Buddhism, diplomacy, and trade
Subtitle: the realignment of India-China relations, 600-1400
By: Tansen Sen ; foreword by Prasenjit Duara
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 305
ISBN-13: 9781442254718; 9781442254725
Subjects: Commerce; Buddhism; Foreign relations; History
Description: "Tansen Sen offers a new perspective on Sino-Indian relations during the Tang dynasty (618-907), arguing that the period is notable not only for religious and diplomatic exchanges but also for the process through which China emerged as a center of Buddhist learning, practice, and pilgrimage. Sen proposes that changes in religious interactions were paralleled by changes in commercial exchanges. For most of the first millennium, trading activities between India and China were closely connected with and sustained through the transmission of Buddhist doctrines. The eleventh and twelfth centuries, however, witnessed dramatic changes in the patterns and structure of mercantile activity between the two countries. Secular bulk and luxury goods replaced Buddhist ritual items, maritime channels replaced the overland Silk Road as the most profitable conduits of commercial exchange, and many of the merchants involved were followers of Islam rather than Buddhism. Moreover, policies to encourage foreign trade instituted by the Chinese government and the Indian kingdoms contributed to the intensification of commercial activity between the two countries and transformed the China-India trading circuit into a key segment of cross-continental commerce"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: China's encounter and predicament with the Indic world; title: Military concerns and spiritual underpinnings of Tang-India diplomacy; title: The emergence of China as a central Buddhist realm; title: The termination of the Buddhist phase of India-China interactions; title: The reconfiguration of India-China trade and its underlying causes; title: The phases and the wider implications of the reconfiguration of India-China trade; title: Conclusion: From Buddhism to commerce : the realignment and its implications.