Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.405

v2.c13.405

The New History of the T’ang Dynasty refers to a kingdom called Ko-lo-chö-fen. Apparently this kingdom is again referred to in the same text as Kia-lo-chö-fou and Kia-lo-chö-fo. All the three forms correspond to Kalaśapura. As to the location of the kingdom, the Chinese accounts place it to the north of Tou-ho-lo, which was to the north of P'an-p'an. Now Tou-ho-lo has been identified with Dvārāvatī, in the lower valley of the Menam river. If Kalaśapura is to be placed to the north of Dvārāvatī, it must have been an inland region far away from the sea, whereas, according to the story in the Kathāsarit-sāgara, the ship-wrecked merchant Samudraśūra was cast adrift at Kalaśapura, which was evidently on the sea-coast. Pelliot has shown on good grounds that the directions given in the particular Chinese passage cannot be held to be quite accurate, and he, therefore, proposes to substitute 'west' for 'north', for which there is some independent authority. With this modification of the text, Kalaśapura may be placed to the north-west of Siam, at the mouth of the Sittang river.