The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s2.236

Language: English

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Champâpuri—Same as Champâ. Champânagara, situated at a distance of about four miles, to the west of Bhagalpur. It was also called Mâlinî and Champâ-mâlinî (Matsya P., ch. 48; Hemakosha). It was the capital of ancient Anga, of which the king was Râjâ Romapâda or Lomapâda who adopted Dasaratha's daughter Sântâ (Râmâyana, Âdi, ch. 10). Lomapâda's great-grandson Champâ is said to have founded the town of Champânagara which was formerly called Mâlinî, but it is mentioned in the Mahâbhârata (Vana P., ch. 112) that Champâ was the capital of Lomapâda. At the time of the Mahâbhârata it was the capital of Karna, the ally of Duryodhana. It is also described as a place of pilgrimage in the Mahâbhârata (Vana P., ch. 85). The Karnagad which is included in Champânagara contains the remains of a fort which is pointed out as the fort of Karna, who was brought up at this place. But it has been thought by some that Karnagad in Champânagara and Karnachandâ in Monghyr have been named after Karnasena, king of Karnasuvarna, who had conquered Anga and Banga. There is a temple of Mahâdeva called Manaskâmanânâtha, which is said to have been set up by Râjâ Karna, but which appears to have been built on the site of an ancient Buddhist temple. Just outside the temple on the southern side there are many Buddhist statues. The vestiges of the ramparts of the fort on all sides still exist. Champânagara was visited by Hiuen Tsiang in the seventh century as a Buddhist place of pilgrimage.

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Champâ was the birth-place of "Biraja-Jina," the author of the celebrated Buddhist work Lankâvatâra Sûtra (ch. 10), and also that of Pâlakâpya Muni, the author of the Hastyâyurveda (a treatise on the diseases of elephants). Sona Kolavisa, the author of one of the Theragâthâs was a resident of Champâ (Mahâvagga, V, 1). Many Buddhist statues and remains of ancient pillars are still found scattered over the town. The remains of the mound, on which the surrounding wall of the town was situated, as mentioned by Hiuen Tsiang, may still be seen close to the Nathnagar Railway Station. Spence Hardy, on the authority of Csoma Körösi, states that a king of Anga (Brahmadatta), whose capital was Champâ, had conquered Magadha before the birth of Buddha, but when Bimbisâra, then a prince, grew up, he invaded Anga and caused the king to be slain: after which he resided at Champâ till the death of his father Kshatranjas, when he returned to Râjagriha (Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 166, second ed.; Duff's Chronicle, p. 5). Since that time, Anga remained subject to Magadha. Champâpuri is also a very sacred place to the Jainas, inasmuch as it was visited by Mahâvîra, the last Tirthankara who spent here three Parjjusanas (rainy season retirement) (Kalpasûtra, ch. vi), and it is the birth-place and the place of death of Bâsupûjya, the twelfth Tirthankara, whose symbol is the buffalo. He was the son of Bâsupûjya and Jayâ (Buchanan's Observations on the Jainas: Asiat. Res., IX, 30).

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The temple of Bâsupûjya was erected by a Jaipur chief, Sungree Siree Dhata and his wife Sungvin Siree Surjaice in the Yudhishthira era 2559 (see the Inscription in Major Francklin's Site of Ancient Palibothra, pp. 16, 17: Yudhishthira Era 2559 corresponds to 541 B.C.). At Nathnagar, which is a quarter (mahalla) of Champânagara exists this beautiful temple of the Digambara sect, which is dedicated to Bâsupûjya, who is said to have lived and died at the site of this temple. From the inscriptions on some Jaina images exhumed from the neighbourhood of an old Jaina temple at Ajmer, it appears that these images, which were of Bāsupūjya, Mallinātha, Pārśvanātha, and Vardhamāna were dedicated in the thirteenth century A.D., i.e., ranging from Samvat 1239 to 1247 (JASB., 1838, p. 52). The Uvāsagadasāo mentions that a temple called Chaitya Punnabhadda existed at Champā at the time o Sudharman, one of the eleven disciples of Mahāvīra who succeeded as the head of the Jaina sect on his death (Hoernle's Uvāsagadasāo, p. 2, notes, Jñātādharma-sūtrapāṭha). The town was visited by Sudharman, the head of the Jaina hierarchy, at the time of Kunika or Ajātaśatru who came barefooted to see the Gaṇadhara outside the city where he had taken up his abode.

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Sudharman's successor, Jambu and Jambu's successor Prabhava also visited Champā, and Prabhava's successor Sayambhava lived at this city where he composed the Daśavaikālika Sūtra containing in ten lectures all the essence of the sacred doctrines of Jainism (Hemchandra's Sthavirāvalī or Pariśiṣṭaparva, Cantos IV, V). After the death of Bimbisāra, Kunika or Ajātaśatru made Champā his capital, but after his death, his son Udāyin transferred the seat of government to Pāṭaliputra (Canto VI). On the northern side of this old temple of Bāsupūjya, there is another temple dedicated to him, but it has been newly built. At Champānagara proper, there is another temple of the Jainas belonging to the Śvetāmbara sect, containing the images of many Tīrthaṅkaras. Champā has been described in the Daśakumāra-charita as abounding in rogues. From the Champaka-Śreṣṭhi-Kathā, a Jaina work, it appears that the town was in a very flourishing condition. In the opening lines, the castes and trades of the town are enumerated. There were perfumers, spice-sellers, sugar-candy sellers, jewellers, leather-tanners, garland-makers, carpenters, goldsmiths, weavers, washermen, etc. The name of the king is mentioned as Sāmanta Pāla : his minister was Bṛddhadatta (Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts by M. M. Haraprasāda Śāstrī, 1892).