1837.] Chinese Account of India. 71 



The drug (of immortality) could not be found or verified by this envoy, 

 who, being recalled, could not proceed further, and returned and died at 

 Chang-gan (the capital). 



In the time of Kaou-tsung (A. D. 650 to 684), a Loo-kea-ye-to*, of the 

 country of Woo-chaf, in eastern India, came likewise to offer homage at 

 the court of the emperor, giving himself out as a possessor of the recipe 

 of immortality, and as being able to transform himself into lieutenant 

 general of armies. 



In the third of the years keen-fung^ (A. D. 667), the Five Indias (or 

 five kingdoms of India) sent ambassadors to the court of the emperor. In 

 the years kae-yuen (A. D. 713 to 742), an ambassador from Central India 

 proceeded three times as far as the extremity of southern India, and came 

 only once to offer birds of five colors that could talk§. He applied for 

 aid against the Ta-she|| (or Arabs) and the Too- fan (or Tibetans), off:r- 

 ing to take the command of the auxiliary troops. The Emperor Heuen- 

 tsung (who reigned from A. D. 713 to 756) conferred upon him the rank 

 of general-in-chief. The Indian ambassadors said to him: " the Fan (or 

 Tibetan) barbarians are captivated only by clothes and equipments. Em- 

 peror ! I must have a long, silk, embroidered robe, a leathern belt decora- 

 ted with gold, and a bag in the shape of a fish." All these articles were 

 ordered by the emperor. 



Northern India also sent an embassy to the court of the emperor. 



At the close of the years kan.yuen (about A. D. 756), the bank of the 

 river (Ho-lung, the Ganges ?) gave way and disappeared. 



The third of the years Icwung.shun, of the modern Chows (A. D. 953) 

 a Sa-munH (priest of Buddha), of western India, with several priests of 

 his religion, representing sixteen different tribes or nations (of India), 

 brought tribute, amongst which were some horses of the Gountry. 



The third of the years han-fih, of the Sung dynasty (A. D. 966), a Bud- 

 dhist priest of Tsang-chow, named Taou-yuen, who had returned from 

 the western countries (Se-yu), had brought from thence a portion of 



* That is, a ^ yi^prf^T Lokdyatika, or follower of the atheistical system of 

 philosophy founded by Charwaka, entitled Ldk&yata (see Mr. Colebrooke's Essays 

 on the Philosophy of the Hindus). The suffix ka, which forms collective names in 

 Sanscrit, is represented in Chinese by the character che, which serves in like manner 

 to form adjectives and collective names in Chinese. 



f A kingdom situated near the mouths of the Ganges. 



X There is an error here in the text ; the years k'een-fung were only two, 666 

 and 667- 



§ These were of course parrots. 



|| Ta-she, ' great eaters,' (rather tdzi, Arabian, J. P.) is the name by which the 

 Chinese designate the Arabs. This curious passage throws great light on thii 

 obscure period of Indian history, and confirms a fact hitherto scarcely noticed, 

 but which has been asserted by two Arabian authors, Almakin and Abulfeda, 

 namely, the invasion of India by the Arabs at the beginning of the eighth cen- 

 tury. " Mahomed benCassim," says the former, in his history of the Sarrasins, 

 " took India; he obtained possession of the countries adjoining the Sind (Indus), 

 gave battle to Dahar, who was king of them, vanquished him, made bim prisoner, 

 and put him to death." The other, in his Musulman Annals, translated by Reiske, 

 says : " Mahomed ben Cassim overrun India as conqueror." But the following 

 is a passage, curious io. another respect, concerning the same fact ; it is taken from 

 the History of the Empire of the Khalifs, translated from Tabari (Turkish edition), 

 for a knowledge of which we are indebted to M. Reinand : " This same year, 87 

 (A. D. 709) was gloriously terminated by the defeat of ?00, 000 barbarians, who had 

 entered the country of the Musulmans, commanded by Beghaboon, nephew of the 

 emperor of China. The Musulmans confessed that they owed this important victo- 

 ry to the protection of God." 



% This Indian title is more frequently written Sha- mun (with different characters) ; 

 it is a close transcription of the Sanscrit Samana, (rather, Sramana. J. P.) 



