On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c8.s1.34

v1.c8.s1.34

Now this is also a foreign designation, and one used by the Chinese especially. It does not seem to have been ever known, or at least current, in India. In Chinese literature we find it employed during the Sui period (A.D. 589 to 618) but it is rather a literary than a popular designation. In the shortened form Fan kuo (梵國), however, the name has long been in common use in all kinds of Chinese literature.