Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.549

c8.549

Vepulla.—It is a mountain in Magadha. It was known in a very remote age by the name of Pācīnavaṃsa, which was later changed to Vaṅkaka. It then received the name of Supassa, and afterwards it became known as Vepulla (*Sam.*, II, 190ff.) and the people of the locality by the name of Magadhas. (*Cf.* B. C. Law, *India as described in the Early Texts of Buddhism and Jainism*, pp. 29-30). It was one of the five hills encircling Rājagṛha. King Vessantara was banished to this hill. It took him three days to reach its summit (*Vinaya Piṭaka*, II, 191-92). The Vipula mountain runs for some length towards the south-east leading to the northern range of hills extending up to the village called Giriyek on the Behar-sharif-Nawadah road. Hiuen Tsang has definitely represented the mountain as Pi-pu-lo, which verbally equates with Vipula. He tells us that to the west of the north gate of the mountain-city was the Vipula mountain. He further points out that on the north side of the south-west declivity there had once been five hundred hot springs of which there remained at his time several, some cold and some tepid. The source of the streams was the Anavatapta Lake. The water was clear and the people used to come from various lands to bathe in the water which was beneficial to the people suffering from old maladies. On the Vipula mountain there was a tope where the Buddha once preached. This mountain is frequently visited by Digambara Jains (Watters, *On Yuan Chwang*, II, pp. 153-154). The Vipula mountain is described as the best among the mountains of Rājagṛha (*Samyutta*, I, 67). It lay to the north of the Gijjhakūṭa and stood in the midst of the girdle of the Magadhan hills.