Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s1.17

v1.c5.s1.17

In the section on “Tribes” in the *Liang Shu*, more products from India were listed, such as mink, rose beads, gold thread fabrics, golden felt, superior fur clothing, curcuma aromatica, etc. It was also recorded that “the rose bead is like mica in shape and violet gold in colour with a brilliant light; it is as thin as a cicada's wings, and like left over yarn when stacked." "The curcuma aromatica is peculiar to Kawmira (Kashmir), with a splendid yellow colour, just like the lotus." The curcuma aromatica here is the snow lotus (*saussurea involucrata*). At the beginning of the Tianjian period of the Liang Dynasty (502 or 503 CE), the Gupta king in India dispatched envoys to China, bearing among other things, "glass, spittoons, spices, cotton, and so on."