FOREIGN NOTICES OF SOUTH INDIA

FROM MEGASTHENES TO MA HUAN

COLLECTED AND EDITED BY

K. A. NILAKANTA SASTRI, M.A., Professor of Indian History and Archaeology, University of Madras.

UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS 1939

PREFACE

This is a source-book of Early South Indian History. Its aim is to present in a handy form the numerous Foreign Notices of South India including Ceylon scattered in several books and journals published by learned Societies not easily accessible to the general reader. In some cases the passages selected for inclusion have been specially rendered into English from French translations of Arabic or Chinese originals.

The sources included here comprise mainly Greek and Latin, Arabic, Chinese and Persian authors; but not being acquainted with their several languages, I have based this work altogether upon translations into modern European languages. Though the collection is not exhaustive, I believe nothing of importance has been omitted. The reasons for the choice of the extracts and their importance to students of South Indian History are briefly explained in the Introduction and notes, and will, I trust, be borne out by the extracts themselves.

I acknowledge with great pleasure the assistance of Dr. N. Venkataramanayya, who gave me the transliteration of proper names occurring in Ibn Battuta and also some of the notes to the same author; and of Miss K. M. Sowmini, who made some of the translations from French and checked the references to French periodicals.

Excepting Ibn Battuta, I have generally retained the forms of proper names as they appear in the authorities I have used.

For permission to include extracts I am indebted to M. Paul Pelliot, Directeur, T’oung Pao, for Nos. II, IX, XI, XVI, XXIV, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV A-B; to Archibald R. Maclean, Esq., for Nos. III, IV, VI and XII A i to iii, B and C, and to the High Commissioner for India, London, for procuring this permission; to the Director, Philadelphia Commercial Museum, for V and VII; to the Clarendon Press, Oxford, for Nos. VIII and XV B-D; to the General Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta, for X, XIII and Appendix IV; to the Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, London, for XIV, XXXIV C-D; to the Librarian, Société Asiatique, Paris, for XV A, XVIII, XXX A-BB, C-ii, Appendix i, ii and iii; to Secrétaire Général, Libraire Ernest Leroux, Paris, for XV E; to the Directeur, B.E.F.E.O., Hanoi, for XVII; to Dr. A. Rouhier of Libraire et Editions, Vega, Paris, who now represents Editions Bossard, for XIX; to Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench Trübner & Co., for XX; to the Honorary Secretary, Hakluyt Society, London, for XII A iv, XXII, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXX, C-i and XXXI; and to Messrs. John Murray, London, for XXV. Extracts No. XXI and XXIX are from publications issued under the auspices of the Governments of Burma and France. Finally, Extract No. XXIII is from Chau Ju-kua (Hirth and Rockhill) published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, with whom or whose representatives no communication could be established. Extract No. I contains matter which appeared in the Indian Antiquary (Vol. VI) and was also published in book form by Messrs. Thacker Spink & Co.; and is included with the permission of Mr. C. E. A. W. Oldham on behalf of the Indian Antiquary.

My thanks are due to the Syndicate of the University of Madras for including this work in the University Historical Series.

I must also thank the G. S. Press for the speedy and excellent execution of the work.

Department of Indian History, University Buildings, Madras, 20 September, 1939.

K. A. N.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Periodicals

• Bulletin de l’École Française D’Extrême-Orient (BEFEO), Hanoi.
• Indian Historical Quarterly (IHQ), Calcutta.
• Journal of Oriental Research (JOR), Madras.
• Journal of the (Royal) Asiatic Society, Bengal (JASB), Calcutta.
• Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (JRAS), London.
• Spolia Zeylanica: Colombo, Ceylon.
• T’oung Pao (TP), Leyden.

Books and Monographs

• Adler, M.N.: The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, London, 1907.
• Asher, A.: The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, (New York), Vols. I and II.
• Barbier de Meynard: Le Livre des Routes et des Provinces par Ibn-KHordâdbeh, publié, traduit et annoté. J.A. 6: 5 (1865): Pages 1-127, 227-95, and 446-532.
• Beal: Si-Yu-Ki. Buddhist Records of the Western World, 2 Vols. in one, London. (n.d).
• Bombay Gazetteer: Vol. I, Parts i and ii (1896).
• Bretschneider: Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources. Fragments towards the knowledge of the Geography and History of Central and Western Asia from the 13th to the 17th Century. 2 Vols. (Trübner’s Oriental Series), London, 1910.
• Buzurg Ibn Shahriyar: The Book of the Marvels of India, English Translation by L. Marcel Devic (The Golden Dragon Library), London, 1928.
• Buzurg Ibn Shahriyar: Kitāb ‘Ajāyab-ul-Hind or Livre des Merveilles de L’Inde, Texte Arabe par P. A. Van der Lith; traduction Française par L. Marcel Devic, Leide, 1883-1886.
• Cary: History of Rome, London, 1936.
• Cary and Warmington: The Ancient Explorers, London, 1929.
• Chavannes: Mémoire Composé à l’époque de la grande dynastie T’ang sur les Religieux Éminents qui allerent chercher la loi dans les pays d’occident par I-Tsing. Librairie Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1894.
• Chavannes: Notes Additionnelles sur les Tou-kiue (Turks) occidentaux, TP, ii. 5 (1904) pp. 1-110.
• Day: The Land of the Perumāls, or Cochin, Its Past and Its Present. Madras, 1863.
• Defrémery and Sanguinetti: Voyages D’Ibn Batoutah, (Société Asiatique), Paris. Vol. III, 1855, Vol. IV, 1858.
• Duyvendak: Ma Huan Re-examined. (Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen—Afd. Letterkunde, Niewe Reeks, Deel xxxii No. 3) Amsterdam, 1933.
• Elliot and Dowson: The History of India as told by its own Historians, 8 Vols., London, 1867-77.
• Ferrand: Relations des Voyages et Textes Geographiques Arabes, Persans et Turks Relatifs à l’Extrême-Orient du VIII au XVIII siècles. 2 Vols., Librairie Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1913-14.
• Ferrand: Voyage du Marchand Arabe Sulayman en Inde et en Chine—Rédigé en 851 suivi de remarques Par Abū Zayd Hasan vers 916. Paris, 1922.
• Gibb: Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, (Broadway Travellers) London, 1929.
• Giles: The Travels of Fa-hsien, Cambridge, 1923.
• Hervey de Saint Denys: Ethnographie des peuples etrangers a la Chine par Ma-Touan-Lin, Meridionaux, Geneve, 1883.
• Hirth and Rockhill, Chau Ju-kua: His work on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, entitled Chu-fan-chi. Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1912.
• I-Tsing: A Record of the Buddhist Religion as practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (A.D. 671-695), tr. by J. Takakusu. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1896.
• I-Tsing: Mémoire, see Chavannes.
• Krom: Hindoe-Javaansche Geschiedenis, ‘S-Gravenhage (1931).
• Legge: Fā-Hien’s Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1886.
• Lévi, Sylvain: Pour l’historie du Rāmāyaṇa, JA: 11: 11 (1918).
• Lévi, Sylvain: Ptolemée, Le Niddeśa et la Bṛhatkathā, in Etudes Asiatiques, 2 Vols.
• Major: India in the Fifteenth Century, (Hakluyt Society) London, 1857.
• Ma-Touan-Lin: See Hervey de Saint-Denys.
• McCrindle: Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian, Calcutta, 1877.
• McCrindle: Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature, Westminster, 1901.
• McCrindle: Topographia Christiana of Cosmas Indicopleustes, (Hakluyt Society) London, 1897.
• Oakeshott: Commerce and Society. A Short History of Trade and its effect on Civilization. Oxford, 1936.
• Pelliot: Les grands voyages maritimes Chinois, TP xxix, (1933) pp. 237-452.
• Pelliot: Encore a propos des voyages de Tcheng Houo, TP xxxii, (1936), pp. 210-22.
• Reinaud: Relation des Voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans l’Inde et à la Chine dans le IXe siècle de l’ère chrétienne. 2 Vols., Paris 1845.
• Reinaud and Guyard: Geographie D’Aboulféda, Vol. I and Vol. II, Pt. i, Paris 1848; Vol. II, Pt. ii, continuation by Stanislas Guyard, Paris 1883.
• Ricci: The Travels of Marco Polo (Broadway Travellers), London, 1931.
• Rockhill: Notes on the relations and trade of China with the Eastern Archipelago and the Coasts of the Indian Ocean during the fourteenth century, TP XV and XVI (1914 and 1915).
• Rockhill: The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World 1253-55, (Hakluyt Society) London, 1900.
• Sachau: Alberuni’s India (Trübner’s Oriental Series), 2 Vols. in one, Kegan Paul Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., London, 1914.
• Schoff: Parthian Stations by Isidore of Charax, an account of the overland trade route between the Levant and India in the first century B.C., Philadelphia, 1914.
• Schoff: Periplus of the Outer Sea by Marcian of Heraclea. Philadelphia, 1927.
• Schoff: The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, New York, 1912.
• Smith: Early History of India, 4 Oxford, 1924.
• Spies (Otto): An Arab Account of India in the fourteenth century, being a translation of the chapters on India from Al-Qalqashandi’s Subḥ-ul-A‘shā. (Bonner Orientalische Studien Heft 14). Stuttgart, 1936.
• Watters: On Yüan Chwang’s Travels in India (629-645 A.D.) 2 Vols. London, 1904-5.
• Yule: Mirabilia Descripta (The Wonders of the East) by Friar Jordanus, (Hakluyt Society) London, 1863.
• Yule and Cordier: Cathay and the Way Thither, 4 Vols. (Hakluyt Society), London, 1913-16.
• Yule and Cordier: The Book of Ser Marco Polo, 2 Vols, Messrs John Murray London 1903; Notes and Addenda by Cordier, London 1920.

Table of Contents

Preface Bibliography Introduction

I. Megasthenes (A) Of Taprobane (B) i. Of Pandya; ii. Of Hercules and Pandaea (C) Of the Beasts of India

II. Kanci and China in the Second Century B.C.

III. Strabo (A) i. Pandyan (?) Embassy to Augustus; ii. Indian Embassy to Augustus (B) Ceylon (C) On Gallus’ Expedition to Arabia and Sailings to India

IV. Pliny (A) Description of Taprobane (B) Voyages to India

V. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

VI. Aelian: Pearl-Fishing

VII. Marcian of Heraclea

VIII. Fa-Hien (A) Daksina and the Pigeon Monastery (B) Tamralipti and Ceylon (C) Ceylon (D) Passage to Java

IX. Gunavarman

X. A South Indian Embassy to China

XI. A Mirror from Western India

XII. Cosmas (A) A Description of Indian Animals (B) Indian Flora (C) Concerning the Island of Taprobane

XIII. Ma Twan Lin on the Condition of S. India, C. 550-600 A.D.

XIV. Yuan Chwang

XV. I-Tsing (A) Itineraries (B) i. How the Buddhist Priests were Received and Attended on at a Dinner; ii. On Chop Sticks in China and India (C) On Clothing in Different Lands (D) Brahmans (E) Six Pilgrims of I-Tsing’s Time

XVI. Embassies from South India to China (692-720 A.D.)

XVII. Kanshin on Brahmin Temples and Merchants in Canton

XVIII. Ibn Khurdadbeh (A) Route to the East (B) Principal Kings of India; Elephants (C) Castes

XIX. Two Arab Writers I. Anonymous (Suleiman ?) (A) The Maldives, Ceylon and Other Islands (B) On India, China and their Kings (C) Royal Funeral in Ceylon (D) Ascetics (E) Marriage (F) Houses (G) Food, Worship, etc.—Comparisons II. Abu Zaid (H) Companions of Honour (I) Miscellaneous

XX. Alberuni

XXI. A Mon Inscription from Prome of the Reign of Kyanzittha

XXII. Benjamin of Tudela

XXIII. Chau Ju-Kua (A) Si-Lan (Ceylon) (B) Malabar (C) Hu-ch’a-la (Guzerat) (D) Cola Dominion (E) India

XXIV. Embassies Between China and South India (1279-92)

XXV. Marco Polo (A) Concerning the Island of Seilan (Ceylon) (B) Concerning the Great Province of Maabar, which is called India the Greater, and is on the Mainland (C) Of the place where lieth the body of St. Thomas the Apostle; and of the miracle thereof (D) Concerning the Kingdom of Mutfil (Motupalli) (E) Concerning the Province of Lar (Guzerat) whence the Brahmins come (F) Concerning the City of Cail (Kayal) (G) Of the Kingdom of Coilum (Quilon) (H) Of the Country called Comari (Comorin) (I) Concerning the Kingdom of Eli (Mt. D’Ely) (J) Concerning the Kingdom of Melibar (Malabar)

XXVI. John of Montecorvino

XXVII. Friar Odoric (A) Hormuz to Tana (B) Of the Kingdom of Minibar and how Pepper is got (C) Of the Manners of the Idolaters of Polumbum (Quilon) (D) Concerning the Kingdom of Mobar, where lieth the body of St. Thomas, and the customs of the Idolaters

XXVIII. Friar Jordanus (A) Scope for Conversions in India (B) Concerning India the Less (C) Concerning India the Greater

XXIX. Abulfeda (A) South India (B) Coromandel (Ma’bar) (C) Caoulem (Kaulam)

XXX. Ibn Battuta (A) On the Rebellion of Bahauddin Gushtasp (B) Rebellion in Ma’bar; Rebellion in Tiling (C) i. Summary of his Travels in South India: Yule ii. Travels in South India

XXXI. John de Marignolli (A) Quilon (B) Ceylon: Concerning Adam’s Garden and the Fruits Thereof (C) On Buddhist Monks of Ceylon

XXXII. Wang Ta-Yuan (A) Coral at Dondera Head (B) Colombo (C) Pearl Fishing in the Gulf of Manar (?) (D) Northern Maldive Islands (E) Kain Colan (Kayangulam) (F) Hili (Ely) (G) Calicut (H) Jurfattan

XXXIII. Fei Hsin (A) Ceylon (B) Cochin (C) Calicut

XXXIV. Ma Huan (A) The Nicobars and Ceylon (B) The Maldives (C) Ko-Chih (Cochin) (D) Ku-Li (Calicut)

Appendix I. Navigation Towards the End of the Fifteenth Century II. The Role of Gujaratis III. Indian Merchants and Merchandise in Malaka (16th Century) IV. Sidi Ali: On Navigation in the Indian Seas

Addenda Index