The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t19.2

c6.s3.t19.2

I have now to show that Fa-Hian's Sha-chi is the same as Hwen Thsang's Visâkha, and that both are identical with Sâketa or Ajudhya. With respect to Sha-chi, Fa-Hian relates that "on leaving the town by the southern gate you find to the east of the road the place where Buddha bit a branch of the nettletree and planted it in the ground, where it grew to the height of seven feet, and never increased or diminished in size.”* Now, this is precisely the same legend that is related of *Visákha* by Hwen Thsang, who says that “to the south of the capital, and to the left of the road (that is, to the east as stated by Fa-Hian), there was, amongst other holy objects, an extraordinary tree 6 or 7 feet high, which always remained the same, neither growing nor decreasing.† This is the celebrated tooth-brush tree of Buddha, to which I shall have occasion to refer presently. Here I need only notice the very precise agreement in the two descriptions of this famous tree, as to its origin, its height, and its position. The perfect correspondence of these details appears to me to leave no doubt of the identity of Fa-Hian’s *Sha-chi* with the *Visâkha* of Hwen Thsang.