Over 2,000 years on, Sanskrit remains popular in China: Chinese Professor
   Date :12-Apr-2021

Sanskrit _1  H
 
 
By K J M Varma :
 
BEIJING,
 
SANSKRIT studies are flourishing in China, over 2,000 years after the ancient Indian language was brought to this country along with Buddhism, making a profound impact on Chinese monarchs and scholars over the centuries, according to a distinguished professor here. Wang Bangwei, a well-known Chinese scholar in Sanskrit and Director of Sino-Indian Buddhist Studies, Institute of Oriental and Indian Studies at the Peking University, said Sanskrit which is the root of Indian culture continues to remain popular in China, contrary to its modest progress in modern India. Wang said the Peking University is one of the oldest in China and this year marks the completion of 100 years of teaching Sanskrit at the leading varsity.
 
Wang credited 4th Century AD Indian scholar Kumarajiva for spreading Sanskrit in China. Kumarajiva was instrumental in translating Buddhist sutras into Chinese language during his stay in China over 2,000 years ago, earning the royal title of “National Teacher of China”. He was the first among numerous scholars who laid a firm foundation for civilisational links between the two countries. Kumarajiva, hailing from a Kashmiri Brahmin family from the then Kucha Kingdom, spent about 23 years in China in the 4th century AD both as a prisoner and as a most revered scholar. Sanskrit, its associated culture and its development was kept alive by numerous Chinese scholars, like Fa Xian and Xuan Zang and others, who visited India, Wang said, while launching the Sanskrit learning application “Little Guru” of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, (ICCR) at the Indian Embassy here on Friday, along with Indian Ambassador, Vikram Misri.
 
Sanskrit teaching programme started at the Peking University a century ago but Sanskrit research and teaching in China has a history of over 2,000 years, Wang said. When Buddhism came to China from India, Chinese Buddhist monks started translating Indian texts into Chinese. “From that moment, Sanskrit study and research started. China has a long history of Sanskrit tradition, till that time outside of India, China has the longest and strongest scholarship in the world,” he said. Over 100 Chinese scholars studied in Nalanda University until it began to decline in 11th Century, Wang said.