Indian Antiquary Vol 07

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 57

FEBRUARY, 1878.]
HIWEN THSANG'S SOUTHERN CHARITRAPURA.
39
WHERE WAS THE SOUTHERN CHARITRAPURA MENTIONED BY
HIWEN THSANG,?
BY A. C. BURNELL, PA.D., M.C.S. It is well known that Hiwen Thsang men- au sud-est, on arrive au royaume de Seng-kia-lo tions' two ports on the Coromandel coast both (Simhala--Ceylon). of which he calls Charitra pura, and from It appears that Hiwen Thsang returned to which, he informs us, the traffic with the further Kanchipura from Malaküta, and thence went to East was conducted. The most northern of Konka ņa pura, the modern Konkaņathese was in the far north;' the southern Charitra- halli, in Maisur. It is thus evident that Mapura has been usually asserted to have been what duri and the extreme south of India cannot be inis now called Negapatam, but the reasons for tended by Mala k û ţa; and again, if this be this position appear to me to be without founda- assumed to be Madara, and Charitrapura be tion, and the identification seems a mere guess. assumed to be Negapatam, it is difficult to unHiwen Thsang describes this port as being in derstand the statement that Charitrapura was the north-east of the kingdom of Malakůta in the north-east of the kingdom. (as Stanislas Julien rightly rendered the name), No doubt the Pandya kings of Madurâ for but this kingdom has not as yet been identified some time held in subjection what is now the I shall now show that a Tamil inscription of the Tanjor province, and what was once the best 11th century A.D. helps to clear up the matter part of the Chola kingdom, but how could their in a satisfactory way; but it is first necessary to northern limit bo ever about Negapatam? It take the excellent Chinese monk's account of must either have been north of the delta of the the kingdom of Mala k úta and its surround- Kaveri, or have been south of the almost anings, for his statements in this respect afford inhabited country which separates the fertile substantial proof of the correctness of the new parts of Tanjor from the fertile parts of Maidentification which I shall here propose. durâ. Again, Hiwen Thsang (even making
He mentions, first of all, the kingdom of great allowances for his necessarily defective Drâ vida, the capital of which, he says, is Kien- geography) could hardly have said that the chi-pr-lo, which corresponds to Kanchipura Malaya mountains are south of Malakūta if the or Conjeveram. This is, therefore, the neigh. last be Madura : for if he had visited that place bourhood of the modern Madras, and corresponds he would have seen them, and would necessarily to the territory of the Pallava kings, with have put them in the west. Orientals nover err whom Sir Walter Elliot first made us acquainted. in directions, at all events. Hiwen Thsang adds of himself: "En partant Again, if we look at the text of Hiwen Thsang de ce pays, il fit environ trois mille li au sud, a little closely, it will be evident that in speaket arriva au royaume de Mo-lo-kin-ch'a (Mala- ing of the kingdoms of the south of India he kûta)."
did not intend that they should be regarded as He says (p. 122): "Au sud . . . . . s'élèvent conterminous. His kingdoms--as the measureles monts Mo-la-ye (Malayas) .....(p. 124) ments he gives show-were composed of the Lorsqu'on sort de Malakúta dans la direction deltas of rivers and similar fertile tracts; the du nord-est, sur le bord de la mer, on rencontre large extent of barren and almost uninhabited une ville (nommée Che-li-ta-lo-(Charitrapura); land which then, as now, separated the fertile c'est la route des voyageurs qui vont dans le tracts was regarded by him as neutral land. royaume de Seng-kia-lo (Simhala-Ceylon), que Thus his Dravida is the small Pallava kingdom baigne la mer du midi. Les habitants de ce composed of the fertile territory near Kanchipays rapportent que, lorsqu'on s'embarque pour puram; the next kingdom would naturally be le quitter, après avoir fait environ trois mille li in the delta of the Kaveri and Kolerûn.
Pelerins Bouddhistes, tom. I. p. 184; tom. III. pp. 90, 194.
Che-li-ta-lo (Charitra)-in Chinese Fa-hing-ch'ing'the city of departuro'-in the south-east of the kingdom of U-ch'a (Uda) is placed by M. de St. Martin at the northern mouth of the Brühmant in Oriana Cunningham supposes it was at Puri (Anc. Geog. p. 510).- ED.
Pélerins Bouddhistes, tom. II. p. 121.
This is much the same description as is given by Hoci Li-ibid. I. pp. 193-4.
• Kong-Ken-na-pu-lo (tom. III. p. 146), which Cunningham tries to identify with Annagundi on the Tungabhadra (Anc. Geog. pp. 552-3); Fergusson with the capital of the Kõigũ kingdom (Jour. R. As. Soc. N. S. vol. VI. pp. 266, 396), and V. de St. Martin, with Banavasi (Péler. Bouddh tom. III. p. 401).-ED.