topics: |  india | history-ancient | buddhism

The Shui-ching 水 經 [Water Classic, Shui Jing Zhu ] is a small text
traditionally attributed to the Han dynasty, but probably written during the
Three Kingdoms period (220/265). It was commented upon by Li Tao-yuan
(d. 527). an official of the Southern Chinese Ch'i and Liang dynasties. His
work. the Shui-ching-Chu (Commentary on the Water Classic) has much suffered
over time. The Classic and the commentary got confounded with each other, and
not till the 18th century was the work fully restored...

Li Tao Yuan was no traveller, but as a desk geographer he ranks high, chiefly
because he used very good sources, some of which are now lost.

sources consulted w.r.t. India:
1. Fa Hsien (Faxian, 399-414)  [27 quotations, 2185 words]
   transl. LEGGE's Record of Buddhistic kingdoms, Oxford, 1886,
2. Shi-shih hsi-yii-chi (Records of the Western Countries by a Buddhist
	monk). now lost. [17 / 520 quotes / words]
3. The work of the Indian (Chu) Fa-wei.   Fo-kuo-chi (Record of the
	Buddhistic kingdoms) [5/257]
4. The Wai-kuo-shih (Matters concerning the foreign kingdoms) by the
	[Yueh-]chih monk Seng-tsai, Cbin dynasty (266-420). [4/844]
...
7. The Funan-chi (Account of Fuman) by Chu Chih ~ a man of IndIan origin who
	wrote in the second half of the 5th century. [2 / 128]
	(Funan = the Khmer region, now Cambodia)

For the lands south of the Hindukush, it brings nothing except religious
matters; Fa-hsien reigns nearly undisputed. In India proper the kingdom of
the Imperial and the Later Guptas is wholly ignored (as indeed it is by Fa
Hsien), and political information is practically lacking.