Question

Who was Hiuen Tsang? What does he tell us about the life of the people?

Answer 1

Hiuen Tsang was a Buddhist traveller who came to India during the reign of Harsha. He spent more than eight years in India and wrote a detailed account about polity of Harsha - his administration and his people.

He wrote that though traders and craftsmen lived in the towns, the main occupation of people in villages was agriculture. The people in India were honest and hospitable people who lived mostly on vegetarian diet and avoided garlic and onion. He further goes on to explain about the rigidity of caste structure where the society was divided into several castes. The chandals or the untouchable people lived outside the villages.