The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s1.t12.1

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*.