XXI. A MON INSCRIPTION FROM PROME OF THE REIGN OF KYANZITTHA (1084-1112 A.D.). CONVERSION OF A COLA PRINCE

Then the king wrote of the grace of the Buddharatna, Dharmmaratna, (and) Sangharatna (upon a leaf of gold with vermilion ink?), the king sent it to the Coli prince. The Coli prince, with all his array, hearing of the grace of Buddha, the Law, (and) the Church, from King Śrī Tribhuwanādityadhammarāja’s sending (word of it to him), he cast off his adhesion to false doctrines, (and) he adhered straightaway to the true doctrine; he saw …., he was pleased (and) happy …….. (l. 15) …….. (of pearls?), an awning of pearls, a kalpavṛkṣa¹ tree adorned with the seven (kinds of) jewels, together with a virgin daughter of his who was perfect in form and with ornaments of divers kinds, who was shaded by a white umbrella, a peacock umbrella, a peacock ……. set with the seven (kinds of) jewels, (he) came to offer to King Śrī Tribhuwanādityadhammarāja. That too, other kings (l. 17) have not got the like of.

—Epigraphia Birmanica, Vol. I. Translation by C. O. Blagden.

Here are the next three chapters (XXII, XXIII, and XXIV), formatted with restored footnotes.

XXII. C. 1170 A.D. BENJAMIN OF TUDELA

This Jewish traveller from Spain, relates that about the middle of the twelfth century A.D., the island of Kish marked the limit of the voyages of Indian merchants trading with Persia and the West. Kish, he says, is “a considerable market, being the point to which Indian merchants and those of the island bring their commodities; while the traders of Mesopotamia, Yemen and Persia import all sorts of silk and purple cloths, flax, cotton, hemp, mash (a kind of pea), wheat, barley, millet, rye and all sorts of comestibles and pulse, which articles form objects of exchange; those from India import great quantities of spices, and the inhabitants of the island live by what they gain in their capacity of brokers to both parties. The island contains about five hundred Jews.”

Benjamin states that Chulam was seventeen days by sea from Kish; Chulam may therefore be Quilon or some other port more to the north on the West coast of India. Ritter says: ‘Choulam is beyond doubt the Koulam of Marco Polo and Ibn Battūta.’ Of the people of this place and their government and comity, Benjamin observes:

“They are descendants of Khush, are addicted to astrology, and are all black. This nation is very trustworthy in matters of trade, and whenever foreign merchants enter their port, three secretaries of the king immediately repair on board their vessels, write down their names and report them to him. The king thereupon grants them security for their property, which they may even leave in the open fields without any guard.

“One of the king’s officers sits in the market, and receives goods that may have been found anywhere, and which he returns to those applicants who can minutely describe them. This custom is observed in the whole empire of the king.

“From Easter to New Year (from April to October) during the whole of the summer the heat is extreme. From the third hour of the day (nine o’clock in the morning) people shut themselves up in their houses until the evening, at which time everybody goes out. The streets and markets are lighted up and the inhabitants employ all the night upon their business, which they are prevented from doing in the day time, in consequence of the excessive heat.

“The pepper grows in this country; the trees which bear this fruit are planted in the fields, which surround the towns, and every one knows his plantation. The trees are small and the pepper is originally white, but when they collect it, they put it into basins and pour hot water upon it; it is then exposed to the heat of the sun and dried in order to make it hard and more substantial, in the course of which process it becomes of a black colour.

“Cinnamon, ginger, and many other kinds of spices also grow in this country.

“The inhabitants do not bury their dead, but embalm them with certain spices, put them upon stools and cover them with cloths, every family keeping apart. The flesh dries upon the bones, and as these corpses resemble living beings, every one of them recognises his parents and all the members of his family for many years to come.“1

—R. H. Major—India in the fifteenth century, pp. xlvi-xlviii.
=The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, ed. A. Asher, i. pp. 137-40. (cf. M. N. Adler, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, pp. 63-5).

XXIII. C. 1225 A.D. CHAU JU-KUA

A. Si-lan (Ceylon)

Sailing from Lan-wu-li,1 one knows that one is nearing Si-lan by continual flashing of lightning.

The king (of Si-lan) is black, his hair unkempt and his head uncovered. He wears no clothes but has a cotton cloth of different colours wrapped around him; on his feet he wears sandals of red leather, tied with golden strings. When he goes forth he rides an elephant or is carried in a litter. All day he chews a paste of betel nut and pearl ashes.

His palace is ornamented with cat’s-eyes, blue and red precious stones, cornelians and other jewels; the very floor he walks upon is so ornamented. There is an eastern and western palace, and at each there is a golden tree, the trunk and branches all of gold, the flowers, fruit and leaves of cat’s-eyes, blue and red precious stones and such like jewels. At the foot of these trees are golden thrones with opaque glass screens. When the king holds his court he uses the eastern palace in the forenoon and the western in the afternoon. When (the king) is seated, the jewels flashing in the sunshine, the glass (screens) and the jewel-tree shining on each other, make it like the glory of the rising sun.

Two attendants are always present holding a golden dish to receive the remains of the betel nut (paste) chewed by the king.

The king’s attendants pay a monthly fee of one i2 of gold into the government treasury for the privilege of getting the betel nut (paste) remains, for it contains “plum flower”, camphor and all kinds of precious substances.

The king holds in his hand a jewel five inches in diameter, which cannot be burnt by fire, and which shines in (the darkness of) night like a torch. The king rubs his face with it daily, and though he were passed ninety he would retain his youthful looks.

The people of the country are very dark-skinned, they wrap a sarong round their bodies, go bare-headed and bare-footed. They use their hands in taking up their food; their household utensils are of copper.

There is (in this country of Si-lan) a mountain called Si-lun-tie,3 on the top of which there is a huge imprint of a man’s foot, over seven feet long, and a like imprint is visible in the water (of the sea) within a distance of over 300 li from the mountain. The forest trees on the mountain, little and big, all bend towards it (as if reverencing it).

The products (of Si-lan) include cat’s-eyes, red transparent glass, camphor, blue and red precious stones. The products of the soil are cardamoms, mu-lan bark4 and both coarse and fine perfumes. Foreign traders exchange for them sandal-wood, cloves, camphor, gold, silver, porcelain-ware, horses, elephants, and silk stuffs.

This country sends a yearly tribute to San-fo-ts’i.5

—Chau Ju-kua: (ed. Hirth and Rockhill) I. 13, pp. 72-73.

B. Malabar

Nan-p’i

The Nan-p’i country6 is in the extreme south-west. From San-fo-ts’i one may reach it with the monsoon in a little more than a month.

The capital of the kingdom is styled Mié-a-mo, which has the same meaning as the Chinese expression li-ssi.7

The ruler of the country has his body draped, but goes barefooted. He wears a turban and a loin-cloth, both of white cotton cloth. Sometimes he wears a white cotton shirt with narrow sleeves. When going out he rides an elephant, and wears a golden hat ornamented with pearls and gems. On his arm is fastened a band of gold, and around his leg is a golden chain.

Among his regalia is a standard of peacock feathers on a staff of vermilion colour; over twenty men guard it round. He is attended by a guard of some five hundred picked foreign women, chosen for their fine physique. Those in front lead the way with dancing, their bodies draped, bare-footed and with a cotton loin-cloth. Those behind ride horses bareback; they have a loin-cloth, their hair is done up and they wear necklaces of pearls and anklets of gold, their bodies are perfumed with camphor and musk and other drugs, and umbrellas of peacock feathers shield them from the sun.

In front of the dancing-women are carried the officers of the king’s train, seated in litters of white foreign cotton, and which are called pu-tai-kiau8 and are borne on poles plated with gold and silver.

In this kingdom there is much sandy soil, so, when the king goes forth, they first send an officer with an hundred soldiers and more to sprinkle the ground so that the gusts of wind may not whirl up the dust.

The people are very dainty in their diet; they have a hundred ways of cooking their food, which varies every day.

There is an officer called Han-lin who lays the viands and drinks before the king, and sees how much food he eats, regulating his diet so that he may not exceed the proper measure. Should the king fall sick through excess of eating, then (this officer) must taste his faeces and treat him according as he finds them sweet or bitter.

The people of this country are of a dark brown complexion, the lobes of their ears reach down to their shoulders. They are skilled in archery and dexterous with the sword and lance. They love fighting and ride elephants in battle, when they also wear turbans of coloured silks.

They are extremely devout Buddhists.9

The climate is warm; there is no cold season. Rice, hemp, beans, wheat, millet, tubers and green vegetables supply their food; they are abundant and cheap.

They cut an alloyed silver into coins; on these they stamp an official seal. The people use these in trading.

The native products include pearls, foreign cotton stuff of all colours (i.e., coloured chintzes) and tou-lo-mién (cotton cloth).10

There is in this country a river of brackish water, which, at a certain point where its different channels meet, becomes very broad. At this point its banks are bold cliffs in the face of which sparks (lit., stars) can constantly be seen, and these by their vital powers fructify and produce small stones like cat’s-eyes, clear and translucid. They lie buried in holes in (these) hills until some day they are washed out by the rush of a flood, when the officials send men in little boats to pick them up. They are prized by the natives.

The following states are dependencies of this country (of Nan-p’i).
Ku-lin (Quilon)
Hu-ch’a-la (Guzerat)
Kan-pa-i (Cambay)
Pi-li-sha (Bharoach?)
Ma-lo-hua (Malwa)
Fong-ya-lo (Mangalore)
Ma-li-mio (Malabar ?)
Tu-nu-ho (Tāna ?)
A-li-jo (Eli)
Au-lo-lo-li (Cannanore ?)

This country (of Nan-p’i ?) is very far away and foreign vessels rarely visit it. Shi-lo-pa-chi-li-kan,11 father and son, belong to this race of people; they are now living in the southern suburb of the city of Ts’uan—(cho’u-fu).

Its products are taken thence to Ki-lo Ta-nung12 and San-fo-t’si, and the following goods are exchanged in bartering for them: Ho-ch’ī silks, porcelain-ware, camphor (chang-nau), rhubarb, huang-lién, cloves, lump-camphor (nau-tzī), sandal-wood, cardamoms and gharu-wood.13

Ku-lin may be reached in five days with the monsoon from Nan-p’i. It takes a Ts’uan-chou ship over forty days to reach Lan-li (i.e., Lan-wu-li); there the winter is spent, and, the following year, a further voyage of a month will take it to this country.

“The customs of the people are, on the whole, not different from those of the Nan-p’i people. The native products comprise cocoa-nuts and sapan-wood; for wine they use a mixture of honey with cocoanuts and the juice of a flower, which they let ferment.

“They are fond of archery; in battle they wrap their hair in silken turbans.”

For the purpose of trade they use coins of gold and silver; twelve silver coins are worth one gold one. The country is warm and has no cold season. Every year ships come to this country from San-fo-ts’i, Kién-pi and Ki-t’o,14 and the articles they trade with are the same as in Nan-p’i.

“Great numbers of Ta-shī live in this country.

Whenever they (i.e., the inhabitants) have taken a bath, they anoint their bodies with yü-kin (turmeric), as they like to have their bodies gilt like that of a Buddha.“15

—Chau Ju-kua, I. 16, pp. 87-89.

C. Hu-ch’a-la (Guzerat)

The kingdom of Hu-ch’a-la16 rules over a hundred cities and more; its (principal) city has a four-fold wall.

The inhabitants of this country are white and clean looking; both men and women wear double rings hanging down from holes in their ears; they wear close fitting clothes with a cotton sarong wrapped around them. On their heads they wear white hoods, and on their feet shoes of red leather. They are forbidden to eat flesh.

There are four thousand Buddhist temple buildings, in which live over twenty thousand dancing-girls who sing twice daily while offering food to the Buddha (i.e., the idols) and while offering flowers. When offering flowers they tie them in bunches with cotton thread, of which they use three hundred catties every day.

There are over four hundred war-elephants and about one hundred thousand cavalry horses. When the king goes about he rides an elephant; on his head he wears a cap. His followers ride horseback and carry swords.

The native products comprise great quantities of indigo, red kino, myrobalans and foreign cotton stuffs of every colour. Every year these goods are transported to the Ta-shī countries for sale.

—Chau Ju-kua, I. 17, p. 92.

D. Chola Dominion (Coromandel Coast)

Chu-lién

“The kingdom of Chu-lién is the Southern Yin-tu of the west.“17

To the east (its capital) is five li distant from the sea; to the west one comes to Western India (after) 1500 li; to the south one comes to Lo-lan18 (after) 2500 li; to the north one comes to Tun-t’ien (after) 3000 li.19

This country had not from olden times carried on trade (with China). By water one comes to Ts’üan-cho’u after some 411,400 li.

“If you wish to go to this kingdom, then you must change ships at Ku-lin to go there.20 Some say that one can go there by way of the kingdom of P’u-kan.”

In this kingdom there is a city with a seven-fold wall, seven feet high, and extending twelve li from north to south and seven li from east to west. The different walls are one hundred paces distant from each other. Four of these walls are of brick, two of mud, and the one in the centre of wood. There are flowers, fruit trees, and other trees planted (on them ?).

The first and second walls enclose the dwellings of the people,—they are surrounded by small ditches; the third and fourth walls (surround) the dwellings of the court officers; within the fifth dwell the king’s four sons; within the sixth are the Buddhist (i.e., idol) monasteries where the priests dwell; the seventh wall encloses over four hundred buildings forming the royal palace.

There are thirty-one (sic) pu-lo;21 of these twelve are in the west, namely:
Chi-t’u-ni (Chitor).
Shi-ya-lu-ni.
Lo-pa-li-pi-pa-i.
Pu-lin-pa-pu-ni (Brahmapuri).
Ku-tan-pu-lin-p’u-t’ong (Kāvēripaṭṇam).
Ku-li (Koil).
Po-lun-ts’ön.
Pon-t’i-kié-ti (Bundelkhand).
Yen-li-ch’i-li.
Na-pu-ni (Nagpur).
Chö-ku-lin.
Ya-li-chö-lin (Elichpur).

Eight are in the south, namely:
Wu-ya-kia-li-ma-lan.
Mei-ku-li-k’u-ti (Motupalle).
Shö-li-ni (Jaliat).
Mi-to-lo-mo (Madura).
K’ié-lan-p’u-tōng (Kalingapatam).
Möng-k’ié-ïin-kia-lan (Mangalore).
Pa-li-pa-li-yu.
Ya-lin-ch’ī-möng-k’ié-lan.

and twelve are in the north, namely :
Fa-lo-yé (Vallabhi).
Wu-mo-li-kiang.
Chu-lin.
Kia-li-möng-k’ié-lan.
Ts’ī-kié-ma-lan.
Wu-chō-mong-k’ié-lan.
P’ī-lin-k’ié-lan.
P’ulöng-ho-lan.
Pau-pa-lai.
Tién-chu-li.
Lu-so-lo.
Mi-möng k’ié-lan.

When any one among the people is guilty of an offense one of the Court Ministers punishes him; if the offense is light, the culprit is tied to a wooden frame and given fifty, seventy, or up to an hundred blows with a stick. Heinous crimes are punished with decapitation or by being trampled to death by an elephant.

At state banquets both the Prince and the four Court Ministers salaam at the foot of the throne, then the whole (company present) break into music, song and dancing. He (the Prince) does not drink wine, but he eats meat and, as is the native custom, dresses in cotton clothing and eats flour-cakes. For his table and escort he employs “fully a myriad dancing-girls, three thousand of whom are in attendance daily in rotation.”

When contracting marriage, they send, in the first place, a female go-between with a gold (or) silver finger-ring to the girl’s home. Three days afterwards there is a meeting of the man’s family to decide upon the amount of land, cotton, betel nuts, wine and the like to be given as marriage portion. The girl’s family sends in return (a ?) gold or silver finger-ring, yüé-no cloth22 and brocaded clothing to be worn by the bride to the (intended) son-in-law. Should the man wish to withdraw from the engagement, he would not dare reclaim the marriage gifts; if the girl should wish to reject the man she must pay back double.

As the taxes and imposts of the kingdom are numerous and heavy, traders rarely go there.

“The country is at war with the kingdoms of the west (of India?). The government owns sixty-thousand war-elephants, every one seven or eight feet high. When fighting these elephants carry on their backs houses, and these houses are full of soldiers who shoot arrows at long range, and fight with spears at close quarters. When victorious, the elephants are granted honorary names to signalise their merit.“23

“The inhabitants are hot-tempered and reckless of life; nay, in the presence of the king they will fight man to man with swords and die without regret.”

“Father and son, elder and younger brother, have their meals cooked in separate kettles and served in separate dishes; yet they are deeply alive to family duties.”

The native products comprise pearls, elephants’ tusks, coral, transparent glass, betel nuts, cardamoms, opaque glass, cotton stuffs with coloured silk threads, and cotton stuffs.

Of quadrupeds they have goats and domestic cattle; of birds, pheasants and parrots; of fruits, the yü-kan, the t’öng-lo, Persian dates, cocoanuts, the kan-lo, the k’un-lun plum, and the po-lo-mi (jack-fruit).

Of flowers, they have the white jasmine, the san-sşī, the shō-ts’ī-sang, the li-ts’īu, the blue, yellow and green p’o-lo, the yau-lién-ch’an, the red canna (?).24

Of grain they have green and black beans, wheat and rice; the bamboo is indigenous.

In former times they did not send tribute to our court, but “in the eighth year of the ta-chung and siang-fu periods (A.D. 1015), its sovereign sent a mission with pearls and like articles as tribute. The interpreters, in translating their speech, said they wished to evince the respect of a distant nation for (Chinese) civilization.” They were ordered by Imperial Decree to remain in waiting at the side gate of the Palace, and to be entertained at a banquet by the Associates in the College of Court Annalists. By Imperial favour they were ranked with envoys of K’iu-tz-‘ï. It happened to be the Emperor’s birthday, and the envoys had a fine opportunity to witness the congratulations in the Sacred Enclosure.25

“In the tenth year si-ning (1077) they again sent tribute of native produce. The Emperor Shün-tsung sent an officer of the Inner Department (i.e., a Chamberlain) to bid them welcome.”

The remaining countries (of India), Nan-ni-hua-lo and others, are more than a hundred in number; they are all included under the term of “Western” (lit., Western Heaven).

Concerning Wang-shö-ch’öng,26 tradition says that north of Kiau-chī (Tongking), “one comes to Ta-li (Yün-nan), and west of Ta-li one comes to Wang-shö-ch’öng in less than forty days’ journey.”

Kia Tan in the Huang-hua-ssï (or sī)-ta-ki, says that to go from An-nan to T’ién-chu, there is an overland route which one can take to get there. Yet as Ta-mo came sailing across the sea to P’an-yü (Canton), we may fairly ask whether the sea journey is not more expeditious than the long overland one.

P’öng-k’ié-lo of the West has a capital called Ch’a-na-ki.27 The city walls are 120 li in circuit. The common people are combative and devoted solely to robbery. They use (pieces of) white conch shells ground into shape as money. The native products include fine swords, t’ou-lo28 cotton stuffs and common cotton cloth.

Some say that the law of the Buddha originated in this country for Hüan-tsang, the master of the Tripiṭaka in the T’ang period, (when) he got the Buddhist Classics (to bring to China) had already reached the West.

“Nan-ni-hua-lo city29 has a triple wall. The inhabitants morning and evening bathe and besmear their bodies with yü-kin (turmeric) so as to look like golden coloured images (lit., Buddhas).” A large proportion of them are called P’o-lo-mön (Brahmans), as they are geunine descendants of Fo.30

“The walls of their rooms and the mats they sit on are besmeared with cow-dung, which they look upon as a clean substance. In their houses they set up altars, three feet high and which are reached by three steps, and on which daily in the morning they burn incense and offer flowers; this is called ’the offering to Fo.’”

When Arab (Ta-shī) foreigners come to this country they give them seats outside the doors and lodge them in separate houses supplied with beddings and household utensils.

When a woman is guilty of adultery she is put to death, and the officials make no enquiry about it.

The native products include the best quality of putchuck, and fine white flowered (or dotted) cotton stuffs. The people eat much butter, rice, beans and vegetables: they rarely eat fish or meat.

“A road leads to the Western Regions (Si-yü); when there are raids (on Nan-ni-hua-lo ?) by the light horsemen of the Western Regions,31 the only resistance they offer is to lock their gates. In a few days provisions run short, and (the raiders) withdraw of their own accord.”

—Chau Ju-kua, I. 19, pp. 93-98.

E. India

T’ién-chu

“The country of T’ién-chu is subordinate to the country of Ta-ts’in”; its rulers are all selected by Ta-ts’in.32

It is the custom of the people to plait their hair and to let it hang down, but the temples and the crown of the head are covered with a silken turban. In their dwellings they use plaster instead of tiles. They have walled cities in which the people dwell.

The king dresses in brocaded silk, and his hair is wound into a spiral knot on the crown of his head; the rest of the hair is cut short. When holding his court in the morning he sits on a töng skin—töng being the name of an animal—ornamented with representations of various objects painted in red wax; and his courtiers make obeisance to him and pray for his life. When he goes forth he rides on horseback, and his saddle and bridle are thickly set with dark gold and silver. His followers, three hundred in number, are armed with spears and swords.

His consort wears a gold embroidered scarlet dress with large sleeves. Once a year she shows herself in public, when considerable bounty is given to the poor.

“In this country there is holy-water which can still the wind and waves. The foreign traders fill opaque glass bottles with it, and when they suddenly get in a rough sea they still it by sprinkling this water on it.”

It is said that “during the reign of Süan-wu of the Posterior Wei dynasty (A.D. 500-515), T’ién-chu sent envoys with a present of swift horses. It is said that their country produces lions, sables, leopards, camels, rhinoceros, elephants, tortoise-shell, gold, copper, iron, lead and tin, gold embroidered rugs, po-tié (muslin) and t’a-töng (rugs). There is a stone like talc, but of a reddish colour; when split it is as thin as a cicada’s wing; when put together the pieces look like silken gauze. There is the diamond which looks like fluor-spar, but which will not melt, though exposed to the fire an hundred times.” It can cut jade-stone.

There is sandal-wood and other aromatic woods, sugarcane, sugar and all kinds of fruits. They trade yearly with Ta-ts’in33 and Fu-nan.34 They use cowries as a medium of exchange. They are clever jugglers. They have bows and arrows, armour, spears, flying-ladders, saps, and also the contrivances called the “wooden-oxen” and the “gliding-horses”; yet they are cowards in battle. They are good astronomers and calculators of the calendar (or astrologers). They all study the Si-tan-chang-shu.35 . . . (Note: A gap of seven characters occurs here). They use the leaves of the pei-to36 as paper.

In the periods chöng-kuan (A.D. 627-650) and t’ién-sho’u (690-692) of the T’ang (this country) sent envoys with tribute (to our Court). In the yung-hi period (of the Sung, A.D. 948-988) a priest by name Lohu-na37 arrived (in Ts’üan-chóu) by sea; he called himself a native of T’ién-chu. The foreign traders, considering that he was a foreign priest, vied with each other in presenting him gold, silks, jewels and precious stones, but the priest had no use for them himself. He bought a piece of ground and built a Buddhist shrine in the southern suburb of Ts’üan-chóu; it is the Pau-lin-yüan of the present day.

—Chau Ju-kua, ed. Hirth and Rockhill, I. 21, pp. 110-111.