Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c8.s3.100

c8.s3.100

Cīna-deśa is described as lying to the south-east of Mānaseśa. The country to the south-east of the Mānasa-sarovara is Tibet which appears to be indicated by the name Cīna in the verse. Tibet formed a part of the dominions of the Chinese emperors. Abul Fazl’s *Ain-i-Akbarī* refers to ‘Pegu which former writers called Cheen, accounting this to be the capital city’, and seems to include Burma in the Cīna country.¹ According to Pargiter, Cīna comprised the country of Tibet ‘along the whole range of the Himalayas’.² The Cīnas are sometimes linked in the *Mahābhārata* with the Kāmbojas of the north-west³ and often mentioned among the retinue of the king of Prāgjyotiṣa or Assam in the east¹ and are also sometimes placed near the source of the Ganges in the country lying midway between the two regions.²