Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.297

c8.297

Laṭṭhivana (= Skt. Yaṣṭhivana).—It is about two miles north of Tapovana in the district of Gayā. It was a palm-grove (tālujjāna) according to the Pali commentator Buddhaghosa (Samantapāsādikā, Sinhalese ed.. p. 158; P.T.S. ed., V. 972). Here Bimbisāra was converted by the Buddha (Manorathapūraṇī, p. 100). This grove which was situated in the outskirts of the city of Rājagṛha (Rājagahanagarupacāre) was considered far away as compared with Veṇuvana (Jāt., I, 85; cf. Vinaya-Mahāvagga, I, 35). It was the name of the royal park of Bimbisāra where the Buddha arrived from Gayāsīsa and halted with the Jaṭila converts on his way to Rājagṛha (Vinaya-Mahāvagga, I, 35). Hiuen Tsang describes it as a dense forest of bamboos which covered a mountain, and points out that above 10 li to the south-west of it were two hot springs (Watters, On Yuan Chwang, II, 146).