Xuangzang on “The Princess in the Tower”
The passage in the two pages below is from Xuanzang’s Records of the Western Regions, his long account of his 16-year journey. Xuanzang recounts the Chinese, legend of the princess in the tower, as Xuanzang passes through the Pamir Mountains (which he calls the Tsung-ling Mountains) and the site nearTashkurgan which inspired the legend – pictured below.
Aurel Stein passed through the same location in his 1906-1908 expedition, and recalled reading Xuanzang’s story. Stein wrote his account in Ruins of Desert Cathay, Vol I, pages 90 to 93. Stein describes the remote mountain location in detail.
Xuanzang’s version of the princess’s story is as follows.
