South Asia

Xuanzang left Jalalabad, which had few Buddhist monks, but many stupas and monasteries . He then passed through Hunza and the Khyber Pass to the east, reaching the former capital of Gandhara, Peshawar, on the other side . Peshawar was nothing compared to its former glory, and Buddhism was declining in the region . Xuanzang visited a number of stupas around Peshawar, notably the Kanishka Stupa. This stupa was built just southeast of Peshawar, by a former king of the city. In 1908 ad it was rediscovered by D.B. Spooner with the help of Xuanzang's account.
Xuanzang left Peshawar and travelled northeast to the Swat Valley . Reaching Udyana, he found 1,400 old monasteries, that had previously supported 18,000 monks . The remnant monks were of the Mahayana school . Xuanzang then continued northward and into the Buner Valley, before doubling back via Shabaz Gharni to cross the Indus river at Hund . Thereafter he headed to Taxila, a Mahayana Buddhist kingdom that was a vassal of Kashmir, which is precisely where he headed next . Here he found 5,000 more Buddhist monks in 100 monasteries . Here he met a talented Mahayana monk and spent his next two years (from 631 ad to 633 ad) studying Mahayana alongside other schools of Buddhism . During this time, Xuanzang wrote about the Fourth Buddhist councils that took place nearby, ca. 100 AD, under the order of King Kanishka of Kushana.
In 633 ad, Xuanzang left Kashmir and journeyed south to Chinabhukti (which is thought to be modern Firozpur), there he studied for a year with the monk-prince Vinitaprabha .
In 634 ad he went east to Jalandhar in eastern Punjab, before climbing up to visit predominantly Theravada monasteries in the Kulu valley and turning southward again to Bairat and then Mathura, on the Yamuna river . Mathura had 2,000 monks of both major Buddhist branches, despite being Hindu-dominated . Xuanzang travelled up the river to Srughna before crossing eastward to Matipura, where he arrived in 635 ad, having crossed the river Ganges . From here, he headed south to Sankasya (Kapitha), said to be where Buddha descended from heaven, then onward to the northern Indian emperor Harsha's grand capital of Kanyakubja (Kanauji) . Here, in 636 ad, Xuanzang encountered 100 monasteries of 10,000 monks (both Mahayana and Theravada), and was impressed by the king's patronage of both scholarship and Buddhism. Xuanzang spent time in the city studying Theravada scriptures, before setting off eastward again for Ayodhya (Saketa), homeland of the Yogacara school. Xuanzang now moved south to Kausambi (Kosam), where he had a copy made from an important local image of the Buddha.
Xuanzang now returned northward to Sravasti, travelled through Terai in the southern part of modern Nepal (here he found deserted Buddhist monasteries) and thence to Kapilavastu, his last stop before Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. Reaching Lumbini, he would have seen a pillar near the old Ashoka tree that Buddha is said to have been born under. This was from the reign of emperor Ashoka, and records that he worshipped at the spot. The pillar was rediscovered by A. Fuhrer in 1895 ad .
In 637 ad, Xuanzang set out from Lumbini to Kusinagara, the site of Buddha's death, before heading southwest to the deer park at Sarnath where Buddha gave his first sermon, and where Xuanzang found 1,500 resident monks. Travelling eastward, at first via Varanasi, Xuanzang reached Vaisali, Pataliputra (Patna) and Bodh Gaya. He was then accompanied by local monks to Nalanda, the great ancient university of India, where he spent at least the next two years. He was in the company of several thousand scholar-monks, whom he praised. Xuanzang studied logic, grammar, Sanskrit, and the Yogacara school of Buddhism during his time at Nalanda.