Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.395

v2.c13.395

In course of a highly interesting and instructive philological disquisition, M. Sylvain Lévi⁴ has demonstrated that Kāma-laṅkā, the name given to the colony by Hiuen Tsang, also occurs in Indian literature as Karmaraṅga. The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa (p. 332) “names the islands of Karmaraṅga with the island of Cocoanuts (Nāḍikera) and Vāruṣaka (Baros, Sumatra) and the islands of the Naked (Nicobar), Bali and Java as the regions where the language is indistinct, without clearness, rude, and abounding in the letter *r*.” The same text again (p.648) mentions Karmaraṅga with Harikela, Kāmarūpa, and Kalaśa (see below). Bāṇa, in his Harṣacarita, twice mentions the shield of Karmaraṅga, and his commentator Śaṅkara remarks on the excellent skins of the country. On this M. Lévi remarks as follows :