UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 149 of 150

Correct — B, 4, 3, 1, 2, that is Fahyan (Fa-Hien) → Huentsang (Hiuen Tsang) → I-Tsing → Al-Biruni. Take them in turn. Fa-Hien, or Faxian, is the earliest: he left China in 399 CE, travelled overland across Central Asia, and was in India in roughly 405–411 during the reign of Chandragupta II of the Guptas, returning by sea through Sri Lanka and reaching China in 414. Hiuen Tsang, or Xuanzang, left China in 629, was in India from about 630 to 644 and returned in 645, so his stay falls squarely in the reign of Harshavardhana of Kanauj; he studied at Nalanda under Shilabhadra. I-Tsing, or Yijing, is the third: he set out in 671, went by sea through Srivijaya rather than overland, spent about ten years at Nalanda and returned to China in 695. Al-Biruni is last by a wide margin and is the odd one out of the four in more than date — he was not a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim but a Khwarazmian scholar (born 973, died about 1050) writing in Arabic, carried to Ghazni when Mahmud annexed Khwarazm in 1017, who came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni's campaigns from about 1017 and completed his study of the country, Tahqiq-ma-li'l-Hind (also called Kitab-ul-Hind or Tarikh al-Hind), around 1030. So the order is fifth century, seventh century, late seventh century, early eleventh century — 4, 3, 1, 2, which is option (b). There is a one-move route as well. Fa-Hien is the earliest of the four and Al-Biruni the latest, and only one code in the set begins with 4 or ends with 2 — option (b) does both. Fixing either end alone eliminates the other three. On spelling: the booklet prints 'Huentsang' and 'Fahyan', giving the familiar forms in brackets; the standard renderings are Hiuen Tsang (also Hsuan-tsang or Xuanzang) and Fa-Hien (also Faxian or Fa-hsien). Same travellers, different transliterations of Chinese names, and nothing in the question turns on it.

• (a)1, 2, 3, 4 — This is simply the order in which the four names are printed in the question, which is the answer a candidate picks when he has not attempted the chronology at all. It puts I-Tsing (671–695 CE) first, Al-Biruni (about 1017–1030) second, Hiuen Tsang (630–644) third and Fa-Hien (405–411) last — an almost exact inversion, since it places the eleventh-century scholar before the seventh-century pilgrim and the fifth-century pilgrim at the end.
• (c)2, 1, 4, 3 — It opens with Al-Biruni, who is the LAST of the four by about six centuries. If you remember one thing about this set, it should be that Al-Biruni is the only non-Chinese, non-Buddhist name in it and belongs to the age of Mahmud of Ghazni, therefore the eleventh century — which rules this option out on sight. It also reverses Fa-Hien and Hiuen Tsang at the tail.
• (d)3, 4, 2, 1 — It places Hiuen Tsang before Fa-Hien, and Al-Biruni before I-Tsing — both wrong. Hiuen Tsang came in Harsha's reign in the seventh century, more than two hundred years after Fa-Hien's visit under Chandragupta II; and I-Tsing, who returned to China in 695, precedes Al-Biruni by more than three centuries. This is the option that catches a candidate who has learned 'Hiuen Tsang' as the most famous Chinese pilgrim and therefore assumes he was the first.

Foreign accounts are one of the main classes of source for early Indian history, and the four here span two very different traditions. Three are Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who came for the sacred sites and the texts, and each left a book: Fa-Hien's Fo-kuo-ki, the Record of Buddhist Kingdoms; Hiuen Tsang's Si-yu-ki, the Records of the Western Regions; and I-Tsing's account of Buddhist practice in India and the Malay Archipelago. The fourth, Al-Biruni, arrived with a conquering army and wrote a scholar's survey of Indian religion, philosophy, science and social order in Arabic. Their dates also mark different Indian polities — Fa-Hien saw Gupta India under Chandragupta II, Hiuen Tsang saw Harsha's north India, I-Tsing saw Nalanda at its height under the Palas' predecessors, and Al-Biruni saw the north during Mahmud of Ghazni's raids.

Chronology questions are decided by anchors, not by memorised sequences. Attach each traveller to a ruler and the order falls out on its own: Fa-Hien to Chandragupta II, Hiuen Tsang to Harshavardhana, I-Tsing to the Nalanda of the later seventh century, Al-Biruni to Mahmud of Ghazni. Then work the ends of the code rather than the middle — identify who is first and who is last, and in a four-item list that usually kills three of the four options immediately, as it does here. The commonest error in this particular set is to put Hiuen Tsang first because he is the best known; the second commonest is to forget that Al-Biruni is not a Chinese pilgrim at all and to slot him among them. Note also that these travellers keep reappearing in other questions as witnesses — Hiuen Tsang and Al-Biruni are both cited, for instance, on the Sun temple at Multan, which UPPSC has asked directly.

• Fa-Hien (Faxian) left China in 399 CE and was in India roughly 405–411, in the reign of Chandragupta II; he returned by sea via Sri Lanka, reaching China in 414. His account is the Fo-kuo-ki, the Record of Buddhist Kingdoms.
• Hiuen Tsang (Xuanzang) left China in 629, was in India from about 630 to 644 and returned in 645, during the reign of Harshavardhana; he studied at Nalanda under Shilabhadra and wrote the Si-yu-ki, the Records of the Western Regions.
• I-Tsing (Yijing) set out in 671 by the sea route through Srivijaya, spent about ten years at Nalanda, and returned to China in 695; his best-known work is the record of Buddhist practice sent home from the Southern Sea.
• Al-Biruni (973 – c. 1050) was a Khwarazmian polymath taken to Ghazni when Mahmud annexed Khwarazm; he came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni's campaigns from about 1017 and finished Tahqiq-ma-li'l-Hind — Kitab-ul-Hind — around 1030. He is the only non-Chinese, non-Buddhist name in the set and by far the latest.
• Shortcut: Fa-Hien is first and Al-Biruni last, and option (b) is the only code that both starts with 4 and ends with 2 — either end alone settles the question.

• Assuming Hiuen Tsang came first because he is the most famous. Fa-Hien preceded him by more than two centuries.
• Treating Al-Biruni as one of the Chinese pilgrims. He was a Khwarazmian scholar writing in Arabic who came with Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh century — the latest of the four by a wide margin.
• Mixing up which traveller saw which ruler. Fa-Hien saw Chandragupta II's India, Hiuen Tsang saw Harsha's, I-Tsing came after Harsha's death, and Al-Biruni saw the north under Ghaznavid pressure. Megasthenes, who often joins this set in other questions, is far older still — the Mauryan court of Chandragupta Maurya.

Both commissions ask this area twice over: once as pure chronology, 'arrange the travellers in order', and once as an anchor question, 'X visited India during the reign of'. UPPSC also uses the travellers as witnesses inside statement-based questions on temples, cities and customs. The examinable unit is traveller plus century plus contemporary ruler plus the title of his account.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Chinese pilgrim reached India by the sea route through Srivijaya, spent about ten years at Nalanda and returned to China in 695 CE?

  • (a)Fa-Hien
  • (b)Hiuen Tsang
  • (c)I-Tsing
  • (d)Sung-Yun

  Answer(c) I-Tsing — Yijing left China in 671 by sea, studied about ten years at Nalanda and returned in 695. Fa-Hien came overland around 399–414, Hiuen Tsang overland in 629–645.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Al-Biruni's Tahqiq-ma-li'l-Hind, better known as the Kitab-ul-Hind, was written in connection with the Indian campaigns of

  • (a)Muhammad Ghori
  • (b)Mahmud of Ghazni
  • (c)Timur
  • (d)Alauddin Khalji

  Answer(b) Mahmud of Ghazni — Al-Biruni was taken to Ghazni when Mahmud annexed Khwarazm in 1017, accompanied his Indian campaigns from about 1017 and completed the Kitab-ul-Hind around 1030, nearly two centuries before Muhammad Ghori's victory at Tarain.