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Sanskrit-Chinese Lexicon: Being Fan Fan Yu, the First Known Lexicon of its Kind dated to AD 517

The Sanskrit-Chinese Lexicon is a transcription, reconstruction and translation of the Chinese work Fn Fan Yu, compiled from sutrasm vunaya, sastras and lost travel accounts. It is the earliest known thematic lexicon of Sanskrit compiled by the eminent Chinese monk Pao-ch'ang in AD 517. It includes words from lost Chinese translations of Buddhist sutras. The names of central Asian and Indian cities, monasteries and caityas quoted from the records of the travels of Chih-meng and T'ang- wu-chieh are of historic importance. They followed Fa-hsien and preceded Hsuan-tsang by two centuries. Chih-meng left the Chinese capital in 404. He travelled through central Asia to the NW and as far as pataliputra. He visited South India and Srilanka long before Hsuan-tsang. He returned to China by the land route in 447, after having travelled across India for forty years. He names his teachers. The second pilgrim T'and-wu-chieh started from China in 420-22 with twentyfive companions. He travelled via Central Asia across the north and south of India to Srilanka. He too names his teachers. He went to Srivijaya and returned to China by sea. The names of cities, kingdoms, kings, teachers, monasteries and stupas in this Lexicon are important material for the study of ancient Indian history and the evolution of Buddhism. As early as 1905, Prof. Sylvain Levi and pointed out the importance of this lexicon in the BEFEO. The present translation of this Lexicon will provide valuable materials for the study of Buddhism in central Asia, India, Srilanka, Indonesia and China. Scholars will be able to take up the analysis of this Lexicon as a source for the history and geography of the aforesaid countries of Asia. Prof. Lokesh Chandra has edited this book from three drafts and notes by his father the late Prof. Raghu Vira and Prof. Yamamoto Chickyo. This posthumous work is a tribute to the academic contributions of Prof. Raghu Via and his Japandese disciple Dr. Yamamoto.