Indian Heritage and Culture

Assignment-3
Pothina Vijay Prakash 15bce1156

Foreign Visitors to India from Ancient Days to Mughal Period

1.)Vasco De Gama
Vasco De Gama was the first Portuguese or infact the first European to reach India. He is an important
traveler to India whose history is closely intermeshed with that of Goa. After sailing down the western
coast of Africa and rounding the Cape of Good Hope, his expedition made numerous stops in Africa
before reaching the trading post of Calicut, India, in May 1498. For his second journey, Da Gama
arrived in Goa with the task of combating the growing corruption that had tainted the Portuguese
government in India.

The fleet arrived in Kappadu near Kozhikode (Calicut), in Malabar Coast (present day
Kerala state of India), on 20 May 1498. The King of Calicut, the Samudiri (Zamorin),
who was at that time staying in his second capital at Ponnani, returned to Calicut on
hearing the news of the foreign fleets's arrival. The navigator was received with
traditional hospitality, including a grand procession of at least 3,000 armed Nairs, but
an interview with the Zamorin failed to produce any concrete results. When local
authorities asked da Gama's fleet, "What brought you hither?", they replied that they
had come "in search of Christians and spices."The presents that da Gama sent to the
Zamorin as gifts from Dom Manuel– four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six hats, four branches
of corals, twelve almasares, a box with seven brass vessels, a chest of sugar, two
barrels of oil and a cask of honey– were trivial, and failed to impress. While Zamorin's
officials wondered at why there was no gold or silver, the Muslim merchants who
considered da Gama their rival suggested that the latter was only an ordinary pirate
and not a royal ambassador.Vasco da Gama's request for permission to leave a factor
behind him in charge of the merchandise he could not sell was turned down by the
King, who insisted that da Gama pay customs duty– preferably in gold– like any other
trader, which strained the relation between the two. Annoyed by this, da Gama carried
a few Nairs and sixteen fishermen (mukkuva) off with him by force.Nevertheless, da
Gama's expedition was successful beyond all reasonable expectation, bringing in
cargo that was worth sixty times the cost of the expedition.

2.) Megasthenes from Greece

Megasthenes was a Greek historian who came to India in the fourth century B.C. as
an ambassador of Seleucus Nicator. He lived in the court of Chandragupta Maurya for
about five years (302-298 B.C.). His experience of India is written in his book entitled
"INDIKA”. Through his accounts, we come to know everything that he had seen in
India- its geography, government, religion and society.

He entered the subcontinent through the district of the Pentapotamia ("The five rivers",
modern day Punjab region), providing a full account of the rivers found there (thought
to be the five affluents of the Indus that form the Punjab region), and proceeded from
there by the royal road to Pataliputra. There are accounts of Megasthenes having
visited Madurai, in Tamil Nadu, but he appears not to have visited any other parts of
India.

3.) Marco Polo from Italy (b.1254-d.1324)

Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler, is perhaps the most celebrated traveler even till today. He is said to
have visited South India twice, in
1288 and 1292, where he saw a
tomb of St. Thomas "at a certain
little town” which he does not
name. Many historians accept
these dates and visits without
question, and identify the little
town that he speaks of with
Mylapore.
4.) Hiuen Tsang from China (629-645)

One of the earliest and the most celebrated travelers to India, Hiuen Tsang came from
China to India in search of Buddhist belief and practice. He has been described as the
"prince of pilgrims” and his accounts carry a lot of information on the political, social
and religious set up of India. Hiuen Tsang visited Kashmir, Punjab and proceeded to
Kapilavastu, Bodh-Gaya, Sarnath, and Kusinagara. He studied in the University of
Nalanda and travelled through the Deccan, Orissa and Bengal. Since he stayed in
India for 14 long years, his accounts reflect what ancient India must have been once.

Xuanzang left Adinapur, which had few Buddhist monks, but many stupas and
monasteries. His travels included, passing through Hunza and the Khyber Pass to the
east, reaching the former capital of Gandhara, Purushapura (Peshawar), on the other
side. Peshawar was nothing compared to its former glory, and Buddhism was declining
in the region. Xuanzang visited a number of stupas around Peshawar, notably the
Kanishka Stupa. This stupa was built just southeast of Peshawar, by a former king of
the city. In 1908, it was rediscovered by D.B. Spooner with the help of Xuanzang's
account.
Xuanzang left Peshawar and travelled northeast to the Swat Valley. Reaching
Oḍḍiyāna, he found 1,400-year-old monasteries, that had previously supported 18,000
monks. The remnant monks were of the Mahayana school. Xuanzang continued
northward and into the Buner Valley, before doubling back via Shahbaz Garhi to cross
the Indus river at Hund. He visited Taxila which was desolate and half-ruined, and
found most of its sangharamas still ruined and desolate with the state having become
a dependency of Kashmir with the local leaders fighting amongst themselves for power.
Only a few monks remained there. He noted that it had some time previously been a
subject of Kapisa. He went to Kashmir in 631 where he met a talented monk
Samghayasas (僧伽耶舍), and studied there. In Kashmir, he found himself in another
center of Buddhist culture and describes that there were over 100 monasteries and
over 5,000 monks in the area. Between 632 and early 633, he studied with various
monks, including 14 months with Vinītaprabha (毘膩多缽臘婆 or 調伏光), 4 months
with Candravarman (旃達羅伐摩 or 月胃), and "a winter and half a spring" with
Jayagupta (闍耶毱多). During this time, Xuanzang wrote about the Fourth Buddhist
council that took place nearby, ca. 100 AD, under the order of King Kanishka of
Kushana. He visited Chiniot and Lahore as well and provided the earliest writings
available on the ancient cities. In 634, Xuanzang arrived in Matipura (秣底補羅),
known as Mandawar today.

5.) Abdul Razzak from Persia (1442-1445)

One of the earliest mention of Vijaynagar empire in India comes through Abdul Razzak, the Persian
traveler who visited it around 1440. His accounts of the Hampi marketplace, its architecture and
grandeur have left a lot of corpus of history for later historians to work on. Abdul Razzak was the
ambassador of Shahrukh of Timurid Dynasty.
Heritage Sites in Andhra Pradesh

1.) Lepakshi

At a distance of 125 km from Anantapur, 124 km from Bangalore City Junction, 225 km
from Tirupati, 478 km from Hyderabad & 569 km from Vijayawada, Lepakshi is a small
village which lies 14 km east of Hindupur in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. It is
the one of the important heritage sites in Andhra Pradesh highlighting the legacy of
Vijayanagara Dynasty. It is one of the famous Tourist places in Andhra Pradesh and
also one of the popular one day trip from Bangalore.

Lepakshi was founded in the 16th century during the reign of the Vijayanagara king,
Aliiya Rama Raya. Virupanna, the royal treasurer was accused of drawing funds
without the king's permission from the state treasury to build the Veerabhadra temple
at Lepakshi. However, he blinded himself to avoid the king's punishment. Even today
one can see two dark stains upon the wall near the Kalyana Mandapa, which are said
to be the marks made by his eyes. Hence the village is called 'Lepa-akshi', means a
village of the blinded eye.

Lepakshi is the centre of some of the finest temple architecture and paintings.
Lepakshi consists of three important shrines dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and
Veerabhadra, of which Veerabhadra temple is the most important place to visit in
Lepakshi (this is also referred as Lepakshi Temple). The temples of Papanatheswara,
Raghunatha, Srirama, Veerabhadra and Durga are located in the same complex on a
hillock named as Kurma Saila (tortoise shaped hill).

The Vijayanagar styled temple has several wonderful paintings on the ceiling. The
hanging pillar supported from the top is a surprise for the visitors. To the south of the
main shrine is a huge Nagalingam, standing on a granite block, shrouded by a seven-
headed cobra, magnificently carved out of single rock. The monolithic Nandi in
Lepakshi village is another remarkable feature.

The handicrafts of Lepakshi are also quite popular among women all over the country.
2.) Undavalli Caves (Near Vijayawada)

At a distance of 6.5 km from Vijayawada Railway Station, 30 km from Guntur and 275
km from Hyderabad, The Undavalli Caves, a monolithic example of Indian rock-cut
architecture, are located in Undavalli Village of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh.

The Undavalli Caves are ancient cave temples believed to be built between 4th and
5th centuries by Gupta dynasty. The caves are located on a hill overlooking the
Krishna River. These caves have been carved out of solid sandstone on a hillside. The
best known and largest one has four stories with a huge statue of Lord Vishnu in a
reclining posture sculpted from a single block of granite in the second floor. Other
shrines inside the cave are dedicated to Trimurti- Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Main
cave belongs to the earliest examples of Gupta architecture, primarily primitive rock-
cut monastery cells carved into the sandstone hills. Initially caves were shaped as a
Buddhist monastery and the first floor still retains style of Buddhist vihara, including
some Buddhist sculptures. Facade of the third floor is adorned with numerous
sculptures, including depictions of lions and elephants.

Undavalli caves are associated with the Vishnukundina kings of 420 to 620 CE. It is
also believed that these caves were used by the Buddhist monks as the rest houses.
This is a good place to visit in the vicinity of Vijayawada.