After leaving the kingdom of Kasmira, modern day Kashmir, Hsuan Tsang came to the heart of Northern India, the Ganges Plain, after crossing Kulu Valley. The Ganges River began from the mountains in northwestern India. It flows southeastward towards the Gulf of Bangladesh. It nurtures many open lands on its route that support approximately one third of India's population.

Tens of millions of Hindus rely on the Ganges River as part of their religious belief. They believe that the Ganges River is the Goddess Ganga flowing from the God Shiva's hair. The Goddess Shiva gave it 108 magnificent and mysterious names.

Arriving the Ancient Buddhist Nation in the Ganges River Region

Hsuan Tsang traveled through the land where the Ganges River and its tributaries flowed. What he cared about the most were the various holy sites of the Buddha on the Ganges River plain and the final destination he had been longing for: Nalanda University.

What Hsuan Tsang saw was a beautiful and colorful new world: People had long noses with big eyes. The men wrapped cloth around their waists and their right shoulders were left uncovered. The women wore bright dresses, or Sari, with garlands on their heads and precious jewelry on their bodies. There were members of heretical groups, who wore strange garments such as peacock feathers, those who wore skeleton necklaces, and those who were naked. People there lived in a frugal style, seldom wore shoes, brushed teeth with willow twigs, and liked to apply fragrances to their bodies. Most people farmed and grew rice, wheat vegetables and fruit. They depended mainly on cheese, sugar and all kinds of pastries and bran. Whoever ate beef or the flesh of donkeys, elephants, dogs, monkeys, or other animals, would be expelled from the city.

Hsuan Tsang also mentioned that Indians paid particular attention to manners, and cared a great deal about learning and cultivation. Even people of rich families would keep traveling and become beggars in order to find the truth. They did not mind being poor. If there were people dying of old age, their family would send them to the Ganges River to drown in order to reach heaven. Hsuan Tsang recorded the four hierarchies in the caste system: Brahmanas (priests), Ksatriyas (royals), Vaisyas (merchants), and Sudras (farmers). People in different groups did not intermarry and did not mix together. (Note: the occupations of people in the system were not actually so clearly specified, Hsuan Tsang only gave a brief description)

Modern Indians still love flowers and jewelry very much, brush teeth with twigs, live in a cultivated lifestyle, and beggars are everywhere. Hindus still do not eat beef and they were still going to the Ganges Rives in their old age before sickness and death take them. It seems in this ancient nation there is a strong centralized mind that does not change with time, war or different rulers. Much like an obligation, the cultural tradition has been kept for thousands of years with little change.

The bright and lively black eyes, passed down from generation to generation, radiate the profound light of vision, sweep and scan continuously around for any new and interesting things. Hsuan Tsang must have been surrounded by these curious looks, but his curiosity towards the people on this piece of land was probably not less than what he received.

The City of Arts, Mathura

Hsuan Tsang followed the river eastward and arrived at the kingdom of Mathura. This country is located west of modern day Uttar Pradesh, on the Yamuna River valley. The Yamuna River is the longest branch of the Ganges River. It is what Hsuan Tsang called Yamuna River.

Mathura in Sanskrit means "best loved" or "peacocks." Hsuan Tsang described this place as "Rich lands that are good for cultivation and harvest," and "Weather changes from hot to very hot; people have favorable customs and manners." It produces Amra fruit (i.e., mango), fine floral fir and gold, a very hot but good place.

When Hsuan Tsang arrived, Buddhism and Hinduism both existed in Mathura. There were over twenty monasteries and over two thousand monks who studied both Mahayana and Theravada traditions. There were five Indian monasteries, where people of different religions mixed together. In addition, many Buddhist pagodas were also scattered around, where Sakyamuni Buddha's sacred disciples were buried and worshipped by monks piously.

Over one thousand five hundred years ago, Mathura was also a place full of literature and the arts. It became very important during the second to third centuries in the Kushan dynasty and continued all the way to the fourth and fifth centuries in the Gupta dynasty. It was the cultural center of northern India in the time after Christ. The Mathura style of art is red sandstone carving and engraving, which was the earliest Indian type of art. It is as well known as the Gandhara style in the area from eastern Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Amaravati style in southern India.

Mathura is only one-hour car ride away from Agra, where the world renowned Taj Mahal is located. In Indian myth, Mathura is the Hindu god Vishnu's eighth avatar-"Mah?k?la" Krishna's birthplace. Thus, it became one of seven holy places in Hinduism.

Now, only in the Mathura Museum can you see the traces of Buddhism, where there are many statues of the Buddha. Around Mathura, there are three cities, Dehli, Agra and Jaipur, commonly referred to as the "golden triangle." This area used to be the stronghold of an Islamic regime. After the tenth century, India was invaded by Turkuts, Arabs, Afghans, and then Persians in successive waves. Islamic culture came along with the wars in India. In the beginning of the 13th century, Qutb-ud-din of Ghur Kingdom stationed in India as the general governor, self claimed as the first sultan in Dehli and began the official ruling of an Islamic regime in India.