Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.654

c6.654

This city was visited by the two famous Chinese pilgrims Fā-hien and Hiuen Tsang, in the 5th and 7th centuries A.D. When Fā-hien visited this city, the inhabitants were few. He saw the place where the old Vihāra of Mahāpajāpati Gotamī was built, the wells and walls of the house of Anāthapiṇḍika and the site where Aṅgulimala attained arahatship (Legge, *Travels of Fā-hien*, 55-56). According to Hiuen Tsang although the city was mostly in ruins, there were some inhabitants. The country used to grow good crops and enjoyed an equable climate, and the people were honest in their ways and given to learning and fond of good works. There were some hundreds of Buddhist monasteries, most of which were in ruins. There were some deva-temples, and the non-Buddhists were numerous. There were several topes, many Buddhist monasteries, and many monks who were adherents of Mahayanism. (Watters, *On Yuan Chwang*, I, 377; II, 200).