BharatNotes Note on editions: In the rationalised 2023-24 edition this chapter no longer has a number of its own. About half of it survives inside Chapter 8, "Villages, Towns and Trade": trade and pepper, the Sangam poem on Puhar, sea routes and the monsoon, the muvendar, the Satavahanas, and the Kushanas and the Silk Route. The sections on the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese pilgrims, Nalanda, Bhakti and Christianity were dropped. All of it is kept here.
Why this chapter matters for UPSC: Trade, kings and religion moved together. This chapter links pepper and Roman gold, the monsoon sea routes, the southern chiefs and the Satavahanas, the Silk Route and the Kushanas, Mahayana Buddhism and Buddha images, the Chinese pilgrims and Nalanda, and the beginning of Bhakti. Mains has asked twice about Gandhara art (2014, 2019).
Contemporary hook: The old Silk Route is now a geopolitical idea. China calls its global infrastructure programme the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). India declined to join; its Ministry of External Affairs said on 13 May 2017 that "Connectivity projects must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity", and that no country can accept a project, such as the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, "that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity". In November 2024 Brazil became the second BRICS member, after India, not to join (All India Radio). India instead backs the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
🧠 First Principles — Read This First
Traders. NBPW pottery found across the subcontinent was probably carried by traders. South India was famous for gold, spices (especially pepper) and precious stones. Pepper was so valued in the Roman Empire that it was called black gold, and many Roman gold coins have been found in south India. Traders sailed along the coasts and also across the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, using the monsoon winds: to reach India's west coast from East Africa or Arabia, they sailed with the south-west monsoon.
Kings. Chiefs and kings who controlled river valleys and coasts became rich. In the south, the muvendar (Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas) became powerful about 2,300 years ago; in the west, the Satavahanas; in the north-west and Central Asia, the Kushanas, who controlled part of the Silk Route.
Pilgrims. Pilgrims travelled with traders. The best known were Chinese Buddhist monks, Fa Xian, Xuan Zang and I-Qing, who came to see places linked with the Buddha's life and famous monasteries, and left accounts of their journeys.
Why UPSC cares: this is the standard chapter for trade networks, the Kushana and Satavahana kingdoms, the spread of Buddhism and Buddhist art, and the early history of Bhakti.
PART 1 — Quick Reference
Kings in This Chapter
| Rulers | Where | What NCERT says | Dates (NCERT XII) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muvendar: Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas | South India | "Three chiefs"; each had an inland and a coastal centre; Puhar (Kaveripattinam, the Chola port) and Madurai (Pandya capital) were the most important; did not collect regular taxes but took gifts and tribute, and rewarded poets | Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas c. 200–100 BCE in the timeline |
| Satavahanas | Western India (NCERT VI); western and central India (NCERT XII) | Most important ruler Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni, known from an inscription composed for his mother Gautami Balashri; lords of the dakshinapatha; sent armies to the east, west and south coasts | c. second century BCE – second century CE |
| Kushanas | Central Asia and north-west India | Controlled the Silk Route; centres Peshawar and Mathura, with Taxila; among the earliest rulers to issue gold coins | c. first century BCE – first century CE; first gold coins c. first century CE |
| Kanishka | Kushana | Ruled about 1,900 years ago; organised a Buddhist council; Ashvaghosha (author of the Buddhacharita) lived at his court | Accession "c. 78 CE?", marked as uncertain |
Chinese Pilgrims
| Pilgrim | When (NCERT VI) | What NCERT records |
|---|---|---|
| Fa Xian | About 1,600 years ago | Sailed home from Bengal; a 13-day storm; clung to his books and Buddha statues; over 90 days to Java, five months there, then home |
| Xuan Zang | About 1,400 years ago (left China 629, returned 645 CE: Hui Li's Life, tr. Beal) | Studied at Nalanda; returned overland through the north-west and Central Asia with gold, silver and sandalwood statues and over 600 manuscripts on 20 horses; lost over 50 when a boat capsized in the Indus; spent his life translating them into Chinese |
| I-Qing | About 50 years after Xuan Zang | Also visited Buddhist sites and monasteries |
PART 2 — Concepts & Narrative
A Poem About Trade
A Sangam poem lists what was brought into Puhar, an important east-coast port: horses by sea, bales of black pepper in carts, gems and gold from the Himalayas, sandalwood from the western hills, pearls from the southern seas, corals from the eastern oceans, the yield of the Ganga and the Kaveri, foodstuffs from Sri Lanka, pottery from Myanmar. A single port linked the whole subcontinent and its neighbours.
The Story of the Silk Route
Silk: techniques of making silk were first invented in China about 7,000 years ago and kept secret for thousands of years. Chinese travellers on foot, horseback and camels carried silk to distant lands; their paths became the Silk Route. About 2,000 years ago silk became the fashion among rich Romans, though it was very expensive because it came along dangerous roads where local people demanded payments.
Kings and the route: some kings tried to control large parts of the route, to gain taxes, tribute and gifts from traders, and in return protected them from robbers. The best known were the Kushanas. Under them a branch of the route ran from Central Asia down to the seaports at the mouth of the Indus, from where silk was shipped west to the Roman Empire. Their gold coins were used by traders along the route. Silk was also sent from China by sea.
Kushana kingship (NCERT XII): colossal statues of Kushana rulers stood in a shrine at Mat near Mathura; many Kushana rulers took the title devaputra ("son of god"), possibly inspired by Chinese "sons of heaven". Their coins and sculpture show the kingship they wished to project.
Deities on Kanishka's coins: his earliest gold coins have Greek legends and Greek gods (Helios, Selene, Hephaistos, Anemos) and the goddess Nana; later issues have Bactrian legends and deities such as Oesho, Mao, Miiro (Mithra), Athsho, Oado, Nana, and rarely the Buddha ("Boddo") (P. Tandon, numismatic study). The mixture of Greek, Iranian, Indian and Central Asian deities reflects an empire straddling these worlds.
The Spread of Buddhism
Kanishka's court: Kanishka organised a Buddhist council; the poet Ashvaghosha composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacharita; Buddhist scholars began writing in Sanskrit.
Mahayana Buddhism had two features: statues of the Buddha replaced the earlier signs (such as the peepal tree for enlightenment), with many statues made at Mathura and others at Taxila; and belief in Bodhisattvas, enlightened beings who stayed in the world to help others. Bodhisattva worship spread to Central Asia, China, and later Korea and Japan.
West and south India: dozens of caves were hollowed out for monks, some ordered by kings and queens, others by merchants and farmers, often near passes through the Western Ghats, on roads between ports and Deccan cities, where traders probably halted (NCERT shows the cave at Karle).
South-east: Buddhism spread to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia, where the older Theravada form was more popular.
Gandhara and Mathura (Mains GS1 2014, 2019): NCERT VI shows one Buddha image from Mathura and one from Taxila and asks you to compare them. NCERT XII adds that 19th-century European scholars, who judged Indian art by Greek standards, prized the Buddha and Bodhisattva images from the north-west (Taxila, Peshawar) because they were "evidently based on Greek models", made where Indo-Greek rulers had set up kingdoms in the second century BCE; and it dates a Mathura Buddha to c. first century CE. Use this in an answer: Gandhara drew on Greek (and later Roman and Central Asian) forms; Mathura developed in parallel; the idea that the Greek-looking style was "the best" is itself a historiographical bias.
Nalanda: A Unique Centre of Buddhist Learning
Xuan Zang and other pilgrims studied at Nalanda (Bihar), the most famous monastery of the period. He describes teachers "of the highest ability and talent", strict rules, discussions all day, and a gatekeeper who asked newcomers hard questions: "Seven or eight out of every ten are not able to answer."
The Beginning of Bhakti
Bhakti is a person's devotion to a chosen deity. Worship of Shiva, Vishnu and goddesses such as Durga gained importance. Anybody, rich or poor, of so-called "high" or "low" castes, man or woman, could follow it. The idea is present in the Bhagavad Gita, part of the Mahabharata, where Krishna asks Arjuna to abandon all dharmas and take refuge in him. Bhakti stressed devotion and individual worship rather than elaborate sacrifice; the deity could appear in any form the devotee desired, so artists made images, and temples were built to house them.
The word: from Sanskrit bhaj, "to divide or share", suggesting a two-way relationship; Bhagavat, the one who possesses and shares bhaga (good fortune or bliss).
Appar, a Tamil devotee of Shiva who lived about 1,400 years ago and was a vellala, wrote that even the leper, the man regarded as low by the brahmin and the scavenger, if they are devotees of Shiva, "are gods to me".
"Hindu": like "India", derived from the river Indus; used by Arabs and Iranians for people living east of the river and their practices.
Image from NCERT: Vishnu as Varaha (the boar) at Eran, Madhya Pradesh, rescuing the earth from the waters (a story from the Puranas).
PART 3 — UPSC Integration
Trade, Kings and Religion: How They Connect
| Link | Evidence in this chapter |
|---|---|
| Trade paid for kingdoms | Kushanas taxed Silk Route traders; Satavahanas sought control of the coasts |
| Trade carried religion | Pilgrims travelled with merchants; caves on Western Ghat trade routes |
| Kings shaped religion | Kanishka's council; Sanskrit Buddhist writing; Gupta-era temples for Bhakti images |
| Art followed patrons | Mathura and Gandhara Buddha images; Kushana coins with many gods |
Sources for This Chapter, and Their Limits
| Source | Example | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Sangam poems | Puhar's imports | Poets praised the chiefs who rewarded them |
| Inscription | Gautami Balashri's for Gautamiputra Satakarni | Written for the royal family |
| Coins | Kushana gold | Show what kings projected |
| Pilgrims' accounts | Fa Xian, Xuan Zang | Buddhist visitors' interests |
| Greek and Roman texts | Strabo on Pandion's embassy | Hearsay at second hand |
[Additional] 10a. The Silk Roads Today: UNESCO, BRI and IMEC
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| UNESCO listing | "Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor", property 1442, inscribed 2014, criteria (ii)(iii)(v)(vi), shared by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: a 5,000 km section from Chang'an/Luoyang to the Zhetysu region of Central Asia, taking shape between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD. India is not part of it |
| India's Silk Road nomination | "Silk Road Sites in India", UNESCO Tentative List (submitted 20 January 2010, criteria (ii)(iii)(vi)); not inscribed |
| India and BRI | MEA, 13 May 2017: connectivity "must be based on universally recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality"; "Connectivity projects must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity"; on CPEC: "No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity" |
| Other BRICS | Brazil decided not to join in late 2024, "the second country after India in the BRICS bloc" to do so (All India Radio, 1-Nov-2024) |
| IMEC | Memorandum of Understanding signed at the G20 in New Delhi on 9 September 2023 by India, the USA, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the EU, France, Germany and Italy. In the India–Italy Joint Declaration of 20 May 2026 the two Prime Ministers "encouraged the first IMEC Ministerial meeting to take concrete steps for advancing this initiative in 2026"; no ministerial meeting had been reported by 2 October 2026 |
[Additional] 10b. Nalanda: The Ancient Site and the New University
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| UNESCO listing | "Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara at Nalanda, Bihar", property 1502, inscribed 2016, criteria (iv)(vi), 23 ha |
| UNESCO's dating | Remains from c. 3rd century BCE; a monastic and scholastic establishment from the 5th to the 13th century CE, "before the sack and abandonment of Nalanda in the 13th Century" |
| Founder | Tradition credits a Gupta king, usually identified as Kumaragupta I; UNESCO names no founder |
| Nalanda University Act | Act No. 39 of 2010, assented to 21 September 2010, "to implement the decisions arrived at the Second East Asia Summit" (Philippines, 15 January 2007) and the Fourth East Asia Summit; in force from 25 November 2010 (Parliamentary Standing Committee) |
| New campus | The Net Zero campus at Rajgir was "inaugurated and dedicated to the nation" by the Prime Minister on 19 June 2024 (Nalanda University Annual Report 2023-24) |
Prelims traps: Nalanda Mahavihara is a World Heritage Site (2016); the university is a separate institution created by an Act of 2010. The Silk Roads property (2014) does not include India. Brazil and India are the BRICS members that have not joined BRI. An Indian embassy reached Augustus around 20 BCE (Cassius Dio: during his winter on Samos); Strabo says gifts came "from one king, I mean Pandion, or another Porus", so the Pandya link is uncertain.
Exam Strategy
Prelims traps:
- Pepper = "black gold"; many Roman gold coins found in south India.
- Muvendar = Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas; Puhar = Chola port; Madurai = Pandya capital.
- Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni: known from his mother Gautami Balashri's inscription; lords of the dakshinapatha.
- Kushanas: Peshawar and Mathura; early gold coins; title devaputra.
- Kanishka: Buddhist council; Ashvaghosha, Buddhacharita.
- Mahayana: Buddha statues (Mathura, Taxila) and Bodhisattvas; Theravada in Sri Lanka and South-East Asia.
- Xuan Zang: over 600 manuscripts on 20 horses; overland route home.
- Appar: Tamil devotee of Shiva, about 1,400 years ago.
Mains frameworks:
- Gandhara vs Mathura: sources of style, patrons, dates; the Greek-standard bias in early scholarship.
- Trade and religion: how routes carried monks, caves and ideas.
- Connectivity today: BRI, CPEC and sovereignty; IMEC's progress.
Practice Questions
Practice (UPSC-pattern, not past papers). Real UPSC questions on this chapter are listed in the PYQ box above.
Prelims:
The Gandhara school of art is most closely associated with the period of:
(a) the Mauryas
(b) the Guptas
(c) the Kushanas
(d) the SatavahanasAshvaghosha, author of the Buddhacharita, lived at the court of:
(a) Ashoka
(b) Kanishka
(c) Harshavardhana
(d) Gautamiputra SatakarniThe term muvendar in Sangam poems refers to:
(a) three Buddhist monasteries
(b) the heads of the Chola, Chera and Pandya ruling families
(c) three ports of the east coast
(d) three Satavahana kingsIn 2024, which BRICS member became the second, after India, not to join China's Belt and Road Initiative?
(a) Brazil
(b) Russia
(c) South Africa
(d) Egypt
Mains:
- "The Silk Route was as much a highway of ideas as of goods." Discuss with reference to the Kushanas and the spread of Buddhism. (GS1, 10 marks)
📦 Revision Capsule
Hard Facts
- Pepper = black gold; Roman gold coins in south India; monsoon sailing (south-west monsoon to India's west coast)
- Muvendar (Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas), about 2,300 years ago; Puhar, Madurai
- Satavahanas: Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni, Gautami Balashri, dakshinapatha
- Silk invented in China about 7,000 years ago; Kushanas (Peshawar, Mathura) controlled the route; early gold coins
- Kanishka: council, Ashvaghosha; Mahayana: images and Bodhisattvas
- Pilgrims Fa Xian, Xuan Zang, I-Qing; Nalanda
- Bhakti: Bhagavad Gita; Appar; Varaha at Eran
Core Concepts
- Trade, kings and religion moved together
- Kings controlled routes for revenue and protected traders
- Buddhism changed (images, Bodhisattvas) as it spread
Confused Pairs
- Mathura vs Gandhara/Taxila Buddha images
- Theravada (Sri Lanka, SE Asia) vs Mahayana (Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan)
- Nalanda Mahavihara (UNESCO site) vs Nalanda University (2010 Act)
PYQ Pattern
- Mains GS1 2014 and 2019 asked about Gandhara art (see the PYQ box).
Sources
Sources
- NCERT, Our Pasts – I (Class VI), ch. 10, 2018-19 reprint: 2019 copy; Rationalised 2023-24 edition, ch. 8 (surviving sections): 2023-24 copy.
- NCERT, Themes in Indian History, Part I (Class XII), ch. 2 and ch. 4, incl. Timeline 2, Reprint 2026-27: book archive.
- P. Tandon, "The Crowns on Kanishka's Bronze Coins" (Boston University): people.bu.edu.
- S. Beal (tr.), Hwui Li, The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang (1911 ed.), introduction: archive.org.
- Strabo, Geography 15.1.4 and 15.1.73, tr. H.L. Jones; Cassius Dio, Roman History 54.9, tr. E. Cary: LacusCurtius.
- Ministry of External Affairs, Official Spokesperson's response on the OBOR/BRI Forum, 13-May-2017: mea.gov.in (Wayback copy).
- All India Radio, 1-Nov-2024, "Brazil decides not to join China's multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative": newsonair.gov.in.
- India–Italy Joint Declaration, 20-May-2026, para 8: ambnewdelhi.esteri.it.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, properties 1442 (Silk Roads) and 1502 (Nalanda Mahavihara), and Tentative List 5492: whc.unesco.org/en/list/1442, whc.unesco.org/en/list/1502, whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5492.
- Parliamentary Standing Committee report on the Nalanda University (Amendment) Bill (commencement on 25-Nov-2010): prsindia.org.
- Nalanda University Act, 2010 (Act 39 of 2010): prsindia.org; Nalanda University Annual Report 2023-24: nalandauniv.edu.in.
