On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c18.s5.2

v2.c18.s5.2

It is remarkable that the annotator to the text from which the above passage has been transcribed places Nepāl in "Mid India". The statement occurs in all the editions, but the "Fang-chih" has "North India". Then notwithstanding the statement at the end of this chüan about the pilgrim returning to Vaiśālī, it may be doubted whether he actually made the double journey from that city to Nepāl and back. The Life does not mention any place between Śvetapur and Magadha. Still it is not impossible that Yuan-chuang may have personally visited Nepāl. We have a more detailed account of the sights of this country in the Fang-chih than we have in the Records, and the information given in the former treatise may have been partly obtained from the account of Wang Hsüan-tsê’s great expedition about this time. We learn from the Fang-chih that there was at the capital of this country a large building in seven storeys, above 200 feet high and 80 paces in circumference, the upper part of which accommodated 10000 persons; the chambers of this building had exquisite carvings, and were adorned with precious stones.