s over, they went on to the south, and ten days' journey
brought them to the kingdom of Poh-na,(7) where there are also more
than three thousand monks, all students of the hinayana. Proceeding
from this place for three days, they again crossed the Indus, where
the country on each side was low and level.(8)

NOTES

(1) These must have been Tao-ching and Hwuy-king.

(2) Probably the Safeid Koh, and on the way to the Kohat pass.

(3) All the texts have Kwuy-king. See chapter xii, note 13.

(4) A very natural exclamation, but out of place and inconsistent from
the lips of Fa-Hsien. The Chinese character {.}, which he employed,
may be rendered rightly by "fate" or "destiny;" but the fate is not
unintelligent. The term implies a factor, or fa-tor, and supposes the
ordination of Heaven or God. A Confucian idea for the moment overcame
his Buddhism.

(5) Lo-e, or Rohi, is a name for Afghanistan; but only a portion of it
can be here intended.

(6) We are now therefore in 404.

(7) No doubt the present district of Bannu, in the
Lieutenant-Governorship of the Punjab, between 32d 10s and 33d 15s N.
lat., and 70d 26s and 72d E. lon. See Hunter's Gazetteer of India, i,
p. 393.

(8) They had then crossed the Indus before. They had done so, indeed,
twice; first, from north to south, at Skardo or east of it; and
second, as described in chapter vii.

CHAPTER XV

BHIDA. SYMPATHY OF MONKS WITH THE PILGRIMS.

After they had crossed the river, there was a country named
Pe-t'oo,(1) where Buddhism was very flourishing, and (the monks)
studied both the mahayana and hinayana. When they saw their
fellow-disciples from Ts'in passing along, they were moved with great
pity and sympathy, and expressed themselves thus: "How is it that
these men from a border-land should have learned to become monks,(2)
and come for the sake of our doctrines from such a distance in search
of the Law of Buddha?" They supplied them with what they needed, and
treated them in accordance with the rules of the Law.

NOTES

(1) Bhida. Eitel says, "The present Punjab;" i.e. it was a portion of
that.

(2) "To come forth from their families;" that is, to become celibates,
and adopt the tonsure.

CHAPTER XVI

ON TO MATHURA OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA; OF
THE MONKS, VIHARAS, AND MONASTERIES.

From this place they travelled south-east, passing by a succes