Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/359

DEATH OF HARSHA 315 the gift of Kumara. But although the Master of the Law uniformly declined gifts intended to serve his per- sonal use, he did not disdain to accept money for the necessary expenses of his arduous journey overland to China. These were provided on a liberal scale by the grant of three thousand gold and ten thousand silver pieces carried on an elephant. A raja named Udhita was placed in command of a mounted escort, and charged to conduct the pilgrim in safety to the frontier. In the course of about six months of leisurely progress, interrupted by frequent halts, the raja completed his task, and brought his sovereign's guest in safety to Jalandhar in the north of the Panjab, where Hiuen Tsang stayed for a month. He then started with a fresh escort, and, penetrating with difficulty the defiles of the Salt Range, crossed the Indus, and ultimately reached his home in distant China by the route over the Pamirs and through Kho- tan, in the spring of 646 A. D. The pages of Hiuen Tsang and his biographer give the latest information about King Harsha, who died at the end of 647, or the beginning of 648, not long after his distinguished guest's departure. During his lifetime he maintained diplomatic intercourse with the Chinese empire. A Brahman envoy, whom he had sent to the Emperor of China, returned in 643 A. D., accompanied by a Chinese mission bearing a reply to Harsha 's despatch. The mission remained for a considerable time in India, and did not go back to China until 645 A. D. The next year, Wang-hiuen-tse, who had