India-China Relations: A Civilizational perspective

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has been emphasizing on India-China civilizational interactions throughout his three day state visit to India. In Delhi’s Tagore International, he told students that the friendship between these two ancient civilizations have a time honoured history, which can be dated back 2000 years back. During his speech at the Indian Council of World Affair and an interaction with a select group of the Indian and Chinese academicians, artists and journalists, including the author, Wen reiterated the endless flow of cross cultural currents between India and China. The Chinese scholars equally emphasized the material and cultural linkages between these two nations since time immemorial. In order to understand it better lets revisit and reconstruct the civilizational dialogue between our two countries.

The great Chinese historian Si Maqian (BC 145 - BC 90?) records in his masterpiece Records of a Historian that when he was in Bactria (around 123BC), he came to know from the local merchants that they were procuring Chinese products such as Sichuan silk and bamboo walking sticks from Indian markets, thus establishing the fact that India and China were already having trade relations in the second century BC. Later Ban Gu (32 AD - 92 AD), another Chinese historian writes in his book Early Han Annals about the state of affairs in Jibin (Kashmir) state of India and its products like pearls, corals and lapis lazuli etc. The same book mentions about sea route connecting southern India and China. Trade relations further developed during Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties. By this time maritime activities were intense and it is reported in various sources that in Canton there were ships of Indians, Persians and Sri Lankan merchants. During Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Calicut and Cochin in India rose to prominence as new ports. References of other sea ports such as Mahabalipuram, Goa, Nagapattam, Quilon, Nicobar, Mumbai, Malabar, Calcutta and many more could be found in various Chinese literary sources.

It was perhaps the spiritual linkage that transformed this relationship completely and took it to a new high. The earliest wave of scholar monks going from India to China perhaps started with Kashyapa Matanga and Dharamraksha reaching Luoyang in the first century AD, and continued till the end of the 3^rd century. A monastery called White Horse Monastery was built to accommodate them in Luoyang. In May 2010 during her visit to China, the Indian President Pratibha Patil inaugurated a Buddhist complex built with an Indian investment of 4 million US dollars next to this monastery. The second wave stretched between 4^th and the 5^th century, and the third between 6^th and 7^th centuries.

Of all the Indian scholar monks in China, Kumarajiva, undoubtedly was the brightest of all, who apart from being reduced as a war booty for his brilliance and impeccable memory by the Chinese was also accorded the highest honor of Rajyaguru by emperor Yao Xing of Later Qin dynasty. Between 2^nd century and 13^th century some 6000-7000 fascicles of the sutras were disseminated to China and translated into Chinese; Kumarajiva alone translated 74 scriptures in 384 fascicles.

On the other hand, Faxian (342-424), Xuanzang (600-664) and Yijing (635-713) shine bright among the Chinese cultural ambassadors to India. Faxian was the first Chinese to travel to India in search of Buddhist sutras according to the records. His monumental work Accounts of a Buddhist Country narrates his experiences in India. Xuanzang and Yijing had certain advantages over Faxian, as both were patronized by Tang Emperor Taizong (626-649) and Empress Wu Zetian (690-704) respectively. Xuanzang and Yi Jing both studied at Nalanda and became proficient in Sanskrit. It is indeed heartening that the University where the Chinese monks once studies is being rebuilt jointly by India, China, Japan and Singapore, and will offer courses in Buddhist studies besides other disciplines.

Owing to the material and spiritual linkages, India and China benefited immensely in the field of literature as also science and technology. Indian stories, fables, art, drama and medicine reached China. During Tang Dynasty, Chinese literary forms like Chuanqiwen and bianwen were greatly influenced by Indian literary style manifested in Panchtantra and Jataka stories. The cultural ambassadors enhanced and strengthened mutual understanding, which acted as a catalyst in modern history of India and China for rendering mutual support and sympathy by the Indians and Chinese during their national liberation struggle.

From Yuan and Ming dynasties onward until India and China launched their freedom struggles, the cross cultural currents between them virtually went unnoticed. The interactions were interrupted by the drastic domestic changes and more importantly by the gradual eastward expansion of western colonialism. It is unfortunate that very few people are aware of the mutual support and sympathy of the Indian and Chinese people during colonial era. In this regard, I requested the Chinese Premier in person that in order to enhance mutual understanding between our two people, the civilizational interactions along with our glorious anti-imperialist struggle must be included in the text school text books of either country.

The anti-imperialist efflorescence of the Indian and Chinese people manifested in a major way as a challenge to the colonial order for the first time during the First War of Indian Independence (1857-59) in India and the Taiping Uprising (1850-1864) in China, as for the first time Indian soldiers stationed in China switched over to the Taipings and fought shoulder to shoulder against the imperialists and the Qing government.

It was due to the synergy between the cultures and the plight of India and China that the nationalists and revolutionaries of India and China developed deep mutual contacts and friendship amidst their anti-imperialist struggle. Indian nationalists such as Surendermohan Bose, Rash Behari Bose, M.N. Roy, Barakatullah, Lala Lajpat Rai had forged very close association with Chinese nationalists such as Sun Yat-Sen and Zhang Taiyan, and had their active support whether in Japan or China. In China, the activities were mostly carried out by the members of Ghadr Party. Much of the activities centered around Hankou, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Their post Siam-Burma Plan activities find a link with the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC). Ghadar support to the Chinese nationalist government and in turn enlisting latter's support was the direct outcome of the formation of First United Front in China between the KMT and CPC.

During the War of Resistance and the Second World War, so long as China suffered at the hands of the Japanese, the reverberations were felt in India too. India dispatched a medical mission to China in 1938 to help them in their War of Resistance. Dr. Kotnis, one of the doctors of this mission died in China while serving the wounded soldiers of Eighth Route Army and other Chinese people. Nehru made the bonds of friendship even stronger when he visited China in 1939. President Chiang Kai-Shek visited India in 1940 specially to break the deadlock between the British and the Congress, and met Gandhi.

In retrospect, the civilizational cross cultural currents between India and China went unhindered for many millennia. Especially the colonial period was the period when both the people of India and China rendered support and sympathy to each other in their common struggle. It was Nehru's vision that in future India and China would necessarily come nearer to each other for the vast and tremendous potentials of economic cooperation in a New World after the War. India was the first country in non-communist block to recognize China and establish diplomatic relations. It is unfortunate that both India and China did not handle their relations well in the 1950s due to various misconceptions and misunderstandings. The need of the hour is to build mutual trust, resurrect our centuries old sentiments with a new zeal, exploit our potentials and usher in a New World of economic cooperation and friendly relations. Today when we talk of ‘strategic partnership’ between India and China and its future, the same must be viewed in the larger perspective of India China historical bonds vis-à-vis their interests and future outlook.