MYROBALAN 



29. The myrobalan Terminalia chebula, ho-li-lo M 3? ft (*ha-ri- 

 lak, Japanese kariroku, Sanskrit haritaki, Tokharian arirdk, Tibetan 

 a-ru-ra, Newarl halala; Persian halila, Arabic halllaj and ihllligat) , was 

 found in Persia. 1 The tree itself is indigenous to India, and the fruit 

 was evidently imported from India into Persia. 2 This is confirmed by 

 the fact that it is called in New Persian hallla (Old Armenian halile), 

 or hatila-i kabuli, hinting at the provenience from Kabul. 3 



In the "Treatise on Wine," Tsiu p*u JB IS, 4 written by Tou Kin ^ S 

 of the Sung, it is said, "In the country Po-se there is a congee made 

 from the three myrobalans (san-lo tsian HftiK), 5 resembling wine, and 

 styled an-mo-lo M& M ft (dmalaka, Phyllanthus emblica) or p'i-li-lo 

 PBt 3S ft (vibhitaka, Terminalia belericd)." The source of this state- 

 ment is not given. If Po-se in this case refers to Persia, it would go 

 to show that the three myrobalans were known there. 



On the other hand, there is quite a different explanation of the 

 term san-lo tsian. According to Ma Ci, who wrote in the tenth cen- 

 tury, this is the designation for a wine obtained from a flower of sweet 

 flavor, growing in the countries of the West and gathered by the Hu. 

 The name of the flower is K Or t'o-te, *da-tik. 6 In this case the term 

 san-lo may represent a transcription; it answers to ancient *sam-lak, 

 sam-raJq 



1 Sui $u, Ch. 83, p. 7 b; Cou $u, Ch. 50, p. 6. 



2 Cf. T'oung Pao, 1915, pp. 275-276. Ho-li-lo were products of A-lo-yi-lo Pf 

 Ok Ifa $t in the north of U^iyana (T'ai p'in Tiwan yu ki, Ch. 186, p. 12 b). 



3 Cf. G. FERRAND, Textes relatifs & rExtr&me-Orient, p. 227. 



4 Ed. of Tan Sun ts*un Su, p. 20. 



5 The san lo are the three plants the names of which terminate in lo, ho-li-lo 

 (Terminalia chebula), p'i-li-lo (T. belerica, Sanskrit vibhitaka, Persian baftla), and 

 a-mo-lo or an-mo-lo (Phyllanthus emblica, Sanskrit dmalaka, Persian amola). 



8 The text is in the T'u IM tsi e'en, XX, Ch. 182, tsa hwa ts'ao pu, hui k'ao 2, 

 p. 13 b. I cannot trace it in the Pen ts'ao kan mu. 



378 



