Geography of Early Buddhism c7.s1.65

c7.s1.65

Nālandā. Nālandā is frequently referred to in early Pāli literature. The Buddha is said to have started once from Rājagaha for Nālandā (DN., I, pp. 1 foll.). In the Saṃyutta Nikāya it is stated that the Buddha once visited Nālandā from Kosala (Ibid., IV, p. 323). In the Majjhima Nikāya (Vol. I, p. 371) we read that once the Buddha dwelt in the Pāvārikambavana at Nālandā where he had a discussion with Dīgha Tapassi, a Nigaṇṭha, relating to the Nigaṇṭha doctrines and delivered the Upālisutta. In the Sumaṅgalavilāsinī (Vol. I, p. 35) we find that the distance from Rājagaha to Nālandā was one yojana, Nālandā is identified with modern Bargaon, 7 miles to the north-west of Rājgir in the district of Patna. Nālandā acquired an orient-wide celebrity as the most important seat of Buddhist learning and culture in the days of the Guptas from the sixth and seventh centuries onwards.