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 15 - Country of Ho-li-sih-mi-kia (Khwarazm)
This country lies parallel with[1] the banks of the river Po-tsu (Oxus). From east to west it is 20 or 30 li, from north to south 500 li or so. In point of customs and produce it resembles the country of Fa-ti; the language, howvever, is a little different.
From the country of Sa-mo-kien[2] going south-west 300 li or so, we come to Ki-shwang-na.[3]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Ho-li-sih-mi-ka corresponds with Khwārazm. It is the Khorasmia of Strabo, lib. xi. c. 8 (p. 513), Pliny, vi. 16. Pharasmanes, king of the Khorasmii, came to Alexander with 1500 horsemen and said that his kingdom was "next to the nation of the Kolkhi and the Amazon women."—Arrian, Anab., lib. iv. 15; conf. Herodotus, lib. iii. 93, 117; Ptolemy, Geog., lib. vi. c. 12, 4; Q. Curt., vii. 4, viii. 1; Dionys. Per., 746; Steph. Byz. sub voc.; Baber, Mem., p. xxxi. The bearing south-west in the text is west in Hwui-lih. The distance 500 li is the same in both. M. Viv. de St. Martin suggests north-west as the bearing, and adds that Hwui-lih makes the distance 100 li (Mémoire, p. 283, n. 1). This is a mistake. For notices respecting the power of the Khwārizmian empire and the proceedings of Chen-ghiz Khān in destroying it;—vid. R. K. Douglas, Life of Jenghiz Khan, pp. xv. seq. It is true that Hiuen Tsiang says that Khwārazm runs parallel to both banks of the Oxus. But as Hwui-lih says it is bounded on the east by the Oxus, I think the symbol "liang" (two) is a mistake for si (west), in which case the text would make the country parallel to the west bank of the Oxus.
[2]:
The pilgrim now takes us back to the country of Samarkand; he reckons 300 li in a south-west direction to Kesh. The reckoning, I think, is from Kashania, where we left him; this was probably the western limit of the kingdom of Samarkand. Kesh or Shahr-sabz (39°2' N., 66°53' E.) lies due south-west from this point about 70 miles. Baber's Memoirs, pp. 36 and 54; Jour. R. Geog. Soc., vol. xl. p. 460; D'Herbelot, Bib. Or., p. 238; and see note 83 supra.
[3]:
Country of historians.—Ch. Ed.