Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.7

c8.7

Ambalaṭṭhikā.—It was a Buddhist site in and about Rājagṛha, mentioned in the *Dīgha Nikāya* (I, 1). The Rājāgāraka at Ambalaṭṭhikā was a garden-house of king Bimbisāra (*Sumaṅgalavilāsinī*, I, 41). According to Buddhaghosa it was an appropriate name for the royal park with a young mango-grove at its door (*Sumaṅgalavilāsinī*, I, 41). This royal garden-house stood mid-way between Rājagṛha and Nālandā (*Vinaya*, II, p. 287). It was the first halting place on the high road extending in the Buddha’s time from Rājagṛha to Nālandā and further east and north-east (*Dīgha Nikāya*, I, 1; *Ibid.*, II, 72ff.).