Long Questions: Traders, Kings and Pilgrims | NCERT Summary: UPSC PDF Download

Q1: Why Chinese pilgrims came to India?
Ans: Xuan Zang travelled to India around 1600 years ago, around 50 years after Fa Xian. I-Qing and many other Chinese pilgrims continued to visit India after that. They wished to travel to India to see the sites linked with their greatest teacher, Buddha. They wished to visit such locations in order to better comprehend and learn about Buddha's life and teachings. They also wished to go to several of the well-known monasteries. Xuan Zang and others travelled to Nalanda, a well-known Buddhist monastery. Every pilgrim who travelled to India completed some work and left a record of it here.

Q2: How does the people of modern India do pilgrimage? Explain with an example.
Ans: Hindu pilgrims flock to Amarnath, a revered spot in India. The Amarnath Yatra is the name given to this journey. This is the location where an ice Shivlinga is created. This pilgrimage attracts people of all ages and from all around India. Train and bus services are available for the journey. Because there are no roads, some parts of the journey must be completed on foot. There are those that carry the elderly or they can take animal rides to get to the pilgrimage. Due to the large number of pilgrims who visit the shrine, security personnel are present to check them. Pilgrims say prayers in the temple after taking the holy wash. They return to their home with the Prasad.

Q3: Discuss the Quest of the Chinese Pilgrims.
Ans: The Quest of the Chinese Pilgrims are as follows:

• As traders and merchants journeyed to distant lands in caravans and ships, pilgrims generally travelled with them. Several pilgrims from China visited India from time to time.
• The best-known of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, is Fa Xian. He came to the subcontinent about 1600 years ago.
• Another Chinese pilgrim, who is very popular in Indian history is Xuan Zang. He came to the subcontinent around 1400 years ago.
• The third well-known Chinese pilgrim is I-Qing. He came about 50 years after Xuan Zang (or nearly 1350 years ago).
• The above referred to all three Chinese pilgrims came to visit places associated with the life of the Buddha as well as famous monasteries.
• Each of these pilgrims left an account of their journeys of the dangers they encountered on their travels, which generally took years, of the country and the monasteries that they visited, and the books they carried back with them.

Q4: Discuss the returning journey of Fa Xian to his country China from the subcontinent.
Ans:

• Fa Xian came to India about 1600 years ago during the reign of Chandraguptall. He remained in his court. After several years he returned to China.
• He boarded a ship belonging to some merchants and started off from Bengal. They had hardly travelled for two days when they were caught in a storm.
• The merchants started throwing their merchandise overboard so as to lighten the load and save the ship from sinking.
• Fa Xian threw away his meagre personal belongings, but clung to his books and the statues of the Buddha that he had collected.
• Finally the storm subsided after 13 days. It took him more than 90 days to reach Java, where he halted for five months, before boarding another merchant ship that took him to China.

Q5: Why the silk route was important for the kings?
Ans: In most societies, silk was a highly prized cloth. Because of its rich and glossy colour, it was more expensive. Raw silk was extracted from silk cocoons that were still warm. Silk is heated before being spun into a thread and knitted into fabric. The rulers desired a flourishing trade, believing that traders travelling along this route would bring them many tributes and gifts. The traders were to be protected by the kings. They believed that by controlling the silk road, they would be able to collect taxes from the traders, which would help them expand their empire through gifts and tributes.

Q6: What had historians found about trade and trade routes?
Ans: Historians used a variety of artefacts as evidence to learn about trade routes and trade that occurred many years ago. There is a wealth of information accessible regarding these trade routes. Sangam literature, for example, speaks openly about these paths. Objects such as plates, bowls, and other pottery discovered during archaeological excavations provide evidence for historians. Gold and spices such as pepper, which were well-known in Southern India, were transported to Rome by ships or by land. South India has also discovered evidence of Roman coinage. This demonstrates that India and Rome exchanged goods.

Q7: Why Bhakti was famous? Explain through the feature of Bhakti.
Ans: Bhakti became more important in later Hinduism. Goddesses like Lakshmi and Durga, as well as gods like Shiva and Vishnu, were worshipped. Bhakti placed a strong focus on devotion, and gods and goddesses were prominently worshipped. It was intended that by worshipping Gods and Goddesses, they would be rid of all sins. It did not place a high value on sacrifices. It was thought that if someone worshipped God with a pure heart, God would come to them and grant their wishes. God and God's images are revered as sacrosanct. God's pictures are commonly found in temples, which are dedicated residences for worship or other special locations.

Q8: Describe the development of New Kingdoms along the coasts.
Ans: Development of New Kingdoms along the coasts:

• The southern half of the Indian subcontinent is marked by a long coastline, hills and plateaus, and river valleys, of which that of the Kaveri is the most fertile.
• Chiefs and rulers who controlled the river valleys and the coasts became rich and powerful.
• Sangam poems mention the muvendar. This is a Tamil word meaning three chiefs, used for the heads of three ruling families, the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas, who became powerful in south India around 2300 years ago.
• Each of the three chiefs had two centres of power: one inland, and one on the coast. Of these six cities, two were very important: Puhar or Kaveripattinam, the port of the Cholas, and Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas.
• The Chiefs (of these new Kingdoms) did not collect regular taxes. Instead, they demanded and received gifts from their subordinates. They also went on raids, and collected tribute from neighbouring areas. They kept some of the wealth and distributed the rest amongst their supporters, including kinsmen, soldiers and poets.
• Many poets whose compositions are found in the Sangam collection composed poems in praise of chiefs who generally rewarded them with gold, horses, elephants, chariots, precious stones and line as well as very costly cloth.

Q9: Discuss in short the story of the Silk making and Silk Route in your own words.
Ans: The Story of the Silk Making and of Silk Route is given below:

• The rich, glossy colours of silk, as well as its smooth texture, make it a highly valued fabric in most societies.
• Making silk is a complicated process. Raw silk has to be extracted from the cocoons of silk worms spun into thread and then woven into cloth.
• Techniques of making silk were first invented in China around 7000 years ago.
• While the techniques remained a closely guarded secret for thousands of years, some people from China who went to distant lands on foot, horseback, and on , camels, carried silk with them. The paths they followed came to be known as the Silk Route.
• Sometimes, Chinese rulers sent gifts of silk to rulers in Iran and West Asia and from there, knowledge of silk spread further west.
• Nearly 2000 years ago, wearing silk became the fashion among rulers and wealthy people in Rome.

It was very costly, as it had to be brought all the way from China, along dangerous roads, through mountains and deserts. People living along the route (i.e., the Silk Route) often demanded payments for allowing traders to pass through.
Some rulers tried to control large portions of the route. This was because they could benefit from taxes, tributes and gifts that were brought by traders along the route. In return, they generally protected the traders who passed through their kingdoms from attacks by robbers.
In history the best known of the rulers who controlled the Silk Route were the Kushanas, who ruled over central Asia and northwest India around 2000 years ago. During their rule, a branch of the Silk Route extended from Central Asia down to the Indus Valley, from where silk was shipped westwards to the Roman empire.

Q10: Describe new developments and the spread of Ruddhism dining the Kanishka’s period and afterwards.
Ans:

• The most famous Kushana ruler was Kanishka, who ruled around 1900 years ago. He organized a Buddhist council, where scholars met and discussed important matters.
• Ashvaghosha, a poet who composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacharita, lived in court of Kanishka.
• A new form of Buddhism, known as Mahayana (the Big ship) Buddhism, developed during the age of Kanishka. This had two distinct features. Earlier, the Buddha’s presence was shown in sculpture by using certain signs. For example, his attainment of enlightenment was shown by sculptures of the peepal tree.
• Now, statues of the Buddha were made. Many’of these were made in Mathura (a city in modern Uttar Pradesh), while others were made in Taxila (located in modern Pakistan).
• The second change was a belief in Bodhisattvas. These were supposed to be people who had attained enlightenment, but, instead of giving up worldly existence, they remained in the world to help other people.
• The worship of Bodhisattvas became very popular and spread throughout Central Asia, China, and later to Korea and Japan.
• Buddhism also spread in western and southern India where dozens of caves were built for monks. Some of these were built by kings and queens, others by merchants and farmers. These were often built near passes through the Western Ghats. Roads connecting prosperous ports on the coasts with cities in the Deccan ran through these passes. Traders probably halted in these cave-monasteries during their travels.
• Buddhism also spread south eastwards, to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia including, Indonesia. The older form of Buddhism, known as Theravada Buddhism was more popular in these areas.