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] ___ 1 NAKAR OJtl}Lt_NILll_ AN _,

Translation
Hail Prosperity. The refuge of the entire world. The Virava)aiceyar possessing the
long luminous and fiery spear, endowed with the edict oftlle Five Hundre Heros,
famous tlJroughout the world on account of their valour and whose faces are adored
by Laksmi are the offspring of the lineages of Sri Vasudeva, Khandhali and
MHlahhadra -r hey ohsrve st.ad[atly tle lIubk I\\ of the "ssocition (oroyc~)in
the eighten pa1!inam (tows)_ the thirty-hvo vc/apuram (coastal towns) and the sixty
fou katikait-tavalam. They are the children or ParameSvan of Alya(p)polil who
resides in all towns.
The eigteen paHinam, the thirty-two vclipllram, the sixty-four
kalikaillava/am. the ceHipultirar. the ka\'arai. the katripan. the kamuntasvimi, the
oUan, tepaclIm-paik-kiran, the allkakkarull, the unaHimlll1, thc ... vii-Uil, the
pavafai-vlran, those who arc prufi.icnt ill Sall$hlit amI Tamil and those who rde
donkes which never falter, those who conduct their business in conformity with laws
so U to enable the sceptre to be held forward prominently so that rightcousness shall
prevail ..uJcvil will disappear, witll their fame spreading in all directions. All these
ae te Five Hundre of the thousand directions in the eighteen colmtries and te four
quarers (of the earth)
Wc, 'the h'lm;$ uf thc 'lbhlcenlal1ds (p,III1IC1lpiillli-\ irar) including Kmlliya
llIull"r, "Wlchcd O tllem (make this resoloo) We have heen greatlv honoured by
!he I'cmmnkka/ ( govering body) of !he Macenakl11al11 otherwise called
Tmllllacakarap'pallinam. They secured the release or our 'COl11palllon' Mudava)an
Muttan otherwise calle niinit<ciyiil)lan, who \\+Io arrested by Ve1latutaiyar and put o
chaill$, aner paying d ransom inl11onc' (alankaell) Resides. Ihev have made (a) silver
amulet(s) and presented them to ll5 and ha\'e named l attLsted by us] the
patinenpllmivirar. Tiralan .. " Varakalatara-kattilulla natluccetti, Tiralan Kampan
otherwise called Pilbiccabla nnatcci itta Munivallapa-nanatecikckon, Natan
namvmumuriyan, kllll<U kalall olherwi$c c.tllcd NW'ayiran tacamati-l1l1ll1mata
varanappillai, virakol Murperarayan Kuuan otherwise called Ainnurruva-mantila
ayiralanr, Pia ealan otherwise called Cenapativantan, Kmpn Villan otllcrise
ca!led Cenapa!i virakalai. nattarayan Kalman Aruvanampala-pillai-yantan,
Tiruvarankan Era otherwi$c calill Teciyaparanap-pillai. FurgclnotJlIslice.
S, PATHMANATHAN

-T-
h"1HY "l1h lD A-Hb11""
Travel accounts of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who visited lndia during the ely
of the Christian era are an important component of the Buddhist literature of
Having heard about the founder of Buddhism and the places conserate by h
from about the first century A.D" when Buddhist boks were reeived in Cha,
pilgrims visited India, to sec the places associated with the Buddha's life, to lear t
dtne fom teachers in the eOlmtry of its origin, and to collect sacred books which 0
_,....llilo ChilICC. The accoWlts of their joureys left by tel\' ofhem are vllIable
utc> as contemporary recous of histuric'II (\'ills, social customs and 'traditions,
ppular fOllll$ uf Buudhist worship aml bcli,[andthe religious Jtl110sphcrc that pre\'ailed
the host countries.
A sI11dy of these Chinese source in moem times is said to have ben inaugute
[he publication or C.J.I'eumann's lI'url. .)on the uJd:i:tp:lg..as\Iho came
hiJ:.'On. vf Illc LililiL:t of the: ChllICC luuJhisl pilgrilll \\+!o r:lhsicn, the hlIO\\TI
- ,rid of whose activity is placed between the years 399 and 41 8 A.D.2 His memoir,
k
the Foe KOlle KI or ANarrative a/Buddhist Kingdoms, wastranslated into French
lhe Chinese, anu conllnLnlw Up OI by Abel RCl1usal. This translation and the
cuuenlar were revised and published wit additional details by Klaproth and Landrese
in Paris. in I n(. afer the death of Rel1JlIsatJ The transl ation of Fa-hsien's account of his
jOllnley given there. dll'ided into fort\' chapters. IS precede b\ U lengthv introdHLtion by
Landresse. whIle It is lollowed by two appendices: (1) a geographical reswne 01"t1C
important places mentioned bv FH-hslCn and (2) the itinerarY of Hiuau Thsag, who
lisitcl India III tile s(;\ vlIlli c.ntlll) AD. r\ map IJI(parcd b\ Klproth, dated IX33. gi\'cn
The mUlle of tills Chillesc ptlgrim |o vanoLisly spell The spelling j have adopted
is lhat given in the Encylopaedia a/Religion ed. by Mircea Eliade. Vol 5, Ne
York. 1 955. p. 245. V1icare use such as Fa-Hiell, Fa-hian, Fa-Hi an, Faxian.
Bhtcharyya. N.N. (993). Buddhism in the Histor o}Indian IdeU. New Delhi. p.
3.
Jan Ylin-hua (1''5). Fahsien (tl. 399 - 41 !). The cuopaea|oo]ke/|,ieieit
Mirca Eliade. Vol. 5. New York. p. 245 (n, nourished).
Rcmusat, Abcl (1836), Foe KOlle Ki UIl Relation des Royal/mes Bouddhiques: Voyage
d 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. Oge
PosthumC. Revu, complete, et 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 bok, 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 Idia U perceived by the Chinese and showing the itinerary of Hiuan Thsang; (2)
paintings depicting te 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 bok Buddhist Pilgrims published in 18696 This bok is listed in the bibliogaphy of
the text and translation of the memoir of a Korean monk who visited India in the eighth
centur . S.Beal. Travels of Fa Hian and Sung yiin, London, 1869-' A paper on Idian
Jan Yiin-hua (1995) op.cit, p. 246.
Smith, Vincent A. (1957). The Early History ofIndia (first published 1924) 4t
h
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,lion of Si-yu-ki, the travel account of Hiuen Tsiang. See notes 9 and
10 below.
'
The Rye Ch' Diar: Memoir ofthe Pilgrimage to the Five Regions ofIl ....
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
a 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 b 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 summar of the histor 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
bok written by I-tsing or the same dnasty. 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 |884,9 and reprinted in 1906.10 The narrative
of Fa-hsien, comprising fort chapters, given here, is titled Fo-/o-ki, The Travels of Fa
Buddhist-Country-Records, by Fa-hian. the a oflhe Sung (Dynast). (ate,
AJ) 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.
Beal reprouced 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
Sme Remark on the Narrative ofFa-hien was published in the Society's Joural
Beal, S. (1881). Indian Travels of Chinese Buddhists. Te 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 Wester 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 Wester 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 SOCiet,
1894.14

FA-HSIEN
127
luOIlSncu in London and Shanghai,IH where he says he corrected many of Beal's glaring
Unfort1l tely, 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 subsequntly
Professor of Chinese in the University of Call1bridge.o Vincent Smith remark
. .
~
ggt the notes in Giles' translation, which are largely devoted to incisive criticisms on the
Samuel Heal. olle of the earliesL schoial s Lv velllwe on CIUIlCSC studIes, ``" carlY work of Real. afford Imle help to the reader who desires to study tht pilgrim's
gr0du0t of the tiniYcrsity of Cmnhridge. a retired

chap
lain
.
a rector
l
_
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W
a
rl A- ,---to- an i-)-----rview But he nl\1e Giles' "scarce little volume" as
Not!vbeIandetc. <no Professor of Chinese. UmversIlv College, London
:

.
That h\."
ninoepenoent rendering of the difcldt rhinese text hv a highly qualifed linguist

P
wor
k contmues to be recoglllsed as auth
O
ritatIve IS attested by the
I
ndIan edItIO
ns ofh
l '.
also notes that some of the errors j Giles' work were corrected by Watters hIS arIcle
translaton of tile Si-yu-ki, published in Calcutta i1957 and 1958 and reprinted in 1963
:. a_ hsien and his English Translators', in Volume VlII of the China ReView.I
.
T.Waters,
and U Del lu H 198117
Rr1tlsh Consul at Ichang, IS credIted With a series of artIcles on this ilieme Uthe China
[n 1877, H.A Giles prcscnted a HUV t ranslHtion of Fa-hsien's text, which was "
of 1879 and 1880, which arc said to bc "of the highest \nlue, displaying an
ofrhint'se scholarship ini an e"tensive knowledge ofRlldohism
??
l`
Beal, S. (1HH7). "Sullie Relllarks Vlllh{ Narative of Fa-hien". The JOllral o
the Royal Asiatic Society. New Series. Vol. 19. London. pp. 191 - 206.
|l
Lanman, CR. \18<4). "An Imiu{UL in th Lik of tlte Illustrious Chinese . -_
ludJhi sl Monk, Fa-hsi{ll." JUUllliJ.[ orile AlIlerican Oriental Sociery. pp.
c.U\v-cxxxi.\ Tilese p:It'P; J1U lllis,illg ill the cnpy nf vnl Ii of lilt Joural
( published ill IH95) kept iu lhe l ibrHry of tilt: Univcrsity of Peradeniya. The
page giving the contents of the journal lists this article.
15
Beal, Samuel (1906). op.cit. titl page; Te Indian Antiquar. Vol. X. 188l.
p. iii ,ivin,the contents of lite volullle ill which Bcal published anarticie. See
note 8 above.
Ib
BeaL Samuel. (1957: 195R: 1963). Si-vu-ki. Rllddhist Records ojthe Wester
World translated ftomthe Chinese of Hillen Tsiang. Second edition. Vol. 1.
Calcutta 1957: thi rd edition 1963. Vols. 2,3 and 4. Calcutta 1958. Thc_
Almost d decade later - in 1886. to bc precise J<lllCS Legge. Professor of Chinese
Lan3l1age and I .i tCratme 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 IX7)
cliies, H .A. ([923). Ihe Trveis o]foa-hsien (3YY - 414 A.D.) or Record of lite
BudJili.llic Kingdol/ls. Retranslated. Call1bl idge. Jibliographic<l1 Note. p.
XliI.
.
Giles, Herbert A. edited (1<65). Cover of Gems oj Chinese LilerCllure. 2
volumes bund in one. New York 1965. (Republication of the second edition
ofl923). The fust editionofVol. I - pisc waspullih.Jiu1883, according
to the Preface to the Pirst Edition signed I 1601 Octoher 1883. vide Giles
(1965) p. xiv; Vol. II - verse was first published in 1898. ibid. p. 29.
publisher's note in Vol. I s tates thaI It is a verbatim rtprint of Book I ofthe
original edition (Loi1don IHH4), the ubsequel1l portion of which was to be
..
Smith. Vincent A (!~7)op.cir. p.
completed in three more volumes.
\
Beal, Samuel (1981). Si-yuki. Budhist Records of the Wester World.
volumes. Reprint of the London 1884 edition. Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass.
Legge, James (1886). A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. Being an account by
the Chinese Monk Fa-hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399 - 414)
in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline. Oxford. Preface p. xii.
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for aboutt years, published his translation of Fa-hsien's Travels in India and Ceylon_*`
-
which was reprinted in New Delhi in 1993.c4 In the Preface to his book, Legge says that
he te to read through the 'Narrative of Fa-hiLn several times dw-ing his long residence
in Hong Kong, but without much success, due to some diffculties. Though one of te
difculties was removed with the appearance of Dr. Eitel's lcoJ|ook[rthe Students '
Chinese BlIddhism in 1870, he did not "lok into the bok" for many years. In 188,when
he began to leture 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 atten|ion of Smith In
924, is the re-transla:ion 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. ` 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 69 is rea|ly an English
:tanslation of Remusat's work. in which he reprouce all Remusat's mistakes while adding
the same time Boen Sanskrit scholar, he wrote out a translation in English of nearly half:
the narrative. In J885, 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 aanslation of Fa-hsien's Narrative and copious notes, Legge's book has a reproduetio
of the Chinese text fom a Korean rnsion,`' 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 lef behind some of his own: and that Legge. in his :.slation of 1886,
largely his crections 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 chk to the
eniovment of the reader as he travels along Yith F U-hsicn on his stupendous jouey 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 ersion of Fa-hsien's Narrative. Stating
tllat tlle Chinese narrative j 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 eader. Smith, whose opinion of the previous translations of Fa-hsien's Travels we
have noted above. refers to Legge's work (!886)as the latest at the time he wrote (J924)
and considers it on the whole tlle most sericeable. However, he expresses his reservation
about tlle notes which, he says, le much to b dCsire.` Legge has recently (1995) ben
described as "the only British Chinese scholatof 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 walke from Cental China across the desert of Gobi, over the Hindu
ad dlrough India do\\1l to ilie mouili of tlle Hogly. where he took ship and retured
sea, after m.ifold hairbreadth escapes, to China, bringing with him what he went forth
secure - boks of the Buddhist Canon and images of Buddhist deities"
23
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Legge, James (1993) . Rerint 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 Norilier Sung edition from Tung Chan Monastery,
Foochow, A.D. 110, the Northern Sung edition from Kai Yuan monastery,
Foochow, A.D. !148, the Southern Sung edition from Ssuhsi, Huchow;
Chekiang, A.D. 1239 vide Li Yung-hsi (1957). A Record of the B,st
Countries by Fa-hsien. Translated from the Chinese. Peking. The Chinese
Buddhist Association. p. 10.
Smith, Vincent A. (1957) op. cit. p. 25.

Fa-hsien's work continue to receive the attention of scholars in dilTercnt

cowltries. Prabodh Chandra Bagchi discussed Fa-hsien's translations and iting in
Vo|ume 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
Barrett T.H. Singular ListlCssness. a Shon History of Chinese Books and
British Scholars. London. 1989. Journal ofthe Royal Asiatic Societ ofGreat
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. Ls
Traducteurs ft les Traducriolls. Sino-Indica. Publications de l'Universite de
Calcutta. Tome ler Paris 1927. pp. 3 47 - 348.
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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 D. Thich Minh Chau, a Vietnamese monk,
who spenl much of hiS time at the Nava Nalandll Mahavihara in India illlhe early 19GOs.
cnjoingits peacefl.illtmospherc and making use of its rich librar
.\2
Fa-hsien's text was translated into Tamil and published in ChelUlai (Madras) in
1963.33 This translation by Irakavan, edited by Mahavidvan Cindamanicelvar
Verugopalapillai. has three appendices: I. giving place names in Tamil. English and
Chincsc; II. giying namcs ofpcople: nd Ill. giving COllllllon !'IT Thcse appendices
1L followed by comprehcnsive index
Josef Kolmas' translation of Fd-hsiLns 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,
J
'J
2
JJ
`+
3
Li Yung-hsi (I Q'7). A Rernrd c] thI Buddhist Countries by Fa-hsien .
Trnslated frolll the Chinese. PekinR. The Chillese Buddhist Association. p.
In.
Noted in d list of publications of Bhikshu Dr. Thich Minh Chau of Vietnam in
his bookHsuan Tsang. The Pilgrim and Scholar. Vietnam. Nha-Trang.
Vietnam Buddhist Institute. No date. The Introuclion is dated 15th April 1963.
ibid. p. XVI.
Irakavan, V.S.V. (1963). Fa-hien. A.D. 399-414. TranslHtd. Madras.
VaIIuvar PannaL
Kolmas, ]. ( 1972i. Fa-sien. Zpisky O b/lddhisrickch zemich. Praha. Odeon.
De long, l.W. (8). Fa-hsien and Buddhist Texts in Ceylon. Jouralo/the
Pali Text Societ. Vol. IX. ed. K.R. Norman. Bibliography p. 115.
'+

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN

131
in 1995.-6 This translation is accompanied by a Preface and a conU11entary in Czh.]l
Nancy Elizabeth Boulton' s doctoral dissertation on Early Chinese Buddhist Travel
'Record as a Lilerary Genre submite to t1C Grgetown University (USA) wiIl.no doubt
contain a discussion of Fa-hsien and his Travels.-'"
Samuel Beal. one or Ihe earliesl tfnslators or ra-hslen's acount of hIS tavels,
vesthe following infomlal ion about Fa-hsien's tarly life His 0riginal name was Kung
--When he assumed the religious title of Fa-hsien. he look also the appellation of Shih or
Silyaputra, the disciple of Sikya. 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 sriimarera at te years
of age. The source of Bcal's infonnation is the work cal led Ko-sang-chuen, which,
according to Real. was written durillg the time of thL l.il1g dynasty, and belongcd to the
. Suh familv ()O - 507 A f ).19 BCals illfonnalion ahout Fa-hsien' early life ran he
"=.supplemented by that given in Leggc's Introduction to his transl ation of Fa-hsien's text.
Fa-hsicl1 had thrcc brot11ers older t11al himself When they died young. the father "had him
entcred as a sloner. 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 refsed
to retu 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 bO. SiI\lIlg thal hc chosL 1110nkhood
because he "wished tu be 1;11 li'om the dust ,md \ulgar IliI! o uf ht." Whcn he had filished
his noyiciatc, Fa-hsiLn, \yhich cicricaillaillc mcalls 'illustriolls in the Lim,' or 'lllustrious
H>\l of Ihe La\\.' IlIldCrook his .I0llln(\ 10 I ndia. 01' \\hich he lert H rCLord. Leggc
'
s
souces of information arc the aCcollnts of Fa-hsicll given l11 tile M.moirso/+inent
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. Weerakkoy of the Dtpartment of Classical Languages of
the University of Peradeniya.
Boulton, Nancy Elizabeth. (DatC ?). Er/v Chinese Budist TrveL Recrdl
U Urel'm), Genre. Dissertation for Ph.D in Chinese. Georgetown University
(USAi5!pp. Thi, nOlc is from an entry in my card catalogue. I was unable
to get further informdtion about this study.
Beal, Samuel (06) o.|t. pp. xi, xii.
:
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MJ"A HJJllKNDE
Monks", compiled in AD. 5 1 9. and a later work. thL "Memoirs o/Marellous Monks, by
Ule third emperor of the Ming dynasty (A. D. 1 403 ~ l 421),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 Rober
Shih in his BioglaphiLs des Hoines emioent (Kao seng lchouan) de Houei-kiao
Louvain in 1 968 41
The initial paagraph of F a-hsien's text. which states the aim of his travels and q
names of some of his fel low-pilgrims, is as fol lows: " Fa-hian. when formerly residing at.
Ch'ang-an, regretted the i mperfect condition of the Vinaya pilaka. Whereupon;
afrwards, 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 VinOya).
The accowlI that fol l ows describes the places they visited, the rulers, the m(n". _..
and oters they met, what they saw and heard, and their yaried personal experiences.
hsien's arival at t1le tOWlI of Pitaliputra, 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 ofNorthcm 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 Mid
India. But here in the sarighiiral0 of thc Grcat Vehicle, he obtained one
colletion ofthc precepts, Vi L. , the collection used by the Mahisiighika
assembly. Moreover, he obtained one copy of precepts from
dictation, comprising about 7000 galhiis. 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 Mallisiilghikas, here i n Pitaliputra. so that he spent three years there,
4
|egge, James( 1 993) cp. ci|. pp. J -3
J
^I
On pages 1 08 - 1 1 5 as noted by Jan Yiin-hua ( 1995) op cit. p. 246.
^
Beal , Samuel (1906) op. cit. p. xxii .
;
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 jouey to retum to
homeland, alone, as his only companion at the time, To-ching, (others had parted
"nmnnv 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 Timralipti, "writing out copies of the sacred
(sitrs) 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)
The event of the arrival of Fa-hsien in Sri Lanka is recorded in chapter XXVII
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 agreable 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 i sl and to convert a
evolcnt dragon: the existencc of a monastcry for fve thousand monks called
hl"'vagiri, where there was a hall which house a resplendent jasper fige ofthc Buddha
twenty-two leet in hcight: Fa-hsicn's cmotional reaction on seeing a merchant ofer
white taffeta f ofChincse manufacture. to the image: the sacred Bodhi Tree grown out
slip of te ' Pei-to' tree brought from India: the ' chapel' of the Toth of the Buddha in
capital of te cit: te noblemen and the rich householders who resided in the city: the
rrolaation made ten days before bringing out thc Tooth of the Buddha in the middle of
third month and taking it to the Abhayagiri Vi hira in proession, where it was
Dorhiotxfor ninety days before retunling it to the "i hira within the city; the Mallivihira
lived three thousand monks: the funcral ceremony of an eminent monk who
gerocd at the Mahivihira: the discourse of a ' religious brot1ler' fom 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 Vinoo Pi/aka according to the school of the
Mah&sakas, a copy oft1le DJghJaina, the Miscellaneous Agama (Samyuktaama), and
a collction of the Pilaka (Sannipata). all thesc works being in the original language
): and how Fa-hsien protete these along with other sacred books and images during
perilous and adventurous sea-voyage in a mcrchant vcssel bound for his home
ihid. pp. lxx | x' |
ihid. pp. lxx- lxxxi .
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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 wri te down his report, is as
follows:
.
Fa-hsien started his jOWle)' fom Changall and spent si x years on the way
to the Middle Kingdom, where he stayed for six years; and he spent three
years onhis retum jourey before he rechcd Chmgchow He trnvell ed
lluough lIcarly lhirl) coulllries. frolll lhc II cst or the Desert to the llld or
Indi a: o compl ete ccount can be gi\n of th, excellent eonduCt and
rel igious teachi ng of the monks he met on his journey: but it was t o
infornl the monks in China of these things that Fa-hsien crossed t he seas
at the risk of his hwnble l i fe. and braved man,' hardshi ps and dangers to
I <lur hLlllc. Thallks to lh< spiritual pl ot.dioll of the Thr< Pl ccious
Gellls, he I \ .IS able to Lll\ saf.) L1u ough IllJiI) i-crils_ So he has put
down this outl ine of his travels on bamboo and si l k, in order that the
devout may share al l his experiences_ Thi s \'H> i n the cyclic year of Chi a
Yi n:" \Ihich year has becn idcntifeu ,c :\. D. , 1 1 1 ";
The i ncidence of Fa-hsien narrating i l l det ai l what he had I-elated in brief earlier.
d5 recorded | | \ t he fol km I ng post -scri pt bl H| It her 1 11011". |' ( ) r I l l terest
|`
4
41
I t was at the end or the SUlllmer retirement in the twelfth war or lhe Ll
of" Yi I I si ui " t l K TSI I I d\l \ d:t\ _ dl l d t l i e \ L. I | "I' (' ;l IWPI I _ " i 1 \:lt \\ L
welcomed the venerahle Fa-hslen. Wh. le he rel llal lled Wi th us. preachi nu.
wc qucstioncd him agai c bout hi s travel s. nd found thdt he was n
unassuming. a llabl e mall. \\ ho answereci t ruthrll l " . Wc therelore urged
him to give a more detailed account of what he had previdsly narated
so hriefv. Thus he related hi s st orY once more from beuinni ncto end.
"When I look back on what r have been through, he said, "my heart
begins to pound ind I st art to Sll eat I ri sked al l t hose dangers wi th no
t h0ught for Illsel f. becausc , had a fixed purpose and_ si mple , am_
was sing|ennnded. That d why J embarked upon a jourey ill which
Li Yung-hsi ( 1 957) o ctr pp. 92 93.
ibid. p. 3 .
Identified by Li Yung-hsi as A 0 416. ibid.
~
SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN
death seemed almost certain, and I had OIlC chance only ill ten t Ousand
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 V= I\1J: knOll thai all ilii ngs uL possible
to the sinccre of hcar, JlIU all thi l lg Lul b acwmplishcd if a Iilail has
detc:~na! |on. Fo:is it not Ie lJ.11 he lI=dli blJUSe he disregarded
what others value. and valued whil others disrcard?
1 35
The lg|age oftlle Buddhist texts that Fa-hsien found ill Ceylon (Sri laa|a)has
reccil ed the altellliuu i[ l\\".J< JOllg l l I I l l S eOl llnoulion to Volume IX ( lIl I) of the
o{/hc['(IIi T:xt wc:I)', iublishw ,I PiU, of its lIlCl1aJy deoraliolls. I" l Jong
the discussion by citing E. W. Adikaralll. who says: "When FaHien lef Ceylon. h
lok wi th him a cp' of the Vina\a Pitaka of the Mahisasaka school. the D1rghagama and
the Sil lllYllk1g\Ina (stras) and also tbe SaI)J uJlils'1I1cha)iI-pitaka, all wrillCll in
anskri t. "
.
\0 Adikaram published his book in 1 946. The authoriq he gives for his
atement on the texts that Fa-hsien took wi t h hi m II'h(n he Ief {cvlon and the language
Il1 wili ch t hc \\ ere \\ rt t lci l I .l ames Legge' s transl at i on ( I XX() of Fa-hsicn's t e,1 . where
Leggc uescribcs the books J' a-hslcn obtdlned in Ceylon as Sanskrit works. "
The lIord I ISIAI b) F,,-hsi11 to UCi \()t the language 01 " the t e\t s he fOllilU I | 1 Ceylon
De 1oncdraws attent ion to K R Nmlliln's "i e\\' on the meaning of thi s word,
.
i . i uig || ( | 957)op. .// p 93 - 94.
De Jong, J W. ( l 9ol ) . o c:t. I. 1 05 1 1 6.
Adi karil m, F W ( 1 946) . Early lIistory of BuddhislIl in Ceylon. Colombo,
1 946. pp_ 94 95; The second illlpressioll of tis buuk, used by de lOllg,
appeared in Co!omlc in 1 953; d third impression, wrungly described as the
second by the publishers: The Buddhist Cultural Centre, 0chwa|a, Sri Lanka,
was releaseu in l 994
Legge, James l 886)o. 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 ' I ndian ( language)'. and that without further evidence there is no
way of saying whether the lrlg1tage was Sanskrit. Prakil or Pal i . " Dc Jong states that the
only fer evidence available i s to be fOlUld in the Chinese translations of the texts, which
Fa-hsien tok to China. After a discussion of such e\' idenee, de long concludes as fol lows:
"Thc Chi ncse sources show that in the frst hal l' of the fifth century, contacts betwen
Buddhist communities i n India, Ceylon and China were vcry closc. It i s therefore quite
probable iIwtBuddhist 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 Sans|t|i.when he says: "Faxian specifcally
mentions ial his long-teml hosts at the Abhayag| t| gave him texts in Buddhist Sanskit
( Fan). "s. Walters does not refer to any discussion based on which he came to this
conclusion.
The value of Fa-hsien's visi t to Sri Lanka and thc record he made of it has been '
widely reognised. The nineteenth century writer. J ames Emerson Tennent, makes much
use of Fa-hsien's personal testi mony as a source i n his book on Ceylon.5
D. P. MWerakkody, who examined the Greek and Roman notices of Sri Lanka and their
historical context in U recent publ ication ( 1 997). says that "None of them can claim to a
dep understding of Sri Lanka's l i fe 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
3Z
3J
34
^b
3
1
Norman, K. R. ( 1 978) . "The role of Pali in early Sinhalese Buddhism" , i
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 ( 1 981 ) op. cit. p . 1 05.
De Jong, J . W. ( 1 98 1 ) op. cit. p. 1 1 3.
Wal ters, Jonathan S. ( 1 997) . " Mahayana Theravada and the origins of the
Mahavihara. " The Sri Lanka Jourl 0/the Humanities. Vol . XXIII Nos. I
:d 2. University of Peradeniya. Sri Lanka. pp. 1 06 - 1 07.
Tennent, Si r lames Emerson ( 1 859) . Ceylon. An Account 0/ the lsUm.
Physical, Historical, and Topographical. Vol s. I and I I . London.
Weerakkody, D. P. M. ( \ 997) . Taprobane. Ancient Sri Lanka O known to
"' '
SUNDRY NOTES ON FAHSIEN
1 37
Relations beteen Sri Lanka and China. stales that Bhiksu Fa-hsien, who lived at the
Abhayagiri Vihara for two years (4 1 1 - 4 1 2 A. C). was in fact the historical architect of
me estblislmlent of the amicable relations betwecn the two cOlUltries .8 In a Prologue to
Werasinghe'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
b me begimung oftlle 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,
dt Colombo, I" June 1 994, printed on page Vl 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 archi tects of the cultural relationship iat
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 port rait of Fa-hsien, by Kushan Majusri,
appars 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 wi tlle name of our pilgrim Fa-hsien. S. U. Dcraniyagala, the present Director
General of Archaeology in Sri Lanka, who frst 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 i n the country. and that excavations
were undertaken at this cave site by W. H. Wijepala, Director (Excavations) of the
Archaelogical Surve Department in J 986 Md 1 988 61 Wijepala and N. Perera (Tehnical
3
3V
0
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Greeks alld omans. Brpol s. p. 1 6.
Weerasinghe, S. G, M. ( 1 995) . A History o/the Cultural Relations between Sri
L ad Chin. 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 Lana 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.
` .
`-.

1l8_ RATN HANJlJKA_ND . . . . . .

Assistant) directed feld operations at thi s and 1\\0 othcr cave si tes, namely Belilena
Kitulgala and Batadomba-lcna. Deraniyagala who sketched the salient results of their
opat0Bs a addenda to hi s publication. The I'rehislOY oriLanka, in 1 992, exp0ct0C
the reports prepared by them to add a new dimcnsion to prehistoric archaeology in Sri
Lanka 6:
.
SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN
1 39
one can deny IC posslbi l i ty of the Buddhist monk Fa-hsi0B's stay lBthis U8V00B hlS
to Sri Pada or the Samanala area ("; The word Sri Pida, WlUh lI0!8y B0805 Ih0
icious or g0Il0uS footprint, is used to denote a mountain peak lB Sri Lanka U8l0C
;amantakiita. It i s said that the Buddha left the mark of his OOI|IlBI 0BIh|SB0uhI8lB
h0visited the isl and for the third t imc, resulting in th0H0uBI8|BbODBlBg a sacred
ofpilgrimage
67
That Fa-hsicn knel\" this |.-!is clear from a statement in chapter
W. H. WiJayapa\a (whose name was spell as WIJepala by l0runIyu_u|u), has
...of his text d0sUribing Sn Lanka, which James Legge translated d !00WS.
evaluate the C8I8l8Iem0rged from the eave sites he excavatcd 111 a th0sIs |||dIr _ h0B Buddha came to this country, wishll1g to transfonll te wicke nig8s by hiS
the degree of lJtor of Philosophy al lhe Ul1lverSllY ot' Peradel1lva, Sn Lanka, 111 October
spematural power he planted one foot at the north 0lthe royal city, and the 0ther 0Blh0
1 997 63 Chapter 3 of this thesis the ti tle of which i s: Nell; Ughl on the Ir-^i'
o
Y'J|

[
0|
of a mountain, the two bcing fifteen yojanas apart. ,,'" D. T.Devendra says tat Wh0B
Lanka in the contexto]recen/investigations H! sites, discusses I0 Fahs
leBcave Sf ' -I the distance as given by Fa-hsien is reckoned in tenllS of modem B68SuI0B00l, Ih0
under the following tpics: Fahienlcna at Bulathsinhala: The Excavation: Fahi0neBa

0Bl8|B he rcfers to is "si tuated in straight line exactly where Sri Pada lies. "69
Stratigraphy and L!0B00y\. Stone Artefacts: Bonc Artefacts; FaWlal R
e
m
ains; Human ":.- FWerasinghe, who describes Pahiyangala as a place in which arc 0BC `C0|SI0!0C U8Y0US,
Skeletal Remains and I0 L0BUu5|0n ' ' Appcndlx I I I of WI,Iayapala' s theSIS contalls

B05 of purest water and rined Uetiyas rerers to th

e
belief or the Villagers that !8-hS|0B
i nformation on the stratigrJlhy of si tes A and [ that he excavated, and l isIs 8h0
_' {l ivethere i n a cave "about 350 feet up on the rock , and also to the recent discovery of
i l lustrations of stone lnd bone mtefacts found at the si tes ';
' a ' Chinese tray' on which the "torloise story" is said to be depicted, |Ba cave in this rock. 71
Wijayapala noted that the Buddhist temple know11 at present as the ahi0Bgala
AllcicIIl l J isloic Cal c TCl l l plc' i s famul I , i'!1 aCCoul l t nr thc hcl i c r th1t the Chi ncse pi l grim
Fa-hsicn had st J\"cd thcre CH hi s I\ a\ t o tdl I n' s Pl'l k ( Sri Pil da) Whi l e poi nt i ng out t hat
there is "no evidence at the si tc. i n the chroni clcs Ll from epigraphical or archaeological
data" i n support of such U belief. WiVl\<ipala sal's lhlt accordi ng to some scholars the word
Fal l l cngai a Pahl cngal a coul d bc a I l ngli i st ic dCII \a t l ll l l llr l 'II-/Il I11-,I;o/a. whi ch ll1 t hc
Slllala langll<g ll\d|ib tllc ' l uw'l bUlInJdlY Ill-\. ' I luI\c\ ,r. \...y.,.| aconcdcs that
0
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s
Addendum 1 p. 69' .
ibid. Part 1. Acknowledgments. p. XI V.
WiJayapa\a, W. H. ( 1 997 ) . New LIIIIi Ull llie Prelii,/UIY uj Sri Lala ill the
cOlltext oj recelll Ill vestilLlllvllS (It <:Llve "iles. Ph. D thesis submitted to the
University of Pcradcniya in October 1 997 . Vol. 1 . i - vi i 467 pp. Vol. 1 1 .
pp. 470-731.
|b|d. Listed under contents on p. V. of Vol . 1 .
ib|d Vol . | I pp. 652 - 68 I
Transl at i ll i l S (1 r LI -hsi cl l \; acc< ' 1 1 1 1 \ " r hi s tr:1 \ ci s i l l l t ) th Si nhab Ianguagc Jiso
ibid. 'i ll! . I . p. 3Ml.
Malalas.kcra, G. P. , !93) D:.||on.|,o,Iu|Pruper Names. Reprinted 1960.
s. v. Samntakita.
Legge, James ( l SSe)ap. ., p. l0`
Dvclldra. D. T. ( 1 960) . " Fa-Hsien in Ceylon. " Cteyloll Tody. December
1 960. pp. 22 - 23 . Repri led in Ihe Sri Lankan newspaper Dailv News
February \ 7, | 998.
Wcciasnhc. S. G. M. ( l995)op. cit. p. 73.
ibid. p. 9 1 . The source Weerasinghe cites for this .aterma:ien is
Gunaratne, Rehaa inc- |cn/cn Ccuncc/icn. Ce|eube I987.
p. 5.
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attest his popularity i n Sri Lanka. W. Charcs de Si lva. Ad\Ocate, published hi s translation
with notes in 1 921 . 7 2 The title of the text gi ven on the cover page as Fa Hien 's Buddhist
Kingdoms and Travels (399 - 4 | 4)has bccn rendered into Sinhala as liiyonge Ballddha
Rijadhini saha VandaniGaman ||s/oro,o (Clyera. 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) Maiu; the cities of Kanauj and Nalanda: Fa-hsien and Anuradhapura; and'
(the measure of distance) yodlll1i7 (ojono) A general index is given at the end of the text.

SUNDRY NOTES ON FA-HSIEN 1 41
Adachi and Li Yung-hsi . ); The Sinhala translations of 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 thre Sinhala tral1slations discussed above include the report of another monk
appended 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. `
Venerable Bal angoda Ananda Maitreya Sthayira publ ished a translation of Fa
hsien'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 cal l s Fo~hiLl .'11 /1 YUI/1 l1cnomoyc Gam an Vilti, Ananda : etitled Videshm dulU Puria LaJa (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.
w bok are the Sinhala translations of Balagalle Wimulabuddhi Thero and Ananda MaitTeya
He base 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 Irovc/sappcared in Colombo in 1 958,74
the same year in whieh Ven Ananda Maitrcya's translation was published. This
tanslation. made by Venerable Balagalle Wimalabuddhi Thero, Professor of Sinhalese at
the Vidyoaya University of Ceylon at the time, won the UNESCO award for l iterature for
1 958. Wimalabuddhi 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
!Z
!J
74
'.
De Silva, W. Charles ( 1 92 1 ) . P:iyange Bauddha Riiadh,ii saha Vandana
Gaman Vistarya (399 - 4 14) . (The place of publication is not mentioned. )
Ananda Maitreya Sthavira, Balangoda ( 1958). Fa-hsien Sum YuDenamage
G Vitti. Maharagama Saman Mudran5laya. (Maharagama is a suburb of
Colombo) .
Wimal abuddhi Sthavira, Balagalle ( 1 958). Bauddha Riadhani Pilibandha
toratul' nmvu Fa-hien-ge De5 falla Vartava (Sinhalese Translation of A Kecord
ofBuddhist Kingdoms or The Travels ofFa-hsien. Colombo. M. D, Gunasena
and Co. Ltd . . Second edition 1 960 .
Fa-hsien cntinues 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, BoreJoot 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 "l ife into the figures and events" that appear in it. That he
.has sueceeded in doing so is best expressed in Lakshmi de Si l va's description of
Jayawardhana's episodic drama as "a vivid and sensitive recreation frmly based on
historical events in dramatic ten11S. of the Quest of Fa-hsien," which "fne[y evokes the
prils and splendours of Oe joumey from the desert ways to the colourf ul 'urts of Easter
ibid. Foreword.
ibid.
Ponnamperuma, D. P. ( 1 961 ). Videshin du(u Punla La. Mahanuvara.
Arya Mudranal aya. pp. 56 - 6&
Jayawardhana. Bandula ( 1 994). Barefoot to Immortalit, Colombo. S. Godage
and Brothers .
I ,
l

.
.
.42 _
RATNA IJNPl!RVKANQl
princes and to the idyllic monasteries springing up from thc' sanddwles of the Gobi," and
i 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
fendship and aspiration."
)9
An earlicr radio vcrsion of Jayawardhana's drama, submitted
by Lc 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
L [\\ il nwnbcr :md Jay:\\,:trdh:tn:t's contnbutlOn to t hi S I l i erar' _fHrP l COmDCDOnD|P
R ATNA H<NfH l Rl 1KANOE
.
!V
ibid. Note on the back-cover .

ibid. Preface .
1lVAH1h"1V Ull"l1ll"lI ll 1HA1H
I propose to suggest new defnitions of literature by way of a discussion of Lhe
"Commonwealth Li tcrature" and a reconsidelation of the Engl ish canon.
The telm "Commonwealth Literature" has been the subjet of controversy for over
25 years. There has been an expanding mass of l i terature wTitten in English outside
Bl il"ill, mainl" by 1-<01-1. il ull I lhe VdIIOHs eX-Clomes, many O! VhOm have never nen

{(1 Hlll8lR DPlP l SSOmuch of thi s li t erature 0^\\' t hat i t is he\'ond douht P0 in |r
[n his article "Shaping the l anguage IOthe landscape".
1
Al ast ar Ni ven di scusses howhst

' to describe it from his position in Britain and I will do so frommy base outside, far away

in Sri Lanka. I too lind the lenn "Commonwealth Literature" still uscful, Lhough not .e....,
or al ways accurate because of the (earlier) exclusion of South Africa and lhe changing
status of Paki st an "I t s pl l nni h assert ion of a shared crenli l' e prosperity" .\ ii) is
. .. attract ive More rreciSelS the incorporation of the ica of e0I11111011\1'Cnl , the li terature
and criticism in various regions proving mutual ly beneficial and enriching, and working
towards the general god of tle \"hol e. In l11' case, hOll cl'crc t1C associations of radical i Sill
in the word "Col11lllol1\\'eal t h" do not operale Ncither co t he: for Salillan Rushdie despite
his British education and citizenship
'
But it is understandable that these do for an
Q Englisrunan. The establisrunent of a Commonwealtll U Cromwell's Engl ad was inlportat

b L l I ' eJI I I \ I l l<l.lur. ami SlICCcsst lli, I L\ ell agalnSl lhc Inollarch\ I I I Ll Ig!;md. I he d(larallon
.
of :t Conlilloll\\ cal th in Mass;ldlllsclts IS Importanl be:callsc Alllerica was the iirst BritIsh

O0 to rebel aai nst the mother country and dcclrc independence. The [oUllding or
COlllmOIl \\'eal i hs hC l t h I I I Ma,sachl l s,t l and Aust ral i a n:prCsL' I l I S ,! breaki ng <1\\'ay frm
_friLaIll by peopl e of Lhc samc race amI, IIIdecd, ul'Igllwl l ) 1\1\0\\ COllJlU,'l1len.
The lC1 1 1 l " Posl-wlullial Literailire" has di rkrel ll aSSOCiations lor IllC and A b[(u
. Niven RaLher Ulan being "to wnbilical ly bipding to Britain" (Nien),to me it signifes
rupture. Yet it is seriously inaccurate in that this literature not only has anteedents and
impOrlalil develuplllents hel oe I ndependence and t he tonndll1! ot' the ( 'ommomveal th of
Nations and also traditions, espeCially in India, reaching back to periods earlier Lhan
. British, even Westem, imperialism.
The term " New Li teratures II I l:ngllsh" could conl:CII ;Ibly Jppc;u' lo be gl \ lIlg "J
mispl aced el1phasis to recent :u.lc.s`..u),b,,,,o ils point is ,ha.it serves to
Al astair Ni ven, "Shaping the language tL the landscape", i n Times Literary
Slippil! lIICl1 I , September 1 4-20. I Y<O.
Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands: /!:says and Criticism /98/-/991
(London: Granta, 1 <)91 ), p. 68.