Chasing the Monk's Shadow
By Mishi Saran
2005
First Published
3.60
Average Rating
458
Number of Pages
In the seventh century AD, the Chinese monk Xuanzang (earlier spelt as Hiuen Tsang or Hsuan Tsang) set off on an epic journey to India to study Buddhist philosophy from the Indian masters. Travelling along the Silk Road, through the desolate wastes of the Gobi desert and the icy passes of Central Asia, braving brigands and blizzards, Xuanzang finally reached India, where his spiritual quest took him to Buddhist holy places and monasteries throughout the subcontinent. By the time he returned to China eighteen years later, carrying with him nearly 600 scriptures which he translated from Sanskrit into Chinese, Xuanzang had covered an astonishing 10,000 miles. He also left a detailed record of his journey, which remains a valuable source of historical information on the regions he traversed. Fourteen hundred years later, Mishi Saran follows in Xuanzang’s footsteps to the fabled oasis cities of China and Central Asia, and the Buddhist sites and now-vanished kingdoms in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan that Xuanzang wrote about. Travelling seamlessly back and forth in time between the seventh century and the twenty-first, Saran uncovers the past with consummate skill even as she brings alive the present through her vivid and engaging descriptions of people and places. Her gripping chronicle includes an extraordinary eyewitness account of Kabul under the Taliban regime, just one month before 9/11. Running parallel to the account of her travels is the moving story of the author’s inner journey towards a new understanding of her roots and her identity. With its riveting mix of lively reportage, high adventure, historical inquiry and personal memoir, this delightfully written book is a path-breaking travelogue.
Avg Rating
3.60
Number of Ratings
65
5 STARS
20%
4 STARS
42%
3 STARS
20%
2 STARS
15%
1 STARS
3%
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Author
Mishi Saran
Author · 3 books
Mishi Saran’s first novel, The Other Side of Light, (HarperCollins India, 2012) was shortlisted for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize. Her first book, a travelogue, Chasing the Monk’s Shadow: A Journey in the Footsteps of Xuanzang, (Penguin, 2005) was shortlisted for the 2006 Hutch Crossword Book Award and long-listed for the Lettres Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage. Her journalism has appeared in international media like the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post Her essays have appeared in LARB and Quartz. She is working on a novel set in 1930s’ Shanghai. Saran was born in India and has lived in six other countries. She majored in Chinese Studies at Wellesley College and moved back to Hong Kong in 2014 after eight years in Shanghai.
