On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c14.s2.2

v1.c14.s2.2

The name of the country here transcribed *A-ye-mu-k‘a* was restored by Julien in his translation of the Life as *Ayamukha*, but in the present passage he makes these syllables stand for Hayamukha. This latter restoration seems to be inadmissible; and as *A-* is the first syllable of the name in all the texts of the Life and Records, and in the Fang-chih, we must regard Ayamukha as the name which the pilgrim transcribed. It is not impossible that the correct form may have been Hayamukha or Āyamukha, the former word meaning "Horse-face" and the latter meaning a *creek* or *channel*. Cunningham, who finds Yuanchuang's Ayudha in the present Kākūpur, thinks that Ayamukha may be represented by "Dauṇḍia-khera on the northern bank of the Ganges". But these identifications are mere conjectures and are of little use.¹