The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t12: 7. Udyâna, or Swât.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t12
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7. Udyâna, or Swât.
c5.s1.t12.1
On leaving Utakhanda Hwen Thsang travelled about 600 *li*, or 100 miles, towards the north, to *U-chang-na*, or *Udyâna*, which was situated on the river *Su-po-fa-su-tu*, the *Subhavastu* and *Suvastu* of Sanskrit, the *Suastus* of Arrian, and the *Swât* or *Suât* river of the present day. It is called *U-chang* by the earlier pilgrims Fa-Hian and Sung-yun, which is a close transcript of *Ujjâna*, the Pali form of *Udyâna*. The country is described as highly irrigated, and very fertile. This agrees with all the native accounts, according to which Swât is second only to the far-famed valley of Kashmir. Hwen Thsang makes it 5000 *li*, or 833 miles, in circuit, which must be very near the truth, if, as was most probably the case, it included all the tributaries of the Swât river. *Udyâna* would thus have embraced the four modern districts of Panjkora, Bijâwar, Swât, and Bunîr, which have a circuit of only 500 miles, if measured on the map direct, but of not less than 800 miles by road measurement. Fa-Hian mentions *Su-ho-to* as a small district to the south of Udyâna. This has generally been identified with the name of Swât; but from its position to the south of Udyâna, and to the north of Parashâwar, it cannot have been the large valley of the Swât river itself, but must have been limited to the smaller valley of Bunîr. This is confirmed by the legend told by Fa-Hian of the hawk and pigeon; in which Buddha, to save the pigeon, tears his own flesh and offers it to the hawk. The very same legend is related by Hwen Thsang, but he places the scene at the north-west foot of the *Mahâban* mountain, that is, in the actual valley of Bunîr. He adds that Buddha was then a king, named *Shi-pi-kia*, or *Sivika*, which may, perhaps, be the true form of Fa-Hian’s *Suhoto*.
c5.s1.t12.2
The capital of Udyâna was called *Mung-kie-li*, or *Mangala*, which is probably the *Mangora* of Wilford’s surveyor, Mogal Beg, and the *Manglora* of General Court’s map. It was 16 or 17 *li*, about 2¾ miles, in circuit, and very populous. At 250 or 260 *li*, about 42 miles, to the north-east of the capital the pilgrim reached the source of the *Subhavastu* river, in the fountain of the Nâga king *Apalâla*; and at 750 *li*, or 125 miles, further in the same direction, after crossing a mountain range and ascending the Indus, he arrived at *Tha-li-lo*, or *Dárel*, which had been the ancient capital of Udyâna. *Dárel* is a valley on the right or western bank of the Indus, now occupied by *Dárdus*, or *Dárds*, from whom it received its name. It is called *To-li* by Fa-Hian, who makes it a separate kingdom. The Dârds are now usually divided into three separate tribes, according to the dialects which they speak. Those who use the *Arniya* dialect occupy the north-western districts of *Yasan* and *Chitrál*; those who speak the Khajunah dialect occupy the north-east districts of Hunza and Nager; and those who speak the Shinâ dialect occupy the valleys of Gilgit, Chilâs, Dârel, Kohli, and Pâlas, along the banks of the Indus. In this district there was a celebrated wooden statue of the future Buddha Maitreya, which is mentioned by both of the pilgrims. According to Fa-Hian it was erected 300 years after the *Nirvána* of Buddha, or about B.C. 243, that is, in the reign of Asoka, when the Buddhist religion was actively disseminated over India by missionaries. Hwen Thsang describes the statue as 100 feet in height, and states that it was erected by *Madhyántika*.* The name and the date mutually support each other, as *Madhyántika*, or *Maj-jhima* in Pali, was the name of the Buddhist teacher, who, after the assembly of the Third Synod in Asoka's reign, was sent to spread the Buddhist faith in Kashmir and the whole Himavanta country.† This is most probably the period alluded to by Hwen Thsang when *Dârel* was the capital of Udyâna.
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† Turnour's 'Mahâwanso,' p. 71; see also my 'Bhilsa Topes,' p. 120.