On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c21.s7: Karṇasuvarṇa
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c21.s7
- Language
- English
Karṇasuvarṇa
v2.c21.s7.1
The pilgrim goes on to tell that from Tāmralipti he travelled north-west for over 700 *li* to the Kie(ka)-lo-na-su-fa-la-na (or Karṇasuvarṇa) country. This was about 4450 *li* in circuit and its capital was above 20 *li* in circuit. The country was well inhabited and the people were very rich. The land was low and moist, farming operations were regular, flowers and fruits were abundant; the climate was temperate, and the people were of good character and were patrons of learning. There were more than ten Buddhist monasteries, and above 2000 Brethren who were all adherents of the Sammatiya School; there were 50 Deva-Temples and the followers of the various religions were very numerous. There were also three Buddhist monasteries in which in accordance with the teaching of Devadatta milk products were not taken as food. Beside the capital was the Lo-to-wei (or mo)-chih Monastery, a magnificent and famous establishment, the resort of illustrious Brethren. It had been erected by a king of the country before the country was converted to Buddhism to honour a Buddhist śramaṇa from South India who had defeated in public discussion a boasting disputant of another system also from South India. This bullying braggart had come to the city and strutted about with his stomach protected by copper sheathing to prevent him from bursting with excessive learning, and bearing on his head a light to enlighten the ignorant and stupid. He prevailed until the king urged the stranger śramaṇa to meet him in discussion, the king promising to found a Buddhist monastery if the śramaṇa were victorious. Near this monastery were several topes built by Asoka at spots where the Buddha had preached and also a shrine (ching-shê) where the Four Past Buddhas had sat and walked for exercise.
v2.c21.s7.2
This passage presents some serious difficulties. According to the narrative in the Life our pilgrim did not go from Puṇḍavardhana east to Kāmarūpa, thence south to Samaṭaṭa, thence west to Tāmralipti, and thence north-west to Karṇasuvarṇa, but he went straight from Puṇḍavardhana south-east 900 *li* to Karṇasuvarṇa, from that on south-east to Samaṭaṭa, and thence west above 900 *li* to Tāmralipti. But there is nothing in the text of the Records to indicate that the pilgrim did not actually proceed by the route which he has described in the text of our passage.
v2.c21.s7.3
Notwithstanding the statements of our text, however, we must consider him to have travelled in the manner indicated in the Life. His location of Karṇasuvarṇa in the passage before us is not in agreement with the rest of the narrative, and we must apparently regard that place as 700 *li* to the north-east instead of north-west of Tāmralipti. The name of the country, wrongly rendered by the pilgrim "Gold ear", and the name of its wicked king Śaśāṅka, with whom we have met already, are found in the Gupta Inscriptions.¹ The country was evidently at one time a large and powerful kingdom, and a rival of Magadha.
v2.c21.s7.4
¹ Fleet's 'Gupta Inscriptions', p. 283. Here he is a Mahāsāmanta or Mahārāja.
v2.c21.s7.5
With reference to the Brethren who abstained from the use of milk, curds, and as articles of food our pilgrim's statement that they did so as followers of Devadatta may have been the suggestion of a Mahāyānist Brother. All Mahāyānists were supposed to abstain from milk food, and I-ching states expressly that it is unlawful food.²
v2.c21.s7.6
² Nan-hai-ch'i-kuei, *ch*. 1; Takakusu, p. 43.
v2.c21.s7.7
The magnificent monastery near the capital, of which the pilgrim gives some account, is called by him in some texts *Lo-to-wei-chih* (絡多未支) explained as meaning "Red clay", and Julien restores the original as Raktaviṭi. But the correct reading is *Lo-to-mo-chih* (末 instead of 支), that is Raktāmṛita, in Pali Rattamattikā, which means "Red clay". The haughty conceited pundit with copper sheathing to keep his learning in his stomach, and the light on his head in pity for the ignorant people who lived in darkness, occurs in several Buddhist works. One of the best known of these men is the father of Śāriputra, the description of whom recalls in several points the passage in our text, but Śāriputra's father overcomes his competitor in discussion.³
v2.c21.s7.8
³ Ta-chih-tu-lun, *ch*. 10.
v2.c21.s7.9
Cunningham thought that the chief city of this country "must be looked for along the course of the Suvarna-riksha river, somewhere about the districts of Singhbhūm and Barabhūm”, and he adds—“Bara Bāzār is the chief town in Barabhūm, and as its position corresponds very closely with that indicated by Hwen Thsang, it may be accepted as the approximate site of the capital in the seventh century”.¹ Fergusson does not accept this identification and writes—“The kingdom of Karna Souvarna, I take it, comprehended the northern part of Burdwan, the whole of Birbhūm, and the province of Murshidabad, including all those parts of the districts of Kishnaghur and Jessore which were then sufficiently raised above the waters of the Ganges to be habitable”.²
v2.c21.s7.10
¹ See ‘Anc. Geog. of India’ p. 505.
v2.c21.s7.11
² op. c. p. 248. See also Dr. Waddell's Note on king Śaśānka in his “Discovery of the exact site of Asoka's classical capital of Pāṭaliputra”.