Hiuen Tsang was a Chinese
pilgrim who came to India in the first half of the
seventh century A.D during the time of
Harshavardhan in order to visit the places of
pilgrimage associated with Buddha. His object
was to secure authentic Buddhist scriptures and
visit places of Buddhist interest. On returning to
China, he put down all his impressions in a book
called Si-yu-ki or The Records of the Western
World' which proved to be an invaluable source
of information to historians about Harsha and the
political, social, economic and religious
conditions in India during his reign.