there is no hint as to the meaning of the word, and it may have been Lavaṇanila.

Our pilgrim here writes of lotus-flowers of four colours, but commonly only three colours are mentioned; these are the red, white, and blue lotus-flowers, and each of these has a variety of names. But we read of four varieties of lotus-flowers in one tank, and these four are usually represented as the padma (which is red), the utpala (blue), the pundarika and kumuda (which are white).

CHAPTER XVI.

CHUAN X.

I-LAN-NA-PO-FA-TO COUNTRY.

The narrative in the Records relates that from the monastery of the town Loh-pan-ni-lo (Lavaṇanila?) the pilgrim journeyed east through a mountain forest for more than 200 li to the I-lan-na-po-fa-to country. This country was above 3000 li in circuit, and its capital, which was 20 li in circuit, on its north side was close to the Ganges. The region was fertile with a genial climate and inhabitants of honest ways; there were above ten Buddhist monasteries and more than 4000 Brethren the most of whom were Hīnayānists of the Sammitīya school; there were above twenty Deva-temples and the adherents of the various religions lived pell-mell. In recent times the king of a neighbouring state had deposed the ruler and given the capital to the Buddhist Brethren, erecting in the city two monasteries each of which had about 1000 Brethren of the Sarvāstivādin school. Beside the capital and close to the Ganges was the Ilan-na mountain, the dark mists of which eclipsed sun and moon; on this an endless succession of rishis had always lodged and their teachings were still preserved in the Deva-temples; moreover the Buddha had lived here, and preached his religion to devas and men. To the south of the capital was a tope where Buddha had preached, and to the west of this was the tope of the bhikshu Shi-lu-to-pin-shê-ti-kou-ti (Śrotavimsatikoți) at the place where he was born. The pilgrim then relates the well-known legend about this disciple. He then goes on to describe that in the west of this country to the south of the Ganges was a small isolated mountain with two tall summits one above the other. Here the Buddha once kept the Summer Retreat, and reduced to submission the yaksha Po-ku-lo (Bakula); at the foot of the south-east ledge were traces of Buddha's sitting on a large rock, above which was a tope. On a rock

adjoining this on the south side were traces of the Buddha's water-jar which he had placed on it, the traces being above an inch deep and forming an eight-whorled flower. A short distance to the south-east of the Buddha's sitting-place was a footprint of Bakula, one foot five or six inches long, by seven or eight inches wide and nearly two inches deep. Behind this was a stone sitting image of the Buddha about six feet high; and on the west side of this was an exercise-place of Buddha. On the top of this mountain was the old house of the Yaksha, and to the north of this was a foot-print of Buddha at which was a tope. The Yaksha Bakula when overcome by Buddha promised to give up the killing of human beings and the eating of flesh, he then became a Buddhist, and on his death was reborn in Heaven. To the west of this mountain were six or seven springs the water of which was very hot. In the woods among the mountains in the south of this country were numerous large wild elephants.

The name given by our pilgrim to the country here described, viz- I-lan-na-po-fa-to has been restored by Julien as Hiranyaparvata, or "Golden Mountain", and the restoration has been blindly accepted. The latter part of this restoration is apparently correct, but I-lan-na cannot be taken to represent Hiranya, nor is there anything golden in the country or mountain in the pilgrim's description. The syllables I-lan-na apparently stand for irana which denotes a piece of wild or barren land. We find the word used by Nagarjuna who compares a Brother living in violation of the Vinaya to an irana (i-lan) in a wood of sandal trees.1 In the Life I-lan-na, or as we may provisionally restore the word, Irana is used to designate the country. St. Martin, followed by Cunningham and Fergusson, identifies this region with the modern district of Monghyr.2 In the statement that the capital "on its north side was close to the Ganges" I have followed the D text which has lin (), near to. Instead of this the other texts have lu (), a road, which does

1 Ta-chih-tu-lun, ch. 13. But in this, as in some other passages, i-lan-na is probably the name of a tree disliked and avoided on account of its offensive odour.

2 Julien III, p. 386; A. G. I. p. 476; Fergusson op. c. p. 234.

not seem to make good sense. Our pilgrim, we learn from the Life, remained at the capital a year studying the "Vibhasha-lun" (No. 1279) and the "Abhidharma-shunchêng-li-lun", (No. 1265). His teachers were apparently Tathāgatagupta and Kshantisimha, two prominent Brethren of the Sarvastivādin Monasteries of which he makes mention. In the notice of the Irana mountain in the above passage the pilgrim describes it as "having dark mists" which eclipsed sun and moon. For the words within inverted commas the original is han-t'u-yen-hsia ( T) literally "holding ejecting smoke-mists". Julien's translation is "d'ou sortent des masses de fumée et des vapeurs". This is much more than is in the text, which is merely a poetic expression for "over the mountain hang dark clouds which efface sun and moon". As the mountain had always been inhabited it could not have been an active volcano. The bhikshu whom Yuan-chuang in the above passage calls Śrotavimsatikoți, translated by him "Heard 200 yi”, and of whose life he gives a few wellknown particulars, was a famous arhat among the disciples of the Buddha. In the canonical books he is a native of Champa and his death, according to Yuan-chuang, took place in the Konkanapur country. The "200 yi" of our author is a mistake for twenty yi, that is, twenty Koți, and for Śrota we should have Śroņa apparently, the name of the constellation under which the bhikshu was born. 1 The chief circumstances of his life are given in the Vinaya, and he is to be distinguished from another disciple named Śroṇakotikarna (Soṇakūtikanņa) also mentioned in the Vinaya. 2

The small isolated hill of the present passage which was in the west of Iraṇa was identified by Cunningham with the hill now called Mahadeva. But Dr. Waddell has

1 M. B. p. 254; Pali Vinaya 1. 179; Ssŭ-fên-lü, ch. 38; Rockhill, 'Life', p. 72; Tsêng-yi-a-han-ching, ch. 13 where the name given is that of the other disciple.

2 Pali Vinaya 1. 194; Sar. Vin. Pi-ko-shih; Ssŭ-fên-ly 1. c.

given reasons, which seem to be conclusive, against this identification and in favour of his own suggestion that the hill is Mount Uren. Is it possible that in the latter name we have a corruption of Irana? The Fang-chih makes the small isolated hill to have been one li or about 1/5 of a mile in length. The Yaksha Bakula (or Vakula) of this hill does not seem to be known to the Buddhist scriptures. But in these we read of a carnivorous anthropophagous Yaksha whom Buddha reduced to submission, converted, and received into his religion.2 In the Chinese translations this Yaksha lived in Kuang-ye (or) that is, the wild wilderness or uninhabited country. The Sanskrit original for Kuang-ye is Ațavi, and this is apparently the Alawee of Bigandet and the Alawaka of Hardy. But it cannot be the Iraṇa-parvata country of our pilgrim, which was to the east of Rājagaha, whereas the Kuang-ye was to the west of that city.

СНАМРА.

The pilgrim, continuing his narrative, relates that from the Īraṇaparvata country he proceeded east, following the south bank of the Ganges, and after a journey of above 300 li he came to the Chan-p'o (Champā) country. This the pilgrim describes as above 4000 li in circuit, with its capital more than 40 li in circuit, situated on the south side of the Ganges. There were some tens of monasteries mostly in ruins, and there were above 200 Brethren all Hinayānists. At the beginning of this kalpa, he relates, when men were homeless savages, a goddess came down from Heaven, and after bathing in the Ganges became pregnant. She bore four sons, who divided the world among them, and built cities, and the first city built was Champā. To the east of the capital about 140 li on the south side of the Ganges was a high islet on which was a Deva-temple, a place beautiful and enchanting.

The statement here made by Yuan-chuang that Champā was the first city built on the renovation of the world is found in several of the Buddhist scriptures, but without

1 A. G. I. p. 476; J. A. S. Ben. 1892 Pt. I, p. 1.

2 Ta-pan-nie-p'an-ching, ch. 15 (No. 114).