Faxian’s journey on foot from China to Swat, Peshawar and Taxila

More than 1,600 years ago, a Chinese monk of about 60 set out on foot with a few companions and reached the land we now know as Swat, Peshawar, Taxila and Bannu. His name was Faxian. He crossed the sands of the Gobi desert, the cold of snow-covered mountains and the terrifying gorges of the Indus. He then returned home by sea, battling storms. His travelogue is still counted among the oldest eyewitness accounts of these areas.

Why and how the journey began

The exact years of Faxian’s birth and death are not known. The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives the period of his activity as 399 to 414 CE. According to James Legge, the translator of his travelogue, Faxian was grieved that the books of rules for Buddhist monks in China, known as the “Vinaya”, were incomplete and defective. He therefore vowed to go to India with four companions and obtain these books.

The party left Chang’an in 399 CE. After Dunhuang came the desert. Faxian writes that there was no bird in the sky above and no animal on the ground below. The only guide along the way was the dried bones of travellers who had died there.

Next came the “Onion Mountains” (Ts’ung-ling), which Legge identifies as the Bolor Tagh range. Snow lay on them in both winter and summer. Crossing them took a month.

The Indus gorge

Descending from the mountains, Faxian arrived in a small state called “To-li”. Some scholars take it to be the Darel valley, although Legge doubts this. From here, a journey of 15 days to the south-west led along a road whose description still frightens the reader today.

Faxian writes that the mountain wall stood sheer and the Indus flowed below. Near the edge, the eyes grew dizzy. People of earlier times had cut paths into the rock and set up 700 steps. At the bottom was a swinging rope bridge used to cross the river. The two banks were about 80 paces apart. According to Legge’s note, the English archaeologist Alexander Cunningham saw similar rope bridges in the Indus gorges below Skardu in the 19th century.

Swat: land of gardens

Having crossed the river, Faxian reached “Wu-chang”, which Legge identifies as Udyana, that is, today’s Swat valley. Legge writes that Udyana means “garden” and that the region was famous for its forests, flowers and fruit. Swat had 500 monasteries of monks. When a stranger monk arrived, he was hosted for three days and then had to find his own lodging. Faxian spent the rainy season here. By Legge’s reckoning, this was the year 403.

After Swat, he passed through another small state to the south and reached Gandhara in five days. According to Faxian, Dharmavivardhana, son of Emperor Ashoka, once ruled here.

Taxila and Peshawar

Travelling seven days east from Gandhara, Faxian reached “Takshashila”, which he wrote means “severed head”. He says kings and people of the neighbouring states made offerings at the great stupas of the area, and there was never a break in the stream of those scattering flowers and lighting lamps.

Legge doubted whether this Takshashila is today’s Taxila. In his view, Faxian’s Takshashila lay on the western bank of the Indus. The ruins of Taxila were discovered in the 19th century by Cunningham, who counted 55 stupas, 28 monasteries and nine temples here. According to National Geographic, Unesco declared Taxila a World Heritage Site in 1980. The World History Encyclopedia writes that in the Kushan period, pilgrims from Central Asia and China visited the new city of Taxila.

Four days south of Gandhara lay “Purushapura”, which Legge identifies as today’s Peshawar. Here Faxian saw the stupa built by the Kushan king Kanishka. By his account it was more than 400 cubits high, and he saw no building of such splendour on his entire journey. Peshawar was also a place of parting for the party. Three companions turned back to China from here, and, according to Legge’s note, another companion, Huiying, died here.

A companion’s death in the snow, then Bannu and Punjab

After Peshawar, Faxian went west to Nagarahara (the Jalalabad area). In late winter he began crossing the “Little Snowy Mountain” with two companions. A cold wind blew there, and they shook and could not speak. His companion Huijing could go no further. Before dying, he said to Faxian: “I cannot live any longer. You should go at once, so that we do not all die here.”

Having crossed the mountains, they reached “Lo-i”, which Legge describes as a part of Afghanistan. Ten days south lay “Po-na”, which Legge writes is undoubtedly today’s Bannu district. There were 3,000 monks there. Three days from Bannu, Faxian crossed the Indus once more, where the land on both banks was flat and low. The monks of Punjab across the river were astonished that people from such a distant country had come this far in search of Buddhism, and they met every need of the guests.

India, Sri Lanka and a stormy return

Faxian then visited Buddhist holy places at Mathura and in the Gangetic plains. At Pataliputra (today’s Patna), he spent three years learning Sanskrit and preparing copies of books. He then reached Sri Lanka on a merchant ship. One day there, he saw a merchant offering a white silk fan made in China, and his eyes filled with tears of homesickness.

The return journey began on a ship carrying more than 200 people. In a storm the ship took in water and the merchants threw their goods into the sea. Faxian threw away his own belongings but kept his books and images. The ship was driven to Java. From there another ship set out for Guangzhou but lost its way and reached the coast of Mount Lao in northern China, in today’s Shandong province.

By Faxian’s own reckoning, it took him six years to reach central India. He stayed there six years and spent three on the return. In this time he passed through about 30 countries. His travelogue tells us today how Swat, Peshawar, Taxila and Bannu looked in the fifth century.

Next instalment: Xuanzang: his journey to India and Taxila.