Page:Indian Shipping, a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times.djvu/46

 of Cosmas. Some very valuable evidences regarding the early commerce between India and China are furnished by Chinese annals like the Kwai-Yuen Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka. Yule's Cathay and the Way Thither also has recorded many facts relating to the Indian intercourse with China. For the reign of Harsha the most important source of information is the Travels of Hiuen Tsang, that "treasure-house of accurate information, indispensable to every student of Indian antiquity, which has done more than any archaeological discovery to render possible the remarkable resuscitation of lost Indian history which has recently been effected."

5. The Period of Hindu Imperialism in Southern India and the rise of the Cholas, extending from the middle of the 7th century up to the Mahomedan conquests in Northern India.—During this period Indian maritime intercourse was equally active with both the West and the East. The colonization of Java was completed, and the great temple of Borobudur remained a standing monument of the hold which Buddhism had on that island. The field of Indian maritime enterprise was extended as far as Japan, which is testified to by Japanese tradition and official annals made accessible through the efforts of Japanese scholars like Dr. Taka-kusu. The record of I-Tsing, the famous Chinese traveller, contains many interesting details