The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s2.236.2

c5.s2.236.2

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).