The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s5.54

Language: English

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Girivrajapura—1. Râjgir in Bihar, the ancient capital of Magadha at the time of the Mahâbhârata (Sabhâ, ch. 21), where Jarâsindhu and his descendants resided. The name of Girivraja is very rarely used in Buddhist works (SBE., X, 67) : it was generally called Râjagṛiha. It is sixty-two miles from Patna and fourteen miles south of Bihar (town). It was founded by Râjâ Vasu and was therefore called Vasumatî (Râmâyaṇa, Âdi, ch. 32). It is surrounded by five hills called in the Mahâbhârata (Sabhâ, ch. 21) Baihâra, Barâha, Bṛishabha, Ṛishi-giri, and Chaityaka, but they are now called Baibhâra-giri, Bipula-giri, Ratnakūṭa, Girivrâja-giri, and Ratnâchala. In the Pâli books, the five hills are called Gijjhakūṭa, Isigili, Vebhâra, Vepulla, and Pâṇḍava. Baihâra has been identified by General Cunningham with Baibhâra-giri, the Vebhâra mountain of the Pâli annals ; Ṛishi-giri with Ratnakūṭa (also called Ratnagiri), the Pâṇḍava mountain of the Pâli annals ; Chaityaka with Bipula-giri—the Vepulla mountain of the Pâli annals ; and Barâha with Giribraja-giri. A part of this hill is called Gijjhakūṭa ; hence Bṛishabha may be identified with Ratnâchala. Girivrâja-giri includes the Udaya-giri and Sona-giri. Udayagiri joins Ratnagiri at its south-eastern corner, and Sona-giri is between Udaya-giri and Girivraja-giri. Girivrajapura is the Kusumapura or Râjagṛiha of the Buddhist period.

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It is bounded on the north by Baibhâra-giri and Bipula-giri (the former on the western side and the latter on the eastern side) ; on the east by Bipula-giri and Ratnagiri or Ratnakūṭa ; on the west by a portion of the Baibhâra-giri called Chakra and Ratnâchala : and on the south by Udaya-giri, Sona-giri, and Girivraja-giri. Girivraja-pura had four gates : first, between Baibhâra-giri and Bipula-giri on the northern side, called the Sûrya-dvâra (Sun-gâṭe) ; it was protected by Jarâ Râkshasî ; second, between Girivraja-giri and Ratnâchala called the Gaja-dvâra (elephant-gate) ; third, between Ratnagiri (or Ratnakūṭa) and Udaya-giri; fourth, between Ratnâchala and Chakra, a portion of the Baibhâra hill. The river Sarasvatî flows through the hill-begirt city and passes out by the side of the northern gate. The river Bân-gaṅgâ is on the south of Rājgir. At the time of the Rāmāyaṇa (see Ādi, ch. 32) the river Sone flowed through the town. Jarāsindhu's palace was situated on the western side of the valley in the space between Baibhāra-giri and Ratnāchala. The Rangbhum or the wrestling ground of Jarāsindhu is at the foot of the Baibhāra hill, a mile to the west of the Sonbhāṇḍār cave. Bhīma Sen's Ukhara or the Malla bhūmi at the foot of the Sona-giri, close to a low ledge of laterite forming a terrace, is pointed out as the place where Bhīma and Jarāsindhu wrestled and the latter was killed after a fight of thirteen days.

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The indentations and cavities peculiar to such formations are supposed to be the marks left by the wrestlers. Southwards near Udaya-giri, the road is formed by the bare rock in which occur many short inscriptions in the shell pattern [JASB, (1847) p. 559]. Traditionally the princes were confined by Jarāsindhu at the foot of the Sona-giri. Six miles from Rājgir is situated the Giriyak hill containing the celebrated tower called Jarāsindhu-kā-Baiṭhak formerly called the Haṃsa stūpa (see Indrasilā-guhā). The Pañchāna river flows by the side of this hill. Bhīma, Arjuna, and Kṛṣṇa crossed the Pañchāna river and entered Jarāsindhu's town in disguise by scaling the Giriyak hill, a spur of the Bipula or Chaityaka range (Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. V, p. 85). There is, however, a pair of foot-prints within a small temple on the slope of the Baibhāra hill on its northern side which are pointed out as the foot-prints of Kṛṣṇa, and are said to have been left by him when he entered Rājgir. They reconnoitred the town from Goratha hill, which is now called the Bāṭhānī-kā-Pahāḍ, appearing from a distance to have three peaks, five or six miles to the west of Rājgir and north of Sandol Pahāḍ, a hill larger than the Bāṭhānī hill (Mbh., Sabhā P., ch. 20). At the foot of the Baibhāra hill on the north and at a short distance from the northern gate, there are seven Kuṇḍas or hot springs called Vyāsa, Mārkaṇḍa, Sapta-Ṛiṣi or Saptadhāra, Brahma, Kaśyapa-ṛiṣi, Gaṅgā-Yamunā, and Ananta.

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At a short distance to the east of these, Kuṇḍas, there are five hot springs called Sūrya, Chandramā, Gaṇeśa, Rāma and Sītā. To the east of this latter group of Kuṇḍas is a hot-spring called Śṛṅgi-ṛiṣi-kuṇḍa now called Makhdum-kuṇḍa after the name of a Muhammadan saint Makhdum Shah, called also Sharfuddin Ahmad, at the foot of the Bipula hill on its northern side. Close to the side of this spring is Makhdum Shah's Chilwa or a small cavern for worship. Just over the entrance to the Chilwa, there is a huge slanting rock said to have been rolled down by two brothers Rāol and Lāṭṭā to kill the saint, but it was arrested in its course by his look. This story is evidently a replica of the Buddhist account about Devadatta hurling at Buddha a block of stone which was arrested in its course by two other blocks. There are the temple of Jarā Devī near the northern gate and Jaina temples of Mahāvīra, Pārasnātha, and other Tīrthaṅkaras on the Baibhāra, Bipula, Udaya, and Sona-giri hills. Buddha resided in a cave of Pāṇḍava-giri (which is called Ratna-giri on the eastern side of the town) when he first came to Rājagṛiha [Sutta-nipāta, ‘Pabbajjasutta,’ SBE., vol. X; JASB. (1838), p. 810]. Here he became the disciple of Ārāḍa first and then of Rudraka; but dissatisfied with their teachings, he left Rājagṛiha (Aśvaghoṣa's Buddha-charita). While he was residing in a cave called Kṛṣṇaśilā on the eastern side of Pāṇḍava-giri, he was visited by king Bimbisāra (Mahāvagga, ‘Pabbajjasutta,’ 12;

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and Lalita-vistara, ch. 16). The Sonabhāṇḍār cave on the southern face of the Baibhāra hill within the valley of the ancient town of Rājagṛiha (incorrectly identified by General Cunningham with the Saptaparṇi cave where the first Buddhist synod was held) (*Arch. S. Rep.*, vol. III; Fergusson’s *Cave Temples of India*, p. 49) has been identified by Mr. Beglar with the “Stone Cavern” of Fa Hian, where Buddha used to sit in profound meditation. At a short distance to the east is another cell where Ānanda practised meditation. When Ānanda was frightened by Māra, Buddha through a cleft in the rock introduced his hand and stroked Ānanda on the shoulder and removed his fear (*Arch. S. Rep.*, vol. 3). There are still thirteen socket holes in front of Buddha’s cave indicating that a hall existed there where Buddha “delivered the law” as Fa Hian calls it. In the curve formed by the Bipula and Ratnagiri hills, near the northern gate, was situated a mango-garden formerly belonging to Ambapālī and then to Jīvaka, the court-physician to king Bimbisāra, in which the latter built a *vihāra* and gave it to Buddha and his 1250 disciples (*SBE.*, vol. XVII; *Sāmaññaphala Sutta*, and Fa Hian’s *Fo-kwo-ki*). Cunningham also places Devadatta’s house within the curve (*Arch. S. Rep.*, vol. III), but the location is very doubtful. Devadatta’s cave was situated outside the old city on the north and at a distance of three *li* to the east (*Legge’s Fa Hian*, p. XXX).

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It can be easily identified with Makhdum Shah’s Chilwa which was formerly called Śṛiṅgi-ṛishi’s *kuṇḍa*. Devadatta, Buddha’s first cousin, created a schism in the Buddhist order nine or ten years before Buddha’s death, and his followers were called Gotamaka. It was he who instigated Ajātaśatru to kill his father (Rhys David’s *Buddhist India*; Spence Hardy’s *Manual of Buddhism*; Sañjiva-Jātaka in the *Jātakas*, vol. I).