The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c5.s2.t3.31

c5.s2.t3.31

From these accounts of the Chinese pilgrims, we see that Taxila was specially interesting to all Buddhists as the legendary scene of one of Buddha's most meritorious acts of alms-giving, when he bestowed his head in charity. The origin of this legend I think may be certainly traced to the name, which as *Taksha-sila* means simply the "cut rock;" but with a slight alteration, as *Taksha-śira* means the "severed head." *Aut ex re nomen, aut ex vocabulo fabula*,* either the name sprang from the legend, or the legend was invented to account for the name." In this case we may be almost certain that the latter was the process, as the Greeks have preserved the spelling of the original name before Buddhism had covered the land with its endless legends of Sakya's meritorious acts in previous births. It is nowhere stated to whom Buddha presented his head, but I believe that it was offered to the hungry tiger whose seven cubs were saved from starvation by a similar offering of his blood.† I am led to this belief by the fact that the land immediately to the north of the ruined city is still called *Babar Khána*, or the "Tiger's House," a name which is as old as the time of Mahmud, as Abu Rihân speaks of *Babarkán* as being halfway between the Indus and the Jhelam,‡ a description which is equally applicable to the Babarkhâna of the ancient Taxila. The name is a Turki one, and is, therefore, probably as old as the time of Kanishka. From the continued existence of this name, I infer that, in the immediate neighbourhood of the great stupa of the “head-gift,” there was most probably a temple enshrining a group in which Buddha was represented offering his head to the tiger. This temple the *Turks* would naturally have called the *Babar-Khána*, or “Tigers’-house;” and as Taxila itself decayed, the name of the temple would gradually have superseded that of the city. The remembrance of this particular act of Buddha’s extreme charity is, I believe, preserved in the name of *Márgala*, or the “beheaded,” which is applied to the range of hills lying only two miles to the south of Shah-dheri. *Márgala* means literally “decollated,” from *gala-márna*, which is the idiomatic expression for “cutting the neck,” or beheading.