The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s5.42

c5.s5.42

Gayā—It is situated between the Rāmsilā hill on the north and the Brahmayoni hill on the south, on the bank of the river Phalgu. The town comprises the modern town of Shahebganj on the northern side and the ancient town of Gayā on the southern side. In the southern portion of the town, called Chakrabeda in the *Chaitanya-Bhāgavata* (ch. 12) is situated the celebrated temple of Viṣṇupada, which was erected some two hundred years ago by Ahalyābāī, the daughter-in-law of Mulhar Rao Holkar of Indore, on the site of a more ancient temple: the Viṣṇupada had been set up prior to Fa Hian's visit. The temple of Maṅgalā Gaurī, one of the fifty-two Pīṭhas, where Satī's breast is said to have fallen, is situated on a spur of the Brahmayoni range called the Bhāsnāth (*Devī-Bhāgavata*, Pt. VII, chs. 30 and 38). For the sacred places in Gayā, see *Vāyu Purāṇa*, II, chs. 105 *ff.* which from the *Gayā-māhātmya*. Buddha Gayā (see Uravilva) is six miles to the south of Gayā. The Barabar hills contain four caves dedicated by Asoka to the Ājīvakas, a sect which followed the doctrine of Maṅkhaliputta Gosāla, and the three caves on the Nāgārjuni hills were dedicated by Asoka's grandson Daśaratha to the same sect: for Daśaratha's and other inscriptions in the Nāgārjuni hill, see *JASB.*, 1837, pp. 676—680. Gayā was one of the first places which received the doctrine of Buddha during the life-time of the saint, and became the head-quarters of his religion. But it appears that it passed from the Buddhists to the Hindus between the second and fourth centuries of the Christian era, and in 404 A. D., Fa Hian found that "all within the city was desolate and desert"; and when Hiuen Tsiang visited it in 637 A. D., he found it to be a thriving Hindu town "well defended, difficult of access, and occupied by a thousand families of Brāhmaṇas, all descendants of a single Ṛishi", who were evidently the "Gayālis." The story of Gayāsura of the *Vāyu Purāṇa*, according to Dr. R. L. Mitra (*Buddha-Gayā*, p. 17); is an allegorical representation of the expulsion of Buddhism from Gayā, which was the head-quarters of the Buddhist faith. From Vishnupada, Dharmaranya, including Matanga-vapi, now called Maltangi, is six miles, Brahmasara one mile south-west, Godalola one mile south near Maranpur, and Uttara-Manasa one mile north. Dakshina-Manasa is near Devaghat (Mbh., Vana, ch. 84; Agni P., ch. 115). The temple of Jagannatha at Umanganagar (Umga), and those of Surya at Deo (Deota Surya) and Kuch near Tikari in the district of Gaya are old, containing inscriptions (JASB., 1847, pp. 656, 1220). For further particulars, see Gaya in Pt. II.