Kalinga Ancient Trade Routes

Palembang to Kedah

Probable Scholars say

After Palembang, the monk Yijing's ship carried him on to Kedah on the Malay Peninsula. From there he waited for the winds to carry him further west.

Yijing's ship called at Palembang, then sailed on to Kedah on the Malay Peninsula.

After Palembang, the monk Yijing’s ship carried him on to Kedah, on the Malay Peninsula. Old records say he “proceeded northwest to Kie-tcha” on this leg of his voyage. [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 27]

For scholars

Only one source was read here. So the tier stops at Probable. This rests on a retelling of an old 1894 translation, not an independent primary reading. Yijing’s account also names stops at Mo-lo-yu and in Sumatra, between Palembang and Kedah. Those places are not modelled as separate ports in this atlas, so this line skips them. The sea lane shown is schematic. [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 27]

Facts

Mode
Maritime (open sea)
From
Palembang (Fo-che)
To
Kedah (Kataha)

Ports on this route

  • Palembang (Fo-che)

    Palembang was the great capital of the Srivijaya sea kingdom in Sumatra. A Chinese monk sailed there on his way to and from India, thirteen hundred years ago.

    [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 27]
    1. Duraiswamy Dayalan. *Ancient Seaports on the Eastern Coast of India: The Hub of the Maritime Silk Route Network*. in Acta Via Serica 4. 2019 , offprint p. 27 (Yijing 'left the Guang-Zhou region ... visited Fo-che, Mo-lo-yu and Sumatra ... proceeded northwest to Kie-tcha ... reached the Nicobar Islands ... Tamralipti.' Returning, 'landing again at Kie-tcha and Fo-che.' Citing Chavannes's 1894 translation.)

  • Kedah (Kataha)

    Kedah was a stopping place on the Malay Peninsula where old sailing ships waited for the right winds. A Chinese monk passed through it twice on his voyage to India and back.

    [Dayalan, 2019, offprint p. 27]
    1. Duraiswamy Dayalan. *Ancient Seaports on the Eastern Coast of India: The Hub of the Maritime Silk Route Network*. in Acta Via Serica 4. 2019 , offprint p. 27 (Yijing 'proceeded northwest to Kie-tcha. Then, he proceeded east and reached the Nicobar Islands ... Proceeding northwest from these islands, Yi-Jing reached Tamralipti.' Returning to China 'he took the same route, landing again at Kie-tcha and Fo-che.' Citing Chavannes's 1894 translation.)
Scholar notes

Only one source was read, so the tier stops at Probable; this rests on Dayalan's paraphrase of Chavannes's 1894 translation, not an independent primary reading. Yijing's account also names stops at Mo-lo-yu and in Sumatra between Fo-che and Kie-tcha that are not modelled as separate ports here, so this line skips them. The sea lane is schematic.

  1. Duraiswamy Dayalan. *Ancient Seaports on the Eastern Coast of India: The Hub of the Maritime Silk Route Network*. in Acta Via Serica 4. 2019 , offprint p. 27 ('... visited Fo-che, Mo-lo-yu and Sumatra ... proceeded northwest to Kie-tcha.' Dayalan cites Chavannes's 1894 translation of Yijing's account; Kie-tcha is read as Kedah.)