On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c23.s20: Che-Ku-Ka
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c23.s20
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Che-Ku-Ka
v2.c23.s20.1
The narrative in the Records proceeding relates that from Kashgar the pilgrim travelled south-east above 500 *li* crossing the Sita river and going over a large sandy mountain-range to the *Che-ku-ka* country. The pilgrim describes this country as being above 1000 *li* in circuit, and its capital as above ten *li* in circuit; it was naturally very strong and it had a flourishing settled population. There was a succession of hills and rising grounds all covered with stones and gravel; where the country lay along the two rivers there was some cultivation; fruits such as grapes, pears, and plums were abundant; the winds were cold; the inhabitants were rude and deceitful, and robbery was openly practised. The writing was like that of Khoten, but the spoken language was different, and the people had little culture or education; they were sincere Buddhists, and they enjoyed good works. There were some tens of Buddhist monasteries many of which were in ruins; the Brethren, of whom there were above 100, were Mahayanists. The pilgrim then gives an account of a great mountain in the south of the country with numerous topes in memory of the Indian arhats who had passed away on the mountain, and tells us of the three arhats in prolonged samadhi in its caves. The pilgrim adds that in this country the treatises (*pu* 部) of Mahayana canonical texts were very numerous, more than in any other country to which Buddhism had reached.
v2.c23.s20.2
Of treatises of 100 000 stanzas each there were more than ten, and shorter treatises had a very wide-spread circulation.
v2.c23.s20.3
A note to the text by the native editor tells us that the *Che-ku-ka* of the passage is the old *Tsü* (or *Tsie*)-*kü* (沮渠). This latter word is found given as an official title among the Hiungnu, and we are told that it became a proper name.¹ Our pilgrim's *Che-ku-ka* is apparently the *So-kü* (莎車) of the Han period, and the *Chu-kü-p'o* (朱俱波) of later times.² *So-kü* is placed 1000 *li* west of Khoten and 900 *li* south of *Su-leh* (Kashgar), and Sung-yun makes *Chu-kü-p'o* to be five days' journey from Khoten.³ Modern Chinese authorities identify the old *So-kü* with the modern Yerkiang or Yarkand, and to some extent *Che-ku-ka* answers this identification.⁴ Yule, however, thinks that the particulars of our pilgrim's description "would seem to point to a site among the hills south of Yarkand", while the distances given from Kashgar and Khoten to *Che-ku-ka* agree with modern itineraries from the same places to Yarkand.⁵ The name used by our pilgrim was perhaps, as in the *T'ang-Shu*, that of the tribe or people by which the district was occupied.⁶ A Tibetan writer tells us that "the Sanskrit name for Yarkhan (or Yarkand) is Arghan", and that our pilgrim calls it "Su-kakai".⁷
v2.c23.s20.4
¹ Ma T. l., *ch.* 341.
v2.c23.s20.5
² The character 車 is commonly read *chê*, but in this combination as in many other cases it is to be red *ku* or *kü*. The *Che-ku-ka* of this passage is apparently the 遮居迦 of *ch.* 55 of the Ta-fang-têng-ta-chi-ching.
v2.c23.s20.6
³ Ka-lan-chi, *ch.* 5.
v2.c23.s20.7
⁴ Hsin-chiang, *ch.* 3; Li-tai-yen-ko-piao, *ch.* 3.
v2.c23.s20.8
⁵ op. c. p. 120.
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⁶ T'ang-Shu, *ch.* 221 (2d part).
v2.c23.s20.10
⁷ "Buddhist and other legends about Khoten" by Babu Sarat Chandra Dás C. I. E. in J. A. S. Ben. Vol. LIV, p. 193.
v2.c23.s20.11
For the last clause of the passage here translated with omissions the Chinese is 自茲已降其流寔廣. This is in Julien's rendering.—"Depuis qu'elle (that is, "la doctrine du Mahāyāna") a été introduite dans ce pays jusqu'à nos jours, elle s'est étendue d'une manière remarquable.". It will be seen that there is nothing in the text corresponding to "elle a été introduite dans ce pays", and the translator seems to have quite missed the author's meaning. The pilgrim tells us that no other Buddhist country had so many Mahāyāna texts as Che-ku-ka had, that of those treatises having 100 000 slokas there were about ten in the country, and that "decreasing from this their circulation was wide", that is the treatises which had a diminished number of slokas had an increased circulation.
Cites (1)
- Mahāsaṃnipāta — Sanskrit