Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c20.2

c20.2

The *Pārāyaṇa* incorporated in the Pali *Suttanipāta* is one of the most ancient Buddhist works. The parallel writings, attested by frequent mention, have disappeared. But the Pali text, guaranteed as it is by two commentaries, viz. the *Mahāniddesa* and the *Cullaniddesa* which too are very ancient, has an incontestable value. In the account which sets forth the introduction to the collection, the Brāhmaṇa Bāvari, emigrated from the ‘charming city of the Kosalas’ (*i.e.* Śrāvastī), comes to settle himself ‘in the country of Assaka, in the vicinity of Muḷaka,² on the banks of the Godhāvarī’. He sends his disciples in a mission to the Buddha at his place of birth, *i.e.* Sāvatthi of the Kosalas. The poet sums up in three verses (1011-1013) the steps in their route : “Patiṭṭhāna of Muḷaka ; then the city of Māhissatī ; also Ujjenī and Gonaddha; Vedisā ; Vana-savhaya ; Kosambī ; and also Sāketa ; and the big city of Sāvatthi, Setavya, Kapilavatthu ; and the city of Kusīnārā ; and Pāvā ; Bhoga-nagara ; the Magadhan city of Vesālī and the Pāsāṇaka Cetiya.”