One of the oldest surviving historical accounts of India was written by this Korean Buddhist monk

Among the numerous treasures in its vast collection, the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris holds a valuable 8th century manuscript. Handwritten on a scroll, the manuscript has about 6,000 classical Chinese characters spread over 227 lines and is one of the oldest surviving historical accounts of India.

The scroll, measuring 28.5 centimetres in width, ended up in the possession of France’s national library thanks to French archaeologist and Sinologist Paul Pelliot. Pelliot purchased it – along with thousands of other ancient scrolls in Chinese, Sanskrit, Prakrit and other languages – from the caretaker of the Mogao Caves in Dunhang, China, in 1908. A rare record of ancient India, the scroll is a travelogue titled Wangocheonchukguk-Jeon or Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Kingdoms of India. It was written by Hyecho, a Korean Buddhist monk and pilgrim who undertook an onerous journey to India in the 8th century and travelled extensively across the country, which he believed was divided into five kingdoms.

Hyecho, a native of the Korean kingdom of Silla (now in the central and southern parts of the Korean peninsula), was born in 704 CE. He went to study in Tang Dynasty China, where he developed a deep interest in India,…

Read more