PM Modi’s To XI Jinping Village Connection: Hiuen Tsang has great respect in China. Because he had traveled from China to India. But what’s the big deal in this? In fact, during his 16-year long journey to India, Hiuen Tsang not only studied in India but also visited many of its states. Then when he reached China, he started writing about the experiences of his trip to India. It is seen as the most authentic research about India in China. Also, when Hiuen Tsang visited India, it was the era of King Harsh Vardhan. To know about the era of King Harshvardhan, his writings are considered authentic in India.
PM Modi and Xi’s relationship with Hiuen Tsang
Why are we suddenly talking about Hiuen Tsang? In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did his first podcast show with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath and told in it, “After the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when I became the Prime Minister, I got a call from the President of China and he congratulated me. Then he himself said I told him that he definitely wanted to come to Gujarat and I asked him if he had decided so much. He told that I and he (Xi Jinping) have a special relationship and he is related to the Chinese philosopher Hiuen Tsang. He told that Hiuen Tsang had stayed in your (PM Modi’s) village for the longest time and after that when he returned to China, he “(Jinping) came to live in the village because of this connection.”
Who is Hiuen Tsang?
Hiuen Tsang was a Chinese traveller. Hiuen Tsang was born in Luoyang, China in about 602 AD and died on 5 February 664. He was also a philosopher, traveler and translator. Hiuen Tsang has the most importance among Chinese travelers. He is called ‘Prince of Travellers’. Hiuen Tsang was decorated with the honorary title San-Tsang. He is also called Moo-cha Ti-po. Hiuen Tsang was the youngest among his four siblings. In the year 629, a tall and strong 27 year old man started his journey to India from the Chinese city of Chang’an. At that time, there was a civil war in China and the streets there were dominated by bandits and robbers. There was a ban on Chinese citizens leaving the country. At the same time, the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks was going on. For this reason the king had prohibited foreign travels. Hiuen Tsang intended to study at Nalanda University. At that time Nalanda used to have the world’s largest Buddhist library. The distance from Chang’an to Nalanda was about four and a half thousand kilometers.
He started on foot and reached Nalanda through many states of India. Meanwhile, he also reached PM Modi’s village Vadnagar. When he returned to China, he pronounced Vadnagar as O-nan-too-pu-lo, which translates to Anandpur. This is the name of the ancient city of Vadnagar. In the words of Hiuen Tsang, “There are about ten Sangharamas in Vadnagar, containing less than 1,000 monks. They follow the Hinayana sect of Buddhism and study according to the Sammatiya sect. There are several large deity temples here, and various kinds of People of the sect come there.”
The English translation of Hiuen Tsang’s writings has been done by Samuel Bell in his book ‘Buddhist Records Of The Western World’. This book is also available on https://indianculture.gov.in of Government of India. This is also mentioned in this. In this, the glory of Harshvardhan period has been mentioned extensively. The splendor of Nalanda has also been described. Hiuen Tsang has told that at that time it was very difficult to get admission in Nalanda, for this a tough examination was taken. I entered the land of Nalanda on my knees following the local rules. I crawled on my knees and elbows to Shilabhadra out of respect. As soon as I saw her, I kissed her feet and lay down prostrated in front of her.
Praise for Nalanda University
The campus of Nalanda University was built by six kings. It had one entrance, but inside there were separate squares divided into eight departments. The talent and ability of the students at Nalanda was of the highest level. The rules of this university were very strict and students had to follow them. From morning till evening he was busy in debates in which seniors and youths participated equally. Every day about 100 lectures were given in different rooms and the students studied very hard without wasting a single moment.
relations between china and india
When Hiuen Tsang returned to China, King Harsh Vardhan gave him many gifts and also took information about China and its dynasty. Before reaching China, Hiuen Tsang wrote a letter to his king apologizing for leaving the country without permission and asked for permission to return. The king gave him permission and also called him to meet. First he was taken to Hongfu Monastery and then Emperor Taizun met him at his palace in Laoyang. These meetings continued and the emperor asked him about his experience of his visit to India, the climate, products and customs there. Asked many questions. Then the king also invited him to join his government but Hiuen Tsang refused. He went to live in an imperial monastery in Chang’an and started writing about his travel experiences in India. In this sequence, he stayed in the village of China’s current President Xi Jinping. Later it was translated into English. So now you must have understood the connection between PM Modi and President Xi. Both of them have kept the friendly relations between the two countries as the foundation of their relations through this traveler.
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