14 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KASAIIR. [Extra No. 2, 
originally and properly designated tlie Upper Kabul Valley. 1 It ap¬ 
pears, however, at a period when Chinese knowledge of India was 
less developed, to have been used in a vague and general fashion for a 
variety of territories on the northern confines of India, among them also 
Kasmir. However this may be, our loss seems scarcely to be great, as 
these notices of the Chinese Annalists regarding Ki-pin do not seem to 
give characteristic local details. 2 
The first clear reference to Kasmir which I can trace at present, 
is contained in a record dating from 541 a.d. It is taken from the 
account of an Indian envoy who reached China during the early part of 
the reign of the T'ang dynasty. 3 The name of Kasmir is not mentioned. 
Yet it is evident that M. Pauthier who published the extract, was right 
in referring to Kasmir the description given of the northern portion 
of India as a country “ situated at the foot of the snowy mountains and 
enveloped by them on all sides like a precious jewel. In the south 
there is a valley which leads up to it and serves as the gate of the 
kingdom.” The points noticed here are exactly those with which we 
meet in all Chinese accounts of Kasmir. 
9. Ninety years after the date of this notice Kasmir was visited by 
Hhjen Tsiang. He reached the Valley from 
Urasa in the west and resided in it as an 
honoured guest for fully two years. The 
records of the great Chinese pilgrim contain by far the fullest and most 
accurate description of Kasmir that has come down to us from a foreign 
pen during the period with which we are here concerned. 4 
Hiuen Tsiang must have entered Kasmir by the valley of the 
Vitasta as he describes his route as leading to the south-east of 
Urasa, the present Hazara District. After ‘ crossing over mountains 
and treading along precipices’ he arrived at the c stone gate which is 
the western entrance of the kingdom.’ We shall see below that this 
gate known also to Ou-k'ong and Alberuni, was the frontier watch- 
station or JDcara in the gorge of Baramula (Varahamula). He passed 
the first night on Kasmir soil at RusTcayura, the modern Uskiir, opposite 
Baramula. Thence he proceeded to the capital which he describes 
1 Compare the explanations of Messrs. Levi and Chavannes in their paper 
‘ L’ltineraire d’Ou-k'ong, Journal asiatique, 1895, vi. pp. 371 sqq., together with the 
supplementary and modifying statements, ib., 1896, vii. pp. 161 sq. 
2 These notices are enumerated by Messrs. Levi and Chavannes, Journal asiat., 
1895, vi. pp. 378 sq. 
8 G. Pauthier, Examen metliodique des faits qui concernent le Thian-Tchou 
on VInde, Paris, 1839, p. 40. 
4 See Si-yu-ki , transl. Beal, i. pp. 148 sqq.; Life of Hiuen Tsiang, transl. Beal, 
pp. 68 sqq. 
