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BUDDHIST PILGRIMS FROM CHINA TO INDIA.
JULY, 1881.]
record says that this is S. W. of Sze-chu'an. Going S. W. one month's journey or so, we come to Sz'ling; south of this is the border of the sea and the country called Śrikshetra; S. E. of this is Langkâva (Kamalanka); E. of this is D våra pati; eastward of this at the extreme frontier is the country of Lin-i (Champa), this country excessively honours the three objects of worship, and has many religious people."
With respect to the countries of the Southern Seas, I-tsing has, on the same page, the following note:-"Counting from the west there is first of all the P o-l u-sse country (Sumatra), next the Malaya country, which is the same as that now called Shi-l i-fo-y a ou country, next (or this is) the Mahâs in country (Sinhapura ?), next is the Kalinga (Linga ?) country, then the Tan-tan country (Natuna according to Bretschneider, Arabs, &c. p. 19, vide also H. Thsang, tom. I, p. 451), after this is the Pan-pan country (Banka ?), after this is Po-li (Biliton), after this Kiu-lun(?), then Fo-shai-pa-lo (Srîbhôja and Bali ?), then A-s hen and Mokia-man; and other islands not worth mentioning." All these countries, I-t s i n g remarks, "reverence the law of Buddha-they follow principally the Little Vehicle, but in Malaya the Great Vehicle is also slightly observed. These islands are some of them 100 li round, others several hundred, and others perhaps a hundred stages (yojanas)."
The southern point of Champa (Cochin China) is Shang-king (Saigon ?), this is the same as Lin-i, the people of this country belong to the Sammatiya School, and also to the Sarvâstivâdins. S. W. of this one month (by land ?) is Fu-nan (Camboja). The people of this country were formerly naked savages, and sacriticed to the gods, but afterwards were converted to Buddhism. But a wicked king has now driven the priests away and destroyed them, so that none but heretics are found here. This is the extreme southern corner of Jambudwipa.
We observe that I-tsing frequently speaks of the ten countries or islands of the Southern
Seas.1 These are probably the ten islands spoken of above. And so (on p. 8, K. II.)
15 N. H. K. 1. 25, &c. and also K. I. Y.
19 In Bretschneider (Arabs, &c. p. 8) we read that the king of the Ta-shi by name Han-mi-mo-mo-ni in the year
197
he says there are twenty and odd countries between the Mahâbôdhi and Lin-i (i.e. Cochin China), whilst in the Southern Sea there are ten countries besides Ceylon; on the west, beyond the Great Sea, are the countries of Po-lisse (Persia) and Ta-s hi (Arabia). The situation of Shi-l i-f o-s ha i (Śrîbhôja) appears to be settled by a notice (in the 3rd book and 24th p.,) where I-tsing says that in this place in the middle of the 8th month there is no shadow, and in the middle of spring the same. If the Chinese months are here referred to, this statement would place Śribhôja as nearly as possible on the Equator-perhaps on the east coast of Sumatra, opposite Banka. But as the months in China are uncertain, we may still be at liberty either to place Śrîbhôja on the Malayan Peninsula -or as far south as Surabaya in Java.
Putting together the notices to be found in I-tsing's works, we may conclude that the sea route between China and India in the early years of the Tang dynasty was by way of Java, Sumatra, the Straits of Malaka, the coast of Burma and Arakan, to Tamralipti, or else by the more adventurous way of Ceylon from Qaedâh. It seems that the Condore Islands were a centre of trade, and that the language of the natives of these islands was used generally through the Southern Seas-at least I-t sing speaks of himself as interpreting this language at Śrîbhôja.
We have one or two points of some certainty in the itinerary of these pilgrims. For instance in the Si-yu-ki (tom. II, p. 82) we read that to the N. E. of Sa matata is the country called Śrikshetra, to the S. E. of this is Kamalanka; to the east of this is D â apati (read Dvârapati). This country has been identified by Capt. St. John (Phenix, May 1872) with old Tung-u and Sandoway in Burma, lat. 18° 20′ N. long. 94° 20′ E.; it is in fact the "door land" between Burma and Siam; this latter being called Champa or Lin-i. Hiwan Thsang remarks that to the S. W. of Lin-i or Siam is the country of the Yavanas, or as they are called in his text the Yen-mo-na. We do not read of this country in I-tsing; it may probably represent Camboja. (To be continued.)
651 sent for the first time an envoy with presents to the Chinese court, and at the same time anuounced in a letter that the house Ta-shi had reigned 34 years and had three kings.
