Chapter 26 Section 2 The Chinese build towers in India

In the Song Dynasty, there were Indian monks who came to China by sea. For example, "Song History · Foreign Biography Six" said: "In August of the second year of Zhidao, there was a monk from India who came to the coast with a ship." The second year of Zhidao was 996 AD.At that time, envoys and monks from southern India usually took water when they came to China. Volume Four and Four Records of "Buddha Tongji": In the eighth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (AD 1015), "The South China Sea sent an envoy to pay tribute to the Buddhist scriptures in Tianzhu. For forty years, the sea has no wind and waves, It means that a saint is born in China."Zhulan Kingdom is Zhuluo (Cola in Sanskrit) in South India, and Colya in Xuanzang's "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty". It was originally an ancient country, but it developed into a powerful country in South India in the early Song Dynasty. "Song History · Foreign Biography Five" records the eight years of Dazhong Xiangfu in detail, and there is an inscription written by its king Luocha Luocha. From the inscription, it can be seen that the news of the Song Dynasty was also passed on by sea merchants to the South Indians. of.These three materials all show that during the Northern Song Dynasty, the sea traffic between China and India was very developed, and there were many exchanges, most of which were commercial exchanges, and there were also activities of monks and government envoys.In addition, "Song History · Foreign Biography" also records the incidents of South India and North India sending envoys to China many times.Messengers often carry gifts of "tribute".These gifts are all Indian specialties, such as pearls, ivory, medicines and spices.What needs to be explained here is that some envoys may be faked by merchants, and their gifts are just goods for trade.When they came to China, they gave these gifts to the Chinese court, and at the same time they were "rewarded" by the emperor, which was tantamount to a trade activity.

Zhao Rushi of the Song Dynasty said in the volume of "Zhu Fan Zhi": "During the Yongxi period, there were monks who sailed to protect them, and they said they were from Tianzhu. , bought a gap to build a Buddhist temple in the south of the city of Quanzhi, which is the present Baolin Temple.” This record tells us that between 984 and 987, Indian monks came to China and received preferential treatment from the people.With the generosity of merchants, he had enough money to build a monastery.Its location is in Quanzhou.This shows that Quanzhou was a huge commercial port in the Northern Song Dynasty, where many foreign businessmen gathered, including Indian businessmen.There are also monks from India who are building temples to spread Buddhism.It can be seen that it is not only a commercial center, but also a center of religious activities.Of course, it has also become a center and bridgehead for Sino-Indian cultural exchanges.

In the Song Dynasty, there was a place called Kaulam (now Quilon) at the southern end of the west coast of South India, which also had close maritime communications with China.Zhou Qufei of the Song Dynasty recorded in Volume 2 of "Ling Wai Dai Answer": "Therefore, Linguo is close to the Great Food. Canton ships live in Lanli on the 40th and live in winter in Lanli, and ship again in the next year, arriving in about January." If the Chinese ship merchants want to go to the big food, they must go to the small boats." From this, it can be seen that South India at that time was still an intermediate station for the trade between Chinese merchants and Arab countries.In addition, Nanbi Kingdom (the southwestern coastal area of ​​India), Xilan Kingdom (that is, Ceylon, today's Sri Lanka), and Yandaman Kingdom (Andaman Islands) recorded in "Zhu Fan Zhi" also seem to have trade relations with China. Or those who arrive by mistake.

In short, since the Northwest region was often controlled by Xixia and other ethnic groups in the Song Dynasty, although some people came from there, the transportation was difficult, so the Song people had to deal with the Indians by sea.In the Song Dynasty, there were large ports such as Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou, and Mingzhou along the coast, and foreign businessmen gathered there.During this period, a considerable number of Chinese businessmen went to India. Corresponding to Indian monks building temples in Quanzhou, Chinese businessmen built towers in India. According to Wang Dayuan's "Daoyi Zhilue Tuta" records, there was an adobe brick pagoda built by the Chinese in South India at that time, which was "several feet high".There are also Chinese characters on the tower, "Complete in August of the third year of Xianchun".The third year of Xianchun was 1267 AD, which was the end of the Southern Song Dynasty.This shows that until the late Southern Song Dynasty, there were still many Chinese businessmen who went to India.The reason why the Chinese built the pagoda there was probably out of the need of worshiping the Buddha, and the merchants prayed for the blessing of the Buddha.The pagoda built by the people of the Song Dynasty is "several feet high", which shows that the pagoda is Chinese-style, and it was the people of the Song Dynasty who brought the Chinese pagoda-building style and architectural skills to India.