釋迦方志 2.5

2.5

When human life expectancy was several thousand years, it was renamed Pāṭaliputra on account of the pāṭali tree. The ancient name of Balianfu is an error. North of the old palace is a stone pillar several tens of cubits high, the site where King Aśoka constructed his hell. One hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, King Aśoka (which means 'Without Sorrow'), who was the great-grandson of King Bimbisāra, moved his capital from Rājagṛha to this city and rebuilt the outer ramparts. The land produces a rare variety of rice, large-grained and delicious, with a wonderful luster, known as 'rice for noblemen'. North of the palace, fronting the Gaṅgā River, is a small walled town of over a thousand households; the stone pillar of that hell is still extant. To the south is a great stūpa decorated with gems and an inverted bowl, with stone railings, which is one of the eighty-four thousand [stūpas]. It houses one measure of the Buddha's relics, which occasionally emit auspicious rays of light; it was built by Aśoka when he met the arhat Upagupta and employed ghosts and spirits. Beside it, in a vihāra, is a large stone bearing the two footprints the Buddha made when, on the verge of entering nirvāṇa, he walked north toward Kuśinagara and turned back to gaze at Magadha. They are one cubit and eight inches long and six inches wide; the wheel marks, lotus motifs, and ten toes all differ. Recently, King Śaśāṅka (which means 'Moon') of Karṇasuvarṇa (which means 'Golden Ear Country') tried to destroy the Buddha's footprints, but after channelling them out, they became smooth again and the patterns returned to their former state. He then threw [the stone] into the Gaṅgā, but it soon returned to its original place. Beside it is a stūpa commemorating the walking and sitting of the four buddhas.