282 Sino-Iranica 



are smaller and pale red. When they open, they display a purple calyx 

 of bright and attractive hues." A poem of Li Te-yu ^ £§ $r (787-849) 

 opens with the words, "In front of the hut where I live there is a wild 

 pomegranate." 1 



Fa Hien ££ H, the celebrated Buddhist traveller, tells in his Fu kwo 

 ki ffi H 12 ("Memoirs of Buddhist Kingdoms"), written about a.d. 

 420, that, while travelling on the upper Indus, the flora differed from 

 that of the land of Han, excepting only the bamboo, pomegranate, and 

 sugar-cane.' This passage shows that Fa Hien was familiar with that 

 tree in China. Huan Tsan observed in the seventh century that pome- 

 granates were grown everywhere in India. 3 Soleiman (or whoever may 

 be the author of this text), writing in a.d. 851, emphasizes the abun- 

 dance of the fruit in India. 4 Ibn Batuta says that the pomegranates of 

 India bear fruit twice a year, and emphasizes their fertility on the 

 Maldive Islands. 6 Seedless pomegranates came to the household of the 

 Emperor Akbar from Kabul. 6 



The pomegranate occurred in Fu-nan (Camboja), according to the 

 Nan TsH i« or History of the Southern Ts'i (a.d. 479-501), compiled 

 by Siao Tse-hien in the beginning of the sixth century. 7 It is mentioned 

 again by Cou Ta-kwanof the Yuan dynasty, in his book on the "Customs 

 of Camboja." 8 In Han-cou, large and white pomegranates were styled 

 yil liu 3£ fH? ("jade" liu), while the red ones were regarded as inferior or 

 of second quality. 8 



The following ancient terms for the pomegranate, accordingly, are 

 on record: — 



(1) Wl # Vu-lin, *du-lim. Aside from the Po wu li, this term is 

 used by the Emperor Yuan of the Liang dynasty in a eulogy of the 

 fruit. 10 Hirth 11 identified this word with an alleged Indian daritn; and, 

 according to him, Can K'ien must have brought the Indian name to 



' Li wei kun pie tsi, Ch. 2, p. 8 {Ki fu ts'un Su, t'ao 10). 

 2 Cf. J. Legge, A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, p. 24. 



* Ta T'an si yil ki, Ch. 2, p. 8 b (S. Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western 

 World, Vol. I, p. 88). 



4 M. Reinaud, Relation des voyages, Vol. I, p. 57. 



6 Defremery and Sanguinetti, Voyages d'Ibn Batoutah, Vol. Ill, p. 129. 



* H. Blochmann, Ain I Akbari, Vol. I, p. 65. 



7 Pelliot, Le Fou-nan, Bull, de VEcole francaise, Vol. Ill, p. 262. 



8 Pelliot, ibid., Vol. II, p. 168. 



* Mori lian /« ^ ^ H by Wu Tse-mu % g #C of the Sung (Ch. 18, p. 5 b; 

 ed. of Ci pu tsu lai ts'un Su). 



10 Yuan kien lei han, Ch. 402, p. 3 b. Further, in the lost Hu pen ts'ao, as follows 

 from a quotation in a note to the Pei hu lu (Ch. 3, p. 12). 



11 T'oung Pao, Vol. VI, 1895, p. 439. 



