On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c23.s22: Khoten to Na-Fo-P'O
On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c23.s22
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Khoten to Na-Fo-P'O
v2.c23.s22.1
The narrative in the Records continues—Going east from this (that is, Nijang) the pilgrim entered the "Great Flowing-Sand". As the sand is in constant motion it is collected and dispersed by the wind. As there are no tracks for travellers many go astray; on every side is a great vast space with nothing to go by, so travellers pile up bones left behind to be marks; there is neither water nor vegetation and there is much hot wind; when the wind blows men and animals lose their senses and become unwell. One constantly hears singing and whistling, and sometimes wailing; while looking and listening one becomes stupified, and consequently there is frequent loss of life, and so these phenomena are caused by demons and sprites. A journey of more than 400 *li* brought the pilgrim to the old country of *Tu-huo-lo* (Tokhara). This country and its cities had long been unoccupied wastes. Going on east from this the pilgrim after a journey of above 600 *li* arrived at *Che-mo-t'o-na* old country, the *Nie-mo* land, with lofty city-walls but without an inhabitant. Then continuing his journey he went north-east for above 1000 *li* and reached the old country of *Na-fo-p'o*, the *Lou-lan* territory.
v2.c23.s22.2
The description here given of the passage of the great desert east of Khoten agrees with the accounts by other old travellers such as Fa-hsien, P'ei-chü, and Marco Polo.
v2.c23.s22.3
The name *Che-mo-t'o-na* given by our pilgrim to the country which lay to the east of the former Tokhara country is evidently a Sanskrit word, and it is possibly a rendering of a native term. The text tells us that the country was the *Nie-mo* (尼末) land. But the correct reading is *Chü* (沮 or 且)-mo which is given in the Life, the T'ang-Shu, and other old treatises. This is said to have been originally the name of the capital of the country.¹
v2.c23.s22.4
¹ Wei-Shu, *ch.* 102 where the name is written 且末.
v2.c23.s22.5
The *Na-fo-p'o* of this passage we are told in the text was the old *Lou-lan*. This country, once powerful and flourishing, lay about 1500 *li* to the east of Khoten.² In the year B. C. 77 its prince was treacherously murdered by the Chinese envoy, and on this occasion the new name *Shen-shan* was given to the country. The common way of writing this is 鄯善 but the first syllable is also written 禪, and the name is pronounced *Ch'an* (or *Shan*)-shan. At one time the capital of the country was *Han-ni* (扞泥),³ and another important city in it was *I-sun* (伊循) at which there was a Chinese settlement.¹ Now *isun* is a Tartar word for nine, and *nava* is the Sanskrit word for nine, so our pilgrim's *Na-fo-p'o* may possibly be for a word like *Nava-bhāga*. But this Sanskrit name, probably used only in the Buddhist monasteries, was never employed by the ordinary Chinese who continued to call the country Shan-shan as long as it existed. Its modern representative is found by recent Chinese writers in Mahai-Gobi and Pijan.² In the *Ta-fang-têng-ta-chi-ching* the name used is the old and common Chinese designation *Shan-shan*.³
v2.c23.s22.6
² Ma T. *l.*, *ch.* 357.
v2.c23.s22.7
³ Wei-Shu, *ch.* 102; Yuan-chien-lei-han, *ch.* 236.
v2.c23.s22.8
¹ Yuan-chien-lei-han l. c.
v2.c23.s22.9
² Hsin-chiang, *ch*. 2; Shêng-wu-chi, *ch*. 4.
v2.c23.s22.10
³ *Ch*. 55.
Linked texts (1)
- Mahāsaṃnipāta — Sanskrit