The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t28.5

c6.s3.t28.5

In one of the Buddhist legends, quoted by Burnouf,[†] Buddha proceeds with Ananda to the *Chápála* stupa, and seating himself under a tree, thus addresses his disciple: "How beautiful, O Ananda, is the city of *Vaisâli*, the land of the *Vrijis*," etc. In the time of Buddha, and for many centuries afterwards, the people of Vaisâli were called *Lichhavis*; and in the *Trikanda-sesha*, the names of *Lichhavi*, *Vaideha*, and *Tirabhukti*, are given as synonymous. *Vaideha* is well known to the readers of the *Râmâyana* as a common name of *Mithila*, the country of Raja Janaka, whose daughter Sita is also named *Vaidehi*. *Tirabhukti* is the present *Tirahuti*, or *Tirhut*. Now, the modern town of *Janakpur*, in the *Mithari* district, is acknowledged by the universal consent of the natives of the country, to be the same place as the ancient *Janakpur*, the capital of *Mithila*. It also corresponds exactly with the position assigned by Hwen Thsang to *Chen-shu-na*, the capital of *Vriji*. M. Vivien de Saint-Martin reads the Chinese name as *Che-thu-na*, but M. Stanislas Julien renders it by *Chha-su-na*, and points out that the second character is found in *Sukra*, and I may add also in *Sudra*. The correct rendering of the name is doubtful; but if the bearing and distance recorded by the Chinese pilgrims are correct, it is almost certain that the capital of *Vriji* in the seventh century must have been at *Janakpur*.