Geography of Early Buddhism c7.38

c7.38

In the Sumaṅgalavilāsinī (pt. I, p. 279) we find mention of a tank called Gaggarapokkharanī dug by the queen Gaggarā of Campā. From the Sonadaṇḍa Suttanta (DN., Vol. I) we calls it Giribbaja of the Magadhas in order to distinguish it from other cities of the same name (Cf. Girivraja in Kekaya)¹. Giribbaja seems to have other and perhaps older names. The Rāmāyaṇa tells us that the city was known by the name of Vasumati (I, 32.7). The Mahābhārata seems to record that Girivraja was also called Bārhadrathapura (II, 24-44) as well as Māgadhapura (II, 20, 30) and that Māgadhapura was a well-fortified city being protected by five hills (puram durādharsham samantataḥ). Other names recorded in the Mahābhārata are Varāha, Vrishabha, Rishigiri, and Caityaka.² There is, however, another name, Bimbisārapurī, by which Indian Buddhist writers designated the city.³ The Life of Yuan Chwang (p. 113) mentions still another name, Kusāgārapura.⁴ The statement of the Mahābhārata that Girivraja was protected by five hills is strikingly confirmed by the Vimāna-vatthu commentary (p. 82) in which we read that the city of Giribbaja was encircled by the mountains Isigili, Vepulla, Vebhāra, Paṇḍava and Gijjhakūṭa. The Vinaya Piṭaka (Vol. I, p. 29) tells us that Magadha comprised eighty thousand villages all of which were under the sway of King Bimbisāra. The same work informs us that the river Tapodā flowed by this ancient city (VP., IV, pp. 116-117). In the Majjhima Nikāya (Vol. I, pp. 166-67) we find that Senānigāma, one of the villages of Magadha, was a very nice place having a beautiful forest and a river with transparent water. The Saṃyutta Nikāya (Vol. I, pp. 172-73) tells us of the brāhmaṇa village of Ekanālā where a brāhmaṇa named Bharadvāja lived. The Brāhmaṇa was converted by the Buddha. The same Nikāya tells us of Nālakagāma in Magadha where Sāriputta delivered a discourse on nibbāna to a wandering ascetic named Jambukhādaka (Sam. IV, pp. 251-260). In the Digha Nikāya (I, pp. 127 ff.) we find mention of a brahmin village of Khānumata in the territory of Magadha. In the Dhammapadaṭṭhakathā (Vol. III, pp. 439-40) it is related that once the Buddha while staying at Rājagaha informed King Bimbisāra of Magadha that he would pay a visit to Vesālī. Bimbisāra prepared a road for the Buddha, and caused the ground from Rājagaha to the Ganges, a distance of 5 leagues to be made smooth, and erected a rest house at the end of each league. From the The tribe of the Vajjis included, according to Cunningham and Prof. Rhys Davids, *atthakulas* or eight confederate clans among whom the Videhans, the Vajjis themselves, and the Licchavis were the most important.¹