Chapter 18 - Country of K’ie-p’an-t’o (Khabandha or Khavandha)

Note: Julien restores the symbols K'ie-p'an-t'o to Khavandha doubtfully. V. de St. Martin in his Mémoire (p. 426) restores it to Karchu, and in Fa-hian (p. 9, n. 6).^[1]

This country is about 2000 li in circuit; the capital rests on a great rocky crag of the mountain, and is backed by the river śītā. It is about 20 li in circuit. The mountain chains run in continuous succession, the valleys and plains are very contracted. There is very little rice cultivated, but beans and corn grow in abundance. Trees grow thinly, there are only few fruits and flowers. The plateaux are soppy, the hills are waste, the towns are deserted; the manners of the people are without any rules of propriety. There are very few of the people who give themselves to study. They are naturally uncouth and impetuous, but yet they are bold and courageous. Their appearance is common and revolting; their clothes are made of woollen stuffs. Their letters are much like those of the Kie-sha (? Kashgar) country. They know how to express themselves sincerely, and they greatly reverence the law of Buddha. There are some ten saṅghārāmas with about 500 followers. They study the Little Vehicle according to the school of the Sarvāstivādas.

The reigning king is of an upright and honest character; he greatly honours the three treasures; his external manner is quiet and unassuming; he is of a vigorous mind and loves learning.

Since the establishment of the kingdom many successive ages have passed. Sometimes the people speak of themselves as deriving their name from the Chi-na-ti-po-k'iu-ta-lo (China-deva-gotra). Formerly this country was a desert valley in the midst of the T'sung-ling mountains. At this time a king of the kingdom of Persia (Po-la-sse) took a wife from the Han country. She had been met by an escort on her progress so far as this, when the roads east and west were stopped by military operations. On this they placed the king's daughter on a solitary mountain peak, very high and dangerous, which could only be approached by ladders, up and down; moreover, they surrounded it with guards both night and day for protection. After three months the disturbances were quelled (they put down the robbers). Quiet being restored, they were about to resume their homeward journey. But now the lady was found to be enceinte [pregnant, (M.B.)]. Then the minister in charge of the mission was filled with fear and he addressed his colleagues thus: "The king's commands were that I should go to meet his bride. Our company, in expectation of a cessation of the troubles that endangered the roads, at one time encamped in the wilds, at another in the deserts; in the morning we knew not what would happen before the evening. At length the influence of our king having quieted the country, I was resuming the progress homeward when I found that the bride was enceinte. This has caused me great grief, and I know not the place of my death. We must inquire about the villain who has done this (secretly), with a view to punish him hereafter. If we talk about it and noise it abroad, we shall never get at the truth." Then his servant, addressing the envoy, said, "Let there be no inquiry; it is a spirit that has had knowledge of her, every day at noon there was a chief-master who came from the sun's disc, and, mounted on horseback, came to meet her." The envoy said, "If this be so, how can I clear myself from fault? If I go back I shall certainly be put to death; if I delay here they will send to have me punished. What is the best thing to do?" He answered, "This is not so complicated a matter; who is there to make inquiries about matters or to exact punishment outside the frontiers? Put it off a few days (from morning to evening)."

On this he built, on the top of a rocky peak, a palace with its surrounding apartments;^[2] then having erected an enclosure round the palace of some 300 paces, he located the princess there as chief. She established rules of government and enacted laws. Her time having come, she bore a son of extraordinary beauty and perfect parts. The mother directed the affairs of state; the son received his honourable title;^[3] he was able to fly through the air and control the winds and snow. He extended his power far and wide, and the renown of his laws was everywhere known. The neighbouring countries and those at a distance subscribed themselves his subjects.

The king having died from age, they buried him in a stone chamber concealed with a great mountain cavern about 100 li to the south-east of this city. His body, being dried, has escaped corruption down to the present time. The form of his body is shrivelled up and thin: he looks as if he were asleep. From time to time they change his clothes, and regularly place incense and flowers by his side. From that time till now his descendants have ever recollected their origin, that their mother (or, on their mother's side), they were descended from the king of Han, and on their father's side from the race of the Sun-deva, and therefore they style themselves "descendants of the Han and Sun-god."^[4]

The members of the royal family in appearance resemble the people of the Middle Country (China). They wear on their heads a square cap, and their clothes are like those of the Hu people (Uïghurs). In after-ages these people fell under the power of the barbarians, who kept their country in their power.

When Aśoka-rāja was in the world he built in this palace a Stūpa. Afterwards, when the king changed his residence to the north-east angle of the royal precinct, he built in this old palace a saṅghārāma for the sake of Kumāralabdha (T'ong-shiu). The towers of this building are high (and its halls) wide. There is in it a figure of Buddha of majestic appearance. The venerable Kumāralabdha was a native of Takṣaśilā. From his childhood he showed a rare intelligence, and in early life gave up the world. He allowed his mind to wander through the sacred texts, and let his spirit indulge itself in profound reveries. Daily he recited 32,000 words and wrote 32,000 letters. In this way he was able to surpass all his contemporaries, and to establish his renown beyond the age in which he lived. He settled the true law, and overcame false doctrine, and distinguished himself by the brilliancy of his discussion. There was no difficulty which he could not overcome. All the men of the five Indies came to see him, and assigned him the highest rank. He composed many tens of śāstras. These were much renowned and studied by all. He was the founder of the Sautrāntika (King-pu) school.

At this time in the east was Aśvaghoṣa, in the south Deva, in the west Nāgājuna, in the north Kumāralabdha. These four were called the four sons that illumined the world. The king of this country, therefore, having heard of the honourable one (Kumāralabdha) and his great qualities, raised an army to attack Takṣaśila, and carried him off by force. He then built this saṅghārāma.

Going south-east 300 li or so from the city, we come to a great rocky scarp in which two chambers are excavated, in each of which is an Arhat plunged in complete ecstasy. They are sitting upright, and they could be moved but with difficulty. Their appearance is shrivelled, but their skin and bones still survive. Though 700 years have elapsed, their hair still grows, and because of this the priests cut their hair every year and change their clothes.

To the north-east of the great crag after going 200 li or so along the mountain-side and the precipices, we come to a Puṇyaśālā (a hospice).

In the midst of four mountains belonging to the eastern chain of the T'sung-ling mountains there is a space comprising some hundred k'ing (thousand acres). In this, both during summer and winter, there fall down piles of snow; the cold winds and icy storms rage. The ground, impregnated with salt, produces no crops; there are no trees and nothing but scrubby underwood. Even at the time of great heat the wind and the snow continue. Scarcely have travellers entered this region when they find themselves surrounded by vapour from the snow. Merchant bands, caravans, in coming and going suffer severely in these difficult and dangerous spots.

The old story says: "Formerly there was a troop of merchants, who, with their followers, amounted to 10,000 or so, with many thousand camels. They were occupied in transporting their goods and getting profit. They were assailed by wind and snow, and both men and beasts perished.

As this time there was a great Arhat who belonged to the kingdom of K'ie-p'an-t'o, who, taking a wide look, saw them in their danger, and being moved by pity, desired to exert his spiritual power for their rescue; but when he arrived they were already dead. On this he collected the precious objects that lay scattered about and constructed a house, and gathering in this all the wealth he could, he bought the neighbouring land and built houses in the bordering cities for the accommodation of travellers, and now merchantmen and travellers enjoy the benefit of his beneficence.

Going north-east from this, descending the T'sung-ling mountains to the eastward, after passing dangerous defiles and deep valleys, and traversing steep and dangerous roads, assailed at every step by snow and wind, after going 100 li or so, we emerge from the T'sung-ling mountains and come to the kingdom of U-sha.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

I have adopted this restoration. Col. Yule, however (Wood's Oxus, xlviii. n. 1), speaks of Karchu as "a will-o'-the wisp, which never had any existence." On the other hand, he says, "We know this state (i.e., Kabandha, the K'ie-p'an-t'o of the text) to be identical with the modern territory of Sarikol, otherwise called Tush Kurghan from its chief town" (op. cit., p. xlviii.); and again, "As for Karchu, which in so many maps occupies a position on the waters of the Yārkand river, it was an erroneous transliteration of the name Hatchút or Ketchút, which appeared in the (Chinese) tables of the later Jesuit surveyors to the south of Sarikol and was by them apparently intended as a loose approximation to the position of the frontier of the Dard state of Kanjút or Hunza" (op. cit., p. iv.) It would appear from the above extracts that K'ie-p'an-t'o must be identified with Sarikol and Tush Kurghan (stone-tower), and not with the Kie-cha of Fa-hian. I am unable, however, to trace Fa-hian's route to "Kie-cha or Ladak," as stated by Yule (op. cit., xl.), and Cunningham (Ladak, quoted by Yule, ibid.); for if Kie-cha be Ladak, how can the pilgrim describe it as in the middle of the T'sung-ling mountains (chap. v.), or say that a journey of one month westward across the T'sung-ling mountains brought him to North India (chap. vi.)? Dr. Eitel identifies the K'ie-cha of Fa-hian with the Kasioi of Ptolemy (Handbook, s. v. Khaśa); M. V. de St. Martin observes (Mémoire, p. 427) that Kashgar) and its territory correspond with the Casia regio Scythiæ of Ptolemy.

[2]:

This may be the origin of the term Tash Kurghan, stone tower.

[3]:

That is, the son of the Sun-god.

[4]:

There is in this story a sort of resemblance to the tale about SyÁwush the Persian and Afrāsyab the Turanian, The latter gave to the royal refugee his daughter Farangis, with the provinces of Khutan and Chin or Māchín (Mahāchin?). They settled at Kung, some distance north-east of Khutan. See Bellew, History of Kashgar (chap. iii., Forsyth's Report). The fame of Kaikhusro (Cyrus) as a hero-child of the sun seems to agree with the miraculous birth and conquests of the child whose birth is narrated in the text. I may add that a consideration of the circumstances connected with the history of the Persian (Iranian) and Turanian tribes confirms me in the opinion that the Tu-ho-lu of Hiuen Tsiang refers to the Turanian people, and not to the Turks (so-called).