Geography of Early Buddhism c7.s1.10

c7.s1.10

Buddhism was predominant in Mathurā for several centuries. The Vimānavatthu commentary (pp. 118-119) tells us of a woman of Uttara Madhurā who by offering alms to the Buddha was reborn in the Tāvatimsa heaven. One of the most important suttas on the subject of caste was delivered by Mahākaccāyana in Madhurā (MN., Vol. II, pp. 83 ff.). From the Aṅguttara Nikāya (Vol. II, p. 57) we know that when the Buddha was once proceeding from Mathurā to Verañji, he halted under a tree and there he was worshipped by many householders of either sex. In the Ghata Jātaka (Cowell’s Jātaka, Vol. IV, pp. 50-52) we read that Mahāsāgara was the King of Upper Madhurā and that he had two sons whose accounts are recorded there as well as in the Petavatthu Commentary (pp. 111 ff.).