"]
[Footnote 4: The Vaisyas, or the bourgeois caste of Hindu society, are
described here as "resident scholars."]
[Footnote 5: Or Sanghati, the double or composite robe, part of a monk's
attire, reaching from the shoulders to the knees, and fastened round the
waist.]
CHAPTER XIV
~Crossing the Indus to the East~
Having stayed there till the third month of winter, Fa-hien and the two
others, proceeding southwards, crossed the Little Snowy mountains. On
them the snow lies accumulated both winter and summer. On the north side
of the mountains, in the shade, they suddenly encountered a cold wind
which made them shiver and become unable to speak. Hwuy-king could not
go any farther. A white froth came from his mouth, and he said to
Fa-hien, "I cannot live any longer. Do you immediately go away, that we
do not all die here"; and with these words he died. Fa-hien stroked the
corpse, and cried out piteously, "Our original plan has failed; it is
fate. What can we do?" He then again exerted himself, and they succeeded
in crossing to the south of the range, and arrived in the kingdom of
Lo-e, [1] where there were nearly three thousand monks, students of both
the mahayana and hinayana. Here they stayed for the summer retreat, [2]
and when that was over, they went on to the south, and ten days' journey
brought them to the kingdom of Poh-na, where there are also more than
three thousand monks, all students of the hinayana.
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