11 June 2020, NIICE Commentary 5296
Dr. Prachi Aggarwal
The recent Sino-Indian standoff at Ladakh, created an outcry against China in the whole country. This was considered particularly belligerent, considering that the whole world is already reeling under severe Coronavirus crisis which is alleged to have originated from China. The stand-off has since then undergone various rounds of border talks to alleviate the tensions. While concrete decisions are not yet known, it is estimated that both sides have agreed to a truce. These diplomatic level talks could do well to take a ‘leaf’ from ancient Indian wisdom.
Indian philosophy considers politics and strategy, not as tools but policies equivalent to the status of other values of higher order like honesty. Hence, we have the term rajneeti and ran’neeti. ‘Neeti’ could be translated as a policy of value. It is meant for the larger good, for the benefit of the larger populace and for the vigour of the spirit of the nation. It is perhaps the oriental darshan (philosophy) which produces Chanakya and Confucius who bring order, justice, piety into the rule ‘for’ law as opposed to the Machiavellian tactics of rule ‘by’ law.
Historically, Sino-Indian diplomacy initiatives dates back to many centuries and are not the by-product of the modern nation-state. It is often seen that cultural ‘ecstasy’ is largely blinded by political ‘mayhem’. However, the roots of interaction are too deep transcending logics of geographical proximities and human limitations. The earliest evidence is Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentioning ‘reshampatt’ or silk cloth. Similarly, Zhang Qian’s Shi Ji recounts usage of silk and bamboo from China in the Bactrian empire for merchants doing business in India. Unsurprisingly, this diplomacy was developed not by the veteran statesman and ministers but the fellow ancient travellers who used various routes to commute between the two countries. Various routes were used to traverse between India and China. Takla Makan desert in Central Asia was a strategic point offering routes via either Tarim Basin to Yarkand or via Kuchi to Kashgar. Each of these routes were one of the busiest routes used at that time. The other less travelled route was the Road of Assam which included Assam, Northern Burma, Sichuan, Yunnan. This route was less travelled due to the treacherous forests which occupied this route. Nevertheless this route was used by Kashyap Matang and Dharmratna.
Another popular route was the Tibet route which was generally used by the Buddhist monks from both the countries. The travel in and out of Tibet was facilitated by the benign King of Tibet (Sangpo). Prabhakarmitr from India and Hu An Chao from China had used this route. Another route was the sea route which extended from Guangzhou to Kanchipuram, South East Asia to Tonkin, Bay of Bengal, Sri Lanka, Java and then to China. Scholars like FaXian, Gunavarma and Parmarth used this route.
India-China cultural contacts involved various tenets for exchange ranging from spirituality (Buddhism) to medicine, astronomy, literature and architecture. Buddhism had emerged as the major influence on building relations between the two countries. The pioneers were Kashyapmatang, Dharmratna, Dharmraksha (knew 36 languages) etc. Even the Chinese encouraged Buddhism like a Chinese official Zhai Rong who encouraged Buddhist sermons. Chinese Tang dynasty had witnessed the rise of Tiantai Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism too had spread as far as Yunnan but could not survive beyond the eighth century.
Not only people but places also played major role as an instrument of cultural exchange between the two nations, noteworthy being Kashmir and Xinjiang. It is unfortunate that these two places which had taught the gospel of peace are currently themselves the hot bed of unrest. Eventually these Buddhist pilgrimages receded as funding from the king faded and Taizu of Song dynasty became the last official sponsor of Buddhist expedition to India. However, Buddhism by then had contributed immensely to the development of Chinese phonology, vocabulary and translation studies. In other fields like medicine, evidence has been found in books like Chinese Sui Shu which mentions about Nagarjuna Prescriptions (Longshu Pusa Yaofang) and Nagarjuna Mind Cultivation (Longshu Pusa Yaoxingfang) implying the usage of ayurvedic concepts in Chinese medicine. Indian ophthalmology and ‘Gold grating’ for cataract were praised by Chinese. Many of them cited Buddhist texts in believing in ‘four element theory’. Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty wrote Materia Medica citing various Indian herbs and their prescriptions.
In the field of architecture, the art of making pagoda and cave temples was learnt from India by China. This led to the flourishment of Buddhist architecture with Buddhist temples being constructed in Nanjing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Luoyang etc. Similarly in the field of astronomy, various books were being translated by the Chinese like Abhidharma Kosa Shastra by Xuanzang, Fo Shuo Da Kong Que Zhou Wang Jing by Yijing, Su Yao Jing by Amoghvira etc. Gautam Siddha, a royal astrologer from Tang dynasty translated the Navgraha calendar and composed a Treatise on Astrology in the Kaiyuan era.
Intellectuals and creative writers at that time were also not far behind. Various Chinese Zhi Guai or ‘ghost stories’ which were popular at that time had strong Buddhist influence. Dharmaraksa, Kumarjiva and Dao’an were important translators from 1st-6th century and Xuanzang, Yijing and Amoghvajra continued the legacy. A Chinese-Sanskrit dictionary was compiled by Yijing, Antabodha and Pragunmashish in collaboration. Translations were done both in Sanskrit and Chinese. Yan Cong of Sui dynasty translated Guojia Xiang Rui Lu into Sanskrit and Prabhakarmitra at the court of Taizong became the chief translator of Buddhist sutras.
Meanwhile, traders who were the protagonists in the people to people exchange continued their business in Indian gems, pearls, spices, cotton, medicine which attracted Chinese and Chinese musk, silk, porcelain which attracted India. It is said that a Chinese by the name of Wang Xuance learnt the art of making cane sugar from India.
It cannot be denied, that India has had its fair share of rivalry with its neighbour across the mountains. This along with China joining hands with Pakistan in an all-weather friendship has convinced many Indians, that India does not share bonhomie with China. For a sustained period of time India and China have been meeting on various strategic dialogues to solve their border problems and other diplomatic issues. Yet, the results have been far from satisfactory. However, Sino Indian relations go beyond the modern times and have existed with harmonious co-existence for a much longer period than the conflict period. Sino-Indian cultural exchanges in the field of Buddhism, architecture, medicine, trade, literature etc. had strong bearings on the first generation leaders of the two countries. Pandit Nehru’s affinity towards China is not unknown and Chinese Ambassador, Hu Shih, was also quoted in saying that “India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.” If the two countries could get over their political whims and decide to collaborate at a stauncher level through Track Two diplomacy initiatives, the world could witness lesser number of conflicts. Maybe a cultural ‘act east’ policy is the silent solution.
