IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
222 SING—IRANICA
age.' When the Sogdian K`an Yen-tien in the first part of the seventh century A.D. established a Sogdian colony south of the Lob Nor, he founded four new cities, one of which was called " Grape City " (P`ut`ao 6`ern) ; for the vine was planted in the midst of the town.'
The Iranian Ta Yüe-èi or Indo-Scythians must also have been in possession of the vine, as we are informed by a curious text in the
Kin lou tse ,3 written by the Emperor Yüan 7G (A.D. 552-555)
of the Liang dynasty. " The people in the country of the Great Yüe-èi are clever in making wine from grapes, flowers, and leaves. Sometimes they also use roots and vegetable juice, which they cause to ferment.4 These flowers resemble those of the clove-tree (tin-hian 7 *, Caryophyllus aromaticus), but are green or bright-blue. At the time of spring and summer, the stamens of the flowers are carried away and scattered around by the wind like the feathers of the bird lwan . . In the eighth month, when the storm blows over the leaves, they are so much damaged and torn that they resemble silk rags: hence people speak of a grape-storm (p`u-t`ao fun), or also call it `leaves-tearing storm' (lie ye fun 14 X 4)."
Finally we know also that the Aryan people of Kuba, renowned for their musical ability, songs, and dances, were admirers of grape-wine, some families even storing in their houses up to a thousand hu
of the beverage. This item appears to have been contained in the report of General Lû Kwarn E , who set out for the conquest of Kuèa in A.D. 384.'
In the same manner as the Chinese discovered alfalfa in Ki-pin (Kashmir), they encountered there also the vine.' Further, they found it in the countries Tsiü-mo E. *7 and Nan-tou 3.
1 T'ai p`in hwan yü ki, Ch. 186, p. 7 b; also in Yen-k`i (Karagar) : Cou . u, Ch. 50, p. 4 b-
2 PELLIOT, Journal asiatique, 1916, I, p. 122. 3 Ch. 5, p. 23.
4 Strabo (XI. xIII, I I) states that the inhabitants of the mountainous region of northern Media made a wine from some kind of roots.
b Other sources fix the date in the year 382 (see SYLVAIN LtvI, Le "Tokharien B," langue de Koutcha, Journal asiatique, 1913, II, p. 333). The above fact is derived from the Hou Tian lu ÎA ig a, quoted in the T'ai p`in yü lan (Ch. 972, p. 3); see also rail Su, Ch. 221 A, p. 8. We owe to S. Lévi the proof that the people of Kuéa belong to the Indo-European family, and that their language is identical with what was hitherto known from the manuscripts discovered in Turkistan as Tokharian B.
6 Ts`ien Han Su, Ch. 96 A, p. 5. Kashmir was still famed for its grapes in the days of the Emperor Akbar (H. BLOCHMANN, Ain I Akbari, Vol. I, p. 65), but at present viticulture is on the decline there (WATT, Commerical Products of India,
pp. II12, 1I14).
7 Regarding this name, see CHAVANNES, Les Pays d'occident d'après le Wei do (T'oung Pao, 1905, p. 536).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.