The kingdom of Central Tianzhu中天竺國

The kingdom of Central Tianzhu (中天竺國) lies several thousand li southeast of Great Yuezhi. Its land is thirty thousand li square, and by another name it is called Shendu (身毒). In the time of Han, Zhang Qian went as envoy to Daxia and saw there staves of Qiong bamboo and cloth of Shu, and the people of that country said that they had bought them in Shendu. Shendu is Tianzhu. The sounds and the letters of the interpreters are not the same, but in truth the two are one. From Yuezhi and Gaofu westward, south as far as the Western Sea and east as far as Panyue, the kingdoms stand in rows by the tens, and each kingdom has set up a king. Their names differ, but they are all Shendu. In the time of Han it was held bound and subject to Yuezhi. In dwelling settled on the land their customs are the same as those of Yuezhi, but the country is low and damp and hot, and the people are weak and fear war, so that they are weaker than Yuezhi. The kingdom lies along a great river named Xintao (新陶). It rises in the Kunlun and divides into five rivers, and taken together they are named the Heng river (恒水). Its water is sweet and good, and beneath it there is true salt, white in color as crystal. The land yields rhinoceros and elephant, sable and flying squirrel, tortoiseshell and huoqi, gold and silver and iron, weaving worked with gold thread, gold-skin felt, fine white cotton, good fur robes and taideng rugs. Huoqi is shaped like mica and colored like purple gold, and it has a gleam. When it is split it is thin as a cicada's wing, and when it is piled up it is like layer upon layer of silk gauze. On the west they trade with Daqin and Anxi out in the sea, and so they have many of the precious things of Daqin: coral, amber, gold and jasper, pearls, langgan, yujin and suhe. Suhe is made by gathering the juices of many fragrant things and boiling them; it is not one thing that grows of itself. It is also said that when the people of Daqin gather suhe they first press out the juice to make a fragrant paste, and then sell the dregs to the merchants of the various kingdoms. For this reason it passes from hand to hand before it comes to China, and it is not very fragrant. Yujin comes only from the kingdom of Jibin. Its flower is pure yellow in color and fine, like the lotus that has not yet opened inside a hibiscus flower. The people of the country first offer it at the Buddha's temple, and when it has withered after some days they gather it up and throw it away. The merchants pay the temple for it and carry it off and sell it again to other kingdoms.

In the ninth year of Yanxi under Emperor Huan of Han, Andun (安敦), the king of Daqin, sent an envoy who came from beyond the frontier of Rinan to present tribute. In the time of Han this was the one time they had dealings. The people of that country go out to trade and now and then reach Funan, Rinan and Jiaozhi, but of the people of the kingdoms on the southern frontier few have gone to Daqin. In the fifth year of Huangwu under Sun Quan a merchant of Daqin named Qin Lun (秦論) came to Jiaozhi, and Wu Miao, the grand administrator of Jiaozhi, sent him on to Sun Quan. Quan asked him about that land and its customs, and Lun answered him on every point. At that time Zhuge Ke had attacked Danyang and taken short men of Yi and She. Lun saw them and said, "In Daqin such men are rarely seen." Quan gave him ten men and ten women, and appointed a clerk, Liu Xian of Kuaiji, to escort Lun. Xian died on the road, and Lun went straight back to his own country. In the time of Emperor He of Han, Tianzhu often sent envoys with tribute, but afterward the Western Regions rose in revolt and it was cut off. By the second year and the fourth year of Yanxi under Emperor Huan they came again and again from beyond the frontier of Rinan to present tribute. In the time of Wei and Jin it was cut off and they had no dealings again. Only in the time of Wu did Fan Zhan, the king of Funan, send his kinsman Suwu (蘇物) as envoy to that kingdom. He set out from Funan and put in at the mouth of Juli, and following the great bay of the sea he went in due northwest and passed several kingdoms along the bay. In a year and more he came to the mouth of the Tianzhu river, and he went up against the water seven thousand li before he arrived. The king of Tianzhu was startled and said, "On the shore of the sea, at the farthest distance, there are men such as these." Then he had them shown the whole of his kingdom, and he appointed two men, Chen and Song, to repay Zhan with four Yuezhi horses, and sent Wu and the others back. It was four years before they arrived. At that time Wu had sent Kang Tai, palace gentleman, as envoy to Funan, and when he met Chen and Song he asked them in full about the customs of Tianzhu. They answered: "It is the kingdom where the way of the Buddha arose.

The people are sturdy and many, and the land is rich and fertile. Their king is called Maolun. In the walled city where he has his capital the spring waters divide and flow, circling through channels and moats and pouring down into the great river. The palaces are all carved with patterns and cut in relief. There are streets and lanes, markets and wards, houses and towered halls, bells and drums and music, clothing and incense and flowers. Water and land are open to traffic and merchants of every kind meet there, so that rare playthings and precious treasures may be had as the heart desires. To the left and the right are sixteen great kingdoms, Jiawei, Shewei, Yebo and the rest, two or three thousand li from Tianzhu, and all of them honor and serve it, holding that it stands at the center of heaven and earth."

At the beginning of Tianjian its king Quduo (屈多) sent his chief secretary Zhu Luoda to bear a memorial, which said: "Prostrate, I have heard that your country rests on a river and lies beside the sea, that its mountains and rivers are firm on every side, and that all marvels are complete there and adorn the land, so that it is like the conjured city (化城). The palaces are adorned, the streets are level, and the people fill them and are merry and at ease. When the great king goes out to travel the four kinds of troops follow him. He is holy and bright and kind and loving, and he does no harm to living beings. The officials and the people of the kingdom follow and practice the true law. The great king is benevolent and holy and teaches them by the way. He is compassionate to the multitude of the living, and he casts none of them away. He always keeps the pure precepts and leads those who fall short, and with the unsurpassed ship of the law he saves those who are sunk. His many officials and his common people receive joy and have no fear. The gods guard him and hold him up, the ten thousand spirits wait upon him, and the demons of heaven submit. There is none that does not look up to him. The king's body is upright and majestic, like the sun when it first rises, and his kindly grace moistens all, like a great cloud. In that Zhendan he is the most excellent of all. The land where I dwell is guarded by the god Shouluo, who keeps the kingdom at ease and glad. King has followed king, and the line has never once been cut off. Throughout the kingdom there are images of the seven treasures, adorned with every marvel, and I keep and govern myself after the law of the conjured king (化王). My name is Quduo, and for generations I have been of the seed of kings. I pray only that the great king's holy body be at peace. Now the many officials and the common people of this kingdom, and its mountains and rivers and precious things, I make over to you altogether. I throw down my five limbs to the ground and give my sincerity to the great king. The envoy Zhu Daduo has been loyal and faithful from of old, and for that reason I send him now. If the great king has need of any rare and strange thing, I will send it all to him. This territory is the great king's own kingdom, and I will honor and follow all his laws and commands and his good way. I pray that the envoys of the two kingdoms may come and go without ceasing. When this envoy returns, I pray that you will grant me an envoy of your own, to set forth your holy commands in full and to instruct me fully in what is fitting. My sincerity is utmost, and I hope that he will not return empty. I hope that what I have said may be allowed, and I pray that you will receive it. Now I offer a glass spittoon, fragrant things of many kinds, gubei cotton and other goods."