Yetgeul › Da Tang Xiyu Ji (Great Tang Records on the Western Regions) › Book 4

The Country of Exichedaluo堊醯掣呾邏國

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) · 3 passages · 172 Chinese characters · reading time 0.7 min

Da Tang Xiyu Ji (Great Tang Records on the Western Regions) Book 4 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.

堊醯掣呾邏國周三千餘里。國大都城周十七八里,依據險固。宜穀麥,多林泉。氣序和暢,風俗淳質。玩道篤學,多才博識。伽藍十餘所,僧徒千餘人,習學小乘正量部法。天祠九所,異道三百餘人,事自在天,塗灰之侶也。

The country of Exichedaluo is more than three thousand li around. The great capital city of the country is seventeen or eighteen li around, and it rests on ground that is steep and firm. The land is fit for grain and barley, and forests and springs are many. The climate is mild and clear, and the customs are simple and plain. The people delight in the Way and are steady in study, and they have many gifts and wide knowledge. There are more than ten monasteries and more than a thousand monks, and they study the Law of the Zhengliang school of the Lesser Vehicle. There are nine temples of the gods and more than three hundred followers of other ways, who serve the god Zizai and are of the company that smears itself with ashes.

2The stupa beside the dragon pond

城外龍池側有窣堵波,無憂王之所建也。是如來在昔為龍王,七日於此說法。其側有四小窣堵波,是過去四佛坐及經行遺跡之所。

Outside the city, beside a dragon pond, there is a stupa raised by King Wuyou. This is the place where the Tathagata, long ago when he was a dragon king, spoke the Law here for seven days. Beside it are four small stupas, at the place where the four Buddhas of the past sat and walked and left their traces.

自此南行二百六七十里,渡殑伽河,西南至毗羅刪拿國。

From here one goes south two hundred sixty or seventy li, crosses the Qingqie river, and going southwest comes to the country of Piluoshanna.

Interlinear notes 1

中印度境。

It is in the border of Central India.