Tribes in Ancient India c31.67

c31.67

Although, as we have seen, Kāśī and Benares feature fairly prominently in Hindu and Jain sources, it is the Buddhist books, and particularly the Jātakas, which give us fuller information on the subject. In the Purāṇas, Kāśī is mentioned as a janapada or country. In the Pāli canon,⁹ however, it is referred to as one of the sixteen ‘Mahājanapadas,’ and its capital, Bārāṇasī, was one of the four places of pilgrimage for the Buddhists, and was included in the list of great cities suggested by Ānanda as suitable places for the *parinibbāna* of the Buddha.¹⁰