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A Record of the Buddhist Religion, As Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (a.d. 671–695) - Max Muller, 1896 - Complete Book

Page 10 of 72

English

There were two other schools newly introduced, besides the Sammitlya. A few MahayAnists were in Malayu (=Sribhoga the New) (pp. 10, 11). 9. Gold seems to have been abundant. I-tsing once calls Sribhoga ‘Chin-chou,’ ‘Gold Isle” People used to offer the Buddha a lotus-flower of gold (p. 49). They used golden jars, and had images of gold (pp. 45, 46). 10. People wear Kan-man (a long cloth) (p. 12). 11, Other products were: pin-lang (Mal. pinang, Skt. pQga), nutmegs (gatt), cloves (lavanga), and Baros-camphor (karp(ira) (p. 48). They used fragrant oil (p. 45). People in these places make sugar-balls by boiling the juice of plants (or trees)*, and the priests eat them at various hours, while the Indians make sugar from rice-grain, and in making ‘stone-honey’ they use milk and oil (Nanjio’s Catal., No. 1131, book x, p. 72). 12. In the country of Sribhoga, in the middle of the eighth month and in the middle of spring (second month), the dial casts no shadow, and a man Standing has no shadow at noon. The sun passes just above the head twice a year (pp. 143, 144). 13. The language was known as ‘ Kun-lun’ (Malay, not Pulo Condore) (p. 1). Sad ne a a7 Shih-li-fo-shih, though not unknown’, has not been satisfactorily described by the Chinese historians, while the name seems to have been very familiar to Buddhist writers subsequent to I-tsing. Fo-shih (=Bhoga) is mentioned in the History of T'ang (618-go6) as being on the south shore of the Straits of Malacca, > Chavannes, p. 1S1, note 2. Cf. Reinaud, Relation, tom. i, p. Ixxv. Sumatra is famous for gold; Yule, Marco Polo, vol. ii, chap. ix, p. 268, ? Or, ‘by boiling the wine (syrup) prepared from plants,’ * E.g, the History of T'ang, book 222 c. xlii GENERAL INTRODUCTION. and four or five days distant from Ho-ling (=Java)'. Next in the History of Sung (960-1279)? there is a country in the Southern Sea called San-bo-tsai (San-fo-ch’i), which is in all probability Shih-li-fo-shih (=Sribhoga) of I-tsing, and its description runs as follows :— ‘The kingdom of San-bo-tsai is that of the southern barbarians. It is situated between Cambodja (Chén-la) and Java (Shé-p’o), and rules over fifteen different sates. Its products are rattan, red kino, lignum-aloes, areca-nuts (pin-lang), and cocoa-nuts. They use no copper cash, but their custom is to trade in all kinds of things wh gold and silver. The weather is mostly hot, and in winter they have no frost or snow. ‘The people rub their bodies wth fragrant ol. This country does not produce barley, but they have rice, and yellow and green peas. They make wine from flowers, cocoa-nuts, pin-lang’ or honey*®. They write with Sanskrit * characters, and the king uses his finger-ring as a seal; they know also Chinese characters; in sending tributes (to China) they write with them. With a favourable wind the distance from this country to Kwang-tung (Canton) is twenty days. Many family names there are “P'u.” In 960, the king Shih-li-ku-° ta-hia-li-tan® sent tribute to China. In 992, this country was imyaded by Java. In 1003, two envoys from San-bo-tsai related that a Buddhist temple was erected in order to pray for the long life of the Chinese emperor, and the emperor gave to that temple a name and a bell specially cast for the purpose. In ro1y, an envoy from thence brought bundles of Sanskrit books, folded between boards. In 1082, three envoys came to have an audience of the emperor, and presented Jotus-flowers of gold® (Chin-lien-hua) containing pearls, camphor-baros, and sa-tien.’ The Descriptions of the Barbarians 7, compiled under the same dynasty (960- 1279), gives a long account of San-bo-tsai (San-fo-ch‘i), which agrees in the main with the above history of Sung. According to this book, San-bo-tsai lies right * Book 436, p. 20, as quoted by Chavannes, p. 42. ? Book 489; some portion has been translated in the Notes on the Malay Archipelago, by 'W. P. Groeneveldt; see the Essays on Indo-China, second series, vol. i, p. 187. 5 Cf. Crawfurd, Hist. of Ind. Arch., vol. i, p. 398. * Fan (barbarian) may mean any foreign characters, but here it seems to mean Sanskrit ; so also Mr. Groeneveldt, see loc. cit., p. 188. * Something like Sti-kiia-harit, or Sti-gupta-harita, 2 * In the History of Liang (502-356), Kandari, eastern coast of Sumatra, sent an envoy and presented a Fu-yan flower of gold, loc. cit. p. 187; Fu-yan is ‘mallow,’ but often used for NOTES ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. xiii to the south of Ch'iian-chou?; the people put @ co//on cloth (sarongs) round their bodies, and use a silk parasol. They wage war on water as well as on land, and their military organisation is excellent. When the king dies, the people shave their heads as a sign of mourning. Those who follow another in death burn themselves in the -pile of fuel. This custom is called ‘ T'ung-shéng-ssii,’ Sliving and dying together® There is an image of the Buddha called the ‘Mountain of Gold and Silver’ The king is commonly called the ‘Essence of the Snake.’ The crown of gold worn by him is very heavy, and the king alone can wear it. He who can wear it succeeds to the throne. This country being on the sea contains the most important points for trade, and controls the incoming and outgoing ships of all the barbarians. Formerly they made use of iron chains to mark the boundary of the harbour. Among fhe fifteen sfates which are mentioned in the same work as dependent on San-bo-tsai, Tan-ma-ling, Pa-lin-féng, Sin-da, Lan-pi, and Lan-wu-li may be identified respectively with Tana-malayu (the next to Palembang in the list of Sumatran in De Barros) §, with-Palembang, Sunda, Jambi, and Lambri‘, all indicatthg that they belonged to Sumatra. We have another important and somewhat earlier account by the Arab travellers of the ainth century, who speak of the island of Sarbaza®, which was then subject to the kingdom of Zabedj* (=Iabadiu of Ptolemy, about a.. 1g0, * Chitian-chou and its bay (= Zayton of Marco Polo), in Furkien, lie lat, 25° N., opposite to N. Formosa. : _ ® Or, ‘sharing the life and death of-another.’ In the island of Bali there are the customs of Satya and Bela; generally speaking, ‘ Burning one’s body after another's death,’ the origin of which will be no doubt Indian. Satya is the well-known Satee (Sati), and Bela is supposed by Mr. Friedrich to be the Sanskrit Vela, ‘sudden and easy death.’—Wilson, Bela in Balinese means ‘dying with the man of higher rank’ (a wife with her husband, a slave with his master, a subject with his prince). Our T*ung-shéng-ssit evidently represents the custom of Bela. * Yule, Marco Polo, vol. ii, chap. viii, p. 263. * Lamori, or Lambri, included Atchin, or was near it, where the Pole Star is not visible (Odoric); Yule, Cathy, p. 84; Marco Polo, vol. ii, chap. xi, p. 283, note; cf. Pp. 289, note. ® Reinaud, Relation des Voyages, tom. i, p. 93; ii, p. 48. Mr. Groeneveldt identified San-bo-tsai with Sarbaza (Essays, p. 187, note); the identification of these two names has since been fully discussed by Prof. P. A. van der Lith, Ajaib el Hind, pp. 247-253 (see Serboza, and Beal’s communication about I-tsing’s account of it). $ Ido not think Sttbhoga is Zabedj, as in Chavannes, but Sarbaza, subject to Zabedj (= Java). Palembang was a Javanese colony, Yule, Marco Polo, vol. ii, p. 263. Zabedj of the Arabs represents some great monarchy then existing in the Malay Islands, probably in Java, the king of which was known to the Arabs by the Hindu title Maharaja (Relation, tom. i, p-93). Dabag, SN a sgh teh eb? ae uaatey ee See ee xliv o GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Yavadi (Ya-p‘o-t'i) of Fa-hien, a.p. 414, and Yavada (Ya-p’o-ta) of the History of the First Sung, a.p. 420-478), which seems to be a corruption of Yavadvipa. Now, as to the position of San-bo-tsai (San-fo-ch'i), it is generally understood to .be the present Palembang? in the southern part of Sumatra, and we have nothing to say against this general belief, while there are on the other hand many points which indicate the correctness of this identification. In all accounts, this great kingdom of the Southern Sea is about Aventy days distant, or sometimes a month, from Kwang-tung. The capital is an zmportant trading port, and the people seem to have embraced Buddhism for some time; and there are several points which show that they were of Hindoo origin. The country is, according to all accounts, * tich zm gold, and the gift of golden Jotus-flowers is peculiar to the people. The accounts as to the use of fragrant oil, kan-man (sarongs), &c., and the products also, though common to the other islands, are in general agreement. Above all, the names, Shih-li-fo-shih (= Sribhoga) of I-tsing, Sarbaza of the Arabs, and San-bo-tsai (= San-fo-ch'i) of the Chinese historians, are the weightiest proof, especially when we see that none of the accounts given under these three names contradict each other. : ' The constant hostility with Java mentioned in the Chinese history may account for the Arabs making Sarbaza dependent on Zabedj (=Java). Now we are in a position to see that the capital and trading-port of San- bo-tsai, which went under the name of Chiu-chiang (‘Old Port’ or ‘Old River’) after 1397, was what I-tsing called the river Bhoga where he went on board ship to send a message to Kwang-tung, and it is therefore the river Palembang of our time; and what he calls the ‘fortified city of Bhoga’ (p. xxxiv) is the modern .Palembang, while the whole country of Sribhoga is much larger than the present province’of Palembang. There were many dependent states. The Yin-yai-shéng-lan, compiled a.p. 1416, makes these points perfectly clear. It says: ‘Chin-chiang is the same country which was formerly called San- bo-tsai; it is also called Palembang (P'o-lin-pang), and is under the supremacy of Java.

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