1837.] Chinese Account of India. 73 



imperial proclamation, they were disconcerted in their projects. The 

 Buddhist priest prolonged his stay for a few months, and then departed. 

 He said that it was his intention to embark on the southern sea (perhaps 

 at Canton), in a merchant vessel, to return to his own country. It is not 

 known where he eventually went. 



On the 7th of the years tae-fing-hing.hwo (' the kingdom in great peace 

 and prosperity'), equivalent to A. D. 983, a Buddhist priest of E-chow, 

 named Kwang-yuen, returned from India ; he brought from thence a let- 

 ter from the king, Moo-se-nang*, to the emperor (of China). The em- 

 peror ordered that an Indian Buddhist priest should translate the letter, 

 and acquaint him with the contents of it. The letter was to this effect ; 

 " I have lately learned, that in the kingdom of Che-na, there existed a 

 king, most illustrious, most holy, most enlightened ; whose majesty and 

 person subsist in themselves and by themselves. I blush every moment 

 at my unfortunate position, which hinders me from visiting your court, 

 in order to pay my respects to you in person. Remote as I am, I can 

 only cherish, with hope, a regard for Che-na t / whether you are standing 

 or sitting, in motion or at rest, (i. e. in all circumstances of life,) I invoke 

 ten thousand felicities on your holy person^." 



Kwang-yuen also brought certain rare drugs, diamonds, talismans, amu- 

 lets, to obtain good fortune, and secure the bearer against danger, as well as 

 holy images of She-kea§, vestments without sleeves > called kea-sha, some- 

 times worn by the priests of Buddha in the exercise of their functions, 

 and various articles used by the hand in eating, which he desired to be hum- 

 bly offered to the august emperor of China, " wishing him all kinds of 

 happiness; a long life; that he might always be guided in the ' right 

 way ;' and that all his wishes might be fulfilled : in the middle of the 

 ocean of life and of death, most of those who cross it are engulphed||." 

 Kwang-yuen then presented to the emperor, in person, a portion (or 

 reliques) of the body of She-kea. He likewise translated and explain- 

 ed the entire contents of the letter, brought by a Buddhist priest, 

 from the same kingdom (India) ; the expressions and sentiments are the 

 same as in that of Moo-se-nang. The bearer of this document learned 

 that it was from the kingdom of Woo-teen-nang (or Woo-chin-nang) ; 

 that this kingdom belonged to Yin-too, of the north ; that in twelve days, 

 from the west, you arrive at the kingdom of Khan-to-lo (Candahar) ; 

 twenty days further to the west, you reach the kingdom of Nang-go-lo- 

 ho-lo ; ten days further to the west, you come to the kingdom of Lan-po; 

 twelve days more to the west, is the kingdom of Go-je-nang ; and further 

 to the west, that of Po-sze (Persia) ; after reaching the western sea 

 (the Persian gulph), from northern Yin-too, in 120 days' journey, you 

 arrive at the Central Yin-too ; from thence to the westward, at the dis- 



* In Sanscrit, Mahd-Sinha, ' Great Lion,' an epithet often given to Indian kings 

 or, perhaps, rather the transcription of Madhu-Sinha, the name of a king of Ben- 

 gal, mentioued in the Ayeen Akberi. We shall make here but one observation re- 

 specting the law of transcription of foreign names in Chinese, for the benefit of 

 those who have not studied the language ; namely, that the Chinese nasal termi- 

 nation ang has the same value as the unuswara in Sanscrit, or the labial f} m at the 

 end of words. It is, therefore, equivalent to the Sanscrit accusative : a termination 

 which has become general in the dialect of the south of India. 



-J- The first of the two characters which express this name (and which is an ac- 

 curate representation of the Sanscrit ^\»r China) is differently written in two 

 places ; both are pronounced Che. 



X This letter has been cited by Dr. Morrsion, in his View of China, but from a 

 different author ; from Ma-wan-lin. 



§ Sh&kya-muui, patronymic name of Buddha. 



|| This, we believe, to be the exact sense of this Buddhist phraseology. 



L 



