Geography of Early Buddhism c6.6

c6.6

who landed at Tāmralipti (or modern Tamluk in Midnapur) in A.D. 673, gives us a more detailed account. He visited Nālandā, Gijjhakūṭa, Buddhagayā, Vesālī, Kuśinagara, Kapilavastu, Sāvatthī, Isipatana Migadāva and the Kukkuṭapabbata. But more important are the accounts of Fa-Hien and Yuan Chwang. Fa-Hien entered India from the north-west (399–414 A.D.), toured all over northern India and left it at the port of Tāmralipti. Yuan Chwang also covered the same tract (629–645 A.D.), but his account is fuller and more exhaustive. The geographical notices of both the pilgrims are precise and definite, and for one who wants to get a correct and exhaustive idea of the geography of Northern India during the fourth and seventh centuries of the Christian era, they are, in fact the most important sources of information. But as we are here concerned with the geography primarily of the early Buddhists, we shall turn to them only when they would enable us and help us to explain earlier notices and information.