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Hail Prosperity. The refuge of the entire world. The Virava)aiiceyar possessing the long luminous and fiery spear, endowed with the edict oftlle Five Hundred Heroes, famous tlJroughout the world on account of their valour and whose faces are adorned by Laksmi are the offspring of the lineages of Sri Vasudeva, Khandhali and MHlahhadra -r hey ohst:rve st.:ad[a�tly tlle lIubk Ia\\ of the "ssoci�tion (samayam) in the eighteen pa1!inam (towns)_ the thirty-hvo vc/apuram (coastal towns) and the sixty­four katikait-tavalam. They are the children or ParameSvan of Alya(p)polil who resides in all towns.

The eighteen paHinam, the thirty-two vcliipllram, the sixty-four kalikaillava/am. the ceHipultirar. the ka\'arai. the katripan. the kamuntasviimi, the oUan, thepaclIm-paik-kiiran, the allkakkarull, the: unaHimlll1, thc ... vii-Uil, the pavafai-vlran, those who arc prufi.:icnt ill Sall$hlit amI Tamil and those who ride donkeys which never falter, those who conduct their business in conformity with laws so as to enable the sceptre to be held forward prominently so that rightcousness shall prevail ilnd cvil will disappear, witll their fame spreading in all directions. All these are the Five Hundred of the thousand directions in the eighteen colmtries and the four quarters (of the earth)

Wc, 'the h':lm;$ uf thc ':lbhlc�enlal1ds (p,III1IC1lpiillli-\ irar) including Kmlliya­llIull"r, "Wlchcd to tllem (make this resohltion)' We have heen greatlv honoured by !he I'cmmnkka/ (governing body) of !he Macenak�l11al11 otherwise called Tmllllacakarap'pallinam. They secured the release or our 'COl11palllon' Mudava)an Muttan otherwise called niiniit<:ciyiil)lan, who '\i1S arrested by Ve1latutaiyar and put in chaill$, aner paying a ransom inl11onc�' (alankaell) Resides. Ihev have made (a) silver amulet(s) and presented them to liS, and ha\'e named l attested by us) the patinenpllmivirar. Tiralan .. " Varakalatara-kattilulla natluccetti, Tiralan Kampan otherwise called Pilbiccabla n�natcci itta Munivallapa-nanatecikckon, Natan namvmumuriyan, kllll<U1 kalall olherwi$c c.tllcd NW'ayiran tacamati-l11l1ll1mata· varanappillai, virakol Murperarayan Kuuan otherwise called Ainnurruva-mantila­ayira:;lanrun., Piran ealan otherwise called Cenapativantan, Kampan Villan otllcrwise called C'enapa!i virakalai. nattarayan Kalman Aruvanampala-pillai-yantan, Tiruvarankan Eran otherwi$c calilAl Teciyaparanap-pillai. FurgclnotJlIslice.

S, PATHMANATHAN

�_-T-+

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN*

Travel accounts of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who visited lndia during the early of the Christian era are an important component of the Buddhist literature of

Having heard about the founder of Buddhism and the places consecrated by his from about the first century A.D" when Buddhist books were received in China,

pilgrims visited India, to sec the places associated with the Buddha's life, to learn the doctrine from teachers in the eOlmtry of its origin, and to collect sacred books which they ,;';"';�\Slilt..;J llilo ChilICSC. The accoWlts of their journeys left by a tel\' ofthem are v�llIable

�§�urces as contemporary recorus of histuric'II (;\':ills, social customs and 'traditions, popular fOllll$ uf Buudhist worship aml bclil,;f, and the religious Jtl110sphcrc that pre\'ailed

the host countries.

A sI11dy of these Chinese sources in modem times is said to have been inaugurated [he publication or C.J.I'oJeumann's lI'url.. (1833) on the 13uddhisl pilgrims \Iho came

. .... �-:� lndi�. 'On.: vf Illc eililiest of the: ChllIC�C lJuuJhisl pilgrilll� \\;1$ r:l·hsicn, the hlIO\\TI - ��,.ri"d of whose activity is placed between the years 399 and 4 1 8 A.D.2 His memoir,

".

the Foe KOlle KI or A Narrative a/Buddhist Kingdoms, was translated into French lhe Chinese, anu conllnenlw Up 011 by Abel RCl11usal. This translation and the ttconuuenlary were revised and published with additional details by Klaproth and Landresse

in Paris. in I �n(i. after the death of Rel1JlIsatJ The translation of Fa-hsien's account of his jOllnley given there. dll'ided into fort\' chapters. IS preceded b\ a lengthv introduction by

�Landresse. whIle It is lollowed by two appendices: (1) a geographical reswne 01"tl1C important places mentioned bv Fa-hslen and (2) the itinerarY of Hiuau Thsang, who lisitccl India III tile s(;\ clIlli c.:ntlll) AD. r\ map IJI(;parcd b\ Klaproth, dated IX33. gi\'cn

The mUlle of tills Chillesc ptlgrim IS vanoLisly spell The spelling j have adopted is lhat given in the Encylopaedia a/Religion ed. by Mircea Eliade. Vol 5, New. York. 1 955. p. 245. Variants are used such as Fa-Hiell, Fa-hian, Fa-Hi an, Faxian.

Bhattacharyya , N.N. (993). Buddhism in the History of Indian Ideas. New Delhi. p. 3.

Jan Ylin-hua (1')')5). Fa-hsien (tl. 399 - 41 !l). The Elltyc/upaedia of Religioll edited Mirc�a Eliade. Vol. 5. New York. p. 245 (n, = nourished).

Rcmusat, Abcl (1836), Foe KOlle Ki 011 Relation des Royal/mes Bouddhiques: Voyage dans la Tartarie, dans I 'Afghanistan el dans l'lnde, exeCUle, a la fin du IVe siecle, par

Chy Fa Hian. Traduit dll Chinois et commente par M.Abel Remusat. Otmage Posthume , Revu, complete, e t augmellle d'eclaircissemems nouveaux par MM. Klaproth et Landresse. Paris. A L'imprimerie Royale. M DCCC XXXVI.

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at the end of the book, purports to convey an idea of Fa-hsien's voyage made between the years 399 and 414 A.D. The information given on the title-page of this publication, viz. that Fa-hsien's Narrative was v.'fitten at the end of the fourth century A.D., is inconsistent with the dates of the duration of his voyage given on the map. Four plates giving (\) a map of India as perceived by the Chinese and showing the itinerary of Hiuan Thsang; (2)

paintings depicting the birth and an incarnation of Sak.)'amuni described on pages 222 and 201 respectively of Rcmusat's text: (3) and (4) kingdoms in India visited and described . by Fa-hsien are also appended to this work. An English translation of Remusat's French text, with additional notes, titled The Pilgrimage of Fa Hian, is known to have been -published by J.w.Laidley, in Calcutta, in 1848.4 According to Vincent Smith, it was

.'

published anonymously with additional notes and illustrations, which deserved to be - -

consulted. 5

Reverend Samuel Beal gave an English translation of Fa-hsien's Chinese text in his book Buddhist Pilgrims published in 18696 This book is listed in the bibliography of· the text and translation of the memoir of a Korean monk who visited India in the eighth century as: S.Beal. Travels of Fa Hian and Sung yiin, London, 1869-' A paper on Indian

Jan Yiin-hua (1995) op.cit, p. 246.

Smith, Vincent A. (1957). The Early History of India (first published 1924) 4th

edition. Oxford 1957. p. 25. The name of the author is spelt here as Laidlay. '-!;..

I have not seen this book. It is referred to in Beal's introduction to his transl,ilion of Si-yu-ki, the travel account of Hiuen Tsiang. See notes 9 and 10 below.

r'

The Rye Ch' 0 Diary: Memoir of the Pilgrimage to the Five Regions of Jf ........ � ........ Translation, text and editing by Yang, Han-sung; Jan, Yiin-hua and Iida,� Shotaro; Laurence W. Preston. Religions of Asia Series. Number 2 ed. R. Lancaster and J. L. Shastri. Berkeley, California. Asian Humanities and Seoul, Korea. Po Chin Chai Ltd., No. date. p. 31 . The copy of this available in the Library of the University of Peradeniya was received 15.02.1991. Also in Hazra, Kanai Lal: Buddhism in India as described by the Chinese Pilgrims. A.D. 399 - 689. New Delhi, 1983. Bibliography p. 11

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSlEN 125

Travels of Chinese Buddhists was printed by Beal in The Indian Antiquary in 188 I 8 Here he gave a brief summary of the history of some Chinese Buddhist 1110nks who visited India during the early period of the Tang dynasty (618 A. D. - 907 AD), based on a Chinese book written by I-tsing or the same dynasty. Bcal re-published his translation of Fa-hsien's text in the Introduction to his two-volumed translation of Si-yu-ki, the travel accowlt of

Tsiang (629 A.D), first published in f 884,9 and reprinted in 1906.10 The narrative of Fa-hsien, comprising forty chapters, given here, is titled Fo-/..;wo-ki, The Travels of Fa­

Buddhist-Country-Records, by Fa-hian. the SaJ.:ya oflhe Sung (Dynasty). (Date, AD.) Beal rctcrs the reader to the original edition (1869) of his Buddhist Pilgrims, little book" in his own words. for many notes and explanations of Fa-hsien's text,

ich he did not reproduce for want of space in his publication of Ule Si-yu-ki ,11 while Smith states that Beal gave an amended and much improved rendering of Fa­

text in this publication. I:

Beal reproduced a few notes on some doubtful or obscure passages which he had while going over Fa-hsien's text afresh in a paper read at the monthly meeting of the

Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland on 20'h December 1886. This paper Some Remarks on the Narrative ofFa-hien was published in the Society's Journal

Beal, S. (1881). Indian Travels of Chinese Buddhists. The Indian Antiquary. Edited by Jas. Burgess. Vo1.X-1881. Bombay. pp. 109 - l l l ; 192-197;246

-248. .,

Beal, Samuel (1884). Si-yu-ki. Buddhist Records of the Western World. Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D. 629) in two volumes. London: Trubner and Co.

Beal, Samuel (1906) . Si-yu-ki. Buddhist Records of the Western World. Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D 629) in two volumes. London. Kegan Paul, Trench Trubner and Co. Ltd.

ibid. vol. 1. p. xxii.

Smith, Vincent A. (1957) op. cit. p. 25.

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in 1887D That there was a contemporaneous interest in Fa-hsien among American. Orientalists is attested by C.R.Larm18n's report on "An incident in the life of the i

.

C hinese Buddhist monk Fa-hsien" in the Journal of the American Oriental SOCiety,

1894.14

·r-:':T' ,t. .) �

FA-HSIEN 127

liuOIlSnc:u in London and Shanghai,IH where he says he corrected many of Beal's glaring Unfort1ll1lltely, Giles left behind some of his own.19 Herbert Allen Giles (1845 -

is said to have spent twenty-six years in China in consular service and subsequently Professor of C hinese in the University of Call1bridge.�o Vincent Smith remarks

. . . ... ""'. . .. __ the notes in Giles' translation, which are largely devoted to incisive criticisms on the Samuel Heal. olle of the earliesL schoial s Lv velllw·e on CIUIlCSC studIes, \\"3S a ' _J "'=- c a rlY work of Real. afford Imle help to the reader who desires to study tht: pilgrim's gr0du0t� of the tiniYcrsity of C'mnhridge. a retired. chaplain. a rector

l,of Warl A·"-- �obs�'ation� from an Inchan point of view But he nl\1e� Giles' "scarce little volume" as

Northumherland etc. <tno Professor of Chinese. UmversIlv College, London:

·.

That h\s.�"\'li)7. ·<iii inoepenoent rendering of the difficldt rhinese text hv a highly qualified linguist .He work contmues to be recoglllsed as authOritatIve IS attested by the IndIan edItIOns ofhl� . ",..,t. . '.also notes that some of the errors 111 Giles' work were corrected by Watters 111 hIS artIcle translation of tile Si-yu-ki, published in Calcutta in 1957 and 1958 and reprinted in 1963::·�;��.(Fa_hsien and his English Translators', in Volume VlII of the China ReView.�I.

T.Watters, and 111 Del lu 111 198117 �Rr1tlsh Consul at Ichang, IS credIted With a series of artIcles on this ilieme 111 the China

[n 1877, H.A Giles prcscnted a new t ranslation of Fa-hsien's text, which was :.�.;'tn�?' of 1879 and 1880, which arc said to bc "of the highest \·nlue, displaying an ofrhint'se scholarship ilnti an e"tensive knowledge ofRlldohism "22

13 Beal, S. (1HH7). "Sullie Relllarks Vlllh{; Narrative of Fa-hien". The JOllrnal of the Royal Asiatic Society. New Series. Vol. 19. London. pp. 191 - 206.

1,1 Lanman, CR. \18<)4). "An Im;iu{;UL in th� Lik of tlte Illustrious Chinese . -,-_� liudJhisl Monk, Fa-hsi{;ll." JUUllliJ.[ of rile AlIlerican Oriental Sociery. pp. -.("":�­c.U\v-cxxxi.\ Tilese p:It'P; are lllis,illg ill the cnpy nf vnl Iii of lilt: Journal ( published ill IH95) kept iu lhe library of tilt: Univcrsity of Peradeniya. The page giving the contents of the journal lists this article.

15 Beal, Samuel (1906). op.cit. titl� page; The Indian Antiquary. Vol. X. 188l. p. iii giving the contents of lite volullle ill which Bcal published an articie. See note 8 above.

16 BeaL Samuel. (1957: 195R: 1963). Si-vu-ki. Rllddhist Records ojthe Western

World translated from the Chinese of Hillen Tsiang. Second edition. Vol. 1. Calcutta 1957: third edition 1963. V ols. 2,3 and 4. Calcutta 1958. The.-,.:...,lcf:::­

Almost a decade later - in 1886. to bc precise· J<llllCS Legge. Professor of Chinese Lan3l1age and I ,itcratme at Oxli)rd. \Vho had heen a missionarv among the Chinese people

Smith, Vincent A. (1<)57). up.cil. p.25. (I have nOl secn Gik,' publication of IX77)

cliies . H .A. ([923). Ihe Traveis of foa-hsien (3YY - 414 A.D.) or Record of lite

BudJili.llic Kingdol/ls. Retranslated. Call1bl idge. J3ibliographic<l1 Note. p. XliI. �.

Giles, Herbert A. edited (1<)65). Cover of Gems oj Chinese LilerCllure. 2 volumes bound in one. New York 1965. (Republication of the second edition of 1923). The fust edition of Vol. I - prusc was published in 1883, according to the Preface to the Pirst Edition signed 011 1601 Octoher 1883. vide Giles

(1965) p. xiv; Vol. II - verse was first published in 1898. ibid. p. 290.

publisher's note in Vol. I s tates thaI It is a verbatim rt:print of Book I of the original edition (Loi1don IHH4), the �ubsequel1l portion of which was to be �.LI Smith, Vincent A. (1957) op.cir. p.25. completed in three more volumes.

17 Beal, Samuel (1981). Si-yu-ki. Buddhist Records of the Western World.

volumes. Reprint of the London 1884 editio n. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.

Legge, James (1886). A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. Being an account by the Chinese Monk Fa-hien of h is Travels in India and Cey lon (A.D. 399 - 414)

in search of the B uddhist Books of Discipline. Oxford. Preface p. xii.

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for aboutthirly years, published his translation of Fa-hsien's Travels in India and Ceylon,2J -

which was reprinted in New Delhi in 1993.c4 In the Preface to his book, Legge says that

he tried to read through the 'Narrative of Fa-hien' several times dw-ing his long residence

in Hong Kong, but without much success, due to some difficulties. Though one of the difficulties was removed with the appearance of Dr. Eitel's Handhoo/.:jbr the Students of " Chinese BlIddhism in 1870, he did not "look into the book" for many years. In 1878, when­

he began to lecture in Oxford on the ,[,ravels with his Davis Chinese scholar, who was at

,,:--..:'

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN 129

distinction", whose work is still widely quoted.:'

A translation of Fa-hsien's Travels. that has escaped the attention of Smith In 924, is the re-translation of Giles, the first edition of which appeared in July 1923,

by a reprint in No\'ember of the same year indicati\'c of the demand for it. 2S In Bibliographical Note in this work, Giles states tllat Remusat's French translation of Fa­

ien's text is a br'illiant pcrformance, considering the difficulty of the text and ilie date 836, at which it was published: that Beal's translation of I !l69 is really an English

:translation of Remusat's work. in which he reproduced all Remusat's mistakes while adding

the same time Boden Sanskrit scholar, he wrote out a translation in English of nearly half::�' the narrative. In 1885, when he lectured on Fa-hien again, he wrote out a second

translation, independent of tIle fonner and completed translating the whole text. Besides tlle translation of Fa-hsien's Narrative and copious notes, Legge's book has a reproduetio� of the Chinese text from a Korean recension,!" sent to him from Japan by his friend

more of his own; that his o\\� translation of I R 77 corrected many of Beal's glaring stakes but left behind some of his own: and that Legge. in his translation of 1886,

largely his corrections of Bcal without acknowledgemcnt and managed to mistakes of his own. In his "closely revised" translation of 1923, Giles claims give a strictly literal and accurate rendering of the Chinesc text "so far as possible,"

footnotes and references to authorities, so that "there will be no check to the �eniovment of the reader as he travels along with F a-hsicn on his stupendous journey", a

Nanjio . While acknowledging that he made frequent reference to previous translations,

Legge highly commends Watters' articles on 'Fa-hsien and his English Translators: and.

regrets that Watters had not published his 0\\�1 version of Fa-hsien's Narrative. Stating

tllat tlle Chinese narrative IUns on without any break, Legge says that it was Klaproth who

divided Remusat's translation into fortv chapters. a division which he notes is helpful

the reader . Smith, whose opinion of the previous translations of Fa-hsien's Travels we

have noted above. refers to Legge's work (1886) as the latest at the time he wrote (1924)...;;:,.. ....... and considers it on the whole tlle most serviceable . However, he expresses his reservation·

about tlle notes which, he says, leave much to be desired.�6 Legge has recently (1995) been

described as "the only British Chinese scholar of his generation with a claim to real and

statement of the extent of which he gives in the Introduction, where he says that -hsien "practically walked from Central China across the desert of Gobi, over the Hindu

and dlrough India do\\1l to ilie mouili of tlle Hoogly. where he took ship and returned sea, after manifold hairbreadth escapes, to China, bringing with him what he went forth secure - books of the B uddhist Canon and images of Buddhist deities"

23

24

25

26

" .

ibid.

Legge, James (1993) . Reprint of the 1886 edition. op.cit.

The Korean edition of Fa-hsien's work is dated 1246. Other important editions

of the text are: the Noriliern Sung edition from Tung Chan Monastery,

Foochow, A.D. 1104; the Northern Sung edition from Kai Yuan monastery,

Foochow, A.D. 1148; the Southern Sung edition from Ssuhsi, Huchow;

Chekiang, A.D. 1239 vide Li Yung-hsi (1957). A Record of the Budljhist

Countries by Fa-hsien. Translated from the Chinese. Peking. The Chinese

Buddhist Association. p. 10.

Smith, Vincent A. (1957) op. cit. p. 25.

1!i! Fa-hsien's work continued to receive the attention of scholars in dilTercnt . cowltries. Prabodh Chandra Bagchi discussed Fa-hsien's translations and writing in Volume I of his work on the Buddhist Canon in Chinese, which appeared in Paris in I �27.'3 The Japanese scholar Kiroku Adachi published an alUlotated text with the results of his researches in 1936 and a revised edition in 1940. as reported in the foreword to a

Twitehett, Denis (1995). Chinese Studies in Britain. A Review Article of B arrett , T.H. Singular Listlessness : a Shon History of Chinese Books and British Scholars. London. 1989. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland . Vol. 5. Part 2. 1995 . p. 246.

Giles, H.A. (1923) op. cit.

Bagchi, Prabodh Chandra (1927) . Le Canon Bouddhique en Chine. Les Traducteurs fit les Traducriolls. Sind-Indica. Publications de l'Universite de Calcutta. Tome ler Paris 1927. pp. 3 47 - 3 48.

....

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translation of the Travels from the Chinese by Li Yung-hsi, published in the People's

Republic of China in 1957.-'" Li Yung-hsi's translation was sponsored by the San Shih

Buddhist Institute, Peking, to commemorate the 2500,10 anniversaJY of Buddha's Nirvana.

There is evidence of a publication entitled, Fa-h.�ien, the Unassuming Pilgrim and his

Contribution (0 the Historyo(RlIddhism,31 by Dr. Thich Minh Chau, a Vietnamese monk, who spenl much of hiS time at the Nava Nalandll Mahavihara in India illlhe early 19GOs. enjoying its peacefl.illltmospherc and making use of its rich library .12

Fa-hsien's text was translated into Tamil and published in ChelUlai (Madras) in 1963.33 This translation by Irakavan, edited by Mahavidvan Cindamanicelvar Vernugopalapillai. has three appendices: I. giving place names in Tamil. English and Chincsc; II. giying namcs of pcople: �nd Ill. giving COllllllon llil1l1es. Thcse appendices arc followed by a comprehcnsive index

Josef Kolmas' translation of Fa-hsien's Travels into a Slavic language, namely C/cch. appcared in Praguc in 1972-'" Prc\'ious t rallslat iOlls of Fa-hsicn's text are listed on pages 131 - 132 of Kolmas' tJanslation/5 a reprint of which was published, also in Prague,

30

31

32

33

34

35

Li Yung-hsi (I Q'i7). A Rernrd of the Buddhist Countries by Fa-hsien . Translated frolll the Chinese. PekinR. The Chillese Buddhist Association. p.

In.

Noted in a list of publications of Bhikshu Dr. Thich Minh Chau of Vietnam in his book':Hsuan Tsang. The Pilgrim and Scholar. Vietnam. Nha-Trang.

Vietnam Buddhist Institute. No date. The Introduclion is dated 15th April 1963.

ibid. p. XVI.

Irakavan, V.S.V. (1963). Fa-hien. A.D. 399-414. Translated . Madras. VaIIuvar PannaL

Kolmas, ]. (1972) . Fa-sien. ZOpisky 0 b/lddhisrickych zemich. Praha. Odeon.

De long, l.W. (1981). Fa-hsien and Buddhist Texts in Ceylon. Journalo/the Pali Text Society. Vol. IX. ed . K.R. Norman. Bibliography p. 115.

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SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN 131

in 1995.-'6 This translation is accompanied by a Preface and a conU11entary in Czech.]l Nancy Elizabeth Boulton's doctoral dissertation on Early Chinese Buddhist Travel

'Record� as a Lilerary Genre submitted to t11C Georgetown University (USA) wiIl.no doubt contain a discussion of Fa-hsien and his Travels.-'"

Samuel Beal. one or Ihe earliesl tfllnslators or ra-hslen's account of hIS travels, 'cP��';o gives the following infomlalion about Fa-hsien's t"arly life His 0riginal name was Kung

--� When he assumed the religious title of Fa-hsien. he look also the appellation of Shih or

Siil,.-yaputra, the d isciple of Siikya. He was a native of Wu-yang, of the district of Ping­

,Yang, in t11e province ofShaJl-si. He lell his home and became a s'riimarzera at three years of a ge. The source of Bcal's infonnation is the work called Ko-sang-chuen, which, according to Real. was written durillg the time of the l.i�l1g dynasty, and belongcd to the

. Suh familv ()O? - 507 A f) ).19 Beal's illfonnalion ahout Fa-hsien'� early life ran he

"·=.�.1mi�supplemented by that g iven in Leggc's Introduction to his translation of Fa-hsien's text. Fa-hsicl1 had thrcc brot11ers older t11aJl himself When they died young. the father "had him entcred as a s'nilllonera. slill kccping him at h()mc in the family" When he fell

�dangerously ill, the father scnt him to the monastery wherc he soon got well and refused to return to his parents. When F a-hsien was ten years old, his fathcr died; an uncle urged him to rctlllil hOIlle: tu IllS Illother but he refused tu du su. SiI\lIlg thal hc chose 1110nkhood because he "wished tu be 1;11 li'om the dust ,md \ulgar IliI! s uf ht\;." Whcn he had fillished his noyiciatc, Fa-hs icn, \yhich cicricaillaillc mcalls 'illustriolls in the Lim,' or 'lllustrious master of Ihe La\\.' IlIldCriook his .I0lll·n('\· 10 I ndia. 01' II hich he lert a rccord . Leggc's sources of information arc the aCcollnts of Fa-hsicll given III tile "Memuirs v/lc.'minent

Praha. Aurora Publishers. " .

I anl indebted to Dr. Stefail Faller of the Classics Department of the University of Freihurg for giving me information abOllt this publication through the kind help of Prof. D.P. M. Weerakkody of the Department of Classical Languages of the University of Peradeniya.

Boulton, Nancy Elizabeth. (Date ?). Ear/v Chinese Buddhist TraveL Recordl as a Urel'm), Genre. Dissertation for Ph.D in Chinese. Georgetown University (USA) 518 pp. Thi, nOlc is from an entry in my card catalogue. I was unable to get further information about this study.

Beal, Samuel (1906) op.cil. pp. xi, xii.

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132. _ _ _ MJ"�A H�J'lJ�l)lWK�NDE

Monks", compiled in A D. 5 1 9. and a later work. the "Memoirs o/Marvellous Monks, by Ule third emperor of the M ing dynasty (A.D. 1 403 - 1 424), the content of which he says "is nearly all borrowed from the other. ,,", The first of these sources seems to be the same as that used by Beal. though t here is a discrepancy in the datcs given by the two scholars. Fa-hsien's biography in this source. the Kao-seng-chltan, has been translated by Robert Shih in his Biographies des moines eminent.l· (Kao seng lchouan) de Houei-kiao

Louvain in 1 968 41

The initial paragraph of F a-hsien's text. which states the aim of his travels and the· names of some of his fel low-pilgrims, is as fol lows: " Fa-hian. when formerly residing at. Ch'ang-an, regretted the imperfect condition of the Vinaya pilaka. Whereupon; afterwards, in the second year of Hung-shi. the cyclic year being Chi-hai, he agreed with Hwui-king, Tao-ching, Hwui-ying, Hwui-wu, and others, to go to India for the purpose of seeking the rules and regulat ions (o/the Vinaya). "·c

The accowlI that follows describes the places they visited, the rulers, the m()n". _...!-i and others they met, what they saw and heard, and their yaried personal experiences. hsien's arrival at t1le tOWlI of Piitaliputra, described in chapter XXXVI of his Travels, was a significant event best described in Fa-hsien's own words as follows:

The purpose of Fa-Hian was to seck copies of the Vinaya Pi/aka; but throughout the whole o f N orthcm India the various masters tmsted to tradition only for their knowledge of t1le precepts and had no originals to copy from. Wherefore Fa-Hian had corne evcn so far as Mid­India. But here in the sarighiiral770 of thc Grcat Vehicle, he obtained one collection ofthc precepts, ViL., the collection used by the Mahiisiiilghika assembly. Moreover, he obtained one copy of precepts from dictation, comprising about 7000 g alhiis. This version was that used by the assembly belonging to the school of the Sarvastivadas:

Besides these, Fa-hsien found some Sanskrit texts and a copy of the Abhidharma belonging to the M alliisiii'lghikas, here i n Piitaliputra. so that he spent three years there,

40 Legge, James ( 1 993) op. cit. pp. 1 -3. J

41 On pages 108 - 1 1 5 as noted by Jan Yiin-hua (1995) op. cit. p. 246.

42 Beal, Samuel (1906) op. cit. p. xxii .

;r

Y NOTES ON FA-HSIEN 1 33

engaged in learning to read the Sanskrit books. and to converse in that language, and in copying the precepts. His ambition fulfil led. Fa-hsien continued his joumey to retum to

homeland, alone, as his only companion at the time, To-ching, (others had parted "nmn�nv or died en route earlier) much impressed b�' the strict decorum and the religious

of the sramanas of Mid-India, took lip permanent abode there. After spending two more years in India, in the kingdom of Tiimralipti, "writing out copies of the sacred

(siitras) and drawing image-pictures," Fa-hsien "shipped himself on board a great onprrhant vessel," sailed for founeen davs and nights "and arrived at the country of the

(Simhala, Ceylon) 'HJ

The event of the arrival of Fa-hsien in Sri Lanka is recorded in chapter X�XVII his Travels. This and the next two chapters and part of thc last chapter, the fortieth,

Itain his description of the island - its length �nd breadth, the small islands surrounding the agreeable cl imate and the fonnation of a kingdom as a result of visits of merchants the island, which originally had no inhabitants other than dragons and demons. Among

matters mentioned or described are a visit or the Buddha to the island to convert a evolcnt dragon: the existencc of a monastcry for five thousand monks called

hl"'vagiri, where there was a hall which housed a resplendent jasper figure ofthc Buddha twenty-two leet in hcight: Fa-hsicn's cmotional reaction on seeing a merchant offer

white taffeta fan of Chincse manufacture. to the image: the sacred Bodhi Tree grown out slip of the ' Pei-to' tree brought from India: the ' chapel' of the Tooth of the Buddha in

capital of the city: the noblemen and the rich householders who resided in the city: the rroclarnation made ten days before bringing out thc Tooth of the Buddha in the middle of

third month and taking it to the Abhayagiri Vihiira in procession, where it was ::\lr()r�hi",'\P.d for ninety days before retunling it to the "ihiira within the city; the Malliivihiira

lived three thousand monks: the funcral ceremony of an eminent monk who ;=-!·t:�IUCQ at the Mahiivihiira: the discourse of a ' religious brot1ler' from India, which he

by word of mouth: the mention of Fa-l1Sicn;� rcsidence in the COWltry as being two his obtaining a' copy of the Vinoyo Pi/aka according to the school of the

�Mah&lsakas, a copy oft1le DJrghJgaina, the Miscellaneous Agama (Samyuktagama), and a collcetion of the Pilaka (Sannipata). all thesc works being in the original language ): and how Fa-hsien protected these along with other sacred books and images during perilous and adventurous sea-voyage in a mcrchant vcssel bound for his home

ibid. pp . lxx - Ixxii .

ibid. pp. lxxii - lxxxiii .

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The final paragraph of Fa-hsien's text. which gives in sW1Uuary form the duration and extent oflus travels and the reason that Illotil·ated him to write down his report, is as follows:

.

Fa-hsien started his jOW1le)' from Changall and spent s ix years on the way to the Middle Kingdom, where he stayed for six years; and he spent three years on his retum journey before he re�chcd Chmgchow He trnvelle-d lluough lIcarly lhirl) coulllries. frolll lhc II cst or the Desert to the l�lld or India: �o complete �ccount can be gi\"C:n of th, excellent eonduC"t and re l igious teaching of the monks he met on his journey: but it was to infornl the monks in China of these things that Fa-hsien crossed the seas at the risk of his hwnble l ife. and braved man,' hardships and dangers to I <;lurn hOlll<;. Thallks to lh<; spiritual plot..;dioll of the Thr<A; Pl ccious Gellls, he I \ .IS able to wille saf..:!) L1u ough IllJiI) i-Jcrils_ So he has put down this out l ine of his travels on bamboo and silk, in order that the devout may share a l l his experiences_ This I\as in the cyclic year of Chia Yin:" \Ihich year has becn idcntifieu as :\. D. , 1 1 ·1. ";

The i ncidence of Fa-hsien narrating i ll det a i l what he had I-elated in brief earlier. a5 recorded I I I t he folkm Ing post-scri p t bl a l lot her 111011". IS ( )r I l l terest

'15

46

47

I t was at the end or the SUlllmer retirement in the twelfth war or lhe er a

of" Y i I Is i ui " t l K TSI I I d\l\d:,t\ _ d l ld t l ie \ \;; 1 1 " I' ( ' ;lIWPII� _ " i 1 \:lt li e

welcomed the venerahle Fa-hslen . Wh i le he rel llal lled W i th us. preachi ng.

wc questioned him 'aga in �bout h is travels. �nd found that he was �n unassuming. a llable mall. II ho answereci t ruth rll l " . Wc therelore urged him to give a more detailed account of what he had previdusly narrated so hrieflv. Thus he related his storY once more from beginning to end.

"When I look back on what r have been through," he said, "my heart begins to pound ilnd I st art to Sll eat I risked a l l t hose dangers wi th no

t h0ught for IllVself. becausc , had a fixed purpose and_ s imple as , am_ was s ingle-nunded. That w as why J embarked upon a journey ill which

Li Yung-hsi ( 1 957) op. cie. pp. 92 - 93.

ibid. p. 93 .

Identified by L i Yung-hsi as A. D . 4 16. ibid.

- � - -- �---------------

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN

death seemed almost certain, and I had OIlC chance only ill ten tllOusand of surviving."

We were moved by what he said. Such men as this are rare,

whether in ancient times or at the present day. Since the Great Religion travel led cast tllere has been no one 10 equal Fa-hsien in his seIness search tor the La\\". From this we I\1J:- knOll thai all iliings an: possible to the sinccre of hc:art, JlIU all thi l lg� call b� acwmplishcd if a Iilail has cietei-minnl ion. For is it not Ime llJ.11 he �lI=dlAi blXJUSe he disregarded what others value. and valued whill others disrcgard?4�

1 35

The language oftlle Buddhist texts that Fa-hsien found ill Ceylon (Sri Lanka) has reccil ed the altellliuu iJ[ l \\".J<: JOllg I I I I l lS eOl llnoulion to Volume IX ( l'.Il! I) of the o/the ['(IIi T£:xt wci£:I)', i-Jublishw ,I� PiU-, of its ��lIlCl1aJy �deoraliolls. I" lJt: Jong

the discussion by citing E.W.Adikaralll. who says: "When Fa Hien left Ceylon. he look with him a cop�' of the V ina\a Pitaka of the M ahisasaka school. the D1rghagama and the S il lllYllk1�g�\Ina (sulr:Js) and also tbe SaI)J� uJ,.lils'1I1cha) iI-pitaka, all wrillCll in

anskri t . ".\0 Adikaram published his book in 1 946. The authority he gives for his atement on the texts that Fa-hsien took with him II'h('n he Ie-ft {'cvlon and the language

111 wilich t hc� \\ ere \\ rt t lcil IS .l ames Legge's trans l a t ion ( I X X (, ) of Fa-hsicn's te,1 . where Leggc uescribcs the books J' a-hslcn obtaIned in Ceylon as Sanskrit works."

The lIord I ISIAI b) F,,-hsi�11 to UCi\()t� the language: 01" the te\ts he fOllilU I I I Ceylon De Jong draws attent ion to K R Nmllliln's "ie\\' on the meaning of this word,

" .

i . i YUllg-hs i ( 1 957) op. cit llP , 93 - 94.

De long, l .W . ( 1 98 1 ) . up- eil. IJP. 1 05 - 1 1 6 .

Adikarilm, E .W . ( 1 946) . Early lIistory of BuddhislIl in Ceylon. Colombo, 1 946. pp _ 94 - 95; The second illlpressioll of this buuk, used by de lOllg, appeared in Colombo in 1953; a third impression, wrungly described as the second by the publishers: The Buddhist Cultural Centre, Dehiwala, Sri Lanka, was releaseu in 1 994.

Legge , James ( 1 886) op. cit. p. 1 1 1 .

-----_. _----

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published in rul article in 1 978. ,: There NOllllan pointed out that t�" word fan, as used by Fa-llSien himself, mcans ' Indian ( language)'. and that without further evidence there is no way of saying whether the lrulg1tage was Sanskrit. Prakril or Pali ." Dc Jong states that the only further evidence available is to be fOlUld in the Chinese translations of the texts, which Fa-hsien took to China. After a discussion of such e\'idenee, de long concludes as fol lows: "Thc Chincse sources show that in the first hall' of the fifth century, contacts between Buddhist communities in India, Ceylon and China were vcry closc. It is therefore quite probable tlwt Buddhist texts composed in Sanskrit. Prakrit and Buddhist Hybrid Srulskrit were available in Ceylon and were brought rrol11 there to China ";" In 1 997, Jonailian S. Walters equates the word fan with Buddhist Sanskrit. when he says: "Faxian specifically mentions ilial his long-teml hosts at the Abhayagiri gave him texts in Buddhist Sanskrit (Fan)."s.' Walters does not refer to any discussion based on which he came to this conclusion.

The value of Fa-hsien's visit to Sri Lanka and thc record he made of it has been ' widely recognised. The nineteenth century writer. J ames Emerson Tennent, makes much

use of Fa-hsien's personal testimony as a source in his book on Ceylon.56 D.P.MWeerakkody, who examined the Greek and Roman notices of Sri Lanka and their

historical context in a recent publ ication ( 1 997). says that "None of them can claim to a deep understru1ding of Sri Lanka's l ife and thought as revealed in a Chinese writer such as Fa-hsien."51 S.G.M.Weerasinghe. who publ ished a book entitled: A History of Cull lira I

52

53

54

55

56

57

Norman, K . R . ( 1 978) . "The role of Pali in early S inhalese Buddhism " , in Heinz Bechert (ed . ) Buddhism in Ceylon and Studies on Religious Syncretism in Buddhist Countries. Gottingen 1 978 (The reference as given by de long).

" .

ibid. p. 39 as noted by de Jong ( 198 1 ) op. cit. p . 1 05 .

De Jong, J . W . ( 1 98 1 ) op. cit. p . 1 1 3 .

Walters, Jonathan S . ( 1 997) . " Mahayana Theravada and the origins of the Mahavihara. " The Sri Lanka Journal 0/ the Humanities. Vol . XXIII Nos. 1 and 2. University of Peradeniya. Sri Lanka. pp. 1 06 - 1 07 .

Tennent, S i r lames Emerson ( 1 859) . Ceylon. An Account 0/ the Island, Physical, Historical, and Topographical. Vols . I and I I . London.

Weerakkody, D . P . M . ( \ 997) . Taprobane. Ancient Sri Lanka as known to

"'-''V

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA·HSIEN 1 37

Relations between Sri Lanka and China. stales that Bhiksu Fa-hsien, who lived at the Abhayagiri Vihara for two years (4 1 1 - 4 12 A.C). was in fact the historical architect of me establislmlent of the amicable relations betwecn the two cOlUltries .'8 In a Prologue to Weerasinghe's publication ( 1 995), the then Minister of Education, Higher Education and CuJtw'al Affairs echoes the same sentiment, whell he says that Fa-hsien's visit "seems to be me begimung of tlle mutual tUlderstrulding between Sihaladipa and China."59 This point of view is affim1ed in the message from H.E. the Ambassador for China in Sri Lanka, d"ted Colombo, I" June 1 994, printed on page V l I of Weer asing he's book, which reads as follows. "The Chinese Buddhist monk Fa-Hsicn (5th ccntuI), A.C) and the SinJlala navigator Nandi (5th century A.c.) were tl1e architects of the cultural relationship iliat developed between the two l ands. " Page 22 of Weerasinghe's publication contains a picture of "Fa-Hsien Maim Ther.a". The namc of the artist or the source from which it is rcproduced is not indicated. An imaginary portrait of Fa-hsien, by Kushan Maftjusri, appears on page 20 of Sri Lanka and the Silk Road afthe Sea, published in Colombo in 1990.6<)

Local tradition associates the Buddhist cave tcmple called Fahiengala or PahiengaJa wiili tlle name of our pilgrim Fa-hsien. S. U. Dcraniyagala, the present Director General of Archaeology in Sri Lanka, who first examined this cave site in 1 968, says iliat this cave, situated in Yatagampitiya village near Bulathsinhala in the Kalutara District in the lowland Wet Zone, is probably the largest cal'c in the country. and that excavations were undertaken at this cave site by W.H.Wijepala, Director (Excavations) of the Archaeological Survey Department in J 986 Md 1 988 61 Wijepala and N .Perera (Technical

58

S9

60

61

Greeks alld �omans. Brepols . p. 1 6 .

Weerasinghe, S .G , M . ( 1 995) . A History o/the Cultural Relations between Sri LanJw and Chin£l. An Aspect o/the Silk Route. Colombo. Ministry of Cultural Affairs. p. 1 03 .

ibid. Prologue (B). p . XI .

Bandaranayake , Senake et al . ed. (1990). Sri Lanka and the Silk Road o/the Sea . Colombo. The Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO and the Central Cultural Fund.

Deraniyagala, S . U . ( 1 992) . The PrehistOlY a/ Sri Lanka. Memoir Vol . 8. Department of Archaeological Survey. Government of Sri Lanka. Part II .

" .

'So

tpi . rrr' · �

1l8_ RATN� HANJ1lJJHJKA_ND� . _ _ _ . _ _

Assistant) directed field operations at this and 1\\0 othcr cave sites, namely Belilena Kitulgala and Batadomba-lcna. Deran iyagala, who sketched the salient results of their operations as addenda to his publication. The I'rehislOlY a/Sri Lanka, in 1 992, expected the reports prepared by them to add a new dimcnsion to prehistoric archaeology in Sri Lanka 6:

- � "'!'JY ':

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN 1 39

one can deny the possibi l ity of the Buddhist monk Fa-hsien's stay in this cave on his to Sri Pada or the Samanala area ("; The word Sri Piida, which literally means the icious or glorious footprint, is used to denote a mountain peak in Sri Lanka called

;amantakiita. It is said that the Buddha left the mark of his footprint on this mountain he visited the island for the third t imc, resulting in the mountain becoming a sacred

ofpilgrimage 67 That Fa-hsicn knel\" this legend is clear from a statement in chapter W . H. W iJayapa\a (whose name was spell as W IJepala by Deraniyagala), has ·;":=Xi�.XXXVll1 of his text describing Sn Lanka, which James Legge translated as follows:

evaluated the data that emerged from the eave sites he excavatcd 111 a thesis submitted ior .��,:' �'!. !When Buddha came to this country, wishll1g to transfonll the wicked nilgas, by his the degree of lJoctor of Philosophy al lhe Ul1lverSllY ot' Peradel1lva. Sn Lanka, 111 October -� 'it Esupematural power he p lanted one foot at the north of the royal city, and the other on the 1 997 63 Chapter 3 of this thesis the t itle of which is : Nell; Ughl on the Prehistory afSri .. '? .... 1,' ,,(op of a mountain, the two bcing fifteen yojanas apart. ,,'" D. T.Devendra says that when Lanka in the context o(recent investigations ot cave sites, discusses the Fa-hs len cave Sf ' -II · the distance as given by Fa-hsien is reckoned in tenllS of modem measurement, the under the following t�pics: Fahienlcna at Bulathsinhala: The Excavation: Fahienlena ":'"

'�'�ountain he rcfers to is "s ituated in a stra ight line exactly where Sri Pada lies."69 Stratigraphy and Chronology: Stone Artefacts: Bonc Artefacts; FaWlal Remains; Human ":.o;�--1 FWeerasinghe, who describes Pahiyangala as a place in which arc found "cloistered caverns, Skeletal Remains and the Conclusion ' " Appcndlx I I I of WI,Iayapala's theSIS contall1s ,��, � JlOnds of purest water and ruined cetiyas" rerers to the: belief or the Villagers that Fa-hsten information on the stratigr�Jlhy of sites A and [3 that he excavated, and l ists and �' ''' .. ' '{' l ived there i n a cave "about 3 5 0 feet up on the rock" . ' " and also to the recent discovery of i l lustrations of stone lind bone mtefacts found at the s i tes '; : ��;. a 'Chinese tray' on which the "torloise story" is said to be depicted, in a cave in this rock.7 1

Wijayapala noted that the Buddhist temple know11 at present as the ' Pahiengala AllcicIIl l J isloric Cal c TCl l l plc' i s famul I, ()Il aCCou l l t n r thc hcl i c r th �1t the Chincse pilgrim Fa-hsicn had stJ\"cd thcre on h i s I\ a\ to t\ d�lIn's Pl'�l k ( S ri Pilda) W h i l e point ing out that

there is "no evidence at the s i tc. in the chroniclcs or from epigraphical or archaeological data" in support of such a belief. WiVl\<ipala sal's lh�lt according to some scholars the word Falllcnga i a or Pahlcng a l a could bc a I l ngli is t ic dCII \ a t l ll l l llr l 'II-/Il I11-,I;o/a. which III thc Sll�lala langll<tg� lll�allS tllc ' luw';l bUlInJdlY Ill-':\" . ' I luI\c\ ,;r. Wij,,) "Vala con�cdcs that

62

(/\

64

65

-,

A ddendum 1 p . 69' .

ibid. Part 1. Acknowledgments. p . X I V .

W iJayapa\a, W . H . ( 1 997 ) . Ne w LIISIIi VII llie Prelii,,/UIY uj Sri Lallka ill the

cOlltext oj recelll Ill vestilSLlllvllS (It <:Llve "iles. Ph. D thesis submitted to the

U niversity of Pcradcniya in October 1 997 . Vol. 1 . i - v i i 467 pp. Vol. 1 1 . pp . 470-731.

ibid. Listed under contents on p . v . of Vol . 1 .

ibid. Vol . 1 1 . pp. 652 - 68 1 .

Tra n s l a t i ll i lS ( 1r LI-hsicl l \; acc< ' 1 1 1 1 \ " r h i s tr:1 \ cis i l l l t ) the Sinhab Ianguagc Jiso

ibid. 'i ll! . I . p. 3Ml.

Malalas.:kcra, G . P . ( 1937). Die/iuwll)' of Pah Pruper Names. Reprinted 1960. s . v . Sam�ntakiita .

Legge, James ( 1 886) ap. ci!. p. 102 .

D�vclldra. D . T . ( 1 960) . " Fa-Hsien in Ceylon. " Cteyloll Today . December 1 960 . p p . 22 - 23 . ReprilHed in Ihe Sri Lankan newspaper Dailv News on

February \ 7 , 1 998.

Wccrasiughe . S . G . M . ( 1995) op.cit. p. 73.

ibid. p . 9 1 . The source Weerasinghe cites for this information is : Gunaratne , Rohan. Sino- Lankan Connection. Colombo. 1987 . p . 85 .

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attest his popularity in Sri Lanka. W.Charics de Silva. Ad\"Ocate, published his translation with notes in 1 9 2 1 . 7 2 The title of the text gi ven on the cover page as Fa Hien 's Buddhist Kingdoms and Travels (399 - 4 14) has bccn rendered into Sinhala as Piihiyange Ballddha Riijadhiini saha Vandan ii Gaman Vislaraya (Chr. era. 399 - 4 1 4) . N .J.Coorey and Sons were the printers of this book. [n the Preface. de Silva acknowledges with gratitude the help he received from Venerable Kahave Ratanasara of the Vidyodaya Pirivena at Mal igakanda. Six short appendices included in this publication deal with the following themes: the biography of Fa-hsien: Fa-hsien's Buddhist Kingdoms and Travels; (the Bodhisattva) M aiijuSrl; the cities of Kanauj and Nalanda: Fa-hsien and Anuradhapura; and' (the measure of distance) yodlll1i7 (yo/ana). A general index is given at the end of the text.

,....

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN 141

Adachi and L i Yung-hsi . ); The Sinhala translations o f de Silva and Ananda Maitreya Thero are not refen'ed to in Ven. Wimalabuddhi's work. The popularity of his translation. which was sold out in a short time, led Wimalabuddhi Thero to bring out a second edition 'in 1 960. In an introductory note to this edition. Ven. Wimalabuddhi says that the UNESCO award made for this publication in 1 958 was a great source of encouragement

him.

All three Sinhala tral1slations discussed above include the report of another monk ap pended to Fa-hsien's text. This report has lent support to a speculation that Fa-hsien

. wrote two accounts of his travels. A second and longcr account, if it was ever written, has not come down to us. '6

Venerable Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Sthayira publ ished a translation of Fa­hsien's record along with that of another monk. Sung Yun. in 1 958 . " In the Foreword to ,;- Fa-hsien has received attention in D.P. Ponnamperuma's publication in Sinhala this translation. which he calls Fa-hsiC!11 .)'11/'11 YUI/1 J)C!namagC! Gam an Vilti, Ananda :' entitled Videshm dulU Purii)a LafIJkJva (Ancient Ceylon as seen by foreigners), published Maitrcya Sthavira refers to the previous translations of Rcmusat, Beal, Giles, Legge and in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1 96 1 . The sources he used for the section on Fa-hsien77 in this Li YWlg-hsi. Of these he found the translations of Beal and Li YWlg-hsi more acceptable. _ book are the Sinhala translations of Balagalle Wimulabuddhi Thero and Ananda MaitTeya He based his own translation on that of Li Yung-hsi. Referring to the Sinhala translation �. Mahathero and the English translations of Legge and Beal . of Charles de Silva, Venerable Ananda Maitreya says that he found many discrepancies between de Silva's translation and the English translation he (Ananda Maitreya) used.

A third Sinhala translation of F a-hsien's Travels appcared in Colombo in 1 958,74 the same year in whieh Ven Ananda Maitrcya's translation was published. This translation. made by Venerable Balagalle Wimalabuddhi Thero, Professor of Sinhalese at the Vidyodaya University of Ceylon at the time, won the UN ESCO award for literature for 1 95 8 . W imalabuddhi Thero made use of the Korean edition of Fa-hsien's Chinese text printed by Legge in 1 886, in addition to the translations of Beal, Giles, Legge. Kiroku

72

73

74

.'.

De Silva , W . Charles ( 1 92 1 ) . P:lhiyange Bauddha Riijadh,ini saha Vandana Gaman Vistaraya (399 - 4 14) . (The place of publication is not mentioned.)

Ananda Maitreya Sthavira, Balangoda ( 1958). Fa-hsien Sum Yum Denamage Gaman Vitti. Maharagam a Saman Mudran5laya. (Maharagama is a suburb of Colombo) .

Wimalabuddhi Sthavira, Balagalle ( 1 958). Bauddha Riijadhani Pilibandha toratul'll namvu Fa-hien-ge De5fJ,alla Vartava (Sinhalese Translation of A Kecord of Buddhist Kingdoms or The Travels of Fa-hsien . Colombo. M . D , Gunasena and Co. Ltd . . Second edition 1 960 .

Fa-hsien continues to attract Ole attention of Sri Lankans. Bandula Jayawardhana published a dramatised semi-docunlentary version of Fa-hsien's account of his travels in 1 994 under the title, Bare/ool to Immorlalily 7R Here, as is stated in the Preface, Jayawardhana's aim was "to highlight the very hunlan story that underlies Fahsien's record of his travels," and to breathe "life into the figures and events" that appear in it. That he

.has sueceeded in doing so is best expressed in Lakshmi de Silva's description of J ayawardhana's episodic drama as "a vivid and sensitive recreation firmly based on historical events in dramatic ten11S. of the Quest of Fa-hsien," which "fine[y evokes the perils and splendours of Ole joumey from the desert ways to the colourf ul'COurts of Eastern

ibid. Foreword .

ibid.

Ponnamperuma, D . P . ( 1 96 1 ) . Videshin du(u Punl'Ja Lamkiva. Mahanuvara. Arya Mudranalaya. pp. 56 - 68 .

Jayawardhana. Bandula ( 1994). Barefoot to Immortality, Colombo. S.Godage and Brothers .

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\

.,

.142 __ RATNA IJ�NPl!RVKANQli:

princes and to the idyllic monasteries springing up from thc' sanddwles of the Gobi," and

in which "it is the hwnan element that is most rcal istically presented, with Fahsien and his

companions sharing the length of space and time, poignantly bounded by the ties of

friendship and aspiration.")9 An earlicr radio vcrsion of Jayawardhana's drama, submitted

by Lhc Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation for an international compctition, won the

commcnl Umt it was a plea for peace among mankind.:«' Dramas based on Buddhist Ulemes

ill'''; [�\\ ill nwnbcr :md Jay:t\\,:trdh:tn:t's contnbutlOn to t h i S I l i erar�' !jenre IS c.ommendHble.

R ATN A H <\NfH l R l 1K A NOE

.,

79 ibid. Note on the back-cover .

80 ibid. Preface .

TOW ARDS NEW DEFINITIONS OF LITERATURE

I propose to suggest new definitions of literature by way of a discussion of Lhe "Commonwealth Litcrature" and a reconsideration of the English canon.

The telm "Commonwealth Literature" has been the subject of controversy for over 25 years. There has been an expanding mass of l iterature wTitten in English outside ,;:;;;t;;: Bl il"ill, mainl" by 1-'<:01-'1.: il ull I lhe various eX-C0lomes, many ot whom have never neen .- t(l Rritain . There i s so much of th is l i terature noll' that i t is he\'ond douht a field in itself.

"� [n his article "Shaping the language to the landscape" . 1 Alast air Niven discusses how hest

=. -_I. . .-..

' to describe it from his position in Britain and I will do so from my base outside, far away � . �" in Sri Lanka. I too lind the lenn "Commonwealth Literature" still uscful, Lhough not strictly ::±;:'i �. or always accurate because of the (earlier) exclusion of South A frica and the changing

c', status of Pakistan " I ts pllnni�h assert ion of a shared crenlil'e prosperity" (NiI'Cll) is . .. attract ive More rreeise is the incorporation of the- icka of � e0I11111011\1'Cn l , the literature �� and criticism in various regions proving mutual ly beneficial and enriching, and working

towards the general good of tJle \"hole. In Ill\' case, hOllcl'crc tJ1C associations of radical i Sill in the word "Col11lllol1\\'ealth" do not operale Ncither clo the:, for Salillan Rushdie despite his British education and citizenship '" But it is understandable that these do for an

_ Englisrunan. The establisrunent of a Commonwealtll in Cromwell's England was inlportant -

as L l I<'; eJI I I\ I l l<l.lur. ami SlICCc:sst lli, l eI elll agalnSl lhc Inollarch\ I I I Ll Ig!;md. I he: d(;Clarallon

. of :t Conlilloll\\ calth in Mass;ldlllsclts IS Importanl be:callsc Allle:rica was the iirst BritIsh

.::r'� ·colony to rebel against the mother country and dccl:lrc independence. The: [oUllding or

COlllmOIl\\'ea l ihs hClth I I I M a,sachl ls,·t l � and A ustra l ia n:prCsL' I l IS ;1 breaking <1\\'ay from _ � f3riLaIll by people of Lhc samc race amI, IIIde:cd, ul'Igllwll) 1\;1\0\\ COllJlU,)'l1len.

The: lC1 11l " Posl-wlullial Lite:railire" has dirkre:lll aSSOCiations lor IllC and A b�[(ur . Niven RaLher Ulan being "too wnbilical ly bipding to Britain" (Niven), to me it signifies

rupture. Yet it is seriously inaccurate in that this literature not only has antecedents and impOrlalil develuplllents hel ore Independence and t he tonndll1!j ot' the ( 'ommomvealth of

Nations and also traditions, espeCially in India, reaching back to periods earlier Lhan . British, even Westem, imperialism.

The term " N ew Literatures I II l:ngllsh" could conl:CII ;Ibly Jppc;u' lo be gl\ lIlg "J misplaced el11phasis to recent :luthors" O'li\cn), bUl, lo me, ils point is lhal it serves to

A lastair Niven, "Shaping the language to the landscape", in Times Literary Slippil!lIIC:l1 I , September 1 4-20. I Y<)O.

Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands: /!:�says and Criticism /98/-/991

(London: Granta, 1 <)9 1 ), p. 68.