Long ago, a Buddhist monk named Yi Jing travelled to India from China. At the time, China was ruled by the Tang Dynasty. During that period, India was seen as the land of mysticism, a repository where all religion-related secrets were hidden.
Yi Jing perhaps came to India intending to discover those secrets. Apart from visiting India, he also visited Srivijaya, a Malay Buddhist sea-based Empire on the island of Sumatra. If he had visited the places in the eleventh century A.D., the places he visited in Srivijaya would be counted as travel to India.
In the Chola dynasty of Tamil Nadu, which began in the tenth century A.D., there was a king named Rajendra Chola. He was very ambitious – more ambitious than his father, Rajaraja I. His ambition led him to conquer far and wide in India.
Rajendra Chola’s strength and power were based on his naval force. As a strategy, the Cholas believed in conquering the seas by having a strong naval force. They believed it would help bolster trade and enhance their sphere of influence. This thinking – or warfare strategy – was much ahead of its time. Even the Mughals, who ruled centuries later, couldn’t conquer the seas. Instead, they stuck to protecting their coasts.
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