Tribes in Ancient India c6.36

c6.36

Hsüan Tsang, who visited India in the seventh century A.D., has left an interesting account of Gandhāra. He records the ruined state of monasteries and shrines which two centuries before showed no traces of decay. The kingdom of Gandhāra, according to him, was about 1,000 li⁶ from north to south. On the east it bordered on the river Sin (= Sindhu). The capital was called Po-lu-sha-pu-lo, i.e. Puruṣapura, and was about 40 li in circuit. The royal family was extinct, and the kingdom was governed by deputies from Kapiśa. The towns and villages were deserted; but the country was rich in cereals, producing a variety of flowers and fruits, and abounding in sugarcane. The Chinese pilgrim goes on to say: ‘The climate is warm and moist. The disposition of the people is timid and soft; they love literature, and while most of them belong to heretical schools, a few believe in the true law (i.e. Buddhism)’. In the town of P’i-lo-tu-lo (i.e. Salātula), he observes, Pāṇini was born (see *Buddhist Records of the Western World* (Beal), Vol. I, pp. 97-8; p. 114).