by Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy, former Head, Department of Ancient History & Archaeology, University of Mysore
India and China had cultural relations with each other in the early centuries Before Christ (BC). In fact, the name China or Cheena is a Sanskrit form of a dynasty named Tsin, which ruled in China. Thus China owes its modern name to India and this is a great Indian contribution.
India and China had political and cultural relations around third century BC. According to traditional stories, King Ashoka is said to have sent 18 Buddhist monks to China for the propagation of Buddhism there. One such group reached China in 218 BC. The story of Bodhisattva was quite popular in China around the second century BC. By about third century, the Hanas invaded China and the Chinese King requested help from many countries including India. During that period, he saw cotton cloth which the Indian merchants had brought for trade, and they liked the cotton cloth and traded in them. In fact, China was famous for silk (Chinambara) which is mentioned in our epics and puranas.
During the rule of Ming dynasty, the Buddhist monks, Dharmaraksha and Kasyapa Matanga were taken to China and they translated many Buddhist works into Chinese language. Those Buddhist monks passed through Bamiyan, Kashgar, Kuchi, Karashahar and they became great Buddhist centres.
People from India used to go to China through two routes which were full of risks. More than 500 years later, devotees used to go through Nepal and Tibet and it became quite popular. Special mention should be made of great saints like Dharmaraksha, Kumarajiva, Vimalaksha, Punyatrata etc. In fact, many great Buddhist scholars of Nalanda went to China to get better recognition there. The celebrated travellers Fahien and Huentsang made everlasting contributions towards Buddhism in China. The latter stated that he is unwilling to go back to China leaving the sacred land of Buddhism. Gradually, Buddhism declined in China and Tao and Confucian leaders became more important and began giving trouble to Buddhists. Sacred Buddhists texts like Vinayapitaka, Sutrapitaka, Abhidamma- pitaka were translated into Chinese language. In fact, some of these are not available in India and Buddhists had to depend upon Chinese texts. This glorious period came to an end in early medieval period. It never saw such a glory again.
Under this background, a Chinese inscription found in Karnataka may be examined. There is an inscribed stone in the Shantika Parameshvari Temple in Kumta, North Canara district of Karnataka. It contained letters which were neither Brahmi, Nagari or Kannada and created a furore among the local people. But the people were helpless and even the traditional epigraphists were of no avail. Today people do not know how this stone came to the local temple. At that juncture, a photograph and a estampage were taken and they were sent to Prof. Noboru Karashima of Tokyo University, who was studying Indian inscriptions. In fact, Tokyo University had a course of study on Indian epigraphy under Dr. Karashima. The latter conducted an international conference on Indian epigraphy at Tokyo, which I had the good fortune to attend.
After getting the estampage of the inscribed stone, Karashima deciphered it and read it as ‘Guong Dong Kaiyi Kasshong Ven Veng Jhima.’ It means that this is the Samadhi (tomb) of Guong Dong Ven Veng who established this township. Further Guong Dong is a town in Southern China. He established this in honour of the great God. This information is not sufficient to write more about the saint whose tomb was established here. Obviously, it was meant for worship in those days but it lost its significance and importance in course of time. Suryanath Kamath had published a note in a newspaper.
Further research on this problem yielded some more interesting information. By about 1850, the British were scary of the Chinese individuals who were known to be robbers and were deported to an Island as life sentence. By about 1833 roughly, fifteen men and ten women were freed. Among them some were Buddhists while others were Christians. The Christians married Goan girls or boys and began working as labourers in tea estates, some took up basketry. However, they continued to do thefts and hence local Police kept a strict eye on them and their movements. It is said that most of these people, both men and women, went and settled in Karwar. The bamboo and basketry work done by these people was famous till recently.
Now, we may come back to the saint whose Samadhi has been described above. Hence, it is quite likely that the Samadhi stone which was set up there might have been brought to Kumta where it is now lying.
According to the local people, some of the Chinese merchants who were moving from place to place for the purpose of trade noticed a Chinese inscription and out of respect for the saint brought it to Kumta. It was lying somewhere in the town. In India, local people play an important role in the preservation of our ancient relics in general and inscriptions in particular. As there were no museums in those days, inscribed stones used to be brought to the local temples and kept in a corner. The same thing should have happened to this stone also. In the early days the Chinese merchants used to visit Kumta and had a temporary settlement there.
In other words, this confirms that the Chinese merchants used to visit Kumta for the purpose of trade. They used to be in good numbers and spread themselves in different parts. Thus Kumta became an important centre for the Chinese merchants.
The North Karnataka gazetteer prepared over a hundred years ago, quotes many elders of Kumta who had seen Chinese merchants staying there. In fact, they used to develop friendship with young and beautiful local girls and paid them heavily to be with them. This also made the local Chinese merchants closer to the local people, for their generosity in paying money. This normally happens with foreign visitors. Having come to India and settled down here, the Chinese elevated their saint to greater heights and began worshipping them. In fact, they must have converted them to the level of Gods. In that way, this Chinese inscription though short, is significant and adds a page in the cultural history of Karnataka. The tradition continued till recently is a point of importance, in spite of the present political scenario. Let us bow to saint Guong Dong.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / Saturday – August 29th, 2015