1899.] 
CHINESE RECORDS. 
19 
While Hiuen Tsiang mentions only about one hundred convents in 
the country, Ou-k'ong found more than three hundred and speaks in 
addition of the number of Stupas and sacred images as considerable. 
We may conclude from this that there had been a rise in the popularity 
of Buddhism in the century intervening between the visits of the two 
pilgrims. 
Ou-k'ong describes the kingdom of Kasmir correctly enough as 
enclosed on all sides by mountains which form its natural ramparts. 
Only three roads have been opened through them, and these again are 
secured by gates. In the east a road leads to T'ou-fan or Tibet; in the 
north there is a road which reaches into Poliu or Baltistan ; the road 
which starts from ‘the western gate’ goes to K'ien-t'o-lo or Gandhara. 1 
We have here a clear enough description of the great routes 
through the mountains which since ancient times have formed the main, 
lines of communication between the Valley and the outer world. The 
road to T'ou-fan corresponds undoubtedly to the present route over the 
Zoji-La to Ladakh and hence to Tibet. The road to Po-liu is represented 
by the present “ Gilgit Road,” leading into the Upper Kisangariga Valley 
and thence to Skardo or Astor on the Indus. The third road can be no 
other than the route which leaves the Valley by the gorge of Baramula 
and follows the Vitasta in its course to the west. We have seen already 
that Hiuen Tsiang followed it when he entered Kasmir by ‘the stone 
gate, the western entrance of the kingdom.’ There can be doubt that 
in the gates ( fermetures ) closing these roads we have a reference to the 
ancient frontier watch-stations of which we find so frequent mention in 
our Kasmirian records. 
Besides these three roads Ou-k'ong knew yet a fourth. “ This, how¬ 
ever, is always closed and opens only when an imperial army honours it 
with a visit.” It is probable that this curious notice must be referred 
to one of the roads leading over the Pir Pantsal range to the south. 
Owing possibly to political causes these routes may have been closed to 
ordinary traffic at the time of Ou-k'ong’s visit. 2 
The political relations between China and the northern kingdoms 
of India seem to have ceased soon after the time of Ou-k'ong. This was 
probably due to the Chinese power under the later T'ang gradually 
losing ground in Central Asia before the Uigurs and the Tibetans. The 
vihtira at Huskapura: Uskiir, iv. 188. In the c monastere du general {tsiang-khm) ’ 
it is easy to recognize the Vihara of the Turk (Tuhkhara) Cankuna who was one 
of Muktapida’s ministers. He is reported to have founded two monasteries called 
after his own name (iv. 211, 215). 
1 See Ii’ Itineruire d’ Ou-k'ong, p. 356. 
2 See Notes on Ou-k'ong, p. 24 sq. 
