IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CHIVE, ONION, AND SHALLOT 303
{ of the tenth century. However, this text is now inserted in the older Ku kin ëu1 which teems with interpolations.
Ta swan is mentioned also as the first among the five vegetables of strong odor tabooed for the Buddhist clergy, the so-called wu hun
E .2 This series occurs in the Brahmajala-sutra, translated in
A.D. 406 by Kumâxajiva.3 If the term to swan was contained in the original edition of this work, we should have good evidence for carrying the date of the chive into the Eastern Tsin dynasty (A.D. 317-419).
I I. There is another cultivated species of Allium (probably A. fistulosum) derived from the West. This is first mentioned by Sun Se-
miao 2.1 '~ ,4 in his Ts`ien kin §i ci ¶ M i (written in the begin-
ning of the seventh century), under the name hu ts`un a, because the root of this plant resembles the hu swan. It was usually styled swan-ts`un $g or hit tin ts`un (the latter designation in the K`ai pao pen ts'ao of the Sung) . In the Yin an ' en yao (p. 236), written in 1331 under the Yüan, it is called hui-hui ts`un M M a ("Mohammedan onion ").5 This does not mean, however, that it was only introduced by Mohammedans; but this is simply one of the many favorite alterations of ancient names, as they were in vogue during the Mongol epoch. This Allium was cultivated in Se-c`wan under the T'ang, as
stated by Mon Sen a in his i liao pen ts'ao, written in the second
half of the seventh century. Particulars in regard to the introduction are not on record.
12. There is a third species of Allium, which reached China under the T'ang, and which, on excellent evidence, may be attributed to Persia. In A.D. 647 the Emperor T'ai Tsun solicited from all his tributary nations their choicest vegetable products,' and their response to the imperial call secured a number of vegetables hitherto unknown in
China. One of these is described as follows: "Hun-t`i onion tk
resembles in appearance the onion (ts`un, Allium fistulosum), but is whiter and more bitter. On account of its smell, it serves as a remedy.
1 Ch. c, p. 3 b.
2 This subject is treated in the Pen ts`ao kan mu (Ch. 26, p. 6 b) under the article swan, and summed up by STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 28). See, further, DE GROOT, Le Code du Mahayana en Chine, p. 42, where the five plant-names are unfortunately translated wrongly (hin-k`ü, "asafoetida" [see p. 361], is given an alleged literal translation as "le lys d'eau montant"!), and CHAVANNES and PELLIOT, Traité manichéen, pp. 233-235.
3 BUNYIU NANJIO, Catalogue of the Buddhist Tripitaka, No. 1087.
4 Cf. below, p. 306.
6 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 26, p. 5. -
6 We shall come back to this important event in dealing with the history of the spinach.
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