentially the spread of Buddhist religion, its impact especially seen in the field of art. The object of the research is to focus and understand the intimate relationship that existed much before the commencement of the Christian era between India and the geographical setting of the vast arena that had been covered by the most celebrated pilgrim-scholar Xuangzang's footsteps.

This volume provides a glimpse of a lost era. This research work is not from a Chinese centric view, though it is well known that Chinese control was felt more strongly in certain areas and at certain times than others, for example, sites such as Dunhuang and Gaochang are unmistakably Chinese, other areas retained their local character and their strong association with India and West. In addition, the majority of translators of Buddhist scriptures were from India or the Western regions.

This area is known variously and ambiguously as Eastern Turkestan, Eastern Central Asia, Tarim Basin, Silk Road or as it is called in the present day-Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China. This book has been an outcome of a patient study and research of these two different countries of the East that was bound by close cultural ties that existed and was the basis of the underlying unity that prevailed between them during that period.

Keeping this in mind, an attempt has been made to render a glimpse of the effect and impact of Indian civilization on that of ancient Central Asia and China. Culture, customs, mores and ways of life, attainments and achievements of a nation, society and its people should be looked at in terms of their mutual enrichment and a healthy fulfilling of give and take relation in contrast to a clash of civilization. The notion of a clash of civilization has been put forward by a few thinkers in Western countries that people's cultural and religious identities will always be the primary source of conflict

The vast tract of Central Asia extends from the Caspian Sea to the oasis of Dunhuang in north-western China. To the east lies Chinese Turkestan or Serindia, with close historical ties with both India and China. To the north lies the T'ien Shan range and the steppes of Siberia. The southern boundary is framed by Karakorum, separating Serindia from India and Tibet. To the eastern frontier lies China and the end of Great Wall. Locked within these natural ramparts is the Taklamakan Desert. Within the wide expanse of the desert were oases settled by their contacts with the great cultures adjoining them. Xinjiang, despite its inhospitable character, developed into a flourishing centre of art and culture of cosmopolitan nature which accounts for a fascinating story (Mukherjee 1996: 1-10).

One of the world's oldest and great highways was the Silk Road. This great caravan route across China, Central Asia and the Middle East consisted of a number of roads, but it also carried a good deal more than just silk. The Han emperors of China had pushed their frontiers westwards year after year, yet they were facing dangers from marauding Hüņas, Tibetans and others. In order to maintain the free flow of goods along the newly opened highway, the Chinese were obliged to police it with garrisons and watchtowers (Hopkirk 1980: 1-5, 17-18).

The Silk Road was entirely dependent for both its existence and survival upon the line of strategically situated oases which hugged the perimeter of the Taklamakan. In turn, these depended for their survival upon the glacier-fed rivers flowing down from the vast mountain ranges which form a horseshoe around three sides of the great desert. As the Silk Road traffic increased, the oases began to rank as important trading centres in their own right and no longer merely as staging and refuelling posts for the caravans passing through them (ibid.: 21).

THE Objective of this book is to bring out the results of a patient study between different cultures of the East on the basis of their underlying unity. Keeping this in mind, I undertook to study the deep cultural relationships that includes religious beliefs and artistic creations inspired by it that existed among India, ancient Central Asia and China. This interaction was initiated by selfless, self-sacrificing monks of Buddhist faith of both India and China before the start of the Christian era, who carried the message of love which the Buddha had delivered for the suffering mankind. Centuries before, the Enlightened One, who had felt the pulse of the age which was throbbing with dissatisfaction in all spheres of life, had tried to find the cause of human misery and had laid down a remedy for the common man. He preached to adhere to the Middle Path or moderation (I-Ching 1986: xv-xxvii).

China and India are two entirely different civilizations with different ideals. Both the countries preserved the purity of their civilization and developed it, yet wonderful accomplishments were achieved by the Buddhist monks of both the countries who faced immense hardships and braved many dangers in their quest for spiritual knowledge, especially that of the Chinese monks and the noble-minded Indian spiritual monks who travelled to China with a missionary spirit. The contribution of these monks, will forever be, interwoven with the history of Buddhism, and they are seen as the torch bearers of Indian civilization abroad (ibid.).

The present work will be an addition to similar research work carried out by great scholars in the past and I hope that it makes a significant contribution to the study of the history of ancient India, the influence of Buddhist religion and its concomitant art that had spread from the Indian soil to the distant lands of Central Asia and China. It is also hoped that the study would provide a glimpse of the impact or the mutual influence of the two ancient civilizations on each other.

This interaction has never been a clash of civilization, but has to be looked at in terms of their mutual enrichment and a healthy, fulfilling give and take relationship. There was no conflict in this interaction, but of peace, harmony, compassion, nobleness of spirit, humanitarianism and spiritual values (Devahuti 2006: xxiii).

The introduction of Buddhism in China is an important event as it is closely connected with the advent of the religion in the eastern section of Central Asia that is called by the name of Xinjiang (meaning new territory) Uighur (a Turkic group) Autonomous Region of China in the present day.

But first of all, let us physically locate Central Asia as there is no unanimity in defining the region geographically, also unifying cultural factors are lacking in the territory that is now called Central Asia. The area within the central zone of Asia extends from the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea in the west to the Nanshan Mountains and Great Wall of China in the east and on the south by Iran, Afghanistan, Indian subcontinent and Tibet and to the Siberian Taiga in the north (Mukherjee 1996: 1-10).

That part of Central Asia, which is referred to as western section of Central Asia, is roughly bounded by the rivers Amu Darya (River Oxus), Syr Darya, the Aral Sea and the Tienshan mountains, has never been a coherent cultural region. This has been due, on the one hand, to the scattered oases separated from the one hand by steppes and deserts which developed more or less independently and on the other hand, to the fact that this relatively sparsely populated area is wedged throughout history between well identified cultural entities-Persian, Indian and Chinese. Geographically, the area can be divided into four regions - steppes in the north, semi-desert, desert and occasional patches in the Ferghana Valley. Civilization quite naturally centred on the rivers, i.e. Amu Darya, Syr Darya and in between them was the Zarafshan (a tributary of Amu Darya), but now ends in marshland, south-west of Bukhara. Valley of Zarafshan was mostly heavily populated