On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c22.s4: Mo-La-P'O (Mālava)
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c22.s4
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Mo-La-P'O (Mālava)
v2.c22.s4.1
The narrative in the Records proceeds to relate that from Bharukachcha the pilgrim went north-west above 2000 *li* to the Mo-la-p'o country. This is described as being above 6000 *li* in circuit, and its capital as being above thirty *li* in circuit. It was situated on the south-east side of the Mo-ha river. The people were of a gentle disposition, and for the most part very intelligent, of refined speech and with a liberal education. Mo-la-p'o in the south-west, and Magadha in the north-east, were the two countries of India in which learning was prized. In this country virtue was esteemed and humanity respected, and the intellectually clever were zealous students; there was miscellaneous belief in orthodoxy and heterodoxy. There were some hundreds of monasteries, and more than 20 000 Brethren belonging to the Sammatiya school of the Hīnayāna; of Deva-temples there were some hundreds, and the adherents of the various sects were very numerous, the majority being Pāśupatas. The local records told of a king, by name Śīlāditya, who had reigned over the country 60 years before the pilgrim's arrival, a monarch of great administrative ability, and of rare kindness and compassion. By the side of his palace this king had built a Buddhist temple, extremely artistic in structure and ornament, in which were images of the Seven Buddhas. Every year a great religious assembly was summoned, the Brethren from all sides being called together. The four matters of service to the Brethren were carefully attented to, and these were presented with the three robes and religious requisites, or with precious valuables. This fine work had been continued for successive generations without interruption. Above twenty *li* north-west from the capital was the "brahmin's town", and beside it the "Pit of Descent"; the torrents of summer and autumn never fill the latter, and at its side was a small tope. The pilgrim then gives the local legend of the proud blasphemous brahmin of the town who went down alive into hell at the spot where the Pit appeared. This brahmin had been vanquished in public discussion by the bhikshu Bhadraruchi, who was a consummate logician, and well versed in the non-Buddhist *śāstras*. When the king condemned the defeated brahmin to be exposed, as an impostor, to a cruel death the bhikshu interceded, and obtained a mitigation of the punishment. He then went to see the brahmin to give him support and consolation in his shame and degradation, but the brahmin gave vent to his passion, vilified the "Great Vehicle" and abused former saints; while he was still speaking the earth parted, and he descended alive, leaving this trace (i. e. the Pit) of his descent.
v2.c22.s4.2
A note added to the text at the beginning of this passage tells us that another name for this country was "South Lo", and a note to the passage in the Life calls it "South Lo-lo". For the characters read mo-la-p'o here we must suppose on original like Mālabha or Mālava, but we cannot properly regard this name as covering the modern district of Malwa. It has not been ascertained yet what was the precise situation, and what is the modern designation, of the South Lo or Mālava country.¹ This (or as Julien translates, its capital), according to the pilgrim, lay to the south-east of the river called Mo-ha in all the texts (except D), and in the Fang-chih. In the D text we have Mo-hi which is the name of a well known river. The observation which the pilgrim makes in the above passage about the fame of Mālava and Magadha is apparently a quotation from some one who lived between those two countries, for Magadha is uniformly described as being in Mid-India, not in the north-east. The Mālava of the present passage may perhaps be the Mālava of some passages of Tāranātha, but it cannot be the Mālava in Prayāga.
v2.c22.s4.3
¹ See A. G. I. p. 490; Fergusson op. c. p. 270; Fleet op. c. p. 184.
v2.c22.s4.4
Of the great Buddhist scholar and controversialist here mentioned by the name Bhadraruchi, (translated Hsien-ai (賢愛) or "Eminent affection") nothing seems to be known beyond what we learn from our pilgrim's narrative. Yuan-chuang styles this man "a bhikshu of West India", and the Bhadraruchi of our passage seems to resemble in some circumstances the Bhadrānanda of Tāranātha.