On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c23.s17.14

v2.c23.s17.14

In the legend here related by the pilgrim about the origin of the dynasty reigning in Kabhanda at the time of his visit, we find the king of a country called P'o-li-ssŭ contracting a marriage with a Chinese lady. In the C text the reading is P'o-la-ssŭ which is Yuan-chuang's transcription for Persia. The D text has "P'o-li-la-ssŭ" which is evidently a mistake. The correct reading as we can learn from the D editor's note is P'o-li-ssŭ. This was not Persia, but a country not far from the region of the Pamirs, it is also called P'o-ssŭ, and it is probably sometimes confounded with Persia. Julien transcribes correctly P'o-li-ssŭ, but Yule turns this into Persia, and adds that "in Persian legendary history we find king Jameshid marrying a daughter of Máháng, king of China". The king of P'o-li-ssŭ, however, never actually became the husband of the Chinese lady who had only a temporary husband in the sun-god. By him she became the mother of the king who founded the reigning dynasty of Kabhanda, and made the country prosperous and powerful. The kings of this dynasty styled themselves "China-deva-gotra" translated by "China and sun-god stock". But this interpretation seems to be absurd, and Chinadeva may be a proper name.