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 17 - Country of Mo-lo-kiu-ch’a (Malakuta)
Note: Dr. Burnell has shown that “this kingdom (Malakūṭa) was comprised roughly in the delta of the Kāverī”, which would lead us to suppose that the capital was somewhere near Kumbhaghoṇam or āvūr.[1]
This country is about 5000 li in circuit; the capital is about 40 li. The land and fields are impregnated with salt, and the produce of the earth is not abundant. All the valuables that are collected in the neighbouring islets are brought to this country and analysed. The temperature is very hot. The men are dark complexioned. They are firm and impetuous in disposition. Some follow the true doctrine, others are given to heresy. They do not esteem learning much, but are wholly given to commercial gain. There are the ruins of many old convents, but only the walls are preserved, and there are few religious followers. There are many hundred Deva temples, and a multitude of heretics, mostly belonging to the Nirgranthas.
Not far to the east of this city is an old saṅghārāma of which the vestibule and court are covered with wild shrubs; the foundation walls only survive. This was built by Mahendra, the younger brother of Aśoka-rāja.
To the east of this is a stūpa, the lofty walls of which are buried in the earth, and only the crowning part of the cupola remains. This was built by Aśoka-rāja. Here Tathāgata in old days preached the law and exhibited his miraculous powers, and converted endless people. To preserve the traces of this event, this memorial tower was built. For years past it has exhibited spiritual signs, and what is wished for in its presence is sometimes obtained.
On the south of this country, bordering the sea, are the Mo-la-ye (Malaya) mountains,[2] remarkable for their high peaks and precipices, their deep valleys and mountan torrents. Here is found the white sandal-wood tree and the Chan-t'an-ni-p'o (Chandaneva)[3] tree. These two are much alike, and the latter can only be distinguished by going in the height of summer to the top of some hill, and then looking at a distance great serpents may be seen entwining it; thus it is known. Its wood is naturally cold, and therefore serpents twine round it. After having noted the tree, they shoot an arrow into it to mark it.[4] In the winter, after the snakes have gone, the tree is cut down. The tree from which Kie-pu-lo (Karpūra) scent is procured,[5] is in trunk like the pine, but different leaves and flowers and fruit. When the tree is first cut down and sappy, it has no smell; but when the wood gets dry, it forms into veins and splits; then in the middle is the scent, in appearance like mica, of the colour of frozen snow. This is what is called (in Chinese) "long-nao-hiang", the dragon-brain scent.
To the east of the Malaya mountains is Mount Po-ta-lo-kia (Potalaka)[6] The passes of this mountain are very dangerous; its sides are precipitous, and its valleys rugged. On the top of the mountain is a lake; its waters are clear as a mirror. From a hollow proceeds a great river which encircles the mountain as it flows down twenty times and then enters the southern sea. By the side of the lake is a rock-palace of the Devas. Here Avalokiteśvara[7] in coming and going takes his abode. Those who strongly desire to see this Bodhisattva do not regard their lives, but, crossing the water (fording the streams), climb the mountain forgetful of its difficulties and dangers; of those who make the attempt there are very few who reach the summit. But even of those who dwell below the mountain, if they earnestly pray and beg to behold the god, sometimes he appears as Tsz'-tsaï-t'ien (Īśvāra-deva), sometimes under the form of a yogi (a Pāṃśupata); he addresses them with benevolent words and then they obtain their wishes according to their desires.
Going north-east from this mountain, on the border[8] of the sea, is a town;[9] this is the place from which they start for the southern sea and the country of Sang-kia-lo (Ceylon). It is said commonly by the people that embarking from this port and going south-east about 3000 li we come to the country of Siṃhala.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
The distance given (3000 li or so) south from Conjiveram seems to be excessive. But none of the distances given by Hiuen Tsiang front hearsay are to be depended on. Compare, for example, the distance given from Charitra, in Orissa, to Ceylon, viz., about 20,000 li. This part of the pilgrim's itinerary is beset with difficulties. In the text before us, the use of the symbol "hing" would denote that he went personally to the Malakūṭa kingdom, but in Hwui-lih we are told that he heard only of this country, and his intention was evidently to embark, probably at the mouth of the Conjiveram river, for Ceylon, when he heard from the priests who came from that country to Kin-chi of the death of the king Rāja Buna Mugalān and the famine. Mr. Fergusson, assuming Nellore to have been the capital of Chola (I may here notice, by the way, that the symbols used for this country are the same both in Hwui-lih and the Si-yu-ki, so that the "Djourya" adopted by Julien in the Life of Hiuen-Tsiang is the same as "Tchoulya" in the Si-yu-ki), is disposed to refer Kin-chi-pu-lo to Nāgapaṭṭaṇam, and so get over the difficulty which arises from Hwui-lih's remark that "the town of Kin-chi is at the sea-mouth on the water-road to Ceylon," and also the distance from Nellore of 1500 or 1600 li. But this would involve us in subsequent difficulties; the name of Kāñchīpura, moreover, is the well-known equivalent for Conjiveram, and it is impossible to disregard this. M. V. de St. Martin, relying on Hwui-lih, says (Mémoire, p. 399) that Hiuen-Tsiang did not go farther south than Kāñchīpura, but, on the other hand, Dr. Burnell is of opinion that Hiuen-Tsiang returned from Malakūṭa to Kāñchīpura (Ind. Ant., vii. p. 39). It is certain that on his way to the Koṅkaṇ he started from Drāviḍa; I am disposed, therefore, to think that he did not go farther south than Kin-chi. In this case the subsequent account he gives us of Malakūṭa, Mount Malaya, and Potaraka, is derived from hearsay. With regard to Malakūṭa, Dr. Burnell has shown (loc. cit.) that "this kingdom was comprised roughly in the delta of the Kāverī." This would lead us to suppose that the capital was somewhere near Kumbhaghoṇam or āvūr; but how then shall we account for the 3000 li of Hiuen-Tsiang? The actual distance south from Conjiveram to this neighbourhood being only 150 miles, or, at most, 1000 li. For an account of Kumbhaghoṇam, see Sewell, Lists of Antiq. Remains in Madras, vol. i. p. 274. Dr. Burnell gives the name Malaikūṛṛam as possibly that by which Kumbhaghoṇam was known in the seventh century (ibid.) In a note the Chinese editor remarks that Malakūṭa is also called Chi-mo-lo; Julien restores this to Tchimor (p. 121, n.), and also to Tchimala "the Simour of M. Reinaud" (Jul., iii. 530). I have given reasons for thinking that Chi-mo-io is the equivalent for Kūmār (J. R. A. S., vol. xv. p. 337).
[2]:
These mountains, or this mountain, bordering on the sea, may either represent the Malabār Ghāṭs generally, or, more probably, the detached mass of the Ghāṭs south of the Koimbatur gap, apparently the true Malaya of the Pauranik lists. See Ind. Ant., vol. xiii. p. 38; Sewell, op. cit., p. 252. The term Ma-la-yo is also applied to a mountainous district in Ceylon, of which Adam's Peak is the centre (Childers, Pāli Dict., sub voc.); compare J. R. A. S., N. S., vol. xv. p. 336. It would seem, at any rate, if this district of Malaya, "bordering on the sea," was a part of the kingdom of Malakūṭa, that the latter cannot be confined to the delta of the Kāverī, but must be extended to the southern sea-coast. This would explain the alternative name of Chi-mo-lo (Kumār). Malaya means any "mountainous region."
[3]:
That is, a tree "like the sandal-wood" (Jul., n. 1).
[4]:
Compare Julien, note 2 (in loco), and Burnouf, Introd. to Buddhism, p. 620. The Malaya mountain is called Chandanagiri, part of the southern range of the Ghāṭs, because of the sandal-wood found there (Monier Williams, Sansc. Dict. s. v. Chandana).
[5]:
That is, camphor.
[6]:
The situation of this mountain has been discussed (J. R. A. S., N. S., vol. xv. p. 339 ff).
[7]:
See vol. i. p. 60, n. 210.
[8]:
The symbol used implies "a division of the sea," as though it were at a point where the sea divided into an eastern and western ocean.
[9]:
There is no name given; it is simply stated there is a town from which they go to Ceylon. If it were intended to give the name Charitrapura to it, there would be no symbol between the word for "city or town" and the word "go." M. Julien's parenthesis has misled Dr. Burnell and others. Dr. Burnell has also argued on a mistaken translation as to the position of this town, which he identifies with Kāverīpaṭṭanaṃ (Ind. Ant., vol. vii. p. 40). Julien says, "Going from Malakūṭa in a north-eastern direction, on the borders of the sea is a town (called Che-li-ta-to, Charitrapura)." Conf. ante, p. 205, n. 55. But, in fact, the original states, "Going from this mountain, i.e., Mount Malaya, in a north-eastern direction, there is a town at the sea-dividing." So that Dr. Burnell's conclusions, so for as this part of his argument goes, are not supported by the text. On the other hand, it is stated by I-tsing that "going west thirty days from Quedāh, merchants used to arrive at Nāgavadana, whence after two days' voyage they reach Ceylon" (J. R. A. S., N. S., vol. xiii. p. 562). This looks as though Nāgapaṭṭanam were the town referred to by Hiuen Tsiang.