India and the Republic of Korea

Engaged Democracies

Skand R. Tayal

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2015
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317341567
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Examining the underlying logic of the strategic and economic partnership between the Republic of Korea and India, this book is the first detailed study of the numerous facets — cultural, economic, people-to-people, and strategic — of blossoming relations between two major Asian democracies. This comprehensive survey documents the interaction between the two governments, relying on facts and hitherto unpublished original records provided by India's Ministry of External Affairs; offers an illuminating account of India's active role as a neutral party in the post-Second World War events of the Korean War and the division of the Korean Peninsula; and provides a vision of the future direction of India–Korea relations. The author also shares candid observations of Korean society and its people during his service as Ambassador of India in Seoul.

The work will be useful to policy makers as well as students of politics and international relations, strategic studies, economics, and contemporary world history.

1 Legends and Myths

Skand R. Tayal

DOI: 10.4324/9781315661926-1

Princess of Ayodhya

The legend of King Kim Suro, the founder of Karak, or the Kaya Kingdom, and Princess Heo is symbolic of the existence of the distant land of Bharatvarsh in the consciousness of the inhabitants of the Korean Peninsula, even before the arrival of Buddhism. It is believed that two millennia ago, in the year 48 ce, a 16-year-old princess from Ayodhya, accompanied by her brother, sailed from the east coast of India to the Korean peninsula.

Compiled by Buddhist monks, the 13th-century classic Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) is a collection of legends, folktales and historical accounts relating to the three ancient kingdoms of Korea. It records King Suro’s proclamation: ‘Heaven has sent me down to rule over this nation in peace.’¹ It also mentions that King Suro founded the Kaya Kingdom and ruled by divine right. When the chief courtiers requested King Suro to get married, he told them, ‘I was sent down from heaven to rule this land, and so my spouse will also descend from heaven at a divine command.’

Then, one day, the courtiers saw a ship with a red sail and a red flag approaching on the horizon. When it reached the shore, they found a beautiful princess on board with her attendants and servants. The princess said,

I am a princess of Ayuta [Ayodhya in India]. My family name is Heo, my given name is Hwang-ok [Yellow Jade], and I am 16 years old. My royal parents told me that they saw a holy man in their dreams who said, ‘I have sent down Suro to be the king of Karak. He is not yet married, so send your daughter to become his queen.’ My parents said that the command of God was still ringing in their ears and told me that I had to obey his order. So I started on my long voyage with steamed dates of the sea and fairy peaches of heaven as my provisions.

She then bowed to the courtiers and said, ‘Now take me to the king.’ Thereafter, King Suro got married to the princess and they lived happily for many years.

The Samguk Yusa mentions that the Pasa Stone Pagoda at the Hogye Temple in Gimhae was brought from Ayuta in India by Princess Heo. Her parents had loaded the five-storey pagoda on the ship saying, ‘My daughter, take this pagoda and the Buddha will protect you.’²

The tombs of King Kim Suro and Queen Heo are located in Gimhae city and are maintained by the city authorities. The tombs are in the form of roughly 10-metre-high grass-covered tumuli and are at a distance of about two kilometres from each other, surrounded by well-tended gardens. The enduring symbols of the Indian heritage are stone carvings of a pair of fish on the doorframe of the entrance and a one-metre high six-stone structure. The twin fish symbol dates back to ancient times in north India and is the emblem of the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The six stones are believed to have been brought by Queen Heo from India.

The Karak Clan Society in Gimhae is the torchbearer of this venerable heritage. The society has established contacts with Ayodhya and has erected a memorial for Queen Heo on the banks of the Saryu River in India. Gimhae and Ayodhya have a sister-city relationship and the society members regularly visit Ayodhya to pay their homage to the land of their queen.

Kim is the most common family name on the Korean Peninsula for those who claim their ancestry from King Kim Suro. One branch of the Kims, the Gimhae Kims, believes that they are the descendents of Queen Heo and have an ancient genealogical link with India. The Gimhae Kims are proud of this lineage and invariably mention this fact whenever they meet Indian visitors. Former President Kim Dae-jung, former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil, Madam Kim Yoon-ok, wife of the former President of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Lee Myungbak, and former Defence Minister Kim Tae-young are some important Koreans with this strong emotional connection with India.

Historians, however, believe that the Princess of Ayodhya is only a myth. Some historians are of the view that the princess perhaps came from Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam (Thailand). On the other hand, it has been noted that Ayuta, mentioned in the Samguk Yusa, could not be the ancient capital of Thailand as Ajudhya came into prominence in the 14th century, whereas the Samguk Yusa is believed to date back to the 13th century.

Author Skand Tayal and Mrs Kusum Tayal in traditional Korean court attire with members of the Karak Clan Society at the tumulus of Queen Heo, Princess of Ayodhya, in Gimhae. Source: All photographs are courtesy of the author unless otherwise specified.

It has been established that the ancient city of Ayodhya in northern India was an important centre of Buddhism with monasteries founded during the Mauryan and Gupta periods of Indian history in the third century bce to the fifth century ce. Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese monk who came to India in the seventh century, has also recorded his observation that Ayodhya had a number of Buddhist monasteries.³

Often, beliefs are more significant for people than facts. It is not possible to peep into the distant past and definitively establish whether an incident actually occurred. There is no reason not to accept the deeply held belief of the Gimhae Kims that Queen Heo was a princess from Ayodhya.

Former Ambassador of India to Korea, N. Parthasarathi, has immortalized this ancient Korean–Indian royal union in his novel The Legend of Ayodya Princess in Korea (2007), which has been published both in Korean and English.

Buddhism: An Ancient Bridge between India and Korea

Koreans in ancient times knew about India mainly through Buddhist monks, sutras (Buddhist texts) and legends. A number of Indian myths influenced Korean culture at a very early period.⁴

The official year of the introduction of Buddhism in Korea is 372 ce, during the period of the Three Kingdoms (57 bce–668 ce). However, there is wide-ranging scholarly dissent over the chronological framework of Buddhism’s advent in Korea. Moreover, there are numerous academic interpretations of the mode of transmission of Buddhism into the country. While most scholars claim that it was Sinified Buddhism that came to Korea from China, there are others who assert that Buddhism came to Korea directly from India through Central Asia. Another theory is that a mission sent to Koguryo in 372 ce by one of the kings of the Chinese Qin Dynasty marked the first entry of Buddhism in the Korean peninsula.

The availability of manifold literary sources of dynastic records in ancient Korea and China has greatly aided historical reconstruction. Ilyon, one of the monks who compiled the ancient historical text Samguk Yusa, mentions that in 372 ce, King Fu-Jian of the Qin Dynasty sent an envoy to Koguryo with a Buddhist image and scriptures. He was accompanied by a monk named Sundo. Samguk Yusa also records that a monk named Mukhoja, which means ‘dark foreigner’, came to Silla from the northern part of Korea and propagated Buddhism in secrecy. Marananta⁵ was a Buddhist monk from the Swat valley (now in Pakistan) who introduced Buddhism to the southern part of the Korean peninsula in the fourth century ce. Samguk Yusa also records him as the one who brought Buddhism to the ancient kingdoms of Paekche — one of the three ancient kingdoms of Korea — along with Sundo in Goguryeo and Ado in the Silla kingdom. Thereafter, Buddhism spread throughout the Three Kingdoms and several monasteries were built in Korea by the fifth century ce.

According to a famous myth connected with India, King Ayuk (Muwa) identified himself with Emperor Ashoka of India, who had sent iron and gold to Korea to cast images of the Buddha and the material was used to construct the Hwangyong Monastery. However, historical scrutiny reveals that the Ashoka period dates to the third century bce, much earlier than the construction of the Hwangnyong Monastery.

Indian culture, along with Buddhism, was assimilated in Korean indigenous culture over centuries during the course of history. This process was facilitated by the travels and pilgrimages of numerous monks and scholars, mostly from Korea to India and some from India to Korea after their stay in China. Local monks believe that the Girimsa and Golgulsa temples near Gyeongju were established by an Indian monk with the Korean name Gwang-yu in ca 643 ce.

Once Buddhism was rooted in Korean soil, many scholars and monks showed great enthusiasm in visiting India. Korean monks began journeying to India in the early sixth century ce. The first Korean pilgrim to India was a monk called Kyomik from Paekche. He studied Sanskrit in India and returned to Korea around 526 ce. An Indian monk, Paedalta (Vedartha), accompanied Kyomik to Korea, bringing a number of Buddhist texts including the Abhidhamma Pitaka. He translated the Vinaya texts under the patronage of King Song of the Paekche Kingdom.

Scholars believe that a number of monks visited India at the time of the Silla Dynasty. The founder of the Popchu-sa temple, a priest named Uishin, is also said to have been on a pilgrimage to India, while in the early seventh century, the Silla monks, Chullyun (Aryavarman) and Hyeop, travelled to India from Changar, the then capital of China.

A giant statue of the Mireuk (Maitreya in Sanskrit) Buddha at the 6thcentury Beopjusa Temple on Mount Songnisan, in the Republic of Korea.

Aryavarman copied several Buddhist sutras andshastras (Buddhist texts) on palm leaves to take back to Korea, but perhaps died at Nalanda.

In the mid-seventh century, Hyonja, a monk, came to India along with his two disciples, Hyongak and Hyeryun. He studied at several monasteries, such as the Mahabodhi Vihara at Bodh Gaya and Nalanda in the state of Bihar.

During the time of the Silla Dynasty, several Indian monks visited Korea — Vimala is believed to have reached Korea in 576 ce and Hwangmyon in 826 ce. Hwangmyon founded the P’yoch’ung-sa temple in the Gyeongsangnam region to preserve the Buddha’s relics he had brought with him. Indian monks visited Korea during the rule of the Koryo Dynasty, and also Koryosa (history of Koryo, the ancient name for Korea) records that a monk named Srivajra from Magadh came to Koryo and was received by the king.

Scholars believe that Indian monks last visited Koryo in the 14th century. Monk Chikong, the Chinese translation of his Buddhist name Dhyanabhadra, came to Korea in 1326 and visited many monasteries over two years. Through his sermons, he enunciated the true meaning of dhyana (Son in Korean)⁶ and made efforts to reform the elitist character of Buddhism then prevalent in Korea. According to Korean sources, Dhyanabhadra belonged to a royal family in India; his father was Purna of Magadh and his mother was a princess of Kanchipura. After extensive travels through Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet, and Yunan, Dhyanabhadra is believed to have left China and finally arrived at Kaegyong, the capital of the Koryo kingdom. He made a lasting contribution to the philosophical development of Korean Buddhism in the 14th century. The depiction of Dhyanabhadra in Buddhist art reveals his importance in Korean Buddhist history, and the historical evidence of his life and thoughts is still preserved in the Hoeam-sa temple in Gyeonggi Province.⁷

Da Tang-Xi-Yuji consists of the biographies of 56 eminent monks during the Tang Dynasty, who went to India. It names Anan-Ya-Balma, a Korean monk who stayed at the Nalanda Monastery, another monk, Hyeop (Jnanasampada) who spent some years in the Nalanda Monastery and Hyont’ae (Sarvajnadeva) also came to India via China, Tibet and Nepal and stayed in Bodh Gaya. Hyon-gaki (Parampujya) vi...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Frontmatter
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Abbreviation
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Legends and Myths
• 2 Korea and India: The Beginning
• 3 Korea after World War II
• 4 Period of Apathy (1953–72)
• 5 Period of Increasing Interaction (1973–92)
• 6 Blossoming of Relations (1993–2003)
• 7 Evolution towards a Strategic Partnership (2003–12)
• 8 Evolution of Trade and Economic Relations
• 9 People-to-People Relations
• 10 Education, Research and Training
• 11 Indo-Korean Cultural Relations
• 12 The Way Ahead
• Epilogue
• Annexure 1
• Annexure 2
• Annexure 3
• Bibliography
• About the Author
• Index