Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.375

v2.c13.375

This *á priori* reasoning is also supported by traditional accounts. The History of the Liang Dynasty describes a country called Lang-ya-su ( or Lang-ga-su ) 'which, the people say, was established more than 400 years ago.' Now the king of this country extols the emperor of China by saying, among other things, that the precious Sanskrit was generally known in his land. This leaves no doubt that it was a Hindu colony. As the Chinese history, containing the account, refers to the sixth century A. D., the traditional date of the foundation of the colony would be more than four hundred years before that, or, in other words, the second century A. D. It is generally agreed that Lang-ya-su was situated in Malay Peninsula, though the exact localization of this colony is somewhat difficult. The same place is referred to as Lang-kia-su by I-tsing and Kāma-laṅkā by Hiuen Tsang, and both enumerate it in a list of countries between Śrī-Kṣetra (Prome) and Dvārāvatī (Siam). On this and other grounds, Pelliot held that it must be placed either near the Isthmus of Kra, or in Tenasserim, though he preferred the latter view.¹