318 Sino-Iranica 



The last clause means that the plant i,s propagated from 

 bulbs. There is a much earlier tribute-gift of saffron on record. In 

 a.d. 519, King Jayavarman of Fu-nan (Camboja) offered saffron with 

 storax and other aromatics to the Chinese Court. 1 Accordingly we have 

 to assume that in the sixth century saffron was traded from India to 

 Camboja. In fact we know from the T'ang Annals that India, in her 

 trade with Camboja and the anterior Orient, exported to these coun- 

 tries diamonds, sandal-wood, and saffron. 2 The T'ang Annals, further, 

 mention saffron as a product of India, Kashmir, Uddiyana, Jagucja, 

 and Baltistan. 3 In a.d. 719 the king of Nan (Bukhara) presented 

 thirty pounds of saffron to the Chinese Emperor. 4 



Li Si-cen has added to his notice of yii-kin hian a Sanskrit name 

 ^ $£ m Va-kii-mo, *dza-gu-ma, which he reveals from the Suvar- 

 naprabhasa-sutra. 5 This term is likewise given, with the translation 

 yii-kin, in the Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary Fan yi min yi tsi. 6 This name 

 has been discussed by me and identified with Sanskrit jaguda through 

 the medium of a vernacular form *jaguma, the ending -ma corresponding 

 to that of Tibetan la-ka-ma? 



A singular position is taken by C'en Ts'ah-k'i, who reports, " Yii-kin 

 aromatic grows in the country Ta Ts'in. It flowers in the second or 

 third month, and has the appearance of the hun-lan (safflower, Car- 

 thamus tinctorius) . 8 In the fourth or fifth month the flowers are gathered 

 and make an aromatic." This, of course, cannot refer to the saffron 

 which blooms in September or October. C'en Ts'an-k'i has created 

 confusion, and has led astray Li Si-cen, who wrongly enumerates hun- 

 lan hwa among the synonymes of yii-kin hian. 



The inhabitants of Ku-lin (Quilon) W» ^ rubbed their bodies with 



which issues a slender style, terminated by three long convoluted stigmata, of a 

 deep yellow colour. The capsule is roundish, three-lobed, three-celled, three-valved, 

 and contains several round seeds. It flowers in September and October." 



1 According to the Lian $u; cf. Pelhot, Bull, de V Ecole jrancaise, Vol. Ill, p. 270. 



2 T'an su, Ch. 221 A, p. 10 b. 



3 Kiu T'an su, Ch. 221 B, p. 6; 198, pp. 8 b, 9; T'an su, Ch. 221 A, p. 10 b; cf. 

 Chavannes (Documents sur les Tou-kiue occidentaux, pp. 128, 150, 160, 166), 

 whose identification with Curcuma longa is not correct. 



4 Chavannes, ibid., p. 203. 



5 The passage in which Li §i-6en cites this term demonstrates clearly that he 

 discriminated well between Crocus and Curcuma; for he adds that " c'a-ku-mo is 

 the aromatic of the yii-kin flower (Crocus), but that, while it is identical in name 

 with the yii-kin root (Curcuma) utilized at the present time, the two plants are 

 different." 



6 Ch. 8, p. 10 b. 



7 T'oung Pao, 1916, p. 458. 



8 See below, p. 324. 



