Chasing The Monk's Shadow-Mishi Saran

                                                                                                                                                      Travel

Chasing the Monk’s Shadow

Mishi Saran

In seventh century, a Chinese monk Xuan Zang set off from China on an epic journey to India. His aim was to seek Truth, the Law of this Universe, in the land where this knowledge had originated, the land of Buddha. His enthusiasm to study Indian Buddhist scriptures and to learn Buddhist philosophy from the great Brahmins of this blessed country was only matched by his passion to visit the holy places where Buddha had roamed. He traversed the old Silk Road from Xian to India. His zeal for knowledge should be seen against the background of the times he lived-in. Chinese in this period were extremely xenophobic and the Tang emperor who ruled China then, had forbidden Xuan Zang’s movement out of the country. Monk’s means were limited. His Knowledge of those far off lands was cryptic. He travelled the deserts of western China, weathered snow blizzards in the high mountain passes in Kyrgyzstan, plodded through the forbidden kingdoms of Sogdiana (present day Uzbekistan) and scaled northern Afghanistan’s lofty mountain peaks to reach the land of his dreams. In India he studied Buddhist scriptures and learned various scholastic nuances of different schools of Buddhism at Kashmir and then at Nalanda. He travelled widely in India from Kashmir in north to Kanchipuram in south and from Assam in east to Gujarat in west to see the places where Buddhism had prospered. He befriended sages and kings alike, King Harshvardhan a prominent figure amongst the later. In all, he travelled more than 15000 Km in his peregrinations, mostly on foot and when he reached China after his journey, laden with Buddhist scriptures, memorabilia and gifts from the kings of these countries, he had been absent from his country for sixteen years. It was a journey of true epic proportions. And more endearing because what propelled him was his quest for knowledge and not acquisition of riches or kingdoms. He left voluminous reports of his journey, rich in details about the land, its climate, economy, culture and a very subjective assessment of the peoples’ character, their social and economic life. In fact, his writings are the main source of information of this time in these countries.

Mishi Saran, born in India but living abroad since she was ten and a journalist by profession undertook this journey in the footsteps of the Monk. She is an old hand at China having acquired a degree in Chinese studies from USA and has lived for two years in Beijing and Nanjing. She believes she also had a spiritual pining for India like her Monk. She wanted to discover the land she was born in and through the journey the Monk undertook more than fifteen hundred years back. Through the journey she allegedly wanted to reclaim her identity. This seems a little affected. A person with a desire to see the world and ability to walk on his two feet, would find it difficult to resist the lure of travelling the silk route. Which mortal will not but long for a glimpse of those distant mysterious lands, forbidding mountain peaks, intimidating stretches of endless cold deserts, inscrutable oasis cities with charming names like Samarkand, Kheev, Bukhara, Merv, etc.? Merely a scent of an opportunity to embark on such a journey and the professed traveler would be ready with his backpack. To my mind, no other justification or reason is required for undertaking this ethereal journey.

Mishi Sharan travelled in buses and taxis along the Monk’s route; traversing through China, Kyrgyzistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. She visited towns and cities in India and Nepal where Xuan Zang had set his foot. Book is a detailed account of this journey. Story of her travels is juxtaposed with that of Monk’s. Some of the later is gleaned from his memoirs while a large part is her invention, I suspect. Desultorily she writes about the history of the region she passes through, her impressions of the country and its people. She paints endearing sketches of people she met on her sojourn: Uighur women of western China, a handsome Russian soldier, a bit worse for vodka at a forlorn post in a high pass of Kyrgyzstan-China border with whom she was forced to share a tent for a night, and whose lascivious advances she resisted prudently, a gentlemanly Scandinavian who literally turned his back on her after offering her to share his sleeping bag on a beastly cold night in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Leonid a chain smoking, vodka guzzling ruggedly handsome Russian archeologist who affectionately tutors her in the finer points of the Central Asian history in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. She does manage to bring to her writing the mystical lure of these far-off countries which have remained on the fringes of our awareness because of their geographical and political isolation. Her language and prose styles are not ripe enough. This is her first book. She uses metaphors excessively. She leaves sentences unfinished. This done repeatedly stilts the prose. If practiced sparingly this technique may lend a mysterious quality to the writing but overindulgence mars the lucidity and only obfuscates narration. Overall, it’s a pleasant book. A lover of these regions and history of this period would find much to enjoy in this voluminous travel story.