Vishnu on the banks of the Volga river

[mkapstei at UCHICAGO.EDU]

There are two topics here that do need to be distinguished.

1. The bizarre and absurd stories that have become current
in India on the basis of real or purported finds in Europe.
This is the issue that interests Jean-Luc.

2. The actual finds of Asian luxury materials in Europe dating
to the post-Roman and pre-Mongol period (i.e. circa 500-1250).
It may be that there has been a sustained effort to synthesize
knowledge along these lines of which I am ignorant, in which
case I will be grateful for the appropriate references. Otherwise, it seems to me that there is a real lacuna that
needs be addressed at some point. This is the issue that
interests me. 


Matthew T. Kapstein
Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies
The University of Chicago Divinity School
Directeur d'études
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris