Section 3 –
The Kingdom of Jumi 拘彌 (modern
Keriya or Yutian)
1. Jumi
拘彌
[Chü-mi]
= Keriya. Unfortunately, the name of this kingdom is recorded with a wide
variety of characters used for the first syllable.
The Weilue and the Tangshu both refer to it as Hanmi, which
Chavannes thinks is the preferable reading, but there are several other variants
in other texts. See the note in Chavannes (1905) p. 538, n. 1 for a discussion
of the various forms of this name. See also the discussion of its
derivation in Pulleyblank
(1963), pp. 88-89, where he notes that it probably relates to the Kema in the
Kharoṣṭhī documents from Loulan, as well as
the Kan 坎,
City of the Tang and
the Gan 紺,
Prefecture of the
10th century.
It is described as Yumi [Yu-mi] in the Hanshu.
Unfortunately, this is incorrectly rendered as Wu-mi in CICA p.
94, although the extensive note (p. 94 n. 138) contains much useful information
about the various forms of the name and the geography of the region.
Aurel Stein (1907), p. 467, suggested that Hanmi represented the whole
area between Chira and Keriya. This was undoubtedly due to his faulty estimation
of the li as being approximately one fifth of a mile, or about 322
metres. The Han li is now known to have been 415.8 metres, as I have
discussed in my Introduction under ‘Measurements.’
Both the Hanshu, and the Hou Hanshu place this kingdom 390
li [162 km] east of Khotan. This is almost exactly the distance between
Khotan and Keriya on modern maps. Besides, the Keriya oasis is the only place in
the region capable of supporting the populations indicated in the two Han
histories (20,040 are mentioned in the Hanshu account, which does seem a
bit high as it only lists 3,340 households and 3,540 persons able to bear arms).
“.... This
kingdom must be identified with the territory of Keriya.; the Xiyu
shuidaoji (Chap. II, p. 7a), which follows this identification, remarks
meanwhile, that the present town of Keriya is to the west of the river, while
the Tang zhou places the capital of the kingdom of Jumi to the east of
the river; but it is clear that the displacement of the town is not a serious
objection.” Translated and adapted from Chavannes (1900), p. 128, n. 1. See
also, Chavannes (1907), p. 167, n. 8; CICA, pp. 94, n. 138, and 95-96.
Note that
the present Chinese name for Keriya (Yutian – with the identical characters as
for the ancient name for Khotan), only dates back to the late 19th century. See
CICA, p. 96, n. 4.1.