The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t28.10

c6.s3.t28.10

To the north-west of Vaisâli, at somewhat less than 200 *li*, or 33 miles, Hwen Thsang places the ruins of an ancient town, which had been deserted for many ages. There Buddha was said to have reigned in a previous existence, as a Chakravartti Raja, or supreme ruler, named Mahâdeva, and a stupa still existed to commemorate the fact. The name of the place is not given, but the bearing and distance point to Kesariya, an old ruined town, just 30 miles to the north-north-west of Vaisâli. The place possesses a mound of ruins with a lofty stupa on the top, which the people attribute to Raja Vena Chakravartti. In the Purânas also, Raja Vena is called a Chakravartti, or supreme monarch; and I have found his name as widely spread through northern India as that of Rama, or the five Pandus. This monument stands at the point of crossing of the two great thoroughfares of the district, namely, that from Patna northward to Bettiah, and that from Chapra across the Gandak to Nepâl. It is a curious illustration of this fact that Buddha himself, according to the Ceylonese chronicles, informed Ananda,[*] that "for a Chakravartti Raja they build the thupo at a spot where four principal roads meet." I have little doubt therefore that this is the identical place indicated by the Chinese pilgrim.