Central Asia through a Buddhist gaze: travel accounts of four Buddhist monks at the turning points of Central Asian history

This article explores the economic geography and political landscape of Central Asia between the fifth and eighth centuries through the lens of four Chinese Buddhist pilgrims: Faxian, Songyun, Xuanzang, and Hyecho. Although these travelers were primarily religious seekers, their detailed observations offer critical insights into the commercial vitality, social conditions, and imperial dynamics of the regions they traversed. Their narratives document shifting centers of prosperity from Gandhara and the Tarim Basin in the early period to Transoxiana under the Western Türk Khanate in the seventh century and highlight the roles of nomadic and imperial powers such as the Hephthalites, Turks, and early Arab Caliphate in shaping regional economies. The pilgrims’ accounts illustrate the resilience of transcontinental trade despite episodic warfare, dynastic transitions, and religious upheavals. Monasteries served as nodes of both spiritual and material exchange, supported by merchant patronage and embedded in caravan routes that connected India, Central Asia, and China. Descriptions of silk, precious metals, harvests, and urban markets reveal patterns of wealth distribution and decline, often correlating with political stability or external invasions. While regions under Turkic and Hunnic attack faced economic contraction, stable polities like Kucha and Samarkand thrived. Ultimately, the article argues that these pilgrimage records, when read together, constitute a valuable, diachronic source for understanding how commerce, governance, and faith intersected in early medieval Central Asia. The continuity of trade amidst political fragmentation emerges as a testament to the strategic and enduring importance of the Silk Road network.