The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t21.42

c6.s3.t21.42

The river Anoma was famous in the history of Buddhism as the scene of Prince Siddhârta’s assumption of the dress of an ascetic, where he cut off his hair, and dismissed his attendant and his horse. According to the Burmese* and Ceylonese† chronicles, the distance from Kapila was 30 *yojanas*, or about 210 miles,—a mistake which must have originated in an erroneous opinion that the river was exactly halfway between Kapila and Rajagriha, as the total distance is said to be 60 *yojanas*. In the Tibetan translation of the *Lalita Vistára*,‡ the distance is stated at 6 *yojanas*, or 42 miles. This is somewhat less than the estimates of Fa-Hian and Hwen Thsang, but as the former is made up of two distances, given in whole *yojanas*, and the latter of two distances, given in round hundreds of *li*, they can only be accepted as approximations. Thus Fa-Hian's 5 *yojanas*, plus 3 *yojanas*, may have been only 4½ and 2½ *yojanas*, and Hwen Thsang's 200 *li*, plus 100 *li*, may have been actually only 180 *li*, plus 80 *li*. The former may thus be reduced to 7 *yojanas*, or 49 miles, and the latter to 260 *li*, or 43 miles. I therefore accept the 6 *yojanas*, or 42 miles, of the *Lalita Vistára* as the nearest approach to the real distance that could be stated in whole *yojanas*.