are P'o-hu-chih (破故紙 and 婆固脂) and Hu-chiu-tzu, i.e., Va-ku-tsi (胡韭子). Though native scholars try to explain some of these terms as though they were Chinese they are all attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit Vakūchi or its Hindustani corruption Bukchī. The Vakūchi is the Psoralea Corylifolia, a leguminous plant of India which yields the Bawchan seeds of commerce. Though the plant is said to occur abundantly in many parts of the South and West of China its seeds are still largely imported. They are much used and highly prized as a medicine for qualities like those for which the Indian and other foreign doctors hold them in esteem.[1]
We have also the Tu-nou (篤耨), a name in which Dr. F. Porter Smith thinks "Frankincense, crude turpentine, and perhaps Sandarac" are included. This word perhaps is the Sanskrit dhūṇa, properly the resin of the Shorea Robusta, but extended to other resinous substances.[2]
Another word which we may note, and one better known than those just mentioned is Mo-lo (摩羅). This represents the Sanskrit word mālā, which is properly translated in Chinese by man (鬘), a head-ornament, a wreath or garland. The Buddhist pilgrims in India seem to have been much struck with the universal use of garlands by all classes of the people of that country. The word mālā is often found transcribed in a different manner and confounded by the Chinese with the name for the jasmine.[3]
Turning next to names of animals we find that the Chinese have derived very few of these from Indian originals. Nor can it be said that the few which they have adopted are in common use or familiar to any except the educated. Thus in addition to the native word for elephant, Hsiang, there is the book term Chi-ch'ien (卽千). This stands for Gaja or Garja, one of the
- ↑ Pên-ts'ao," chap. xiv.; Ch. Mat. Med. s. v. Aucklandia; Dymock's Vegetable Mat. Med. of W. India, p. 449; Ch. Mat. Med. s.v. Psoralia; Dymock's Veg. Mat. Med., p. 216.
- ↑ Ch. Mat. Med. s.v. Turpentine, &c., p. 206; "Pên-ts'ao," chap. xxxiv.; "Yuan-chien-lei-han," chap. ccxxxiv.
- ↑ See "Shi-lei-fu," chap. lxxix.; Mo-lo is used also for the lily. "Pên-ts'ao," chap. xxvii.
