Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c22: XVIII. Gayā

Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c22

Language
English

XVIII. Gayā

c22.2

The antiquity of the Gayā-tīrtha has been the subject of a controversy for a long time.¹ Recently a paper entitled ‘Bihar in the Agni-Purāṇa’ has been published in the *Journal of the Bihar Research Society*, Vol. XL, Part i, 1954, pp. 1-7, where the problem has been discussed without reference to the views of earlier writers. In the concluding part of the said paper, the author draws our attention to the well-known stanza:

c22.3

¹ Cf. R. L. Mitra’s *Buddha-Gayā*, 1878; Cunningham’s *Mahābodhi*, 1892; O’Malley’s *Gazetteer of the Gaya District* (also his article in *J.A.S.B.*, Vol. LXXII, 1903, No. 3, pp. 1-11); B. M. Barua’s *Gayā and Buddha-Gayā*, Vols. I-II, 1934; J.C. Ghosh’s article in *J.B.O.R.S.*, Vol. XXIV, 1938, pp. 89-111; P. V. Kane’s *History of Dharmaśāstra*, Vol. IV, 1953, pp. 642-79.

c22.4

अयोध्या मथुरा माया काशी कांची अवंतिका ।
पुरी द्वारावती चैव सप्तैता मोक्षदायिकाः ॥

c22.5

and observes, “This couplet was composed probably in the eighth century A.D., and, from the absence of any mention of Gayā, it appears that any importance it may have had then was only local and that it did not acquire a pan-Indian celebrity before this time. This is strengthened by the fact that while in ( of? ) the Gupta period there is only one inscription found at Gayā, in (of?) the Pāla period (c. 750—c. 1200) no less than six inscriptions are found here. These things evidently point to the growing importance of Gayā in the period subsequent to 750 A.D., *i.e.*, in the period of the Agni-Purāṇa.” We are sorry that we cannot agree with the author’s contentions.

c22.6

In the first place, it is not possible to assign the text of a Purāṇa as a whole, in all cases, to a definite date because it usually contains matter interpolated by various redactors in different ages. Moreover, the incorporation of a tradition in a work at a particular date does not prove that it was non-existent in an earlier age. It is therefore impossible to determine the antiquity of Gayā from its mention in the *Agni Purāṇa* alone.

c22.7

Secondly, the date of the composition of the stanza, *Ayodhyā*, etc., quoted above, is uncertain. But a theory based on the absence of Gayā in it seems to be merely a case of *argumentum ex silentio*. It is certainly impossible to believe that Prabhāsa, Puṣkara and Prayāga, which are not mentioned in the verse, attained all-India importance after the seventh century. The pilgrimage of a ruler of the North Marāṭhā country to Prabhāsa and Puṣkara is mentioned in an inscription of the second century A.D.¹, while Prayāga is not only referred to in a *Khila* verse placed in the *Ṛgveda*, X, 75, but is also mentioned in an inscription² as a holy place where a sixth century king of East Malwa committed religious suicide according to the injunction of the *Dharmaśāstra* writers. There is absolutely no doubt that these three *tīrthas*, not represented in the stanza relied on by our author, became widely known many hundred years before the eighth century when the said verse is supposed to have been composed. The verse is found with some modifications once in the *Brahmāṇḍa* (IV, 40, 91) and *Garuda* (Preta-khaṇḍa, 38, 5-6) *Purāṇas* and twice in the *Kāśī-khaṇḍa* (6, 68 and 23, 7) section of the *Skanda Purāṇa*.³ There is hardly any doubt that the date of its composition is later than that of a traditional stanza regarding the sanctity of Gayā, which is found in the epics as well as in most of the *Purāṇas* and *Dharmaśāstra* works. But this is not the only evidence to show that Gayā was already one of the most famous Indian *tīrthas* long before the rise of the Pālas about the middle of the eighth century.

c22.8

¹ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 160 ff.

c22.9

² *Corp. Ins. Ind.*, Vol. III, p. 200.

c22.10

³ See N. L. Dey, *Geographical Dictionary*, p. 179 ; Kanc, *op. cit.*, p. 678, note 1935.

c22.11

The *Mahābhārata* is believed to have assumed its present form between the fourth century B.C. and the fourth century A.D.,⁴ while the *Rāmāyaṇa* is supposed to have had its present extent and contents as early as the second century A.D.⁵ The *Tīrtha-yātrā* section of the *Vana-parvan* of the *Mahābhārata* contains two subsections on Gayā,¹ which point to the place as a great *tīrtha*. But what is more important is that both these subsections have one stanza in common, which is introduced in one case by the passage *kīrtayanti purātanaḥ*² showing that it was an old *gāthā* handed down by tradition. The stanza runs as follows :

c22.12

⁴ Cf. *Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, p. 258 ; Winternitz, *History of Indian Literature*, Vol. I, p. 465.

c22.13

⁵ Winternitz, *op. cit.*, p. 516.

c22.14

¹ Calcutta ed., Ch. 84, verses 82-98 ; Ch. 87, verses 8-12.

c22.15

² Cf. critical ed., III, 85, 7.

c22.16

एष्टव्या बहवः पुत्रा यद्यप्येको गयां व्रजेत् ।
यजेत वाश्वमेधेन नीलं वा वृषमुत्सृजेत् ॥

c22.17

That it was an old traditional *gāthā* is also clearly demonstrated by the fact that the same verse is quoted, sometimes with slight modifications (not affecting the reference to Gayā), again in the *Anuśāsanika-parvan*³ and in the *Rāmāyaṇa*⁴ as well as in numerous *Purāṇas*⁵ and *Dharmaśāstra* works⁶. In many of these works, the verse is introduced as a *gāthā* sung by the Pitṛs or Ṛṣis. There cannot be any doubt that this *gāthā* was composed many centuries before the Pāla age and probably even before the rise of the Guptas in the fourth century A.D.

c22.18

³ Ch. 88, 14.

c22.19

⁴ Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa, 107, 13.

c22.20

⁵ Cf. Matsya, 22, 6 ; Vāyu, 105, 10 ; Kūrma, II, 34, 13 ; Brahma, 220, 32 ; Padma, Sṛṣṭi-khaṇḍa, 11, 65 or 68 and Ādi-khaṇḍa, 38, 17 ; Nāradīya, Uttara-khaṇḍa, 44, 5-6 ; etc.

c22.21

⁶ Cf. Viṣṇu, 85, 63 ; Atri, verse 55 ; Bṛhaspati, verse 21 ; Likhita, verse 10 ; etc. (*Uṇaviṃśatisaṃhitā*, Calcutta, pp. 4, 113, 347, 428).

c22.22

The *Mahābhārata* (III, 95) describes how, at Brahma-saras (within Gayā), *Rājarṣi* Gaya, son of Amūrtarayas, performed many sacrifices distinguished by ‘hundreds of mountains of food and thousands of lakes of clarified butter, many hundred rivers of curds, and streams of curries in thousands’ and how people in all lands used to sing *gāthās* on the subject. Elsewhere the same work (VII, 64) speaks of Gaya’s sacrificial altar of solid gold that was 30 *yojanas* long, 26 *yojanas* broad and 24 *yojanas* high and how, upon the completion of the sacrifice, 25 hills of food remained over together with many lakes and rivulets of savoury drinks. In consequence of this glorious performance, Brahma-saras and the ‘eternal-making banyan-tree’ (*i.e.* the Akṣaya-vaṭa) at the place are stated to have become famous throughout the three worlds.⁷ The same saintly king named Gaya is also known from the *Rāmāyaṇa*,¹ *Bhāgavata Purāṇa*² *Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa*,³ *Agni Purāṇa*,⁴ *Viṣṇu Purāṇa*,⁵ *Vāmana Purāṇa*,⁶ etc., although his parentage is sometimes given differently. The antiquity of the tradition is definitely proved by Aśvaghoṣa’s *Buddhacarita*⁷ composed in the first or second century A.D., during the age of the Kuṣāṇas. This work speaks of the Buddha’s visit to the hermitage called ‘the city of the royal sage Gaya’. The same person was later conceived as a great giant.⁸ The demon’s body is said to have been 125 *yojanas* in height and 60 *yojanas* in girth. It will be seen that, while the 25 hills of the *Mahābhārata* story were imagined to explain the existence of sacred hills in the Gayā area, the huge body of the demon was conceived as the hilly region, studded with holy spots, extending from Gayā to the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal. Gaya’s head was believed to be represented by Gaya-śiras or Gaya-śīrṣa (Gayā-śiras or Gayā-śīrṣa) at Gayā while Virajā or Jājpur in the Cuttack District of Orissa and Pithapuram in the Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh were taken to represent respectively his navel and feet.⁹ The frequent mention of the shaking of the earth in this connection in the *Vāyu Purāṇa* (Ch. 106) possibly hints at earthquakes that occasionally depopulated Gayā.¹⁰

c22.23

⁷ See also S. Sorenson, An Index to the Names in the Mahābhārata, pp. 302-03

c22.24

¹ Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa, Ch. 107.

c22.25

² V, Ch. 15.

c22.26

³ Ch. 34.

c22.27

⁴ Ch. 107.

c22.28

⁵ IV, Ch. 11.

c22.29

⁶ Ch. 76.

c22.30

⁷ XII, 87-88.

c22.31

⁸ Cf. *Vāyu Purāṇa*, Ch. 105 ff., etc.

c22.32

⁹ N. L. Dey, *Geographical Dictionary*, pp. 64-65.

c22.33

¹⁰ Cf. the deserted appearance of the holy place referred to by the Chinese pilgrims.

c22.34

It may be noticed in this connection that the *Yājñavalkya-saṃhitā*, which does not specially deal with *tīrtha-māhātmya*, also recognises the greatness and sanctity of Gayā (Ācār-adhyāya, verse 261) :

c22.35

यहदाति गयास्थश्च सर्वमानन्त्यमश्नुते ।
तथा वर्षत्रयोदश्यां मघासु च विशेषतः ।।

c22.36

The code of Yājñavalkya has to be assigned to the fourth century A.D.¹ although some scholars are inclined to ascribe it to ‘the first two centuries of the Christian era or even a little earlier’.²

c22.37

¹ Cf. Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 279.

c22.38

² Kane, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 187.

c22.39

That Gayā was a famous place of p'grimage during the Gupta age is also clear from the accounts of the Chinese pilgrims. Fa-hien visited the place about the beginning of the fifth century when the locality offered a rather deserted appearance.³ According to Hiuen-tsang, who visited Gayā about 637 A.D., “This city was strongly situated but had few inhabitants; there were about 1000 Brāhmaṇa families, descendants of the original Ṛṣi, and these were not subject to the king, and were treated by all with reverence......From ancient times, sovereigns who have spread their good government to distant peoples and in merit have excelled previous dynasties, all ascend this mountain (the Gayā mountain to the south-west of the city) and solemnly announce what they have done. On the top of the mountain was a stone Tope (Stūpa) above 100 feet high built by Aśoka at the place where Buddha uttered the Pao-yun and other Sūtras.”⁴ The Pao-yun has been taken to be the Ratnagarbhasūtra said to have been communicated to the disciples of the Buddha, assembled on the Gaya-śiras or Gaya-śīrṣa (Gayā-śiras or Gayā-śīrṣa) hill, identified by many scholars with the modern Brahmayoni hill near Gayā. The objections to this identification and to the location of ancient Gayā at the site of the present city of that name are not quite convincing. Moreover, those who object do not say that the ancient Gayā tīrtha lay far away from present Gayā in a region outside Bihar. The Brāhmaṇas of Gayā referred to in the Chinese account are no doubt the ancestors of the celebrated Gayāla Brāhmaṇas of today. These Brāhmaṇas are mentioned in the Śaktipur copper-plate inscription⁵ of king Lakṣmaṇasena (circa 1179-1206 A.D.) of Bengal. They appear to have claimed descent from Rājarṣi Gaya. Hiuen-tsang’s observations show beyond doubt that Gayā was already a famous holy place long before the seventh century if not actually in the age of the Maurya emperor Aśoka (circa 269-232 B.C.). But there is evidence to show that Gayā is a much older *tirtha* even earlier than the age of the Buddha.

c22.40

³ Cf. A Record of the Buddhist Kingdom, translated by James Legge, pp. 87 ff.

c22.41

⁴ Watters, On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India, Vol. II, pp. 110-11.

c22.42

⁵ Ep. Ind., Vol. XXI, pp. 216 ff.

c22.43

Gaya as a personal name, with which the holy place called Gaya or Gayā (cf. Gaya-śiras or Gayā° and Gaya-śirṣa or Gayā°) is intimately associated, is well known from the *Ṛgveda*¹ and *Atharvaveda*.² The unanimous testimony of the Puranic writers and medieval lexicographers suggests that the Gayā region was known to the Rigvedic seers as Kikaṭa.³ Although pilgrimage to holy places for the sake of merit seems to be a non-Aryan religious institution which took some time in being fully approved by the Brahmanical society, the importance of the holy hill called Gaya-śiras at Gayā appears to have been recognised in very early times. This is suggested by Yāska’s *Nirukta* (12, 19) which, while explaining the Vedic passage *tredhā nidadhe padam*,⁴ quotes the view of an earlier authority named Aurnavābha saying that Viṣṇu plants his foot at Samārohaṇa, Viṣṇu-pada and Gaya-śiras. These were evidently three holy spots. Since in the whole of India, there is only one Gaya-śiras or Gaya-śirṣa (Gayā-śiras or Gayā-śirṣa) near Gayā in Bihar, the tradition, attributed to Aurnavābha by Yāska who is believed by scholars to have flourished between 700 and 500 B.C.,⁵ certainly points to the antiquity of Gayā as a recognised holy place of antiquity. The conclusion is supported by the frequent mention of the holy spots at Gayā and its neighbourhood in early Buddhist literature.

c22.44

¹ *V.* 9 1; X 63, 1 and 64, 1.

c22.45

² I, 14, 4.

c22.46

³ Cf. Raychaudhuri, *Studies in Indian Antiquities*, pp. 17-19.

c22.47

⁴ *Ṛgveda*, I, 22, 17.

c22.48

⁵ Winternitz, *op. cit.*, Vol. I, p. 69, note.

c22.49

The earliest literary works of the Buddhists very often mention Gayā (also Gayā-tirtha, Gayā-śirṣa, Gayā-nadī and Gayā-puṣkariṇī) as well as a festival held there and called Gayā-phalgu or Gayā-phalgunī. See the *Vinayapiṭaka*,⁶ *Saṃyuttanikāya*,⁷

c22.50

⁶ Ed. Oldenberg, Vol. I, pp. 8, 34.

c22.51

⁷ P. T. S., Vol. I p. 207.

c22.52

Aṅguttaranikāya,¹ Suttanipāta,² etc. All these works are to be assigned to dates before the beginning of the Christian era. The Buddha is stated to have stayed at Gayā on several occasions. It was at Gayā-śīrṣa that the well-known Gayāsūtra was preached by him.³ The evidence of the Buddhist works of the Gupta age supports what has already been said above on the strength of Brahmanical literature. Buddhaghoṣa (5th century) applies the name Gayā both to a locality and a bathing place near it; but Dharmapāla (circa 6th century)⁴ in his Udāna commentary⁵ mentions Gayā-nadī and Gayā-puṣkariṇī as two distinct bathing places, both known as Gayā-tīrtha and supposed to possess the power to wash away sins: "People went there, offered sacrifices to the gods, recited the Vedas, and immersed themselves in the water."⁶ In Buddhist literature, Gayā is sometimes called Brahma-Gayā (cf. the name of old Brahma-saras and of modern Brahma-yoni at Gayā) to avoid its confusion with the Buddha's Gayā.

c22.53

¹ P. T. S., Vol. IV, p. 302.

c22.54

² P. T. S., p. 47.

c22.55

³ Cf. Aṅguttaranikāya, Vol. IV, pp. 302 ff. ; Mahāvagga, I, 21, 1 (S. B. E., Vol. XIII, p. 134).

c22.56

⁴ Cf. Winternitz, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 205.

c22.57

⁵ P. T. S., pp. 74-75 ; cf. Suttanipāta commentary, P.T.S., Vol. I, p. 301.

c22.58

⁶ Malalasekera, Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, Vol. I, p. 752.

c22.59

The facts discussed above do not appear to support the contention that Gayā became an all-India tīrtha during the age of the Pālas (circa 750-1200 A.D.).

Linked texts (33)