408 



CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



" 126 B. C." (Wilford as. res. ix. p. 40), the Chinese general Tchang-kiao sent by the emperor 

 Wou-ti to visit the Western countries, as Khorasan and Meru-al-nahar. Hearing of India, — he 

 proceeded there also, and returned to China "in 115." 



As early perhaps as this year, the Sanscrit medical writer Charaka. He preceded — Dhanvan- 

 tari, according to the Vishnu purana iv. 8 (H. H. Wils., and Royle antiq. hind. med. 63). 



Emblica officinalis of Tropical Eastern Asia. Imported emblic myrobalans are called in Arabic 

 "amlaj"( .... ), and the tree producing them in Hindustanee "amlika" or " arooli " or "aoongra," 

 in Bengalee "amla," in Telinga " assereki," in Tamil "nelle kai " (Drur.), in the environs of Bombay 

 "awla"or "aunlee" (Graham), in Burmah " hzee-phyu " (Mason); in which we recognize the 

 "amvle'g" of Chariton (Charaka), — and Zosimus Panopolitanus, the " empelilez" of Actuarius ; the 

 " emblicis '' of " Xarcha indus " or " Scarac indus " mentioned by Rhazes, Serapion, Avicenna (Royle), 

 and the " amlaj " of Rhazes, and Mesne : importation of myrobalans by the way of Aden is mentioned 

 by Edrisi ; and the medicinal use of emblic myrobalans was witnessed by Alpinus iv. 13 in Egypt, 

 and by C. Bauhin pin. 445 in Europe. Eastward, " amalaka " fruit is mentioned in the Avadana 

 Asoka (Burn. i. 426) ; " amluka " fruit by Valmiki ram. i. 4 ; and the " an-mo-lo-ko " or '• o-mo-lo-kia " 

 seen by the Chinese traveller Hiouen-Thsang in Hindustan, is referred here by Stanislas Julien : E. 

 officinalis is described by Rumphius vii. pi. 1 ; was observed by Rheede i. pi. 38 in Malabar; by 

 Graham, " in gardens " and " wild throughout both the Concans and Deccan," its fruit " eaten by the 

 natives ; '' by Ainslie, Roxburgh, Wight, and Drury, as far as Travancore and Bengal, its strongly 

 astringent bark used both medicinally and for tanning; by Mason v. 45S, •• very abundant in the jun- 

 gles from Mergui to Toungo " and " bearing an intensely sour plum ; " by Bontius, wild on Java. 

 By European colonists, was carried to the Mauritius Islands, where it continues under cultivation 

 (Boj.). 



Tcrminalia bclcrtca of Tropical Hindustan and Burmah. Imported belleric myrobalans are 

 called in Arabic " be-ley-ley," in Persian " be-ley-leh," and the tree producing them in Bengalee 

 " buhira," in Sanscrit " vibhituka " (Lindl.), in Tamil " tani-kai," in Telinga "tadi" or "toandee" 

 (Drur.), in the environs of Bombay " buhira" or " bherda " (Graham), in Burmah "ban-kha" (Mason); 

 in which we recognize the " velilSg " of Chariton (Charaka), — Zosimus Panopolitanus, and the 

 " belli ricis " of ''Xarcha indus" mentioned by Serapion, and Mesue (Royle antiq. hind, med.) : T. 

 belerica was observed by Rheede iv. pi. 10 in Malabar ; by Graham, " a very large tree " " common 

 along the foot of the Ghauts " as far as Bombay; by Buchanan, Ains.lie, Roxburgh, Royle. Wight, 

 and Drury, as far as Mysore and Bengal, its nuts used medicinally, the kernel " said to intoxicate if 

 eaten in any great quantity, and its timber white and durable ; by Mason v. 491, in Burmah, "indige- 

 nous but not very abundant," its fruit "dried and sold among the drugs." By European colonists, 

 was carried to the Mauritius Islands, where it continues under cultivation (Boj.). 



Terminalia ckeba/a of Tropical Hindustan and Burmah. A large tree called in the environs of 

 Bombay " heerda" (Graham), in Telinga " kadukar," in Hindustanee "hur" or "harua," in Sanscrit 

 "haritaka" (Lindl.) ; and probably included in the account of myrobalans by Charaka — quoted by 

 Serapion, and Mesue : the three kinds, black, yellow, and chebulic, compose a medicine called in 

 Sanscrit "tirphala" (Shakesp. diet), in which we recognize the "tryphala" or "tryphera parva " of 

 Actuarius. E.istward, the " triphala " is mentioned in the Amara-cosha, and by Susrutas (see Royle 

 antiq hind. med. 36, and Balanites Aegyptiaca) : T. chebula was observed by Graham, " pretty com- 

 mon " at Mahableshwur and " all along the Ghauts," its fruit yielding blacking for harness makers ; 

 by Retz v. 31, Roxburgh, and Wight, as far as Bengal, the galls powerfully astringent, fit for making 

 ink, and yield the best and most durable yellow of the chintz painters on the coast of Coromandel ; 

 by Mason v. 509 indigenous but " not very abundant '' throughout Burmah, its fruit furnishing 

 '• all the native ink," some of which "in the course of a dozen years " has been found to fade. 



" 125 15. C." (Clint, iii. p. 346), Demetrius II. slain by his wife Cleopatra ; and succeeded by An- 

 tiochus VI. Grypus, thirteenth Greek king of Syria. 



"The same year" (Chinese hist., and Schlegel journ. asiat. 1828), the Greco-Bactrian kingdom 

 overthrown by the Tartars and Scythians or Saca;.* 



The Buddhist hymns of the Lalita vistara probably adopted at the Council under Canishca, Tar- 

 tar king of Cashmere — (Burnouf, and Foucaux). The first translation into Chinese was made about 

 76 A. D. (bibl. or. ii. p. 37). 



* Ficus excelsa of Tropical Hindustan. Called in Malabar " attimeralloo " (Drur.) ; and a tree 

 " traditionally reported to be two thousand years old " — growing twenty miles Southeast of Cochin, 

 "fifty feet in circumference " when seen by Rheede iii. pi. 58 : F. excelsa was observed by Graham 

 in the environs of Bombay, "a tree with altern te bifarious leaves " and "fruit size of a gooseberry;" 

 by Roxburgh, and Wight, in other parts of Hindustan, the root in decoction powerfully aperient in 

 visceral obstructions. 



