Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 99

MAY, 1933)
ON ANCIENT TRACKS PAST THE PAMIRS
There can be no doubt that Tash-kurghân marks the position of the ancient capital of Sarikol. With its rubble-built homesteads it clusters round a small plateau above the left bank of the river, occupied by the modern Chinese fort and the ruins of a small walled town. The territory is duly described by Hsian-tsang under the name of Chieh p'an-t'o and is often mentioned in the Chinese Annals of T'ang times as well as by other travellers. 17 Modest as the resources of Sarikol must always have been-for here, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, the local saying holds that there are ten months of winter and two of summeryet this post of the Ts'ung-ling mountains' has always been a welcome place of rest for caravans and individual travellers. Thus we know from the scanty narrative left of Benedict Goëz, the observant lay Jesuit, who passed here in 1603 on his way from India and Kabu) in search of fabled Cathay, that he and his large gå fila of merchants from Badakhshan took a rest in the province of Sarcil,' i.e., Sarikol. In the looks of the scanty inhabitants of its hamlets he duly noted a resemblance to Flemings. Among the Sarikolîs, who are of the Homo Alpinus stock of the Galchas and who speak a language closely akin to that of Shughnân, blue eyes and fair hair are common enough.
Before I proceed to indicate the several routes through the meridional range to the east by which the plains of the Tårîm basin are gained from Sarikol, we must return once more to the uppermost Åb-i-Panja and the ancient route which leads from there across the Great Pamir to Sarikol. With it are associated the memories of those two great travellers, Hsüantsang and Marco Polo. The route starts from Langar-kisht where the Ab-i-Panja is joined by the river draining the Great Pamîr lake, and ascends to the latter, just as Marco Polo tells us, in three marches north-eastwards. His description of the lake which Captain John Wood, who re-discovered it on his memorable journey of 1838, has named after Queen Victoria, is so accurate and graphic that I may well quote it in full18...
Hsüan-tsang, too, has left us a graphic account of the valley of Po-mi-lo' and its great Dragon Lake' which he passed on his way from Wakhân to Sarikol.19 “It is situated among the snowy mountains. On this account the climate is cold, and the winds blow constantly. The snow falls in summer and spring time .... In the middle of the valley is a great Dragon Lake." As I looked across the deep-blue waters of the lake to where in the east they seemed to fade away on the horizon I thought it quite worthy to figure in the old traditional belief which the Chinese pilgrim's narrative reflects, as the legendary central lake from which the greatest rivers of Asia were supposed to take their rise. The clearness, fresh taste and darkblue colour of the lake are just as he describes them. It is the same with the masses of aquatic birds swarming about the lake in the spring and autumn, and with their eggs being found in plenty on its shores. Nor can it surprise us that the imagination of old travellers passing this great sheet of water at such a height and so far away from human habitations credited it with great depth and with hiding in it 'all kinds of aquatic monsters such as Hsuan-tsang was told of.
There can be no doubt about Hsüan-tsang having travelled across the Great Pamır to Tash-kurghân. “On leaving the midst of this valley and going south-east, along the route, there are neither men nor villages. Ascending the mountains, traversing the sides of precipices, encountering nothing but ice and snow, and thus going 500 li, we arrive at the kingdom of Chien-p'an-t'o." The direction and distance indicated, corresponding roughly to five daily marches, make it appear very probable that the route followed by him was the one leading to the course of the Ak-su river and thence across the Naiza-tash pass.
17 For an analysis of these Chinese and other early records of Sarikol, dr. Ancient.Khotan, i, pp. 27 sqq. 18 For the quotation, see Yule, Marco Polo, i, p. 171.
19 Cf. Julien, Mémoires des contrées occidentaux, ii, pp. 207 sqq.; Watters, Yuan Chwang, ii, pp. 282 sq. ; Innermost Asia, ii, pp. 858 sqq.