We all know about Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama etc. I am looking for the names of similar individuals in Indian history. They were born in India, they then travelled abroad, and then they brought back knowledge of the wider world to courts in India, and became symbols of adventure.
I found Tokubei and other Japanese adventurers who went to Formosa and Siam, but the moment you mention samurais touring Asia, you are in a political minefield, and complicit in the Nanjing massacre.
So now I am looking for similar characters from India. I did find a person called Chand Sadagar who appears in some old texts. But I did not find the title of the original source. He was an extremely wealthy merchant in the middle ages, I understand?
Hi,
Until recent times, travelling outside the country was forbidden for the educated class in India. Anyone doing so were ex-communicated. The ostentatious reason was the adoption of strange habits from foreign cultures. So travellers from India who explored the world and who were knowledgeable in Sanskrit were rare, unless it was an act of rebellion. Others who might have travelled across the seas might have done so, but might not be in a position to chronicle their travels. But you never know, a manuscript might turn up in some old collection.
Best.
Raveendra Nath Yasarapu, I did find a traveler from ancient times from India, Bodhidharma, who brought his Buddhism to China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhidharma
He seems to be frequently mentioned in Chinese sources, but whether he then was mentioned in Indian sources, I do not know.
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