On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c12.3

v1.c12.3

In the *Life* we are told that our pilgrim on leaving Rājapur went south-east, and after a journey of two (or three) days crossed the Chandrabhaga (Chenāb) river to the city of Jayapur. Here he spent a night in a non-Buddhist monastery outside the west gate of the city. From this he went on to Śakala in the *Chêh-ka* (in one text *Li-ka*) country, from that to the city Narasimha, and thence eastward to a *palāśa* wood. Here he had an encounter with brigands and narrowly escaped with his life. From the village beyond this wood he resumed his journey and reached the eastern part of the *Chêh-ka* country. Here he found a large city, and in a mango grove west of it lived a brahmin 700 years old, looking like a man of thirty years, and having all his mental and bodily powers. He had been a disciple of the great Nāgārjuna, and he was well acquainted with the sacred lore of Brahmins and Buddhists. With him Yuan-chuang seems to have studied the "Pai-lun" and the "Kuang-pai-lun", the latter of which our pilgrim afterwards translated.