The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c6.s2.45

c6.s2.45

Chirând—Six or seven miles to the east of Chapra, in the district of Sâran on the Saraju. It has been identified by Dr. Hoey with the ancient Vaiśâlî. The ruins of an ancient “fort” exist at this place on the bank of the Saraju, which is said to have been the fort of King Mayuradhvaja, and tradition says that Chirând was his capital and that he tried to cut down his son by means of a saw in order to satisfy the craving of Kṛishṇa for human flesh, who came to him in the disguise of an old Brahmin (see the story in the *Jaimini-Bhârata*). There can be no doubt that the place was deemed very sacred by the Hindus, as is testified by the remains of a mosque which was built on the ruins of the fort by Sultan Abdul Mozaffar Hossain Shah in 909 A.D., corresponding to 1503 A.D. (909 + 622 - 28 = 1503). The hermitage of Chyavana and a small tank called Jiâch-Kuṇḍu (said to be the Brahma-Kuṇḍu of the *Chirând-Mâhâtmya*) are also pointed out. The name of Chirând itself, that is, *Chir* (*Chhid*) means a portion cut off and *Ând* which is evidently a corruption of *Ânanda*, and the tradition about the sawing of Mayuradhvaja’s son, seem, however, to point that it was at this place that the tower of Kuṭâgâra was built by the Lichchhavis of Vaiśâlî over half the body of Ânanda, the disciple and cousin of Buddha, after his death. Figures of Buddha and of the Buddhistic period have been found at this place. Chapra is still called Chiran(d)-Chhâprâ on account of the celebrity of Chirând. The other half of Ânanda’s body was enshrined by Ajātasatru, king of Magadha, at Pāṭaliputra in a relic stūpa which, according to Dr Waddell, was near Bhiknāpāhārī at Bankipur (Dr Waddell's Excavations in Pataliputra, p 56)