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0288 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 288 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000246
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884   384. YARCAN

KàsYar and Yârkänd by Kâsyari. But there is also Hsüan-tsang's « great sand mountain », which he passed, according to the text of the Memoirs, after crossing the ità or Yàrkänd River and before reaching Chê-chü-chia. I think that this « great sand mountain » was the « desert » which was responsible for the name « South of the Desert » being given to Chih-chih-man. Here again we are faced with the alternative either of correcting Hsüan-tsang's text and assuming that, coming from KàsYar, he crossed the « great sand mountain » before reaching the Yârkänd River ; or of looking for the « great sand mountain » much farther to the south. But I doubt whether the second solution would be acceptable, since Chia Tan's itinerary certainly does not follow a round-about course to Kök-yar. On the whole, I am inclined rather to correct Hsüan-tsang's text and to identify with Qaryaliq both *Cakuka and *Cukupa. The surprising fact remains, nevertheless, that Hsüan-tsang, when speaking of *Gakuka, gives as its « ancient » name a form Chü-ch'ü which is neither the ancient name of Yàrkänd, nor any ancient form of the name of Qaryalïq, be it Tzû-ho or Chu-chü-po.

A last name, declared by HERRMANN, with Sven HEDIN'S approval, to refer to Yârkänd, is that

of the kingdom of f   Wu-sha, through which Hsüan-tsang passed on his way from Tag-quryan
to Kàsyar (Southern Tibet, viii, 59-60, 451). I cannot agree with such a view. There could be no point, when going from Tag-quryan to Kâsyar, in making first a long detour towards Yârkänd. In my opinion, STEIN'S commentary on that part of the Memoirs is conclusive : from Tag-quryan, Hsüantsang went north-north-east, crossing the Chichiklik-davan, and arrived at Kâsyar via Igiz-yar and Yangi-hisar; the kingdom of Wu-sha must be the region of Yangi-hi§ar, as was already proposed many years ago by VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN (Cf. STEIN, Ancient Khotan, 42-44, 87-88). I am less willing

to accept STEIN'S view that Hsüan-tsang's Wu-sha is the same name which was written ,q   Wu-
ch'a in Han times; STEIN is of course aware that the Han kingdom of Wu-ch'a was located in the region of Tag-quryan, but supposes that the name had a much wider extension, applying to Tag-quryan, Yangï-hi§âr and Yârkänd. But Hsüan-tsang's Wu-sha is * • Uo-sat (cf. T'oung Pao, 1936, 279, and add T'ang shu shin-yin, 24, 2 a). As to Wu-ch'a, it is probably an ancient * • Uo-d"a, although the phonetic glosses on the name are desperately corrupt (cf. T'oung Pao, 1936, 276-279). There is no satisfactory correspondence between the two names, in form, in place, or in time; the best thing to do is to keep them apart.

Hsüan-tsang's route from Tag-quryan to Kas"yar must be the one described the other way round in Chia Tan's itineraries (Hsin T'ang shu, 43 B, 15 a) : « From Shu-lo (Kâsyar), going to the south-

west, one enters the valley (Ç ku) of 0 * Chien-mo (*Kkem-muât), the    Ch'ing-shan-

ling (' Pass of the Blue-green Mountains '), the   â Ch'ing-ling (' Blue-green Pass ') and the

Pu-jên-ling (' Unendurable Pass '), and after 600 li arrives at the frontier post (c~ shou-cho) of the Ts'ung-ling, which is the ancient kingdom of Chieh-p'an-t'o (*Karbanda, Tasquryan)... » An abridged version of the same passage is given in Hsin T'ang shu, 221 A, 9 b, and has been translated by CHAVANNES, Doc. sur les Tou-kiue, 124, 311. Although it is possible to follow the itinerary on the map, none of the names mentioned has so far been met with elsewhere.

STEIN says that, during his stay in Yârkänd, no « ancient sites in its vicinity nor any antiquarian objects of pre-Muhammedan origin » were brought to his notice. At the same time, he reminds us that c. A. D. 1500 the king of Kâsyar, in the course of his treasure-seeking excavations in ancient cities, is reported to have found « much treasure » in the ruins of old Yârkänd (ELIAs and Ross,