16 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MIR. [Extra No. 2, 
identified with any certainty. But in their description the pilgrim 
furnishes us incidentally with a valuable topographical indication. 
Speaking of the convent which prided itself on the possession of a 
miraculous tooth of Buddha, he indicates its site as being about 10 li 
(circ. 2 miles) to the south-east of the new city and to the north of the 
old city. 1 This proves that the capital of Hiuen Tsiang’s time which 
corresponds to the present STinagar, was then a comparatively new 
foundation, exactly as the Chronicle’s account has it. At the same time 
the reference to the ‘old city’ enables us to fix with absolute certainty 
the earlier capital of S'rinagari at the present Pandrethan , the Purdna- 
dhisthana of Kalhana. 2 
The two full years which Hiuen Tsiang, according to his own 
statement spent in Kasmir, 3 represent a longer halt than any which the 
pious traveller allowed himself during his sixteen year’s wanderings 
through the whole of India and Central Asia. 4 With all due respect 
for the spiritual fervour of the pilgrim and the excellence of his 
Kasmman preceptors, it is difficult to suppress the surmise that the 
material attractions of the Valley had something to do with his long 
stay. The cool air of Kasmir, the northern aspect of its scenery and 
products, have at all times exercised their powerful charm over those 
visitors who themselves born in colder climes have come to the Valley 
from the heat and dust of the Indian plains. Just as these advantages 
attract in yearly increasing numbers European visitors from India 
Proper, so the modern Turk! pilgrims from Kashgar, Yarkand and 
other parts of Central Asia, whether on the way to Mecca or on their 
return, never fail to make a long stay in Kasmir. 
We should undoubtedly find the example of the modern Hajis 
followed also by Buddhist pilgrims if there were still any from those 
northern regions to take their way through Kasmir to the holy places 
of India. It would be an interesting task to examine to what extent the 
fame of Kasmir as the ‘ paradis terrestre des Indes,’ is the creation of 
the Valley’s northern visitors, both European and Asiatic. Here it may 
suffice to add that Hiuen Tsiang before he reached Kasmir, must have 
had already his experience of the torrid heat and the other amenities of 
a Pan jab summer. 5 & We shall also see that the example of the other 
Chinese pilgrim whom we are able to follow on his visit to Kasmir, 
points exactly to the same conclusion. 
1 Si-yu-ki, i. p. 158. 
2 See below §§ 88, 89. 
See Life, p. 72. 
4 Compare the table of dates for Hiuen Tsiang’s itinerary, Cunningham, Ancient 
Geography, pp. 563 sqq. 
& See Cunningham, Ancient Geography, p. 563 sq. 
