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India and China: Interactions through Buddhism and Diplomacy from Part One
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
India is at present known in China under the name Yin-tu. This is not a modern adaptation. It goes back at least to the T'ang period. It seems to have been current slightly earlier, but the great Chinese pilgrim Hsüan-chuang was the first to baptise it. In his Hsi-yü Chi, while discussing the various Chinese names for India, he says:
“We find that different counsels have confused the designations of Tienchu (India); the old names were Shen-tu and Sien (or Hien)-tou; now we must conform to the correct pronunciation and call it Yin-tu. The people of Yin-tu use local appellations for their respective countries; the various districts having different customs; adopting a general designation and one which the people like, we call the country Yin-tu which means the Moon”.
It is clear from the statement that the Indians themselves had no popular general designation for the country as a whole and Yin-tu was a name used by the Chinese for the country. Hsüan-chuang as a great Sanskritist was keen on explaining the etymology of the names and hence explained the name Yin-tu (ien-duo>indu) as “moon”. In fact, as a Sanskrit word it (indu) can mean only “moon”. Hsüan-chuang also justified his explanation in an ingenious way:
“The unceasing revolutions of mortals' existence are a dark long night; were there not a warden of the dawn they would be like the night with its lights which succeeds the setting of the sun; although the night has the light of the stars, that is not to be compared to the light of the clear moon. […]
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