Buddhist records of the Western world (Xuanzang)
by Samuel Beal | 1884 | 224,928 words | ISBN-10: 8120811070
This is the English translation of the travel records of Xuanzang (or, Hiuen Tsiang): a Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to India during the seventh century. This book recounts his documents his visit to India and neighboring countries, and reflects the condition of those countries during his time, including temples, culture, traditions and fest...
Chapter 24 - Country of Kiu-mi-to (Kumidha or Darwaz and Roshan)
Note: Kiu-mi-to would correctly be restored to Kumidha, which naturally represents the country of the Komedai of Ptolem.[1]
This country extends 2000 li from east to west, and about 200 li from north to south. It is in the midst of the great T'sung-ling mountains. The capital of the country is about 20 li in circuit. On the south-west it borders on the river Oxus;[2] on the south it touches the country of Shi-ki-ni.[3]
Passing the Oxus on the south,[4] we come to the kingdom of Ta-mo-sih-teh-ti,[5] the kingdom of Po-to-chang-na,[6] the kingdom of In-po-kin,[7] the kingdom of Kiu-lang-na,[8] the kingdom of Hi-mo-to-lo,[9] the kingdom of Po-li-ho,[10] the kingdom of Khi-li-seh-mo,[11] the kingdom of Ho-lo-hu,[12] the kingdom of O-li-ni,[13] the kingdom of Mung-kin.[14]
Going from the kingdom of Hwo (Kunduz) south-east, we come to the kingdom of Chen-seh-to,[15] the kingdom of 'An-ta-la-po[16] (Andarāb), remarks concerning which may be found in the return records.
Going south-west from the country of Hwo, we arrive at the kingdom of Fo-kia-lang (Baghlān).
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Kiu-mi-to would correctly be restored to Kumidha, which naturally represents the country of the Komedai of Ptolemy (Geog., lib. vi. c. 12, 3, c. 13, 2, 3; lib. vii. c. 1, 42), through which the ancient caravans travelled eastward for silk. It corresponds with Darwāz (the gate), or the valley of Rāsht. See Jour. R. As. Soc., N.S., vol. vi. pp. 97, 98; Jour. Asiat., ser. vi. tom. v. p. 270; édrisi, tom. i. p. 483; Jour. As. S. Beng., vol. xvii. pt. ii. p. 15; Wood's Oxus, pp. xxxix, lxxv, 248, 249; Jour. R. Geog. Soc., vol. xli. p. 339; Proc. R. G. S., vol. i. (1879) p. 65.
[2]:
The chief town of Darwāz—still called Khum or Kala-i-khum—is on the Ab-i-Pianj or south branch of the Amu, which runs just within the south-west limit of the district. Proc. R. Geog. Soc., vol. iv. (1882), pp. 412 ff.; Jour. R. Geog. Soc., vol. xlii. pp. 458, 471, 498. Roshān lies to the south-east of Darwāz and between it and Shignān, and on the northern branch of the river which joins the Panja near Bartang.
[3]:
Shi-ki-ni has been identified with Shignān or Shakhnān by Cunningham and Yule.—J. R. As. Soc., N.S., vol. vi. pp. 97, 113; J. R. Geog. Soc., vol. xlii. p. 508 n.; J. As. S. Beng., vol. xvii. pt. ii. p. 56; Wood's Oxus, pp. 248, 249. édrisi has Saknia, tom. i. p. 483.
[4]:
That is, to the south of the Amu or Panja. The pilgrim having described the districts first in a northerly direction, then east of the main stream, now leaving the valley of the Shignān, which runs along the northern side of the Panja, he recounts the names of districts to the south of that river.
[5]:
Ta-mo-sih-teh-ti was restored doubtfully to Tamasthiti by Julien. It is the Termistāt of the Arab geographers, one stage from the famous stone bridge on the Waksh-āb or Surkh-āb, and one of the chief towns of Khutl.—Jour. R. Geog. Soc., vol. xlii. p. 508 n. See a1so Wood's Oxus, pp. lxxi, 260; Istakhri, pp. 125, 126, and Gardiner's 'Memoir' in Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xxii. pp. 289, 291. Julien has made a mistake (Mém. t. ii. p. 201) in giving the width of the valley at 400 or 500 li; it should be 4 or 5 li, according to the India Office Library copy. It would thus be a valley some 300 miles long, and about a mile wide. On Captain Trotter's map the long valley of Wakhān extends through more than two degrees of longitude, viz., from 72°to 74°30' E. long.; but following the winding of the river it might probably approach the length assigned by Hiuen Tsiang. See also Yule, u. s. pp. 111-113.
[6]:
Po-to-chang-na. This represents Badakshān, celebrated for its ruby mines. For an interesting account of this country, its inhabitants, and their character, see Wood's Oxus, pp. 191 seq.; conf. Jour. R. Geog. Soc., vol. xxxvi. pp. 252, 260, 265, 278; vol. xxxvii. pp. 8, 10; vol. xl. pp. 345, 393; vol. xlii. pp. 440 ff.; vol. xlvi. pp. 278, 279.
[7]:
In-po-kin, probably Yamgān, the old name of the valley of the Kokcha, from Jerm upwards.—Yule.
[8]:
Kiu-lang-na represents Kurāṇa, a name applied to the upper part of the Kokchā valley, about Lajward (Wood). Celebrated for mines of lapis-lazuli.—See Yule, u. s.
[9]:
Hi-mo-to-lo. This certainly would correspond with Himatala, the Chinese explanation being "under the Snowy Mountains" (hima + tala).—Julien, Mem., tom. i. p. 178. Colonel Yule has identified it with Darāim, or, as it is otherwise given, Darah-i-aim. (See his remarks, Jour. R. As. Soc., N.S., vol. vi. p. 108; Wood's Oxus, p. lxxvii.
[10]:
Po-li-ho must be in the neighbourhood of the Varsakh river, a tributary of the Kokchā. Wood, in his map, has a district called Farokhar or Farkhar, which may represent Po-li-ho or Parika.
[11]:
Khi-li-seh-mo is no doubt Khrishma or Kishm, north of Farkhar, and thirty-two miles east of Tālikān. Yule's Marco Polo, vol. i. p. 163.
[12]:
Ho-lo-hu represents Rāgh, an important fief in the north of Badakshān between the Kokchā and the Oxus (Yule).
[13]:
O-li-ni. This, as Colonel Yule says, "is assuredly a district on both sides of the Oxus," of which the chief place formerly bore the name of Ahreng; the Hazrat Imām of Wood's map, 26 miles north of Kunduz. Yule, u. s. p. 106; P. de la Croix, H. de Timurbec, t. i. pp. 172, 175; Institutes of Timur, p. 95.
[14]:
Mung-kin. Julien has by mistake given the circuit of this district as 4000 li (Mém., tom. ii. p. 194), instead of 400 li. This has been observed by Colonel Yule (p. 105, u. s.) It probably is represented by the district from Tālikān and Khānābad, and the valley of the Furkhan, in the east of Kunduz or Kataghān. This Tālikān is the Thāikān of the Arab geographers. Marco Polo visited it. Ouseley, Orient. Geog., pp. 223, 224, 230, 231; Baber's Mem., pp. 38, 130; Yule's Marco polo, vol. i. p. 160. Conf. Burnes, Trav. in Bokhara, vol. iii., p. 8; Wood's Oxus, pp. lxxxi, 156; Bretschneider, Med. Geog., p. 195. There is a district called Munjān, in the south of Badakshān, between the sources of the Kokchā and Gogardasht.
[15]:
Chen-seh-to, for Kwo-seh-to, i. e., Khousta or Khost, located by Yule between Tālikān and Indarāb. A district now known as Khost is in Afghanistan, south of the Kuram valley. Jour. R. Geog. Soc., vol. xxxii. p. 311.
[16]:
An-ta-la-po, i. e., Andarāb or Indarāb. Lat. 35°40' N.; long. 69°27' E.