(India) RAJIV RANJAN

The old Silk Road was not a road only but a mega-civilisation itself. A Silk Road civilisation which integrated all other civilisations; Chinese, Indian, Arabic, Turkic, etc. Not only goods traded along the road but many cultures interacted, the knowledge gained and shared. The BRI is designed to facilitate interactions among cultures and form a community of shared destiny as President Xi envisages.

 

Buddhism travelled through one of the major routes of the Silk Road connecting Kashmir and Tibetan Plateau. Traders and caravans travelled on the route promoting inter-cultural exchanges, thereby building a common heritage of humankind. Ladhakh and Tibet became important places of Buddhism and pivot on silk road for trading and spreading knowledge. Indian cultures thrived along the old Silk Road, from religion to daily life, and heavily influenced societies and cultures along the route.

 

President Xi Jinping in his opening speech at recently concluded ‘Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilisations’, Beijing, China , emphasised that the states must be open and inclusive to all civilisations, echoing the SILK ROAD SPIRIT to build a more knowledgeable and shared community.

 

The objective of this paper is two folds. First, to identify knowledge that shaped the ‘’Silk Road” interactions and knowledge building. Second, to examine how modern states are promoting and sharing knowledge and providing platforms for greater interactions among societies and people, spreading and sharing of knowledge that benefits the human kind.

 

RAJIV RANJAN, India

Lecturer of College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai

University