THROUGH THE TSʽUNG OR ‘ONION’ MOUNTAINS TO KʽEEH-CHʽÂ;—PROBABLY
SKARDO, OR SOME CITY MORE TO THE EAST IN LADAK.
When the processions of images in the fourth month were over,
Săng-shâo, by himself alone, followed a Tartar who was an earnest
follower of the Law,[1] and proceeded towards Kophene.[2] Fâ-hien and
the others went forward to the kingdom of Tsze-hoh, which it took them
twenty-five days to reach.[3] Its king was a strenuous follower of
our Law,[4] and had (around him) more than a thousand monks, mostly
students of the mahâyâna. Here (the travellers) abode fifteen days,
and then went south for four days, when they found themselves among
the Tsʽung-ling mountains, and reached the country of Yu-hwuy,[5]
where they halted and kept their retreat.[6] When this was over,
they went on among the hills[7] for twenty-five days, and got to
Kʽeeh-chʽâ,[8] there rejoining Hwuy-king[9] and his two companions.
NOTES
[1] This Tartar is called a 道人, ‘a man of the Tâo,’ or faith of
Buddha. It occurs several times in the sequel, and denotes the man
who is not a Buddhist outwardly only, but inwardly as well, whose
faith is always making itself manifest in his ways. The name may be
used of followers of other systems of faith besides Buddhism.
[2] See the account of the kingdom of Kophene, in the 96th Book of
the first Han Records, p. 78, where its capital is said to be 12,200
le from Chʽang-gan. It was the whole or part of the present
Cabulistan The name of Cophene is connected with the river Kophes,
supposed to be the same as the present Cabul river, which falls into
the Indus, from the west, at Attock, after passing Peshâwar. The city
of Cabul, the capital of Afghanistan, may be the Kophene of the text;
but we do not know that Săng-shâo and his guide got so far west. The
text only says that they set out from Khoten ‘towards it.’
[3] Tsze-hoh has not been identified. Beal thinks it was Yarkand,
which, however, was north-west from Khoten. Watters (‘China Review,’
p. 135) rather approves the suggestion of ‘Tashkurgan in Sirikul’ for
it. As it took Fâ-hien twenty-five days to reach it, it must have
been at least 150 miles from Khoten.
[4] The king is described here by a Buddhistic phrase, denoting
the possession of vîryabala, ‘the power of energy; persevering
exertion—one of the five moral powers’ (E. H., p. 170).
[5] Nor has Yu-hwuy been clearly identified. Evidently it was
directly south from Tsze-hoh, and among the ‘Onion’ mountains.
Watters hazards the conjecture that it was the Aktasch of our present
maps.
[6] This was the retreat already twice mentioned as kept by the
pilgrims in the summer, the different phraseology, ‘quiet rest,’
without any mention of the season, indicating their approach to
India, E. H., p. 168. Two, if not three, years had elapsed since they
left Chʽang-gan. Are we now with them in 402?
[7] This is the Corean reading (山), much preferable to the (止) of the
Chinese editions.
[8] See chap. iii, note 8. Watters approves of Klaproth’s
determination of Kʽeeh-chʽâ to be Iskardu or Skardo. There are
difficulties in connexion with the view, but it has the advantage, to
my mind very great, of bringing the pilgrims across the Indus. The
passage might be accomplished with ease at this point of the river’s
course, and therefore is not particularly mentioned.
[9] Who had preceded them from Khoten, chap. iii paragraph 3.