Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.547

c8.547

Veluvana (= Veṇuvana).—It was a charming grove at Rājagṛha, which was surrounded by bamboos (*Samyutta*, I. 52; *Suttanipāta Commy.*, p. 419; *Divyāvadāna*, pp. 143, 554). It was protected by a wall 18 cubits high and adorned with beautiful gates and towers decorated with lapis lazuli (*Samantapāsādikā*, III, 575). The fuller name of the site was Veluvana-Kaḷandakanivāpa, the second part of the name indicating that here the squirrels freely roamed about and found a nice feeding ground.¹ The site was outside the inner city of Rājagṛha and neither very near nor far from it. The Chinese pilgrims have given different locations of the grove. But combining the two accounts given by Fa-hien and Hiuen Tsang it may be located at a distance of 1 li from the north gate of the inner city, ½ mile south of the cemetery (*śmaśāna*), 300 paces north-east of the Pippala cave in Mount Vaibhāra and 200 paces to the south of the Kaḷanda tank.