RAS question
Which Chinese traveller visited India during the reign of Chandragupta II and described the peaceful and prosperous condition of the Gupta Empire?
Correct answer: (D) Fa-Hien (Faxian).
Fa-Hien (Faxian) was the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who visited India during Chandragupta II's reign and described Gupta society as peaceful and prosperous.
Explanation
Fa-Hien, also written as Faxian, is the traveller linked with Chandragupta II in this RAS history question. NIOS History, Lesson 7: The Guptas and Their Successors identifies him as the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who visited India during Chandragupta II's reign and left an account of life in fifth-century India. His account gives the exam-relevant social indicators: people were prosperous and happy, crime was low, capital punishment was absent, and most people followed vegetarian habits. That is why the clue is not just "Chinese traveller" but the combination of Chandragupta II, Gupta prosperity, and a relatively peaceful social order.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) I-Tsing (Yijing) is not the traveller identified by NIOS History, Lesson 7: The Guptas and Their Successors as visiting India during Chandragupta II's reign.
- (B) Hiuen Tsang (Xuanzang) is linked in NIOS History, Lesson 7: The Guptas and Their Successors with Harsha, not Chandragupta II; his troubled travels contrast with Fa-Hien's Gupta-period experience.
- (C) Megasthenes does not fit the clue, because NIOS History, Lesson 7: The Guptas and Their Successors names Fa-Hien as the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim connected with Chandragupta II.
Concept
This tests the Ancient India source-history theme: foreign travellers as evidence for political and social conditions. RAS repeats it because names such as Fa-Hien and Hiuen Tsang are standard anchors for distinguishing Gupta and post-Gupta history.