“五天竺”“国—城—村”概念与中国古代的印度社会研究

Concepts of“Five Regions of India”and“Country-City-Village”and Indian Society Studies in Ancient China

“五天竺”或“五印度”不是印度人的固有概念,而是中国古代求法僧所创制的一个独特的区域概念。法显《佛国记》、玄奘《大唐西域记》都用“国”“城”“村”这样的汉语概念来分析“五天竺”各国的社会结构层面,成为我国古代印度社会研究的基本概念,并且在此基础上形成了以佛学为中心的独特的古代印度研究。在“印度人无历史”的情况下,中国求法僧以其真实可靠的观察记述填补了公元5至7世纪印度历史记述的空白,作为信史的价值远远超过此前希腊人的那些道听途说、走马观花的印度记述。以“五天竺”及“国”“城”“村”概念对印度社会加以分析,至今仍不失其社会学方法论上的价值。

“Five Regions of India”is not an inherent concept of Indians,but a unique regional one coined by ancient Chinese monks seeking Buddhist teachings from India.Fa Xian’s A Record of the Buddhist Realm and Xuan Zang’s The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions use the Chinese concepts of“Country”,“City”and“Village”to analyze the social structures of“Five Regions of India”.They became the basic concepts of Indian society studies in ancient China.The unique Buddhism-centered ancient India studies came into being based on these concepts.As the Indians had no recorded history,Chinese monks filled the gap in Indian history from the 5th to 7th centuries with their authentic and reliable observations.The value of these faithful historical accounts is much greater than the unfounded and sketchy accounts of India written by the Greeks.In this sense,the analysis of Indian society through the concepts of“Five Regions of India”and“Country-City-Village”remains valuable in the sociological methodology even today.