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Geography of Early Buddhism c9: Chapter III: Aparāntaka or Western India

Geography of Early Buddhism c9

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Chapter III: Aparāntaka or Western India

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According to the Brahmanical tradition recorded in the Kavyamimāmsā (p. 93), the country lying to the west of Devasabhā (a city on a mountain not yet identified) was called the Paścātdeśa or the Western Country (Devasabhāyāḥ parataḥ paścātdeśaḥ, tatra Devasabha-Surāṣṭra-Daseraka-Travana-Bhrigukaccha-Kacchīya-Anarta-Arvuda-brāhmanavāha-Yavana-prabhritayo janapadaḥ). Devasabhā is also referred to in the Arthaśāstra (Sanskrit text, p. 78) as producing red sandal. According to the Buddhist tradition recorded in the Sāsanavaṃsa (p. 11), Aparāntaka is, however, the region lying to the west of the Upper Irawady. According to Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, Aparānta was the Northern Konkan, whose capital was Surpāraka (mod. Sopārā); while according to Bhagavānlal Indraji the western sea-board of India was called Aparāntaka or Aparāntika. Yuan Chwang, the celebrated Chinese Buddhist traveller, seems, on the whole, to be more definite on this point. According to his account, the Western Country seems to comprise ‘Sindh, Western Rajputana, Cutch, Gujarat and a portion of the adjoining coast on the lower course of the Narmadā, three states—Sindh, Gurjara and Valabhi’ (CAGI., Notes, p. 690).

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The Dipavaṃsa (p. 54) and the Mahāvaṃsa (Ch. XII) state that Yona Dhammarakkhita, a Buddhist missionary, was sent to Aparāntaka for the spread of Buddhism there.

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Asitamasā is referred to in the Barhut inscriptions (Barua and Sinha, p. 32). Cunningham locates it somewhere on the bank of the Tamasā or Ton river. The Vāmana Purāṇa mentions Asinila and Tāmasa among the countries of Western India.

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In the Sussondi Jātaka (Jāt., III, pp. 187 ff.) we read of the minstrel Sagga’s journey from Benares to Bharukaccha. It was a seaport town from which ships used to sail for different countries. In one of the Jātakas it is stated that some merchants once sailed from Bharukaccha to Suvaṇṇabhūmi (identified with Lower Burma). In the Divyāvadāna (pp. 544-586) there is a very interesting story accounting for the name of the city. It is said that Rudrāyana, King of Roruka (may be identical with Alor, an old city of Sindh), in Sauvira was killed by his son Sikhandi. As a punishment of this crime, the realm of Sikhandi, the parricide king, was destroyed by a heavy shower of sands.

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Three pious men only survived—two ministers and a Buddhist monk—who went out in search of a new land. Bhiru, one of the two ministers at least found one and established a new city there which came to be named after him—Bhiruka or Bhirukaccha whence came the name Bharukaccha.

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Bhrigukaccha is, however, the Sanskrit rendering which means 'high coast land' and the city is exactly situated on a high coast land. According to Brahmanical tradition, the city was so called because it was founded by the sage Bhrigu (Imp. Gaz. of India, IX, p. 30). Bhrigukaccha is mentioned in the Kūrmavibhāga and Bhuvanakoṣa; and it is identical with Barygaza of Ptolemy (pp. 38 and 152) and the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea (pp. 40 and 287). It is modern Broach in Kathiawar.

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Cikula is mentioned in the Barhut inscriptions (Barua and Sinha, p. 14). The location of the place Cikula. is unknown. One of the Nasik Cave inscriptions (Lüder's list, No. 1133) mentions Cikhala Padra as a village. Cikula, Cekula=Ceula, probably Caul near Bombay (Ep. Ind., II, p. 42).

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We are told in the Mahāvaṃsa (Ch. XII) that Mahā-dhammarakkhita was sent to spread the Mahāraṭṭha. gospel of the Buddha in the Mahāraṭṭha. According to the Sāsanavaṃsa (pp. 12, 13), it is, however, Mahānagararaṭṭha or Siam. Mahāraṭṭha is the present Maratha country, the country watered by the Upper Godāvarī and that lying between that river and the Kṛṣṇā.

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Nāsika is mentioned in the Barhut inscriptions (p. 16). It is Nasika or Naisika of the Purāṇas Nāsika. and Janasthāna of the Rāmāyaṇa. According to the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, it was situated on the Narmada. Janasthāna, as it appears from the Ramayanic description, was within the reach of Panchavaṭī on the Godāvarī. Janasthāna came to be known as Nāsika from the circumstance that here Surpanakhā's nose was cut off by Lakshmaṇa. Nāsika is modern Nasik which is about 75 miles to the north-west of Bombay. During the reign of the Sātavāhana kings of Andhra, Nāsika was a stronghold of the Bhadrayaniya School of Buddhists (Luder's list, Nos. 1122-1149).

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Vijaya, son of King Sihavāhu of Lālaraṭṭha in Western India, was driven out of the kingdom of Naggadīpa. his father. He with his 700 men was thrown into the sea in boats. Their wives also shared the same fate. Vijaya with his followers landed in the Naggadīpa and the women in the Mahilādīpa. Vijaya with his men again sailed from Naggadīpa and reached Suppāraka and thence went to Sihaladīpa (Mv., p. 60). It is interesting to note that Yuan Chwang speaks of a kingdom in the north-west India Khuramāla, a sea. Merchants who set sail from Bharukaccha had to go through the Khuramāla sea. Here, it is stated, fishes with bodies like men, and sharp razor-like spouts, dive in and out of the water (Suppāraka Jātaka, Jāt., Vol. IV).

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Seas, Rivers, Waterfalls, etc.—Khuramāla.

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Sātodika. A river in the Surattha country (Jāt., Vol. III, p. 463).

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Here the water is sucked away and rises on every side, and the water thus sucked away on all sides rises in sheer precipices leaving what looks like a great pit (Jāt., IV, p. 141).

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Valabhā-mukha Sea.

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Nalamāla Sea. It had the aspect of an expanse of reeds or a grove of bamboos (Jāt., IV, p. 140).

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Nīlavaṇṇa-Kusamala Sea. It had the appearance of a field of corn (Jāt., IV, p. 140).

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The Hingula pabbata is in the Himavantapadesa (Jāt., V, p. 415). Hinglāj is situated at the extremity of the range of mountains in Beluchisthan called by the name of Hingulā, about 20 miles or a day's journey from the sea-coast, on the bank of the Aghor or Hingulā or Hingol river near its mouth (GD., p. 75).

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Mountain—Hingula.

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