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On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c10: Chapter VII. Chuan (Book) III: Udyāna to Kashmir

On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c10

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Chapter VII. Chuan (Book) III: Udyāna to Kashmir

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CHUAN (BOOK) III.

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From Udakakhaṇḍa city a journey north over hills and across rivers (or valleys) for above 600 *li* brought the traveller to the Wu-chang-na country. This country was above 5000 *li* in circuit; hill and defile followed each other closely and the sources of river-courses and marshes were united. The yield of the cultivated land was not good; grapes were abundant, but there was little sugar-cane; the country produced gold and iron (in the D text, gold coins) and saffron; there were dense woods and fruits and flowers were luxuriant. The climate was temperate with regular winds and rain. The people were pusillanimous and deceitful; they were fond of learning but not as a study, and they made the acquisition of magical formulæ their occupation. Their clothing was chiefly of pai-tieh (calico). Their spoken language was different from, but bore much resemblance to, that of India, and the rules of their written language were in a rather unsettled state.

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A note added to our text tells us that Wu-chang-na means "park", the country having once been the park of a king, (viz. Asoka, according to the 'Life'). The Wu-chang-na of the narrative is perhaps to be read Udana and it stands for Udyāna which means "a park". Other forms of the name in Chinese works are Wu-t'u or -ch'u (荼 or 荼) perhaps for Uḍa.¹ Wu-ch'ang (長) used by Fa-hsien, Wu-ch'ang (場) in the Ka-lan-chi, Wu-tien (or yun)-nang (填 or 眞 囊) used by Shih-hu of the later Sung period, and the unusual form *Wu-sun-ch'ang* (孫 烏). But the territory denoted by these varieties of name does not always correspond to the *Wu-chang-na* of our text. In some Chinese translations this country is vaguely denominated " *Yue-ti* (Getæ) Country".¹ There may possibly have been a native name like Uda from which the Sanskrit form Udyāna and the Pali Uyyāna were formed. Our pilgrim's Udyāna, according to Cunningham, comprised the present districts of Pangkora, Bijāwar, Swāt, and Bunir.² The country is represented by Yuan-chuang as not yielding good crops, and this is not in agreement with the accounts in other works which describe it as a well watered region yielding good crops of rice and wheat.³

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¹ T'ung-chien-kang-mu, T'ang Kao Tsung Tsung-chang 2d y.

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¹ E. g. in the Ta-chih-tu-lun, *ch.* 9.

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² A. G. I. p. 81. For recent observations on this country see H. A. Deane in J. R. A. S. for 1896 p. 655.

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³ Wei-Shu, *ch.* 102.

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The people of Udyāna held Buddhism in high esteem and were reverential believers in the Mahāyāna. Along the two sides of the *Su-p'o-fa-su-tu* river there had formerly been 1400 Monasteries but many of these were now in ruins, and once there had been 18 000 Brethren but these had gradually decreased until only a few remained; these were all Mahāyānists who occupied themselves with silent meditation; they were clever at reciting their books without penetrating their deep meaning; they lived strictly according to their rules and were specially expert in magical exorcisms. There were five redactions (*pu*) of the Vinaya taught, viz. the *Fa-mi* (Dharmagupta), the *Hua-ti* (Mahīśāsika), the *Yin-kuang* (Kāśyapīya), the *Shuo-yi-ch'ie-yu* (Sarvāstivādin) and the *Ta-chung* (Mahāsaṅgika) Vinaya. Of Deva-Temples there were above ten and the various sectarians lived pellmell.

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The river here called *Su-p'o-fa-su-tu* according to the B, C, and D texts is the Śubhavastu, the Swāt of modern geography. In the old A text the reading is *Su-p'o-su-tu* representing a form like Svastu. The name Swāt is applied not only to the river but also to the district through which it flows.

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The five redactions of the Vinaya which the pilgrim found in force in this country are the more or less heterodox editions ascribed to five disciples of Upagupta. Instead of Mahāsaṅgkika we find Vatsiputra, but this name is supposed to be used as an equivalent for Mahāsaṅgkika. This five-fold Vinaya is often mentioned in Buddhist treatises and another enumeration of it is Sthavira, Dharmagupta, Mahīśāsika, Kāśyapīya, and Sarvāstivādin.¹ I-ching, who gives a fourfold division of the Vinayas, says he never heard of the five-fold division in India; his four chief schools (or redactions) are the Sthavira, the Sarvāstivādin, the Mahāsaṅgkika, and the Sammatiya.² It will be noticed that according to our pilgrim all the Buddhists in Udyāna were Mahāyānists and yet followed the Vinaya of the Hīnayānists; Fa-hsien represents the Brethren here as Hīnayānists.³

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¹ Fang-yi-ming-yi, *ch.* 4 Sec. 41; Seng-chi-lü, *ch.* 40.

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² Nan-hai-ch‘i-kuei Int., and Takakusu Int. p. XXI, and p. 7.

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³ Fo-kuo-chi, *ch.* 8.

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This country had four or five strong cities of which Mêng-kie (or ka)-li was chiefly used as the seat of government. This city was 16 or 17 *li* in circuit and had a flourishing population.

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The Mêng-kie-li of the text may represent a word like Mangkil. Cunningham has identified the city with the modern Manglaur (or Minglaur), a large and important village at the foot of one of the north-west spurs of the Dosirri mountain between Swāt and Boner, and Major Deane thinks that the identity is undoubted.

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Four or five *li* to the east of the capital was a tope of very many miracles on the spot where the P‘usa in his birth as the Patiently-enduring rishi was dismembered by the Ka-li king.

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Julien understood the words of this passage, 為羯利王割截肢體, to mean that the rishi cut off his own limbs on behalf of the king. But the word wei (為) here, as often, is used to convert the following active verb into a passive one and has the sense of "was by"; so used the word is said to be in the *ch‘u-shêng* and to be equivalent to pei (被) in the sense of "by". The "Patiently-enduring rishi" is the Kshānti or Kshānti-vādin (Pali, Khantivādi), or Kshānti-bāla or Kshāntivat of the Buddhist scriptures, and called Kuṇḍakakumāra in the Jātaka. The "Ka-li king" is the king named Kali or the king of the country named Kali or Kalinga. The word Kshānti means "patient endurance", and Kali is interpreted as meaning "fighting", or "quarreling". We find the story of this wicked king Kali hacking to pieces the good hermit who was endeavouring to make himself perfect in patient endurance told in several Buddhist books with some variations of detail. It forms the Kshāntibala chapter of the *Hsien-yü-ching* or "Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish",¹ and it is the "Khantivādi Jātaka" in the Pali Jātaka.² In these books the scene of the action is laid in the vicinity of Benares, and in some of the other accounts the name of the locality is not given. The Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish calls the king Kali, but the Jātaka and some other authorities call him Kalabu, in Chinese transcription *Ka-lan-fu* (迦藍浮). The wording of our author's text here recalls the reference to the story in the 14th chapter of the Chin-kang-ching or Vajra-chchedikā, and there the Sanskrit text leaves no doubt as to the meaning of the words. In the Jātaka the king orders his executioner to flog and mutilate the patient rishi and the king personally only administers a parting kick. But in other versions it is the king himself who in his wrath hacks off the various limbs of the Kshānti rishi who is not in all versions the P'usa destined to become Gautama Buddha.

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¹ Hsien-yü-ching, ch. 2: Der Weise u. d. Thor, S. 60.

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² Jātaka, Vol. iii, p. 39.

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A note to the B text here tells us that there is a gap after the words of this paragraph, but the note is not in the other texts, and there is no reason to suppose that anything has fallen out. It is to be observed that neither Fa-hsien nor Sung-yun makes any mention of the Kshanti rishi tope in this country.

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From Mangkil, the pilgrim tells us, a journey north-east of about 250 *li* brought him to a mountain in which was the A-p'olo-lo (Apalāla)-Dragon Spring, the source of the Swāt river. This river flows away from its source south-west; it keeps its coldness through spring and summer, and morning and evening (in one text, every evening) the flying spray, rainbow-tinted, sheds brightness on all sides. The dragon of the spring in the time of Kaśyapa Buddha was a man named King (or Keng)-ki (Gaṅgi? Julien), able by his magical exorcisms to control dragons and prevent them from sending violent rains. For his services in this way the inhabitants had given him fixed yearly contributions of grain. But the contributions fell off, and the magician, enraged at the defaulters, expressed a wish to be in his next birth a wicked malicious dragon, and in consequence he was reborn as the dragon of this spring, the white water from which ruined the crops. Sakyamuni Buddha came to this district to convert the dragon; on this occasion the Vajrapāṇi god struck the cliff with his mace, and the dragon becoming terrified took refuge in Buddhism. On his admission to the church the Buddha forbade him to injure the crops, and the dragon asked to be allowed to have these once every twelve years for his maintenance; to this petition Buddha compassionately assented. And so once every twelve years the country has the "white water" infliction.¹

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¹ For this Jātaka see *Fo-shuo-p'u-sa-pên-hsing-ching*, *ch.* 2 (No. 432); *Ta-chih-tu-lun*, *ch.* 14; *Liu-tu-ching*, *ch.* 5 (No. 143); *Hsien-chie-ching*, *ch.* 4 (No. 403). In the *Ch'u-yao-ching*, *ch.* 23 (No. 1321) the story is told of Siddhārtha while preparing to become Buddha.

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Major Deane says that the distance and direction here given by our pilgrim "bring us exactly to Kalām, the point at which the Utrot and Laspur (Ushu in our maps) streams meet. The junction of these is the present head of the Swat river."

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The word Apalāla means *without straw*, and it is rendered in Chinese by *Wu-tao-kan* (無稻稈) meaning "without ricestraw". Another translation is *Wu-miao* (無苗) that is "without sprouting grain". The name seems to have been given to the dragon of the Swāt on account of the ravages among the crops made by the floods of that river. We read in the Sarvata Vinaya² that the Buddha, on a certain occasion near the end of his career, took with him his attendant Yaksha named Chin-kang-shou or Vajrapāṇi, and went through the air to the country beyond the Indus to subdue and convert this dragon. When Buddha arrived at the palace of the dragon the latter became greatly enraged, and caused fierce showers of rain and hail to descend on the Buddha. Determined to put the dragon in terror Buddha caused the Yaksha to smite the adjoining mountain with his adamantine club, whereupon a vast fragment of the mountain fell into the dragon's tank. At the same time Buddha caused a magic fire to appear all around the place. Then the dragon, frightened and helpless, came to Buddha's feet, gave in his submission, and was converted with all his family. It is worthy of note that this Vinaya story the dragon-king is required by Buddha to take up his abode in Magadha. This dragon is also called A-p'o-lo and we find the Spring which was his residence located in the "Yue-shi (Getæ) country of North India" or simply in "North India". The "A-yü-wang-chuan" places the home of this dragon in Udyāna, but the "A-yü-wang-ching" and the Divyāvadāna do not mention his country. In a Vinaya treatise, apparently from Pali sources, we read of a dragon called Alāpalu in Kapin (Kashmir), who is overcome and converted by the great arhat Madhyantika (Majjhantika) who had come as an apostle to introduce Buddhism.¹ This legend seems to be a version of the story here narrated, Majjhantika taking the place of the Buddha.

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² *Sar. Vin. Yao-shih*, *ch.* 9.

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¹ Shan-chien-lü-vibhāsha, ch. 2 (No. 1125).

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Julien in his translation of the description of the Swāt river here seems to have followed the text of the Life rather than that of his author. The latter does not state that an arm of the river flows to the south-west; it is, as the passage and context shew, the river itself which so flows. Nor does Yuan-chuang state that "dans ce pays il gêle au printemps et en été", for that would be at variance with his former statement about the climate of the country; it is the river which is cold through spring and summer. Moreover, although fei-hsüe does mean "flying snow", it also means "flying spray", and that is its meaning here. There was apparently a cascade near the source of the river; and the morning and evening (or, the evening) sun daily shone on the dense white spray tossed up in the air, and made it bright and beautiful with the colours of the rainbow.

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The "white water" of this district is referred to by other authorities. Thus Alberuni¹ quotes Jīvaśarman to the effect that "in the country of Svāt, opposite the district of Kiri(?) there is a valley in which 53 streams unite; during the 26th and 27th days of the month Bhādrapadā the water of this valley becomes white, in consequence of Mahādeva's washing in it, as people believe". According to the Fang-chih it was the rains which the dragon sent that made the water plague.

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¹ Alberuni Vol. ii, p. 182.

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Above 30 *li* south-west from the Apalāla dragon spring, and on the north bank of the river, was a large flat stone with the Buddha's footprints; these, the size of which varied with the religious merit of the measurer, were left by the Buddha when he was going away after having converted the dragon; a building had been erected over them and people from far and near came to make offerings. Above 30 *li* farther down the river was the rock on which Buddha had washed his robe, the lines of the robe being still distinct like carving.

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Above 400 *li* south from Mangkil was the *Hi-lo* mountain; the stream of the mountain valley flows west; as you go up it eastward flowers and fruits of various kinds cover the watercourse and climb the steeps; the peaks and precipices are hard to pass, and the ravines wind and curve; you may hear the sound of loud talking or the echo of musical strains: square stones like couches (in D, topes) made by art form an unbroken series over the gulley. It was here that Ju-lai once gave up his life for the hearing of a half-stanza of doctrine.

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The stone with the miraculous footprints of the Buddha and the rock on which he had washed his robe and spread it out to dry are described in the Fo-kuo-chi and the Ka-lan-chi, and the accounts in these works should be compared with our pilgrim's narrative. For the words "the streams of the gorge flow west and as you go up them eastward", Julien has "Les eaux de la vallée se partagent à l’ouest et remontent ensuite du côté de l’orient.” This cannot, however, be taken as the meaning of the text which is 谷水西派逆流東上 lit. “the water of the mountain-valley goes off to the west; going up east against the course of the stream —”. The pilgrim is probably here describing a part of his journey from Udakahantu to the capital of Udyāna. In the last sentence of the present passage we have reference to a curious Jātaka. In a very far off time when there was no Buddha in the world the P‘usa was a brahmin student living on the Himavat; he knew all secular lore, but had never heard the teaching of Buddhism. He expressed his great desire to learn at any cost some of the doctrines of that religion, and Indra, wishing to prove the sincerity of the brahmin’s desire, disguised himself as a hideous rākshasa, came to the Himavat, and appeared before the Brahmin. On behalf of the latter he uttered half of the stanza beginning with the words “all things are impermanent”; the brahmin was delighted and asked for the other half. But the rākshasa refused to utter this until the brahmin promised to give himself up as food to the rakshasa in reward for the recital. When the second half of the stanza was uttered the brahmin threw himself from a tree towards the rākshasa; but the latter in his form as Indra saved the devotee’s life.¹

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¹ See the Ta-pan-nie-p‘an-ching, *ch.* 14 (No. 113); Hsüan-chi-pai-yuan-ching *ch.* 4 (No. 1324); Ta-chih-tu-lun, *ch.* 12.

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Above 200 *li* south from Mangkil at the side of a mountain was the *Mo-ha-fa-na* (Mahāvana or Great Wood) monastery. Ju-lai long ago as P‘usa was the *Sa-fo-ta-chih* king; to avoid his enemy he gave up his kingdom and going into obscurity came to this place; here he met a mendicant brahmin, and having nothing whatever to give the brahmin, he made the latter bind him and deliver him up to the king his enemy, the reward offered for the exiled king being the latter’s alms to the brahmin.

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The Monastery of the Great Wood according to Major Deane “was apparently on the western, or north-western, slopes of the present Mahaban. Numerous ruins exist on the lower slopes and also on the higher portions of Mahaban". But Dr Stein thinks that Mahāban is too far away, and that the Mahāvana monastery was at Pinjkoṭai at Sunigram.¹ In the B and D texts the name of the good king is given as *Sa-fo-ta-chih* (薩縛達之), but instead of *chih* the other texts have *ta* repeated. The name is interpreted as meaning "All-giving", and the original was either Sarvadā, as in some places, or Sarvadada as in other passages. Our pilgrim's version of this pretty jātaka agrees with the story in the Buddhist books except that in these the locality is not given.²

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¹ Ind. Ant. Vol. xxviii, pp. 14, 58.

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² See Ta-chih-tu-lun, *ch*. 12 and 33.

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North-west from the Mahāvana monastery, and 30 or 40 *li* down the mountain, was the *Mo-yü* (摩愉) monastery with a tope above 100 feet high, and at the side of it a large square stone on which were the Buddha's footprints. These were left when the Buddha treading on the stone sent forth a Koṭi of ray of light which illumined the Mahāvana Monastery while he related his former births to men and devas. At the base of the tope was a stone of a pale yellow colour yielding a constant exudation; it was here that the Buddha as P'usa hearing Buddhist doctrine wrote the sacred text with a splinter from one of his bones.

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A note added to the text here tells us that *Mo-yü* is in Chinese *tou*, a general name for all kinds of pulse. Julien reads the second character of the word as *su* and regards the transcription as representing the sanskrit word Masura which means lentils. But all my texts have *Mo-yu* and this agrees with the Glossary. The native interpretation may be a mistake, and the Chinese characters may represent *Mayū* for Mayūkha, a word which means brightness, *a ray of light*. This suggestion is strengthened by the statement which our pilgrim makes about the Buddha here shedding a bright light which lit up the Mahāvana Monastery. The incident of the Buddha in one of his previous births taking a splinter of one of his bones to write out a Buddhist text is taken from a Jātaka mentioned in several of the Chinese writings. In some versions of the story the P'usa's name is Ai (or Lo)-fa (愛 or 樂法), “Loving or Rejoicing in dharma”¹, but in other versions he is Yü-to-lo (or Yu-to-li), and in the ‘Der Weise u. d. Thor’ he is Udpala.² As the price of hearing a sacred text of Buddhism the P'usa agreed to write the text with a pencil made from one of his bones on paper made from his skin and with his blood for ink. The person who made this hard bargain was a brahmin or the Devil disguised as such.

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¹ Ta-chih-lun, *ch.* 16 and 49.

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² Hsien-yü-ching, *ch.* 1; Der Weise u. d. T., S. 15; P'u-sa-pên-hsing-ching, *ch.* 3 where the P'usa is the rishi Yu-to-li (優多梨).

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Sixty or seventy *li* to the west of the Mo-yii Monastery was an Asoka tope to mark the spot at which the P'usa in his birth as Shih-p'i-ka (Śivika) king sliced his body to ransom a pigeon from a hawk.

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A note added to the Chinese text here tells us that Shih-p'i-ka, the correct form for the old Shih-p'i, means “giving”, but we are not bound to accept either the correction or the interpretation. The story of the Rajah of Śivi (or Raja Śivi) saving a pigeon chased by a hawk, and then cutting off portions of his own flesh to weigh against the pigeon, and finally putting his skeleton in the scales in order to have an equivalent in weight for the bird which still remained heavier, is told or referred to in many Buddhist books. It is found also in old Brahminical literature and Dasaratha is reminded by his queen how

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“His flesh and blood the truthful Saivya gave
And fed the hawk a suppliant dove to save”.

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According to the common versions of the story the hawk was Indra bent on proving or tempting the king, and the pigeon is in some versions Agni, in others Visvakarma, or a “frontier king”.³ In the “Liu-tu-chi-ching” the king's name is given as Sarvadā. In the “Hsien-yü-ching”, and in other works, the capital of Sivi is Dīpavati or Devapati, the Devawarta of “Der Weise u. d. Thor”.¹ Fa-hsien makes the scene of this deed of charity to have been in the *So-ho-to*, that is probably Svāt, country, to the south of his Udyāna.² In some works Sivi is a personal name, in others the name of a people or country, and there is a king Sivi among the supposed ancestors of Gautama Buddha.³ Yuan-chuang apparently understood his Sivika to be a personal name or epithet.

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³ Liu-tu-chi-ching, *ch.* 1.

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¹ Hsien-yü-ching, *ch*. 1; Der Weise u. d. T., S. 16.

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² Fo-kuo-chi, *ch*. 9.

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³ Dip. p. 132.

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Above 200 *li* north-west from the Pigeon-ransom Tope and in the *Shan-ni-lo-she* valley was the *Sa-pao-sha-ti* monastery with a tope above 80 feet high. It was here that Ju-lai in his existence as Indra encountered a year of famine with pestilence. In order to save the people's lives the P'usa as Indra changed himself into a great serpent lying dead in the valley; the starving and distressed, in response to a voice from the void, cut from his body pieces of flesh which were at once replaced, and all who ate were satisfied and cured. Near this Monastery was the *Su-mo* great tope where Ju-lai in his Indra life in a time of plague changed himself into a *Su-mo* serpent and all who ate his flesh were cured. By the side of the cliff at the north of the *Shan-ni-lo-she* valley was a tope with powers of healing. It was here that Ju-lai in his existence as a king of peacocks pecked the rock and caused water to flow for the refreshment of his flock; there was a spring and the traces of the peacock's feet were to be seen on the rock.

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The *Shan-ni-lo-she* of this passage may be, as Julien suggests, for Sanirāja, and the *Sa-pao-sha-ti* for the word Sarpaushadhi. This latter means “serpent medicine”, and this agrees with the rendering in the Chinese note to the ordinary texts. The D edition gives the translation as “Earth Medicine”, but this is probably the result of some copyist's error. The *Su-mo* of the text is perhaps for Soma, although Julien restores it as Sūma and translates *Su-mo-shê* by “water serpent”.

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Major Deane supposes our pilgrim's Sanirāja to be “the Adinzai valley entered from Swat at Chakdara”. In this Chakdara district, he tells us, there is a large tope which is still known to some of the people by the name Suma.

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In a Buddhist sūtra¹ we read of the Bodhisattva in his birth as Indra becoming a great reptile called Jen-liang-chung (仁良蟲) interpreted as meaning "the reptile benevolent and of healing efficacy". When the Kuru country was afflicted with plague Indra caused a voice from the void to call the people to cut from his (that is, the reptile's) body, and eat the flesh, and be cured. The people flocked to the carcase, and eagerly cut pieces of its flesh which never suffered diminution, new flesh replacing the pieces cut away. A similar story is found in other books; but the inexhaustible benevolent animal is usually a large fish.²

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¹ Ta-pao-chi-ching, *ch.* 8 (Bun. No. 23 (3)).

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² Hsien-yü-ching, *ch.* 7; Der Weise u. d. T., S. 215; P'u-sa-pên-hsing-ching, *ch.* 3.

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About sixty *li* south-west from Mangkil city and on the east side of a great river was the tope erected by Uttarasena, king of this country, to enclose his share of the relics of the Buddha's body, and near this was the tope which that king built to mark the spot at which his large white elephant bearing the precious relics had suddenly died and become a rock.

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There does not seem to be any mention either of Udyāna or of Uttarasena in the various accounts given in the various Nirvāṇa treatises of the division of the Buddha's relics. But other authorities relate how a female elephant named Mo-tu (or Mata) bearing relics of Buddha to a north country died suddenly on the way, was afterwards reborn as a human creature and became an arhat with an enormous appetite.³ Yuan-chuang also tells in another place of an arhat of Kashmir who in a previous existence had been a king's elephant, and had been given to a monk to carry some Buddhist scriptures. When the elephant died he was reborn as a human being, entered the Buddhist church, and rose to be an arhat.

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³ Abhi.-ta-vib., *ch.* 42. Major Deane tells us that on the Swat River "between Ghaligai and Shankardar, the natives of the country describe the remains of a stūpa as still standing; and this is undoubtedly that referred to by the Pilgrim—for the Pilgrim records next a large rock on the bank of the great river, shaped like an elephant. This rock is a conspicuous landmark existing near the river, about twelve miles from the village of Thana, and near Ghaligai", op. c. p. 660.

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West from Mangkil above 50 *li* and across a large river was the *Lu-hi-ta-ka* (Rohitaka or Red) tope above 50 feet high erected by Asoka. At this place Ju-lai in his birth as Tzŭ-li (Compassion-strength) king drew blood from his body to feed five Yakshas.

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The Tzŭ-li, "whose strength is compassion", of this passage is the king Maitra-bala (or Maitribala) of certain Jātakas. This king, who lived in an unknown past and in an undefined country, had administered his kingdom so perfectly that the Yakshas in it were reduced to starvation, as they could not obtain human blood and life on which to subsist. At last five of these creatures came to the king and laid their sad case before him. The king in utter pity made five incisions in his body and refreshed the Yakshas with his blood. Having done this he taught them the way of mercy to creatures, and induced them to take the vows of good life as Buddhists. Very long afterwards when the king came into the world and became Buddha these five Yakshas were born as human creatures and became Ajñāta Kaundinya and his four companions, the first disciples of the Buddha.¹

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¹ P'u-sa-pên-shêng-man-lun, *ch.* 3 where the P'usa is king Tzŭ-li (慈力); Hsien-yü-ching, *ch.* 2 where the king's name is Mi-k'a-lo-po-lo but rendered in Chinese by Tzŭ-li; Jātakamāla (Kern) S. 41.

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In this passage "Rohitaka tope" probably denotes "the tope of Rohitaka". This was the name of a town or village and in an interesting passage of the Sarvata Vinaya it is placed in India south of Kashmir.² It was here that Buddha, while lodged and entertained by a good Buddhist Yaksha, gave his disciples leave to eat grapes purified by fire and to drink grape-syrup. The grapes offered to the disciples on this occasion are said to have been brought from Kashmir by the Yakshas, and the fruit was new to the disciples. Major Deane thinks that the village of the tope is that now called Hazara and adds that the natives describe the tope as still existing.¹

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² Sar. Vin. Yao-shih, *ch.* 9.

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¹ Op. c. p. 660.

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Above thirty *li* to the north-east of Mangkil was the *O-pu-to* (Abdhuta or Marvellous) stone tope above forty feet high. The Buddha had preached and taught here, and after his departure the tope emerged from the ground and became an object of worship. West from this stone tope across a great river thirty or forty *li* was a Buddhist temple (*ching-shê*) in which was an image of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Kuan-tzŭ-tsai P'usa) of mysterious power with miraculous manifestations; it was an object of pilgrimage for Buddhists and its worship was continuous.

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North-west from this image 140 or 150 *li* was the *Lan-po-lu* mountain on which was a dragon-lake above 30 *li* in circuit. The pilgrim then tells the story of the exiled Sakya from Kapilavastu who came to this place, married the dragon's daughter, assassinated the king of Udyāna and reigned in his stead; this king was the father of Uttarasena. After this we have the story of the mother of king Uttarasena being converted by the Buddha and regaining her sight.

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The marvellous stone tope of this passage, Major Deane tells us, is said to be still in existence, but this may be doubted. Above 30 *li* west from this tope was the Buddhist temple which Deane following B. wrongly calls "Vihāra", and about 140 *li* north-west from this we have the Lan-po-lu mountain. "This measurement", Major Deane writes, "brings us exactly to the head of the Aushiri valley, which drains into the Panjkora near Darora. How the Pilgrim got his distance over several valleys and intervening high spurs, it is difficult to conjecture. But on the hill to which it brings us there is found a large lake, more than a mile in length."

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Our pilgrim represents the conversion of Uttarasena's mother and the restoration of her sight as having occurred at Mangkil. In the Sarvata Vinaya the conversion of the queen-mother is stated to have occurred in a city called *Tao-ku-lu-ko* (稻索穀樓) or "Grain-loft" which was apparently in this region.¹

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¹ Sar. Vin. l. c.

Ta-Li-Lo (Dārel)

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The narrative in the Records now proceeds.

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North-east from Mangkil over hills and across gulleys ascending the Indus by hazardous paths through gloomy gorges, crossing bridges of ropes or iron chains, across bridges spanning precipices or climbing by means of pegs for steps, a journey of above 1000 *li* brings you to the *Ta-li-lo* valley, the old seat of government of Udyāna. The district yields much gold and saffron. In the valley is a great Monastery by the side of which is a carved wooden image of Tzŭ-shih P'usa (Maitreya Bodhisattva) of a brilliant golden hue and of miraculous powers; it is above 100 feet high; it was the work of the arhat Madhyāntika who by his supernatural power thrice bore the artist to Tushita Heaven to study Maitreya's beautiful characteristics; the spread of Buddhism eastwards dates from the existence of this image.

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It is worthy of note that the Life represents Yuan-chuang as only learning of the road to *Ta-li-lo*, whereas the text of the Records seems to imply that he actually travelled from Mangkil to that place. One text of the Life also makes the distance between the two places to be only ten *li*, but in the D text it is 1000 *li* as in the Records. The *Ta-li-lo* valley is apparently, as Cunningham suggests, the *To-li* country of Fa-hsien and the modern Dārel; it may be also the *Ta-la-t'o* (Dard?) of a Buddhist śāstra.² The great wooden image of Maitreya in this district was a very celebrated one, and it is strange to find our pilgrim making it 100 feet high while Fa-hsien makes it only 80 feet high.³

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² A. G. I. p. 82; Abhi-ta-vib., ch. 79 (*Ta-la-t'o* 達剌陀).

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³ Fo-kuo-chi, ch. 6.

Po-Lu-Lo (Bolor)

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Proceeding east from Ta-li-lo across mountains and gulleys, going up the Indus, by flying bridges over precipices, a journey of above 500 *li* brought you to the *Po-lu-lo* country. This was.

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above 4000 *li* in circuit and was situated in the Great Snow Mountains, it was long from east to west and narrow from north to south; it produced wheat and pulse and gold and silver. The people were rich, the climate was cold; the inhabitants were rude and ugly in appearance; they wore woollen clothes, their writing was very like that of India but their spoken language was peculiar. There were some hundreds of Buddhist Monasteries; and some thousands of Brethren who were without definite learning, and were very defective in their observance of the rules of their Order.

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The *Po-lu-lo* of this passage is apparently, as has been suggested by others, the Bolor of later writers and the modern Balti or Little Tibet. But it may be doubted whether the pilgrim's account was derived from a personal visit; it may have been all obtained at Mangkil. According to the *Fang-chih* the traveller after a journey of 500 *li* east from Dārel crossed the Oxus east into the *Po-lu-lo* country. The narrative in the *Life* does not make any mention of this country.

Takshaśila

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From this (i. e. Bolor) the pilgrim returned to Utakahantu (Udaka Khaṇḍa) city, went south across the Indus here three or four *li* broad and flowing south-west (in B and C but in D south) pure and clear, to the Takshaśilā country. This was above 2000 *li* in circuit, its capital being above ten *li* in circuit. The chiefs were in a state of open feud, the royal family being extinguished; the country had formerly been subject to Kapis but now it was a dependency of Kashmir; it had a fertile soil and bore good crops, with flowing streams and luxuriant vegetation; the climate was genial; and the people, who were plucky, were adherents of Buddhism. Although the Monasteries were numerous, many of them were desolate, and the Brethren, who were very few, were all Mahāyānists.

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The *Ta-cha-shi-lo* (Takshaśilā or Taxila) of this passage seems to be described by the pilgrim as adjacent to Gandhāra, but Fa-hsien makes Takshaśilā to be seven days' journey east from his Gandhāra.¹ These two travellers treat Takshaśilā as a district separate from Gandhāra, but in several of the Buddhist books it appears as a part or city of that country. Fa-hsien explains the name as meaning "cut off head" as if the second part of the word were śira. Another author translates it by sio-shih (削石) or "severed rock",¹ and another by ts'o-shih (磋石) or "chiseled rock;² it is rendered by "rock-cave",³ and interpreted as meaning "the Rock of the Takkas". The Pali form of the name is Takkasilā. In very old times, it is fabled, a city called Bhadraśilā was on the site afterwards occupied by Takshaśilā,⁴ and in modern times the latter has also had the name Mārikala.⁵ Baron Hügel thought that the site of the old city corresponded with that of the present Rawal-Pindi,⁶ but Cunningham places the site of Takshaśilā at the modern Shahdheri, a mile to the north-east of Kālaka-serai. There seems to be much in favour of Cunningham's identification which has been generally accepted.⁷ According to the statements in the Buddhist books Takshaśilā was at one time an important trading centre, and a great seat of learning specially famed for its medical teachers.⁸ It formed a part of Asoka's empire; and that sovereign, and after him his son, were viceroys appointed to reside at it before they succeeded to the throne.⁹

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¹ Fo-kuo-chi, ch. 11.

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¹ Hsing-chi-ching, *ch.* 38.

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² A-yü-wang-ching, *ch.* 10.

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³ E. g. in A-yü-wang-hsi-huai-mu-yin-yuan-ching (Bun. No. 1367). It is sometimes doubtful whether the name "Rock-cave" is applied to Takshaśilā or to Gandhāra.

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⁴ Bud. Lit. Nep. p. 310.

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⁵ Alberuni Vol. i, p. 302.

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⁶ Travels in Kashmir and the Panjab p. 230 et al.

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⁷ A. G. I. p. 104; Mc Crindle's Invasion of India by Alexander the Great p. 342.

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⁸ Ta-chuang-yen-lun-ching, *ch.* 8, 15.

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⁹ Divyāv. p. 371; A-yü-wang-chuan, *ch.* 1.

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Above 70 *li* to the north-west of the capital was the tank of the *I-lo-po-ta-lo* (Elāpattra) Dragon-king above 100 paces in circuit, its limpid water beautiful with various-coloured lotuses. This dragon was the bhikshu who in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha destroyed an *I-la-pa-ta-la* tree; hence when the natives are praying for rain or fine weather they have to go with a monk to the tank, and when they have cracked their fingers, and spoken the dragon fair, they are sure to have their prayers answered.

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The story here alluded to of the very ancient Buddhist monk who was afterwards reborn as the Elāpattra Dragon-king is told with slight variations in several Buddhist books. The monk was a very pious good ascetic living in a lonely hermitage among Cardamon (Elā) plants or "Ilā trees". He was much given to ecstatic meditation, and on one occasion he remained absorbed in thought all the morning and until it was the afternoon. He then arose, took his bowl, and went in the usual manner into the town or village, to beg his daily food. The people, seeing him beg for food out of hours, upbraided him, and made disagreeable remarks about his violation of the rules of his Order. The monk became annoyed and irritated by these remarks, and went back to his hermitage. Here he paced up and down as usual, but being in a bad temper he could not endure the touch of the leaves of the Elā (or "Ilā trees"). So he tore them off and angrily strewed them on the ground. When the Buddha Kāśyapa came to remonstrate with him for injuring the plants, and tried to bring him to a proper frame of mind, the monk was rude to the Buddha, and refused to take his reproof. For the two offences, eating food in the afternoon and breaking off the Elā leaves (or scorning the Buddha's reproof for doing so), the monk was reborn as a Dragon-king. In this form he had a monstrous, hideous, and distressing body with seven heads from each of which grew an "Ilā tree", and so long was his body that it reached from Benares to Takshaśilā, a distance of above 200 Yojanas. While the Buddha was at Benares this Elāpattra dragon came thither seeking for the explanation of an incomprehensible verse, and having assumed the form of a universal sovereign, he presented himself in the congregation of the Buddha. The latter, however, caused the dragon to resume his proper form, and then informed him that at the advent of Maitreya he would be released from the dragon existence. Elāpattra then undertook to lead a life of gentleness and mercy not doing harm to any creature.¹ In all the Chinese transcriptions the name Elā (or Ilā)-pattra is given both to the tree which the bhikshu injured and to the dragon-king, but there does not seem to be any plant or tree with the name Elā-pattra. I-ching transcribes the name of the dragon I-lo-po as if for Elapat, and he uses a different transcription for the name of the great Treasure.

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¹ Fu-kai-chêng-so-chi-ching (福 蓋 正 所 集 經), *ch.* 11; Sar. Vin. Tsa-shih, *ch.* 21; J. B. T. S. Vol. ii, P. 1, p. 2; Rockhill Life p. 46.

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From the Dragon-Tank Yuan-chuang proceeded south-east for above thirty *li* to a place between two ranges of hills where there was an Asoka tope above 100 feet high. This marked the spot at which, according to the Buddha's prediction, when Maitreya comes as Buddha one of the four great natural Treasures of valuables will be in existence.

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The four great Treasures here alluded to are those of Elāpattra in Gandhāra, Pāṇḍuka in Mithila, Piṅgala in Kaliṅga, and Śaṅkha in the Kasi (Benares) country.² According to some authorities it was at Sāvatthi that the Buddha made to Anāthapiṇḍaka the announcement of the existence of these four hidden Treasures to be revealed at the time when Maitreya comes to be Buddha, but other versions of the story differ.³ So also some accounts represent the Treasures as being already made use of by the people who every seventh year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, drew at will from the Treasures, which did not experience any diminution.⁴ When Maitreya comes as Buddha the Elāpattra, Pāṇḍuka, and Piṅgala Treasures are to be transferred to that of Śaṅkha. In the Tsêng-yi-a-han-ching we find the terms dragon and dragon-king applied to Elāpattra in connection with the Treasure at Takshaśilā in Gandhāra, but in the other accounts there is no reference to a dragon. Some think that Elāpattra was the name of a king, but it was probably the name of the place afterwards extended to the Tank and the dragon of the Tank. It was undoubtedly this Elāpattra Treasure which our pilgrim here mentions as a sacred spot divinely protected and marked by a tope.

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² See Divyāv. p. 61.

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³ Anāthapiṇḍada-hua-ch'i-tzŭ-ching (No. 649); Tsêng-yi-a-han-ching, *ch.* 49.

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⁴ Upasaka-chie-ching, *ch.* 5 (No. 1088). See also Sar. Vin. Yao-shih, *ch.* 6.

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Above twelve *li* to the north of Takshaśilā city, the pilgrim continues, was an Asoka tope which on fast days sent forth a brilliant light accompanied by divine flowers and heavenly music. Yuan-chuang learned at the place that within recent times a miracle had occurred in connection with this tope. A woman afflicted with a repulsive skin-disease had come to it for purposes of worship; finding the building in a very filthy state she set to work to cleanse it, and having succeeded in this she presented flowers and incense. Thereupon her disease left her, and she became a beautiful woman, breathing a perfume of blue lotus. At the site of this tope, Yuan-chuang tells us, the P'usa as Chandraprabha (Moon-brightness) king cut off his own head as an act of charity, and did this in 1000 similar births.

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Fa-hsien simply relates that the P'usa here once gave his head in charity to a man, and adds that this act gave its name to the country, as if Taksha-śira or "Severed head".¹ In another treatise it is the king of the Kan-yi (乾夷) country who agrees to give his head to a wicked and importunate petitioner, but when the latter draws his sword to cut off the king's head, a deity intervenes and saves the king's life.² In this Jātaka the king is the P'usa, and the cruel petitioner is Devadatta. This story is told with some variations in the "Divyāvadāna Mālā" where the king is Chandraprabha, and his head is actually cut off by the petitioner.³ In one book we read of Prince Moon-brightness (Chandraprabha) giving his blood and marrow to heal a poor distressed man.⁴ It is rather curious to find the story which Yuan-chuang here tells about the woman afflicted with a loathsome skin disease cleansing the sacred building and offering flowers and in consequence becoming healed and endowed with beauty and a sweet breath quoted in an Abhidharma-vibhāsha-śāstra.¹

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¹ Fo-kuo-chi l. c.

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² Liu-tu-chi-ching, ch. 1.

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³ Bud. Lit, Nep. p. 310.

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⁴ Ta-chih-tu-lun, ch. 12.

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¹ Abhi-ta-vib., *ch.* 114. Here Asoka had built a Chaitya at the place where king Chandraprabha had given 1000 heads (his own head 1000 times).

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Near the Head-giving Tope, Yuan-chuang relates, was an old ruinous Monastery occupied by a few Brethren. It was in this monastery that the Sautrāntika Doctor in Buddhism by name Kou-mo-lo-to (Kumāralabdha) once composed expository treatises.

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The name of this learned Buddhist Śāstra-master as given here is translated in a Chinese note by Tung-shou (童受) or "Received from the Youth", that is from Kumāra, the god of war, the name being Kumāralabdha. In the Life the name is given as Ku(Kou)-mo-lo-to and translated wrongly by "youth's life". Kumāralabdha, we learn from another part of the Records, was a native of this country, but he was taken by force to Kabandha where the king of the country gave him a splendid monastery in the old palace grounds. He was, we are told elsewhere, the founder of the Sautrāntika School, and he was celebrated over all the Buddhist world for his genius, his great learning, and his controversial abilities. He was one of the "Four Suns illuminating the world", the three others being Aśvaghosha, Deva, and Nāgārjuna.² Kumāralabdha is mentioned by Tāranātha as a Sautrāntika Master by the name Gzon-nu-len or "Youth-obtained", but he seems to be little known in Buddhist literature and history.³ He may perhaps be the great Kin(Ku)-mo-lo-t'o who is the 18th (or 19th) in the list of Buddhist Patriarchs.⁴

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² *Ch.* 12; J. Vol. iii, p. 213.

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³ Tār. S. 78.

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⁴ Fu-fa-tsang-yin-yuan-chuan, *ch.* 6 (No. 1340).

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On the north side of the south hill to the south-east of the capital was a tope above 100 feet high erected by king Asoka on the spot where his son Prince Ku-lang-na (for Ku-na-lang), or Kunāla, had his eyes torn out by the guile of his step-mother; the blind came here to pray, and many had their prayers answered by restoration of sight. Our pilgrim then proceeds to tell his version of the story of Kunāla's career; of Asoka on the advice of his wicked second queen sending his son to govern Takshaśilā, of the blinding of this prince there by the cruel deceitful action of this queen, of the return of the prince and his princess to the king's palace, and of the restoration of the prince's eyesight effected by the Buddhist arhat Ghosha.

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Some versions of this pathetic story represent Asoka as sending his son to restore order in Takshaśilā on the advice of a Minister of state and without any interference on the part of Tishyarakshā, the cruel, vindictive, libidinous queen, and in some accounts the prince dies after his return home without having any miracle to restore his eyes. His name was Dharmavivardhana, and his father gave him the sobriquet Kunāla because his eyes were small and beautiful, precisely like those of the Himavat bird with that name. The blinding of this pious and virtuous prince was the consequence of bad Karma wrought in a far-past existence. He had blinded 500 deer, according to one story; or an arhat, according to another version; or he had taken the eyes out of a chaitya, according to the Avadāna-kalpalatā. Ghosha, the name of the arhat who restored eyesight to Kunāla, was also the name of a physician of this district who was celebrated as an oculist.¹

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¹ A-yü-wang-chuan, ch. 3; A-yü-wang-hsi-huai-mu-yin-yuan-ching (the Prince is sent on the advice of Yasa); Fa-yi-ching (法益經). where the story is like that told by Yuan-chuang; Divyāv. p. 416; Bur. Int. p. 404; Bud. Lit. Nep. p. 61.

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The Takshaśilā city and region were celebrated from old times, and we read of the king of the country who was contemporary with the Buddha coming to Rājagaha on the invitation of king Bimbisāra to see Buddha. This king became a convert and was ordained, but he died by an unhappy accident before he could return to his kingdom. With reference to this country in later times we have the following interesting passage in Cunningham's "Ancient Geography of India"—"At the time of Asoka's accession the wealth of Taxila is said to have amounted to 36 *kotis* or 360 millions of some unnamed coin, which, even if it was the silver *tanka*, or six pence, would have amounted to nine *crores* of rupees, or £ 9,000,000. It is probable, however, that the coin intended by the Indian writer was a gold one, in which case the wealth of this city would have amounted to about 90 or 100 millions of pounds. I quote this statement as a proof of the great reputed wealth of Taxila within fifty years after Alexander's expedition" (p. 106). The whole of this statement is based on Burnouf's translation of a passage in the Asokāvadāna in the "Introduction à l'histoire du Buddhisme Indien" (p. 373) which reads—"Le roi (i. e. Asoka) fit fabriquer quatre-vingt-quatre mille boîtes d'or, d'argent, de cristal et de lapis-lazuli; puis il y fit enfermer les reliques. Il donna ensuite aux Yakchas et déposa entre leurs mains quatre-vingt-quatre mille vases avec autant de bandelettes, les distribuant sur la terre tout entière jusqu'aux rivages de l'océan, dans les villes inférieures, principales, et moyennes, où [la fortune des habitants] s'élevait à un koṭi [de Suvarṇas]. Et il fit établir, pour chacune de ces villes, un édit de la Loi.

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En ce temps-là on comptait dans la ville Takchaśilâ trente-six koṭis [de Suvarṇas]. Les citoyens dirent au roi: Accorde-nous trente-six boîtes. Le roi réfléchit qu'il ne le pouvait pas, puisque les reliques devaient être distribuées. Voici donc le moyen qu'il employa: Il faut retrancher, dit-il, trente-cinq koṭis. Et il ajouta: Les villes qui dépasseront ce chiffre, comme celles qui ne l'atteindront pas, n'auront rien".

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It will be observed that in this passage the words "la fortune des habitants" and "de Suvarṇas" are introduced by the learned translator to supplement the language and complete the meaning of his author. But these words do not seem to be warranted by the Sanskrit original, which apparently refers to inhabitants, and not to coins. This interpretation is supported by two out of the three Chinese translations, the third translation being apparently from a different text. The passage translated by Burnouf would thus mean something like the following—The king had 84 000 boxes made to hold Buddha's relics. These boxes he gave to Yakshas to distribute among all large, medium, and small towns having a koṭi of inhabitants. But the people of Takshaśila said—We are thirty-six koṭis in number and we want thirty-six boxes. The king seeing he could not give a box for every koṭi of inhabitants in his dominions said to the Takshaśilans—No, you must knock off thirty-five koṭis for the rule is to be that a box is to be given only to those places which have exactly a koṭi of inhabitants neither more nor less.¹

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¹ Divyāv. p. 381. In A-yü-wang-chuan, *ch.* 1 and in Tsa-a-han-ching, *ch.* 23 it is a matter of population, and in A-yü-wang-ching, *ch.* 1 it is a question of money. The particular form of expression used seems to be susceptible of both these interpretations.

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According to one story the people of Takshaśila accepted the king's conditions and received a box of relics. But from other accounts it is to be inferred that they did not obtain any of the relics. Neither Fa-hsien nor our pilgrim refers to the presence in this country of one of the 84 000 boxes containing Buddha's relics distributed by Yakshas for Asoka.

Siñhapura

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From this (that is, the neighbourhood of Takshaśila) going south-east across hills and valleys for above 700 *li* you come to the Seng-ha-pu-lo (Siñhapura) country; this was about 3500 *li* in circuit with the Indus on its west frontier. The capital fourteen or fifteen *li* in circuit rested on hills and was a natural fortress. The soil of the country was fertile, the climate was cold, the people were rude, bold, and deceitful. There was no king and the country was a dependency of Kashmir.

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The text of this paragraph by itself and taken in connection with what follows presents serious difficulties. Although the pilgrim seems to describe himself here as going south-east from Takshaśilā to Siñhapura, yet a little further on he represents himself as returning from the latter to the north of the former. In the Life, at this part of Yuan-chuang’s journey, the D text makes him *hear* of (即) Siñhapura at Takshaśilā, but the other texts state that Siñhapura was among (即) the hills and valleys 700 *li* south-east from Takshaśilā. In another passage of the Life Siñhapura is placed about twenty-two days’ journey from Takshaśilā and apparently to the east of that city, but the direction is not given.¹ If the rest of the narrative with which we are now concerned be correct it would seem that north-east should be substituted for south-east in the statement of the direction of Siñhapura from Takshaśilā. We cannot imagine Yuan-chuang going 700 *li* (about 140 miles) south-east from Takshaśilā, then turning back to the north of that district, and setting out from it again south-eastwards. From the context here it seems to be clear that Yuan-chuang places Siñhapura to the north of Takshaśilā rightly or wrongly. Moreover the “Fang-chih” which places Siñhapura to the south-east of Takshaśilā, following the Records, yet makes the latter place to be south of the former.

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