Chinese Monks in India

Author: Latika Lahiri
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd, Delhi
(Pp 160, ISBN 978 81 208 0062 5, Rs 395)

The present work is a translation of a seventhcentury text Kao-Seng- Chuan (Biographies of Eminent Monks) by the renowned Chinese monkscholar I-ching (A.D. 614-713). It consists of biographies of fifty-six monks. Among the Chinese pilgrimmonk- scholars who visited India, Fahsien, Hsuan-chuang and I-ching are best known for having played the greatest role in the history of Sino-Indian cultural relation. However, the fifty-six monks whose adventurous travels and experiences are recorded in this book are no less important as active promoters of the most cordial relations between the two great countries.