Question

The Chinese traveller Fa-Hien visited India and left a detailed account of the reign of:
(A) Samudragupta
(B) Chandragupta II
 (C) Kumaragupta I
 (D) Skandagupta

Answer 1

Hint: Fa-Hien who was the famous Chinese traveller came to India to visit Buddhist places. During his visit to India, he also explored the Gupta Empire. He travelled the whole distance from China to India on foot.

Complete answer:
Fa-Hien who is also known as Faxian was a Chinese Buddhist devotee who was the wanderer who travelled to India during the term of Chandragupta-II. It is known that he visited several other Asian countries, not only India, in order to explore Buddhism and Buddhist texts. After completion of his journey, he went back to China on a merchant ship that he boarded from the port of Tamralipti.
While going back to China, he left a detailed account of the reign of Chandragupta II. Fa-hein doesn’t give a detailed account of the rule of Chandragupta even after spending six years in his empire. This is because he was so much dedicated towards Buddhism, their books and miracles of Lord Buddha that he had no time left for others. He had described in detail about Patliputra. According to him, the city of Pataliputra was neglected during the rule of Samudragupta and Vikramaditya but it was given utmost importance during the time of Chandragupta II. He had also mentioned about the monks who were learning their religious lectures. He wrote Magadha as Central India because the towns of Magadha were the largest in Gangetic Plains. He portrayed Chandragupta as the kindest ruler by writing about the charitable institutions, rest houses and the free services in the hospital. He further says that people were so safe and secure at that time that they didn’t even lock their houses. He mentioned that during his rule, people were set free and there was very less interference of the king in the lives of people.
So, the correct answer is Option B.

Note: Fa-hein was the first traveller who visited India from China. He studied the Sanskrit language for about three years in the city of Patliputra. He has written about the culture of Buddhism in India and the Gupta Empire in his book ‘Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms'.