On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c9.s5.78

v1.c9.s5.78

The name of this mountain is given by Yuan-chuang as Tan-to-lo-ka, which Julien restored as Dantaloka; the restoration has been adopted by the P. W., and by subsequent writers. But the old and common form of the name in Chinese translations is T’an-t’eh (檀特), and the original may have been Daṇḍa. The “Mountain of punishment” would be an appropriate designation, and the suggestion is strengthened by the Tibetan rendering “forest of penance”. Our pilgrim places the mountain at a distance of above twenty li north-east from Palusha; but instead of twenty we should probably read 2000 li as in the Fang-chih. All the legends represent the mountain of exile as being far away from any town or place of human habitation. It was beyond the Chetiya country, or in Udyāna, or in Magadha. In the Jātaka it is called Vaṃkaparvata, and a Chinese authority explains *T'an-t'eh-shan* as meaning "the dark shady mountain (*yin-shan*)."¹