remarks
on
the sites and names of the principal places mentioned in the legend.
the identification of the places mentioned in the course of the life of gaudama is certainly a great desideratum. this difficult and laborious task has been boldly undertaken by several government servants of both services. great and important successes have attended their efforts. one of the most successful among them has been major-general cunningham, the arch?ological surveyor to the government of india. the sphere of his laborious and scientific researches has extended over north and south behar, the cradle of buddhism, and some parts of the punjaub and peshawar. under his direction excavations have been made, inscriptions found and deciphered, the nature and dimensions of old ruined monuments correctly ascertained. in his valuable reports may be found important elements for reconstructing the history and geography of ancient india. he has been greatly assisted by the history of the voyages of the chinese pilgrim, hwen thsang, who spent sixteen years in travelling throughout india, and visiting all the places rendered famous by the actions connected with the life of buddha, and the spread of his doctrines and institutions. the voyage began in 629 and ended in 645 of the christian era. the itinerary[178] begins with the starting of the traveller from a city on the banks of the hoang-ho. he shaped his course through the centre of tartary, entered by the northern extremity of the plateau of panin into what is called now independent tartary, visited samarcand, where there were no buddhists, but only fire worshippers. thence he passed over to balk, where he found religion in a flourishing condition. he ascended the mighty hindu kush mountains, penetrated into cabul and peshawar, crossed the indus at attock, and turning abruptly to the north, visited oudiana, where he found dzedis and monasteries on the grandest and most magnificent scale, and came back to attock, following the western bank of the indus. he then proceeded through the punjaub to mathura, and minutely examined all the buddhistic monuments to be found in the territories situated between the ganges, the gunduck, and nepaul. he went to benares, pataliputra, and all the places in magatha, or south behar, where his religious curiosity could be satisfied. thence he shaped his course in an eastern direction, and visited the whole of bengal. he passed to orissa, visited many places in central india and a portion of the upper deccan. he went to molwa and guzerat, returned to magatha, and began his homeward voyage. he recrossed the indus at attock, followed up the valley of the cabul river, and with unheard-of difficulties and dangers passed over the hindu kush range. his route across chinese tartary led him back through kashgar, yarkand, and khotan, to his native place.
it is a matter of surprise to see how acute in his observations, correct in his descriptions, and exact in his measurements, our pilgrim has been. with his book in hand, the above-named eminent arch?ologist was enabled, in many instances, to identify at once mere mounds of ruins, and satisfy himself that they were the remnants of the monuments described by our pilgrim. when he entertained any doubts in his mind, he had recourse to excavations,[179] which, in most instances, demonstrated the perfect accuracy of hwen thsang.
nearly two hundred years previous to the voyage of hwen thsang, another chinese pilgrim named fa-hian had undertaken a similar journey. impelled by a purely religious zeal, he came to india for the sole purpose of visiting the places rendered famous and venerable by the birth, life, doings, and death of foe, the same personage who is known in these parts under the name buddha gaudama. his object was also to make a complete collection of all the religious books acknowledged as genuine in india, and carry them with him to china. the errand of hwen thsang had a similar object.
our worthy traveller, according to his account, passed through southern thibet, little tartary, and visited successively cabul, cashmere, candahar, and the punjaub. following a nearly south-eastern direction, he reached mathura on the upper jumna, crossed the ganges at kanouj, at the confluence of the kali with that river, travelled almost in an eastern direction through oude, and crossed the gogra near the fyzabad. keeping close to the eastern bank of that stream, he struck in a slightly northern direction, passing the rapti south of goruckpore, and followed the same course, nearly to the western bank of the gunduck. from thence he shaped his course in a south-easterly direction, parallel to the course of that river, which he crossed a little higher up the place where it empties into the ganges. following then a southern direction, he crossed the ganges near the place where the city of patna is now. from thence our pilgrim travelled in a south-easterly direction, crossed successively the morhar and the fulgo, examined all the places in the neighbourhood, south and south-west of behar, which are so celebrated in buddhistic annals. after having spent three years in india, busy in mastering the pali language and collecting copies of the religious works, he then embarked on the ganges. near its mouth he went on[180] board of a ship bound to ceylon. after having visited that celebrated island, fa-hian sailed in the direction of the malayan archipelago, called at java, and safely arrived at his country, after having performed one of the most extraordinary and difficult journeys any man could have undertaken in those ancient times. it was in the beginning of the fifth century that this feat was performed in the space of more than seven years. he spent three years in india, and two at ceylon.
the chinese original of fa-hian has been translated into french by a. remusat. the english version from the french is accompanied by the annotations of remusat and those of other celebrated orientalists. the book of hwen thsang has been translated by m. julien. for the loan of these two works the writer is indebted to the ever-obliging kindness of the worthy and learned chief commissioner of british burma, col. a. p. phayre. from these works we have extracted the above and following particulars.
1. the name given by northern buddhists to buddha is thakiamuni, which means the religious of the thakia family. he belonged to the kshatria, or the warriors’ caste. the name gaudama, according to the opinion of the late e. burnouf, is the name of the religious instructor of his family, which members of families of that caste often adopted. this instructor might have been a descendant of the celebrated philosopher gotama, mentioned in certain writings, but distinct from our buddha.
2. kapila, or kapilawot, the birthplace of buddha, was situated on the left bank of the gogra, straight north of benares.
it was a heap of ruins when fa-hian visited it, and the country almost a desert. some are of opinion that it was situated near the mountains that separate nepaul from goruckpore, on the river rohini, a mountain stream, feeder of the rapti. but this assertion has very few supporters, and appears improbable.
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3. the river anauma cannot be the amanat in behar, south of patna. it is probably one of the feeders of the gogra, and to be met with half-way between kapila and radzagio, the site of which city, as will be subsequently seen, lies close to modern behar. the legend bears out this supposition. buddha travelled thirty youdzanas from kapila to the river anauma, thence thirty to radzagio. the youdzana of those times in magatha is supposed to have been equal probably to seven miles.
4. oorouwela was one of the mountains famous for the number of the hermits that withdrew thither for the purpose of meditation. it is not far from gaya buddha.
5. the river neritzara, in mongol, nirandzara, is a considerable stream flowing from the south-west. it unites with the monah and forms the fulgo.
6. baranathee is beyond doubt the famous city of benares. the burmans call it by name of baranathee, or rather varanasi. the town is so named from its situation between the small river varana and the asi, a mere brook. the solitude of migadawon, whither buddha went to preach the law to the five rahans that had served him during the six years of mortification which he spent in the forest of oorouwela, lies in its vicinity. benares is famous in the buddhistic annals, because in its neighbourhood the law of the wheel, or rather the super-excellent law of the four sublime truths, was announced for the first time. migadawon means the deer-forest. it lies three and a half miles from benares in a northern direction. it is said that, after having travelled nine miles from the bodi tree, buddha had to go over a distance of eighteen youdzanas ere he reached benares, making a total of about 120 miles.
7. radzagio, or radzagihra, was the capital of magatha or south behar. its situation is well ascertained. its ruins have been minutely described by several travellers. it was situated on the left bank of the same small river as behar, but a few miles south of that place. the mountains or peaks surrounding that ancient city are full of[182] caves, tenanted in former ages by buddhist ascetics. the mountain gayathitha, where buddha preached his famous sermon, lies in the neighbourhood. it is perhaps the same as the gridrakuta, or the vulture’s peak.
8. the buddhist annals often mention the country of the middle or mitzima-desa. it comprised the countries of mathura, kosala, kapila, wethalee, and magatha; that is to say, the provinces of agra, delhi, oude, and south behar.
magatha, south of the ganges, had for capital at first radzagio, until kalathoka, a hundred years after the death of gaudama, transferred the seat of his empire to pataliputra, or palibothra. the celebrated weloowon monastery was situated in the neighbourhood of radzagio, and was offered to buddha by king pimpathara, the ruler of that country.
9. kosala is the same as the kingdom of ayodya, now called oude. thawattie, or crawastu, was the capital of a district of that country. it was situated nearly at the same place where at present stands the modern town of fyzabad. according to the legend, the distance from radzagio to thawattie is forty-five youdzanas of about seven miles. twelve hundred paces from that city was to be met the renowned monastery of dzetawon, or the grove of the victorious. many ruins that have been visited and examined leave no doubt regarding the certain position of thawattie.
10. thing-ka-tha, or tsam-pa-tha, lies in an eastern direction between mathura and kanouj, near the site occupied by the town of ferruckabad. captain a. cunningham has met with the ruins of that place in the village of samkassa, on the left bank of the kalinadi, twelve cos from ferrukabad. according to a popular tradition, it was destroyed in 1183 by the king of kanouj, at the instigation of the brahmins, who endeavoured by every means in their power to sweep all the remnants of buddhism from those parts of the peninsula. it was in that[183] place that buddha arrived on his return from the seats of nats, whither he had gone to preach the law to his mother. according to the legend, the distance from thawattie to thing-ka-tha is thirty youdzanas in a westerly direction. fa-hian says that he saw in one of the temples of that place the ladder buddha had used when he came down from the seats of nats.
11. the village of patali is the very place where was subsequently established the renowned city of palibothra, capital of magatha. the place had reached the height of its glory when megasthenes, the ambassador of seleucus, visited it in the reign of chandragupta. in the time of buddha it was but an insignificant place. there was, however, a sort of fort to arrest the inroads of some troublesome neighbours. buddha, when he passed through that place, predicted that it would become a flourishing town. the prediction began to have its accomplishment one hundred years after his death, when king kalathoka left radzagio, and removed the seat of his empire to palibothra near the place where the modern city of patna stands.
12. the town of wethalie is supposed to have stood north of patna on the gunduck, not far from the place where that river joins the ganges. the large village of besarh, twenty miles north of hajipur, occupies a portion of the place on which stood wethalie. in the seventh century buddhism was there on its decline; false doctrines, as says one of the chinese pilgrims, were much prevailing. nothing was to be seen at that time but a ruined town and many monasteries, almost deserted, and also falling into decay. many signs of ancient ruins are also to be met with between besarh and bakra; they belong to the same city, which was both populous and wealthy. its circumference was about twelve miles, including the two modern places of bakra and besarh. all the mounds of ruins have been carefully searched and described by a. cunningham, and the sites of ancient tanks exactly laid down. there[184] is a curious episode in the legend connected with the name of wethalie. a courtesan, who, despite her dishonourable calling, occupied a brilliant position in the country, courted the favour of feeding buddha with all his followers. the latter accepted her invitation, and received a beautiful grove, which she presented to him and to the assembly. it does not appear that her avocation was looked upon as a disgraceful one. it is probable that persons of this description were as much for the intellectual as for the sensual enjoyments of their visitors. there existed in greece and at rome something similar to what is here alluded to. according to plutarch, aspasia at athens was courted by pericles on account of her high literary attainments and political abilities. socrates visited her sometimes in company with his disciples. visitors took occasionally their wives to her place, for the purpose of enjoying the charms of her highly refined and instructive conversation. the same philosophical biographer does not scruple to quote sometimes the sayings of the celebrated roman courtesan, named flora.
13. nala or nalanda was a brahmin village about seven miles north of radzagio. it was the birthplace of the great disciple thariputra. it seems that there was there a sort of academia, whither the learned of radzagio resorted to discourse on moral and philosophical subjects. the magnificent ruins, which subsist up to this day in that locality, have been minutely examined, measured, and described by several visitors. the great temple must, in the opinion of a. cunningham, have been built in the sixth century of our era.
14. kootheinaron is the place in the neighbourhood of which buddha entered into the state of neibban, or died. some antiquarians, laying much stress on the name of a village up to this day called kushia, have placed the position of kootheinaron on the road between betiah and goruckpore. on that spot is to be seen a pyramidical-looking mound of bricks, over which spreads a large banyan[185] tree. but, from the narrative of the legend, we must look for the site of kootheinaron nearer to the river higniarati or gunduck, since the spot where gaudama died was near to the city, and is described as surrounded on three sides by the river. kootheinaron was situated a little north or north-west of betiah, on or near the banks of the gunduck. there too ruins are to be seen, which doubtless will prove to be those of kootheinaron. the name may have subsequently migrated to the locality above mentioned.
15. papilawana, the capital of the mauria princes, was situated between the rapti and the gunduck, nearly east of goruckpore. south of that place fa-hian visited the dzedi of the coals. the mauria princes, agreeably to the text of the legend, having come too late for sharing in the partition of the relics, took with them the coals that remained after the cremation of buddha’s remains, carried them into their country, and built a dzedi over them. it was not far from that place that the brahmin dauna built another dzedi over the vessel that had contained buddha’s relics.
16. the village of rama is the same as the ramaganio of the cingalese collection. the two chinese pilgrims in their relations call that place lan-mo. can it be that the modern ramnagar is indicative of the ancient ramaganio? at all events we would not be far from the truth if we place it between the gogra and the rapti, but nearer to the latter, almost due west of goruckpore.
17. the pawa town is supposed by a. cunningham to have occupied the same site as the large village of padarawana, twelve miles to the west of the river gunduck, and forty miles north-north-east of goruckpore. a large mound of more than 200 feet in length by 120 in breadth exists in that locality. from the excavations made on the place, it is supposed that there was a courtyard, with cells for monks, on each side, the centre being, as was often the case, occupied by a dzedi. the people of pawa obtained one-eighth of the relics, after the cremation of buddha’s remains, and built one dzedi over them.
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18. kapilawot, or kapilawastu, was situated between fyzabad and goruckpore, but a little nearer to the latter place. it was on or near the banks of the gogra. the small river rohini formed the boundary between the territory of kapilawot and that of kaulia.
19. gaya and buddha-gaya are two distinct places. the first is well known as the town of gaya. the second lies six miles southward, and is famous as the locality of the pipal or bodi tree, under which gaudama obtained the buddhahood. a tree of the same description is still to be seen on the same spot. the present one was in full vigour in 1811, when dr. buchanan saw it. he describes it as not being more than a hundred years old. a. cunningham says that it is now much decayed. one large stem with three branches on the westward side are still green; but the other branches are barkless and rotten. hwen thsang, in his itinerary, speaks of an early renewal of that tree by king purna varmma, after its destruction by king sasangka, who, with a true brahminical and inimical feeling, dug up the very ground on which it had stood, and moistened the earth with sugar-cane juice, to prevent its renewal. the same eminent arch?ologist describes a massive brick temple, standing east of the bodi tree, and with great plausibility maintains that it is the same which has been described by the above-named chinese pilgrim. as fa-hian is silent respecting that temple, a. cunningham concludes that it was erected during the sixth century of the christian era, when buddhism, under the favour of king amara-sinha and some of his successors, regained a vigorous ascendancy at least in magatha. it is probable that all the temples, the ruins of which have been examined at buddha-gaya, nalanda, and behar, having a similarity in architectural plans and ornaments, were erected during the sixth and a part of the seventh century of our era. the inference therefrom is that buddhism was flourishing in magatha at that period. hwen thsang, who has visited and described those monuments[187] in or about 625, speaks of them in the highest terms. how long lasted the prosperous days of buddhism in those parts? it is difficult to state with any degree of accuracy. but it seems probable that it maintained itself in a satisfactory condition until the beginning of the tenth century. it had then to give way before the irresistible and triumphant ascendancy of brahminism.
to the south-east of the great temple is a small tank which is probably that of the naga, who protected buddha during one of the several stations that he made round the bodi tree.
20. anawadat is the name of a lake famous in buddhist sacred history. its etymological meaning is, agreeably to some savans, exempt of tumult, and, according to others, not brightened. this last appellation is owing probably to the high peaks that surround it and prevent its being brightened by the rays of the sun. this is certainly the famous and extensive lake, which covers a portion of the high table-land of pamir. it has been visited and described by lieutenant wood. what he states from a careful observation on the spot agrees well with what is found in the itineraries of the chinese travellers. from that high plateau which embosoms the lake flows in an eastern direction one of those small streams that form the river ganges; whilst, in an opposite direction, the oxus, issuing from the western slope, shapes its course nearly towards the west.
21. udiana is a country the position of which is fixed on the banks of the indus, between cabul and cashmere, west of the latter country. gandara is, it appears, the country called candahar by the mussulmans, lying between the swat and the indus. the burmese author mentions always kashmera along with gandara. this would indicate that the two places are in the vicinity of each other, and that they formed primitively one and the same state. yaunaka is perhaps the peninsula of guzerat. but the writer entertains serious doubts on this subject.[188] it might be the countries situated west of the hindu kush, that is to say, the ancient bactriana. the burmese author states that yaunaka was inhabited by a people called pantsays. what people were they? is it an allusion to the greeks that had settled in bactriana? it is not without interest to hear our chinese traveller stating that religion was flourishing in the above-mentioned countries, whilst in the punjaub he met with religious with whom he declined holding intercourse, and of whom he speaks in rather unfavourable terms. hence we may conclude that heretical opinions were then prevailing in that country, and that doctrines at variance with those of buddha had already taken a deep root, and in their growth almost choked genuine buddhism, if it had ever been the prevailing creed in the land of the five rivers.
22. on his way down the ganges, our pilgrim does not appear to have left his boat for any considerable time; he contents himself with mentioning a fact that to some may appear somewhat doubtful, viz., the flourishing condition of the buddhist religion as far as the neighbourhood of the present metropolis of india. he speaks of the kingdom of champa. campapuri, or karnapura, was the capital of that state. it was situated on the site of the present bhagulpore, or not far from it. thence fa-hian came to the state of tamaralipti. the town which bore that name is the modern tumlook, on the right bank of the hoogly, not far from calcutta. it was at that port that he embarked on board of a ship bound to ceylon. tamaralipti must have been a famous sea-port several centuries before fa-hian’s days. we are informed that maheinda and his companions, who were appointed to proceed to ceylon to preach buddhism to the people of that island, embarked at the same place.
