Yetgeul › Da Tang Xiyu Ji (Great Tang Records on the Western Regions) › Book 3

The Country of Heluoshebuluo曷邏阇補羅國

Da Tang Xiyu Ji (Great Tang Records on the Western Regions) 大唐西域記 · Xuanzang · compiled by Bianji · 646 (Tang, 20th year of the Zhenguan era) · 2 passages · 144 Chinese characters · reading time 0.6 min

Da Tang Xiyu Ji (Great Tang Records on the Western Regions) Book 3 The record Xuanzang laid before Emperor Taizong of the Tang after seventeen years of walking through the Western Regions and India, a hundred and thirty-eight countries in all. It is the stuff from which Journey to the West was made, but what stands here is not monsters — it is the compass and the climate and the speech and the faith of one country after another. The road runs two hundred years after Faxian and eighty years before Hyecho.

曷邏阇補羅國周四千餘里,國大都城周十餘里。極險固,多山阜,川原隘狹,地利不豐。土宜氣序,同半笯嗟國。風俗猛烈,人性驍勇。國無君長,役屬迦濕彌羅國。伽藍十所,僧徒寡少。天祠一所,外道甚多。自濫波國至於此土,形貌粗弊,情性獷暴,語言庸鄙,禮義輕薄,非印度之正境,乃邊裔之曲俗。

The country of Heluoshebuluo is more than four thousand li around, and the great capital city of the country is more than ten li around. It is exceedingly steep and firm, with many hills and mountains, and its streams and plains are narrow, so the profit of the land is not rich. What the soil is fit for and the climate are the same as in the country of Bannucuo. The customs are fierce and sharp, and the people are bold and brave by nature. The country has no ruler, and it is bound in service to the country of Jiashimiluo. There are ten monasteries, and the monks are few. There is one temple of the gods, and the followers of other ways are very many. From the country of Lanbo to this land, the people are coarse and shabby in looks, rough and violent in nature, mean and low in speech, and light and thin in courtesy. This does not properly belong to India, but is the crooked custom of the outer fringes.

從此東南,下山渡水,行七百餘里,至磔迦國。

From here, going southeast, down the mountains and across the waters, more than seven hundred li, one comes to the country of Zhejia.

Interlinear notes 1

北印度境。

It lies within North India.