DEATH OF HWUY-KING IN THE LITTLE SNOWY MOUNTAINS. LO-E. POHNÂ.
CROSSING THE INDUS TO THE EAST.
Having stayed there till the third month of winter, Fâ-hien and
the two others,[1] proceeding southwards, crossed the Little Snowy
mountains.[2] On them the snow lies accumulated both winter and
summer. On the north (side) of the mountains, in the shade, they
suddenly encountered a cold wind which made them shiver and become
unable to speak. Hwuy-king could not go any farther. A white froth
came from his mouth, and he said to Fâ-hien, ‘I cannot live any
longer. Do you immediately go away, that we do not all die here;’ and
with these words he died.[3] Fâ-hien stroked the corpse, and cried out
piteously, ‘Our original plan has failed;—it is fate.[4] What can we
do?’ He then again exerted himself, and they succeeded in crossing to
the south of the range, and arrived in the kingdom of Lo-e,[5] where
there were nearly three thousand monks, students of both the mahâyâna
and hînayâna. Here they stayed for the summer retreat,[6] and when
that was over, they went on to the south, and ten days’ journey
brought them to the kingdom of Poh-nâ,[7] where there are also more
than three thousand monks, all students of the hînayâna. Proceeding
from this place for three days, they again crossed the Indus, where
the country on each side was low and level.[8]
NOTES
[1] These must have been Tâo-ching and Hwuy-king.
[2] Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass.
[3] All the texts have Hwuy-king. See chap. xii, note 13.
[4] A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from
the lips of Fâ-hien. The Chinese character 命, which he employed,
may be rendered rightly by ‘fate’ or ‘destiny;’ but the fate is not
unintelligent. The term implies a factor, or fa-tor, and supposes the
ordination of Heaven or God. A Confucian idea for the moment overcame
his Buddhism.
[5] Lo-e, or Rohî, is a name for Afghanistan; but only a portion of it
can be here intended.
[6] We are now therefore in 404.
[7] No doubt the present district of Bannu, in the
Lieutenant-Governorship of the Punjâb, between 32° 10′ and 33° 15′ N.
lat., and 70° 26′ and 72° E. lon. See Hunter’s Gazetteer of India, i,
p. 393.
[8] They had then crossed the Indus before. They had done so, indeed,
twice; first, from north to south, at Skardo or east of it; and
second, as described in chapter vii.