CEYLON AS KNOWN TO THE CHINESE.
Although the intimate knowledge of Ceylon acquired by the Chinese at an early period, is distinctly ascribable to the sympathy and intercourse promoted by community of religion, there is traditional, if not historical evidence that its origin, in a remote age, may be traced to the love of gain and their eagerness for the extension of commerce. The Singhalese ambassadors who arrived at Rome in the reign of the Emperor Clandius, stated that their ancestors had reached China by traversing India and the Himalayan mountains long before ships had attempted the voyage by sea[1], and as late as the fifth century of the Christian era, the King of Ceylon[2], in an address delivered by his envoy to the Emperor of China, shows that both routes were then in use.[3]
1: PLINY, b. vi. ch. xxiv.
2: Maha Naama, A.D. 428; Sung-shoo, a "History of the Northern Sung Dynasty," b. xcvii, p. 5.
3: It was probably the knowledge of the overland route that led the Chinese to establish their military colonies in Kashgar, Yarkhand and the countries lying between their own frontier and the north-east boundary of India.—Journ. Asiat. 1. vi. p. 343. An embassy from China to Ceylon, A.D. 607, was entrusted to Chang-Tsuen, "Director of the Military Lands."—Suy-shoo; b. lxxxi. p. 3.
It is not, however, till after the third century of the Christian era that we find authentic records of such journeys in the literature of China. The Buddhist pilgrims, who at that time resorted to India, published on their return itineraries and descriptions of the distant countries they had visited, and officers, both military and civil, brought back memoirs and statistical statements for the information of the government and the guidance of commerce.[1]
1: REINAUD, Mémoir sur l'Inde, p. 9. STANISLAS JULIEN, preface to his translation of Hiouen-Thsang, Paris, 1853, p. 1. A bibliographical notice of the most important Chinese works which contain descriptions of India, by M.S. JULIEN, will be found in the Journ. Asiat. for October, 1832, p. 264.
It was reasonable to anticipate that in such records information would be found regarding the condition of Ceylon as it presented itself from time to time to the eyes of the Chinese; but unfortunately numbers of the original works have long since perished, or exist only in extracts preserved in dynastic histories and encyclopædias, or in a class of books almost peculiar to China, called "tsung-shoo," consisting of excerpts reproduced from the most ancient writers. M. Stanislas Julien discovered in the Pien-i-tien, ("a History of Foreign Nations," of which there is a copy in the Imperial Library of Paris,) a collection of fragments from Chinese authors who had treated of Ceylon; but as the intention of that eminent Sinologue to translate them[1] has not yet been carried into effect, they are not available to me for consultation. In this difficulty I turned for assistance to China; and through the assiduous kindness of Mr. Wylie, of the London Mission at Shanghai, I have received extracts from twenty-four Chinese writers between the fifth and eighteenth centuries, from which and from translations of Chinese travels and topographies made by Remusat, Klaproth, Landresse, Pauthier, Stanislas Julien, and others, I have been enabled to collect the following facts relative to the knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Chinese in the middle ages.[2]
1: Journ. Asiat. t. xxix. p. 39. M. Stanislas Julien is at present engaged in the translation of the Si-yu-ki, or "Mémoires des Contrées Occidentales," the eleventh chapter of which contains an account of Ceylon in the eighth century.
2: The Chinese works referred to in the following pages are.—Sung-shoo, the "History of the Northern Sung Dynasty," A.D. 417-473, by CHIN-YŎ, written about A.D. 487,—Wei-shoo, "a History of the Wei Tartar Dynasty," A.D. 386-556, by WEI-SHOW, A.D. 590.—Foĕ-Kouĕ Ki, an "Account of the Buddhist Kingdoms," by CH[)Y]-FĂ-HIAN, A.D. 399-414, French transl., by Rémusat, Klaproth, and Landresse. Paris, 1836.—Leang-shoo, "History of the Leang Dynasty," A.D. 502-557, by YAOU-SZE-LEEN, A.D. 630.—Suy-shoo, "History of the Suy Dynasty," A.D. 581-617, by WEI-CHING, A.D. 633.—HIOUEN-THSANG. His Life and Travels, A.D. 645, French, transl., by Stanislas Julien. Paris, 1853.—Nan-shè, "History of the Southern Empire," A.D. 317-589, by LE-YEN-SHOW, A.D. 650,—Tung-tëen, "Cyclopædia of History," by TOO-YEW, A.D. 740.—KÉ-NËĔ si-yĭh hing-Ching, "Itinerary of KÉ-NËĔ's Travels in the Western Regions," from A.D. 964-979.—Tae-ping yu-lan, "The Tae-ping Digest of History," compiled by Imperial Command, A.D. 983.—Tsĭh-foo yuen-Kwei, "Great Depository of the National Archives," compiled by Imperial Command, A.D. 1012.—Sin-Tang-shoo, "A New History of the Tang Dynasty," A.D. 618-906, by GOW-YANG-SEW and SING-KÉ, A.D. 1060.—Tung-che, "National Annals," by CHING-TSEAOU, A.D. 1150.—Wăn-hëén tung-kaou, "Antiquarian Researches," by MA-TWAN-LIN, A.D. 1319. Of this remarkable work there is an admirable analysis by Klaproth in the Asiatic Journal for 1832, vol. xxxv. p. 110, and one still more complete in the Journal Asiatique, vol. xxi. p. 3. The portion relating to Ceylon has been translated into French by M. Pauthier in the Journal Asiatique for April, 1836, and again by M. Stanislas Julien in the same Journal for July, 1836, t. xxix, p. 36.—Yŭh-hae, "The Ocean of Gems," by WANG-YANG-LIN, A.D. 1338.—Taou-e cheleŏ, "A General Account of Island Foreigners," by WANG-TA-YOUEN, A.D. 1350.—Tsĭh-ké, "Miscellaneous Record;" written at the end of the Yuen dynasty, about the close of the fourteenth century.—Po-wŭh yaou-lan, "Philosophical Examiner;" written during the Ming dynasty, about the beginning of the fifteenth century.—Se-yĭh-ke foo-choo, "A Description of Western Countries," A.D. 1450. This is the important work of which M. Stanislas Julien has recently published the first volume of his French translation, Mémoires des Contrées Occidentales, Paris, 1857; and of which he has been so obliging as to send me those sheets of the second volume, now preparing for the press, which contain the notices of Ceylon by HIOUEN-THSANG. They, however, add very little to the information already given in the Life and Travels of Hiouen-Thsang.—Woo-heŏ-pëen, "Records of the Ming Dynasty," by CHING-HEAOU, A.D. 1522.—Sŭh-wan-hëen tung-kaou, "Supplement to the Antiquarian Researches," by WANG-KÉ, A.D. 1603.—Sŭh-Hung këen-luh, "Supplement to the History of the Middle Ages," by SHAOU-YUEN-PING, A.D. 1706.—Ming-she, "History of the Ming Dynasty," A.D. 1638-1643, by CHANG-TING-YŬH, A.D. 1739.—Ta-tsing yĭh-tung, "A Topographical Account of the Manchoo Dynasty," of which there is a copy in the British Museum.
Like the Greek geographers, the earliest Chinese authorities grossly exaggerated the size of Ceylon: they represented it as lying "cross-wise" in the Indian Ocean[1], and extending in width from east to west one third more than in depth from north to south.[2] They were struck by the altitude of its hills, and, above all, by the lofty crest of Adam's Peak, which served as the land-mark for ships approaching the island. They speak reverentially of the sacred foot-mark[3] impressed by the first created man, who, in their mythology, bears the name of Pawn-koo; and the gems which are found upon the mountain they believe to be his "crystallised tears, which accounts for their singular lustre and marvellous tints."[4] The country they admired for its fertility and singular beauty; the climate they compared to that of Siam[5], with slight alterations of seasons; refreshing showers in every period of the year, and the earth consequently teeming with fertility.[6]
1: Taou-e ché-lëŏ, quoted in the Hae-kwŏ-too che, Foreign Geography, b. xviii. p. 15.
2: Leang-shoo, b. liv. p. 10; Nan-shè, b. lxxiii. p. 13; Tung-tëen, b. clxxxviii. p. 17.
3: The Chinese books repeat the popular belief that the hollow of the sacred footstep contains water "which does not dry up all the year round;" and that invalids recover by drinking from the well at the foot of the mountain; into which "the sea-water enters free from salt." Taou-e ché-lëŏ, quoted in the Hae-kwŏ-toô-ché, or Foreign Geography, b. xxviii. p. 15.
4: Po-wŭh Yaou-lan, b. xxxiii. p. 1. WANG-KE, Sŭ-Wan-hëentung-kaou, b. ccxxxvi. p. 19.
5: Tung-tëen, b. clxxxviii. p. 17. Tae-ping, b. dcclxxxvii p. 5.
6: Leang-shoo, b. liv. p. 10.
The names by which Ceylon was known to them were either adapted from the Singhalese, as nearly as the Chinese characters would supply equivalents for the Sanskrit and Pali letters, or else they are translations of the sense implied by each designation. Thus, Sinhala was either rendered "Seng-kia-lo,"[1] or "Sze-tseu-kwŏ," the latter name as well as the original, meaning "the kingdom of lions."[2] The classical Lanka is preserved in the Chinese "Lang-kea" and "Lang-ya-seu" In the epithet "Chĭh-too," the Red Land[3], we have a simple rendering of the Pali Tambapanni, the "Copper-palmed," from the colour of the soil.[4] Paou-choo[5] is a translation of the Sanskrit Ratna-dwipa, the "Island of Gems," and Tsĭh-e-lan, Seĭh-lan, and Se-lung, are all modern modifications of the European "Ceylon."
1: Hiouen-Thsang, b. iv. p. 194. Transl. M.S. Julien.
2: This, M. Stanislas Julien says, should be "the kingdom of the lion," in allusion to the mythical ancestry of Wijayo.—Journ. Asiat, tom. xxix. p. 37. And in a note to the tenth book of HIOUEN-THSANG'S Voyages des Pélerins Bouddhistes, vol. ii. p. 124, he says one name for Ceylon in Chinese is "Tchi-sse-tseu" "(le royaume de celui qui) a pris un lion."
3: Suy-shoo, b. lxxx. p. 3. In the Se-yĭh-ké foo-choo, or "Descriptions of Western Countries," Ceylon is called Woo-yew-kw[(o], "the sorrowless kingdom."
4: Mahawanso, ch. vii. p. 50.
5: Se-yĭh-ké foo-choo, quoted in the Haè-kwŏ-too che, or "Foreign Geography," l. xviii. p. 15; HIOUEN-THSANG; Voyages des Péler. Boudd. lib. xi. vol. ii. p. 125; 130 n.
The ideas of the Chinese regarding the mythical period of Singhalese history, and the first peopling of the island, are embodied in a very few sentences which are repeated throughout the series of authors, and with which we are made familiar in the following passage from FĂ HIAN:—" Sze-tseu-kwŏ, the kingdom of lions[1], was inhabited originally not by men but by demons and dragons.[2] Merchants were attracted to the island, by the prospect of trade; but the demons remained unseen, merely exposing the precious articles which they wished to barter: with a price marked for each, at which the foreign traders were at liberty to take them, depositing the equivalents indicated in exchange. From the resort of these dealers, the inhabitants of other countries, hearing of the attractions of the island, resorted to it in large numbers, and thus eventually a great kingdom was formed."[3]
1: Wan-hëen tung-kaou, b. cccxxxviii. p. 24.
2: The Yakkhos and Nagas ("devils" and "serpents") of the Mahawanso.
3: Foĕ-Kouĕ Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 333. Transl. RÉMUSAT. This account of Ceylon is repeated almost verbatim in the Tung-tëen, and in numerous other Chinese works, with the addition that the newly-formed kingdom of Sinhala, "Sze-tseu-kwŏ," took its name from the "skill of the natives in training lions."—B. cxciii. pp. 8, 9; Tae-ping, b. dccxciii. p. 9; Sin-Tang-shoo, b. cxlvi. part ii. p. 10. A very accurate translation of the passage as it is given by MA-TOUAN-LIN is published by M. Stanislas Julien in the Journ. Asiat. for July, 1836, tom. xxix. p. 36.
The Chinese were aware of two separate races, one occupying the northern and the other the southern extremity of the island, and were struck with the resemblance of the Tamils to the Hoo, a people of Central Asia, and of the Singhalese to the Leaou, a mountain tribe of Western China.[1] The latter they describe as having "large ears, long eyes, purple faces, black bodies, moist and strong hands and feet, and living to one hundred years and upwards.[2] Their hair was worn long and flowing, not only by the women but by the men." In these details there are particulars that closely resemble the description of the natives of the island visited by Jambulus, as related in the story told by Diodorus.[3]
1: Too-Hiouen, quoted in the Tung-tëen, b. cxciii. p. 8.
2: Taou-e ché-lëŏ, quoted in the Hae-kwŏ-too ché, or "Foreign Geography," b. xviii p. 15.
3: DIODORUS SICULUS, lib. ii. ch. liii. See ante, [Vol. I. P. v. ch. 1. p. 153.]
The Chinese in the seventh century found the Singhalese dressed in a costume which appears to be nearly identical with that of the present day.[1] Both males and females had their hair long and flowing, but the heads of children were closely shaven, a practice which still partially prevails. The jackets of the girls were occasionally ornamented with gems.[2] "The men," says the Tung-tëen, "have the upper part of the body naked, but cover their limbs with a cloth, called Kan-man, made of Koo-pei, 'Cotton,' a word in which we may recognise the term 'Comboy,' used to designate the cotton cloth universally worn at the present day by the Singhalese of both sexes in the maritime provinces.[3] For their vests, the kings and nobles made use of a substance which is described as 'cloud cloth,'[4] probably from its being very transparent, and gathered (as is still the costume of the chiefs of Kandy) into very large folds. It was fastened with golden cord. Men of rank were decorated with earrings. The dead were burned, not buried." And the following passage from the Sŭh-wan-hëen tung-kaou, or the "Supplement to Antiquarian Researches," is strikingly descriptive of what may be constantly witnessed in Ceylon;—"the females who live near the family of the dead assemble in the house, beat their breasts with both hands, howl and weep, which constitutes their appropriate rite."[5]
1: Leang-shoo, b. liv. p. 10; Nan-shè, b. lxxviii. pp. 13, 14.
2: Nan-shè, A.D. 650, b. lxxviii. p. 13; Leang-shoo, A.D. 670; b. liv. p. 11. Such is still the dress of the Singhalese females.
A MOODLIAR AND HIS WIFE.
3: Tung-tëen, b. clxxxviii. p. 17; Nan-shè, b. lxxviii. p. 13; Sin-tang-shoo, b. cxcviii p. 25. See [p. iv. ch. iv, vol. i. p. 450.]
4: The Chinese term is "yun-hae-poo."—Leang-shoo, b. liv. p. 10.
5: B. ccxxxvi. p. 19.
The natural riches of Ceylon, and its productive capabilities, speedily impressed the Chinese, who were bent upon the discovery of outlets for their commerce, with the conviction of its importance as an emporium of trade. So remote was the age at which strangers frequented it, that in the "Account of Island Foreigners," written by WANG-TA-YUEN[1] in the fourteenth century, it is stated that the origin of trade in the island was coeval with the visit of Buddha, who, "taking compassion on the aborigines, who were poor and addicted to robbery, turned their disposition to virtue, by sprinkling the land with sweet dew, which caused it to produce red gems, and thus gave them wherewith to trade," and hence it became the resort of traders from every country.[2] Though aware of the unsuitability of the climate to ripen wheat, the Chinese were struck with admiration at the wonderful appliances of the Singhalese for irrigation, and the cultivation of rice.[3]
1: Taou-e ché-lëŏ, quoted in the Foreign Geography, b. xviii. p. 15.
2: The rapid peopling of Ceylon at a very remote age is accounted for in the following terms in a passage of MA-TWAN-LIN, as translated by M. Stanislas Julien;—"Les habitants des autres royaumes entendirent parler de ce pays fortuné; c'est pourquoi ils y accoururent à l'envi."—Journ. Asiat. t. xxix. p. 42.
3: Records of the Ming Dynasty, by CHING-HEAOU, b. lxviii. p. 5.
According to the Tung-tëen, the intercourse between them and the Singhalese, began during the Eastern Tsin dynasty, A.D. 317—419[1]; and one remarkable island still retains a name which is commemorative of their presence. Salang, to the north of Penang, lay in the direct course of the Chinese junks on their way to and from Ceylon, through the Straits of Malacca, and, in addition to its harbour, was attractive from its valuable mines of tin. Here the Chinese fleets called on both voyages; and the fact of their resort is indicated by the popular name "Ajung-Selan," or "Junk-Ceylon;" by which the place is still known, Ajung, in the language of the Malays, being the term for "large shipping," and Selan, their name for Ceylon.[2]
1: Tung-tëen, A.D. 740, b. clxxxviii. p. 17.
2: Sincapore Chronicle, 1836.
The port in Ceylon which the Chinese vessels made their rendezvous, was Lo-le (Galle), "where," it is said, "ships anchor, and people land."[1]
1: WANG-KE, Suh-wan-hëen tung-kaou, b. ccxxxvi p. 19.
Besides rice, the vegetable productions of the island enumerated by the various Chinese authorities were aloes-wood, sandal-wood[1], and ebony; camphor[2], areca-nuts, beans, sesamum, coco-nuts (and arrack distilled from the coco-nut palm) pepper, sugar-cane, myrrh, frankincense, oil and drugs.[3] An odoriferous extract, called by the Chinese Shoo-heang, is likewise particularised, but it is not possible now to identify it.
1: The mention of sandal-wood is suggestive. It does not, so far as I could ever learn, exist in Ceylon; yet it is mentioned with particular care amongst its exports in the Chinese books. Can it be that, like the calamander, or Coromandel-wood, which is rapidly approaching extinction, sandal-wood was extirpated from the island by injudicious cutting, unaccompanied by any precautions for the reproduction of the tree?
2: Nan-shè, b. lxxviii. p. 13.
3: Suh-Hung keën-luh, b. xlii. p. 52.
Elephants and ivory were in request; and the only manufactures alluded to for export were woven cotton[1], gold ornaments, and jewelry; including models of the shrines in which were deposited the sacred relics of Buddha.[2] Statues of Buddha were frequently sent as royal presents, and so great was the fame of Ceylon for their production in the fourth and fifth centuries, that according to the historian of the Wei Tartar dynasty, A.D. 386-556, people "from the countries of Central Asia, and the kings of those nations, emulated each other in sending artisans to procure copies, but none could rival the productions of Nan-té.[3] On standing about ten paces distant they appeared truly brilliant, but the lineaments gradually disappeared on a nearer approach."[4]
1: Tsih-foo yuen-kwei, A.D. 1012, b. dcccclxxi. p. 15. At a later period "Western cloth" is mentioned among the exports of Ceylon, but the reference must be to cloth previously imported either from India or Persia.—Ming-she History of the Ming Dynasty, A.D. 1368—1643, b. cccxxvi. p. 7.
2: A model of the shrine containing the sacred tooth was sent to the Emperor of China in the fifth century by the King of Ceylon; "Chacha Mo-ho-nan," a name which appears to coincide with Raja Maha Nama, who reigned A.D. 410—433.—Shunshoo, A.D. 487, b. xlvii. p. 6.
3: Nan-té was a Buddhist priest, who in the year A.D. 456 was sent on an embassy to the Emperor of China, and was made the bearer of three statues of his own making.—Tsĭh-foo yuen-kwei, b. li. p. 7.
4: Wei-shoo, A.D. 590, b. cxiv. p. 9.
Pearls, corals, and crystals were eagerly sought after; but of all articles the gems of Ceylon were in the greatest request. The business of collecting and selling them seems from the earliest time to have fallen into the hands of the Arabs, and hence they bore in China the designation of "Mahometan stones."[1] They consisted of rubies, sapphires, amethysts, carbuncles (the "red precious stone, the lustre of which serves instead of a lamp at night")[2]; and topazes of four distinct tints, "those the colour of wine; the delicate tint of young goslings, the deep amber, like bees'-wax, and the pale tinge resembling the opening bud of the pine."[3] It will not fail to be observed that throughout all these historical and topographical works of the Chinese, extending over a period of twelve centuries, from the year A.D. 487, there is no mention whatever of cinnamon as a production of Ceylon; although cassia, described under the name of kwei, is mentioned as indigenous in China and Cochin-China. In exchange for these commodities the Chinese traders brought with them silk, variegated lute strings, blue porcelain, enamelled dishes and cups, and quantities of copper cash wanted for adjusting the balances of trade.[4]
1: Tsih-ke, quoted in the Chinese Mirror of Sciences, b. xxxiii. p. 1.
2: Po-wŭh yaou-lan, b. xxxiii. p. 2.
3: Ibid.
4: Suy-shoo, "History of the Suy Dynasty," A.D. 633, b. lxxxi. p. 3.
Of the religion of the people, the earliest account recorded by the Chinese is that of FĂ HIAN, in the fourth century[1], when Buddhism was signally in the ascendant. But in the century which followed, travellers returning from Ceylon brought back accounts of the growing power of the Tamils, and of the consequent eclipse of the national worship. The Yung-tëen and the Tae-ping describe at that early period the prevalence of Brahmanical customs, but coupled with "greater reverence for the Buddhistical faith."[2] In process of time, however, they are forced to admit the gradual decline of the latter, and the attachment of the Singhalese kings to the Hindu ritual, exhibiting an equal reverence to the ox and to the images of Buddha.[3]
1: Foĕ-Kouĕ Ki, ch. xxxviii.
2: Tae-ping, b. dccxciii, p. 9.
3: Woo-hëŏ-pëen, "Records of the Ming Dynasty," b. lxviii. p. 4; Tung-nëĕ, b. cxcvi. pp. 79, 80.
The Chinese trace to Ceylon the first foundation of monasteries, and of dwelling-houses for the priests, and in this they are corroborated by the Mahawanso.[1] From these pious communities, the Emperors of China were accustomed from time to time to solicit transcripts of theological works[2], and their envoys, returning from such missions, appear to have brought glowing accounts of the Singhalese temples, the costly shrines for relics, and the fervid devotion of the people to the national worship.[3]
1: Mahawanso, ch. xv. p. 99; ch. xx. p. 123. In the Itinerary of KÉ-NËĔ's Travels in the Western Kingdoms in the tenth Century he mentions having seen a monastery of Singhalese on the continent of India.—KÉ-NËĔ, Se-yĭh hing-ching, A.D. 964—976.
2: Tae-ping, b. dcclxxxvii. p. 5.
3: Taou-e ché-lëŏ. "Account of Island Foreigners," quoted in the "Foreign Geography" b. xviii. p. 15. Se-yĭ-ke foo-choo. Ib. "At daybreak every morning the people are summoned, and exhorted to repeat the passages of Buddha, in order to remove ignorance and open the minds of the multitude. Discourses are delivered upon the principles of vacancy (nirwana?) and abstraction from all material objects, in order that truth maybe studied in solitude and silence, and the unfathomable point of principle attained free from the distracting influences of sound or smell."—Tsĭh-foo yaen-kwei, A.D. 1012, b. dcccclxi. p. 5.
The cities of Ceylon in the sixth century are stated, in the "History of the Leang Dynasty," to have been encompassed by walls built of brick, with double gates, and the houses within were constructed with upper stories.[1] The palace of the king, at Anarajapoora, in the eleventh century, was sufficiently splendid to excite the admiration of these visitants, "the precious articles with which it was decorated being reflected in the thoroughfares."[2]
1: Leang-shoo, A.D. 630, b. liv. p 11.
2: Tsĭh-foo yaen-kwei, b. dcccclxi. p. 5.
The Chinese authors, like the Greeks and Arabians, are warm in their praises of the patriotism of the Singhalese sovereigns, and their active exertions for the improvement of the country, and the prosperity of the people.[1] On state occasions, the king, "carried on an elephant, and accompanied by banners, streamers, and tom-toms, rode under a canopy[2], attended by a military guard."[3]
1: Ibid.
2: The "chatta," or umbrella, emblematic of royalty.
3: Leang-shoo. b. liv. p. 10.
Throughout all the Chinese accounts, from the very earliest period, there are notices of the manners of the Singhalese, and even minute particulars of their domestic habits, which attest a continued intercourse and an intimate familiarity between the people of the two countries.[1] In this important feature the narratives of the Arabs, who, with the exception of the pilgrimage made with difficulty to Adam's Peak, appear to have known only the sea-coast and the mercantile communities established there, exhibit a marked difference when compared with those of the Chinese; as the latter, in addition to their trading operations in the south of the island, made their way into the interior, and penetrated to the cities in the northern districts. The explanation is to be found in the identity of the national worship attracting as it did the people of China to the sacred island, which had become the great metropolis of their common faith, and to the sympathy and hospitality with which the Singhalese welcomed the frequent visits of their distant co-religionists.
1: This is apparent from the fact that their statements are not confined to descriptions of the customs and character of the male Singhalese, but exhibit internal evidence that they had been introduced to their families, and had had opportunities of noting peculiarities in the customs of the females. They describe their dress, their mode of tying their hair, their treatment of infants and children, the fact that the women as well as the men were addicted to chewing betel, and that they did not sit down to meals with their husbands, but "retired to some private apartments to eat their food."
This interchange of courtesies was eagerly encouraged by the sovereigns of the two countries. The emperors of China were accustomed to send ambassadors, both laymen and theologians, to obtain images and relics of Buddha, and to collect transcripts of the sacred books, which contained the exposition of his doctrines[1];—and the kings of Ceylon despatched embassies in return, authorised to reciprocate these religious sympathies and do homage to the imperial majesty of China.
1: Hiouen-Thsang, Introd. STANISLAS JULIEN, p. 1.
The historical notices of the island by the Chinese relative to the period immediately preceding the fourteenth century, are meagre, and confined to a native tradition that "about 400 years after the establishment of the kingdom, the Great Dynasty fell into decay, when there was but one man of wisdom and virtue belonging to the royal house to whom the people became attached: the monarch thereupon caused him to be thrown into prison; but the lock opened of its own accord, and the king thus satisfied of his sacred character did not venture to take his life, but drove him into banishment to India (Tëen chuh), whence, after marrying a royal princess, he was recalled to Ceylon on the death of the tyrant, where he reigned twenty years, and was succeeded by his son, Po-kea Ta-To."[l] In this story may probably be traced the extinction of the "Great Dynasty" of Ceylon, on the demise of Maha-Sen, and the succession of the Sulu-wanse, or Lower Dynasty, in the person of Kitsiri Maiwan, A.D. 301, whose son, Detu Tissa, may possibly be the Po-kea Ta-to of the Chinese Chronicle.[2]
1: Leang-shoo, "History of the Leang Dynasty," b. liv. p. 10.
2: Mahawanso, c. xxxvii. p 242. TURNOUR'S Epitome, &c., p. 24.
The visit of Fa Hian, the zealous Buddhist pilgrim, in the fifth century of our era, has been already frequently adverted to.[1] He landed in Ceylon A.D. 412, and remained for two years at Anarajapoora, engaged in transcribing the sacred books. Hence his descriptions are confined almost exclusively to the capital; and he appears to have seen little of the rest of the island. He dwells with delight on the magnificence of the Buddhist buildings, the richness of their jewelled statues, and the prodigious dimensions of the dagobas, one of which, from its altitude and solidity, was called the "Mountain without fear."[2] But what most excited his admiration was his finding no less than 5000 Buddhist priests at the capital, 2000 in a single monastery on a mountain (probably Mihintala), and between 50,000 and 60,000 dispersed throughout the rest of the island.[3] Pearls and gems were the wealth of Ceylon; and from the latter the king derived a royalty of three out of every ten discovered.[4]
1: The Foĕ-Kouĕ Ki, or "Description of Buddhist Kingdoms," by FA-HIAN, has been translated by Rémusat, and edited by Klaproth and Landresse, 4to. Paris, 1836.
2: In Chinese, Woo-wei.
3: Foĕ-Kouĕ Ki, c. xxxviii. pp. 333, 334.
4: Ibid., c. xxxvii. p. 328.
The earliest embassy from Ceylon recorded in the Chinese[1] annals at the beginning of the fifth century, appears to have proceeded overland by way of India, and was ten years before reaching the capital of China. It was the bearer of "a jade-stone image of Buddha, exhibiting every colour in purity and richness, in workmanship unique, and appearing to be beyond human art[2]."
1: A.D. 405. Gibbon alludes with natural surprise to his discovery of the fact, that prior to the reign of Justinian, the "monarch of China had actually received an embassy from the Island of Ceylon."—Decline and Fall, c. xl.
2: Leang-shoo, A.D. 630, b. liv. p. 13. The ultimate fate of this renowned work of art is related in the Leang-shoo, and several other of the Chinese chronicles. Throughout the | Tsin and Sung dynasties it was preserved in the Wa-kwan monastery at Nankin, along with five other statues and three paintings which were esteemed chefs-d'oeuvre. The jade-stone image was at length destroyed in the time of Tung-hwan, of the Tse dynasty; first, the arm was broken off, and eventually the body taken to make hair-pins and armlets for the emperor's favourite consort Pwan. Nân-shè, b. lxxviii. p. 13. Tung-tëen, b. cxciii. p. 8. Tae-ping, &c., b. dcclxxxvii. p. 6.
During the same century there were four other embassies from Ceylon. One A.D. 428, when the King Cha-cha Mo-ho-nan (Raja Maha Naama) sent an address to the emperor, which will be found in the history of the Northern Sung dynasty[1], together with a "model of the shrine of the tooth," as a token of fidelity;—two in A.D. 430 and A.D. 435; and a fourth A.D. 456, when five priests, of whom one was Nanté, the celebrated sculptor, brought as a gift to the emperor a "three-fold image of Buddha."[2]
1: Sung-shoo, A.D. 487, b. xcvii. p. 5.
2: Probably one in each of the three orthodox attitudes,—sitting in meditation, standing to preach, and reposing in "nirwana." Wei-shoo, "History of the Wei Tartar Dynasty," A.D. 590, b. cxiv. p. 9.
According to the Chinese annalists, the kings of Ceylon, in the sixth century, acknowledged themselves vassals of the Emperor of China, and in the year 515, on the occasion of Kumara Das raising the chatta, an envoy was despatched with tribute to China, together with an address, announcing the royal accession, in which the king intimates that he "had been desirous to go in person, but was deterred by fear of winds and waves."[1]
1: Leang-shoo, b. liv. p. 10. Y[(u]h-hae, "Ocean of Gems," A.D. 1331, b. clii. p. 33. The latter authority announces in like terms two other embassies with tribute to China, one in A.D. 523, and another in the reign of Kirti Sena, A.D. 527. The Tsih-foo yuen-kwei mentions a similar mission in A.D. 531, b. dcccclxviii. p. 20.
But although all these embassies are recorded in the Chinese chronicles as so many instances of acknowledged subjection, there is every reason to believe that the magniloquent terms in which they are described are by no means to be taken in a literal sense, and that the offerings enumerated were merely in recognition of the privilege of commercial intercourse subsisting between the two nations: but as the Chinese literati affect a lofty contempt for commerce, all allusion to trade is omitted; and beyond an incidental remark in some works of secondary importance, the literature of China observes a dignified silence on the subject.
Only one embassy is mentioned in the seventh century, when Dalu-piatissa despatched "a memorial and offerings of native productions;"[1] but there were four in the century following[2], after which there occurs an interval of above five hundred years, during which the Chinese writers are singularly silent regarding Ceylon; but the Singhalese historians incidentally mention that swords and musical instruments were then imported from China, for the use of the native forces, and that Chinese soldiers took service in the army of Prakrama III. A.D. 1266.[3]
1: A.D. 670. Tsĭh-foo yuen-kwei, b. dcccclxx. p. 16. It was in the early part of this century, during a period of intestine commotion, when the native princes were overawed by the Malabars, that Hiouen-Thsang met on the coast of India fugitives from Ceylon, from whom he derived his information as to the internal condition of the island, A.D. 629—633. See Transl. by STANISLAS JULIEN, "La Vie de Hiouen-Thsang," Paris, 1853, pp. 192—198.
2: A.D. 711, A.D. 746, A.D. 750, and A.D. 762. Tsĭh-foo yuen-kwei, b. dcccclxxi. p. 17. On the second occasion (A.D. 746) the king, who despatched the embassy, is described as sending as his envoy a "Brahman priest, the anointed graduate of the threefold repository, bearing as offerings head-ornaments of gold, precious neck-pendants, a copy of the great Prajna Sutra, and forty webs of fine cotton cloth."
3: See the Kawia-sakara, written about A.D. 1410.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the only records of intercourse relate to the occasional despatch of public officers by the emperor of China to collect gems and medical drugs, and on three successive occasions during the earlier part of the Yuen dynasty, envoys were empowered to negotiate the purchase of the sacred alms-dish of Buddha.[1]
1: "In front of the image of Buddha there is a sacred bowl which is neither made of jade, nor copper, nor iron; it is of a purple colour and glossy, and when struck it sounds like glass. At the commencement of the Yuen dynasty, three separate envoys were sent to obtain it."—Taou-e che-leo "Account of Island Foreigners," A.D. 1350, quoted in the "Foreign Geography", b. xviii. p. 15. This statement of the Chinese authorities corroborates the story told by MARCO POLO, possibly from personal knowledge, that "the Grand Khan Kublai sent ambassadors to Ceylon with a request that the king would yield to him possession of 'the great ruby' in return for the 'value of a city.'"—(Travels, ch. xix.) The MS. of MARCO POLO, which contains the Latin version of his Travels, is deposited in the Imperial Library of Paris, and it is remarkable that a passage in it, which seems to be wanting in the Italian and other MSS., confirms this account of the Chinese annalists, and states that the alms-dish of Buddha was at length yielded by the King of Ceylon as a gift to Kublai Khan, and carried with signal honour to China. MARCO POLO describes the scene as something within his own knowledge:—"Quando autem magnus Kaan scivit quod isti ambaxiatores redibant cum reliquis istis, et erant prope terram ubi ipse tune erat, scilicet in Cambalu (Pekin), fecit mitti bandum quod omnes de terra obviarent reliquis istis (quia credebat quod essent reliquiæ de Adam) et istud fuit A.D. 1284."
The beginning of the fifteenth century was, however, signalised by an occurrence, the details of which throw light over the internal condition of the island, at a period regarding which the native historians are more than usually obscure. At this time the glory of Buddhism had declined, and the political ascendency of the Tamils had enabled the Brahmans to taint the national worship by an infusion of Hindu observances. The Se-yih-ke foo-choo, or "Description of Western Countries," says that in 1405 A.D. the reigning king, A-lee-koo-nae-wurh (Wijaya-bahu VI.), a native of Sollee, and "an adherent of the heterodox faith, so far from honouring Buddha, tyrannised over his followers."[1] He maltreated strangers resorting to the island, and plundered their vessels, "so that the envoys from other lands, in passing to and fro, were much annoyed by him."[2]
1: B. xviii. p. 15.
2: Ming-she, b. cccxxvi, p. 7.
In that year a mission from China, sent with incense and offerings to the shrine of the tooth, was insulted and waylaid, and with difficulty effected an escape from Ceylon.[1] According to the Ming-she, or History of the Ming Dynasty, "the Emperor Ching-tsoo, indignant at this outrage on his people; and apprehensive lest the influence of China in other countries besides Ceylon had declined during the reign of his predecessors, sent Ching-Ho, a soldier of distinction, with a fleet of sixty-two ships and a large military escort, on an expedition to visit the western kingdoms, furnished with proper credentials and rich presents of silk and gold. Ching-Ho touched at Cochin-China, Sumatra, Java, Cambodia, Siam, and other places, proclaiming at each the Imperial edict, and conferring Imperial gifts." If any of the princes refused submission, they were subdued by force; and the expedition returned to China in A.D. 1407, accompanied by envoys from the several nations, who came to pay court to the Emperor.
1: Se-yĭh-ke foo-choo, b. xviii. p. 15. This Chinese invasion of Ceylon has been already adverted to in the sketch of the domestic history of the island, Vol. I. Part IV. ch xii. p. 417.
In the following year Ching-Ho, having been despatched on a similar mission to Ceylon, the king, A-lee-ko-nae-wah, decoyed his party into the interior, threw up stockades with a view to their capture, in the hope of a ransom, and ordered soldiers to the coast to plunder the Chinese junks. But Ching-Ho, by a dexterous movement, avoided the attack, and invested the capital[1], made a prisoner of the king, succeeded in conveying him on board his fleet, and carried him captive to China, together with his queen, his children, his officers of state, and his attendants. He brought away with him spoils, which were long afterwards exhibited in the Tsing-hae monastery at Nankin[2], and one of the commentaries on the Si-yu-ke of Hiouen Thseng, states that amongst the articles carried away, was the sacred tooth of Buddha.[3] "In the sixth month of the year 1411," says the author of the Ming-Shè, "the prisoners were presented at court. The Chinese ministers pressed for their execution, but the emperor, in pity for their ignorance, set them at liberty, but commanded them to select a virtuous man from the same family to occupy the throne. All the captives declared in favour of Seay-pa-nae-na, whereupon an envoy was sent with a seal to invest him with the royal dignity, as a vassal of the empire," and in that capacity he was restored to Ceylon, the former king being at the same time sent back to the island.[4] It would be difficult to identify the names in this story with the kings of the period, were it not stated in another chronicle, the Woo-hëŏ-pëen, or Record of the Ming Dynasty, that Seay-pa-nae-na was afterwards named Pu-la-ko-ma Ba-zae La-cha, in which it is not difficult to recognise "Sri Prakrama Bahu Raja," the sixth of his name, who transferred the seat of government from Gampola to Cotta, and reigned from A.D. 1410 to 1462.[5]
1: Gampola.
2: Sŭh-Wan-hëen tung-kaou, book ccxxxvi p. 12.
3: See [note at the end of this chapter.]
4: Ming-shè, b. cccxxvi. p. 5. M. STANISLAS JULIEN intimates that the forthcoming volume of his version of the Si-yu-ki will contain the eleventh book, in which an account will be given of the expedition of Ching Ho.—Mémoires sur les Contrées Occidentales, tom. i. p. 26. In anticipation of its publication, M. JULIEN has been so obliging as to make for me a translation of the passage regarding Ceylon, but it proves to be an annotation of the fifteenth century, which, by the inadvertence of transcribers, has become interpolated in the text of Hiouen-Thsang. It contains, however, no additional facts or statements beyond the questionable one before alluded to, that the sacred tooth of Buddha was amongst the spoils carried to Pekin by Ching Ho.
5: Woo-hëŏ-pëen, b. lxviii p. 5. See also the Ta-tsing yĭh-tung, a topographical account of the Manchoo empire, a copy of which is among the Chinese books in the British Museum. In the very imperfect version of the Rajavali, published by Upham, this important passage is rendered unintelligible by the want of fidelity of the translator, who has transformed the conqueror into a "Malabar," and ante-dated the event by a century. (Rajavali, p. 263.) I am indebted to Mr. De Alwis, of Colombo, for a correct translation of the original, which is as follows: "In the reign of King Wijayo-bahu, the King of Maha (great) China landed in Ceylon with an army, pretending that he was bringing tribute; King Wijayo-bahu, believing his professions (because it had been customary in the time of King Prakrama-bahu for foreign countries to pay tribute to Ceylon), acted incautiously, and he was treacherously taken prisoner by the foreign king. His four brothers were killed, and with them fell many people, and the king himself was carried captive to China." DE COUTO, in his continuation of DE BARROS, has introduced the story of the capture of the king by the Chinese; but he has confounded the dates, mystified the facts, and altered the name of the new sovereign to Pandar, which is probably only a corruption of the Singhalese Banda, "a prince."—DE COUTO, Asia, &c., dec. v. lib. i. c. vi. vol. ii. part i. p. 51. PURCHAS says: "The Singhalese language is thought to have been left there by the Chinois, some time Lord of Zeilan."—Pilgrimage, c. xviii. p. 552. The adventures of Ching Ho, in his embassy to the nations of the Southern Ocean, have been made the ground-work of a novel, the Se-yung-ke, which contains an enlarged account of his exploits in Ceylon; but fact is so overlaid with fiction that the passages are not worth extracting.
For fifty years after this untoward event the subjection of Ceylon to China appears to have been humbly and periodically acknowledged; tribute was punctually paid to the emperor, and on two occasions, in 1416 A.D., and 1421 A.D., the kings of Ceylon were the bearers of it in person.[1] In 1430 A.D., at a period of intestine commotion, "Ching-Ho issued a proclamation for the pacification of Ceylon," and, at a somewhat later period, edicts were promulgated by the Emperor of China for the government of the island.[2] In 1459 A.D., however, the series of humiliations appears to have come abruptly to a close; for, "in that year," says the Ming-shè, "the King of Ceylon for the last time sent an envoy with tribute, and after that none ever came again."
1: Ming-shè, b. vii. pp. 4, 8.
2: Ibid., b. cccxxvii. p. 7.
On their arrival in Ceylon early in the sixteenth century[1], the Portuguese found many evidences still existing of the intercourse and influence of the Chinese. They learned that at a former period they had established themselves in the south of the island; and both De Barros and De Couto ventured to state that the Singhalese were so called from the inter-marriage of the Chinese with the Gallas or Chalias, the caste who in great numbers still inhabit the country to the north of Point de Galle.[2] But the conjecture is erroneous, the derivation of Singhala is clearly traced to the Sanskrit "Singha;" besides which, in the alphabet of the Singhalese, n and g combine to form a single and insoluble letter.
1: A.D. 1565.
2: "Serem os Chijis senhores da costa Choromandel, parte do Malabar e desta Ilha Ceilão. Na qual Ilha leixáram huma lingua, a que elles chamam Chingálla, e aos proprios póvos Chingallas, principalmente os que vivem da ponta de Gálle por diante na face da terra contra o Sul, e Oriente: e por ser pegada neste Cabo Gálle, chamou á outra gente, que vivia do meio da ilha pera cima, aos que aqui habitavam Chingilla e á lingua delles tambem, quasi como se dissessem lingua ou gente dos Chijo de Galle"—DE BARROS, Asia, &c., Dec. iii. lib. ii. c. i. DE COUTO'S account is as follows: "E como os Chins formam os primeiros que navegáram pelo Oriente, tendo noticia da canella, acudíram muitos 'juncos' aquella Ilha a carregar della, e dalli a levaram aos portos de Persia, e da Arabia donde passou á Europa—de que se deixaram ficar muitos Chins na terra, e se misturáram por casamentos com os naturaes; dantre quem nascêram huns mistços que se ficaram chamando Cim-Gallás; ajuntando o nome dos naturaes, que eram Gallas aos dos Chins, que vieram por tempos a ser tão famosos, que deram o seu nome a todos os da Ilha."—Asia, &c. Dec. v. lib. ch. v.
In process of time, every trace disappeared of the former presence of the Chinese in Ceylon—embassies ceased to arrive from the "Flowery Kingdom," Chinese vessels deserted the harbours of the island, pilgrims no longer repaired to the shrines of Buddha; and even the inscriptions became obliterated in which the imperial offerings to the temples were recorded on the rocks.[1] The only mementos which remain at the present day to recall their ancient domestication in the island, is the occasional appearance in the mountain villages of an itinerant vender of sweetmeats, or a hut in the solitary forest near some cave, from which an impoverished Chinese renter annually gathers the edible nest of the swallow.
1: Sŭh-Wan-heen tung-kaou, book ccxxxvi. p. 12.