On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c15.13

v1.c15.13

The pilgrim here tells us that Śrāvasti had some hundreds of Buddhist monasteries, very many of which were in ruins. This statement as to the number of Buddhist monasteries in the district is not in agreement with other accounts which represent Śrāvasti as having only two or three Buddhist establishments. It will be noticed that Yuan-chuang mentions by name only one monastery, viz.—the great one of the Jetavana. Fa-hsien, however, tells of 98 (in some texts 18) monasteries, all except one occupied, being round the Jetavana vihāra. The translation which our pilgrim gives for the name Prasenajit (in Pali, Pasenadi) is *Shêng-chün* (勝軍) or "Overcoming army". I-ching, who transcribes the king's name as in the text and also by *P'o-se-ni* (波斯匿), gives our pilgrim's translation and another rendering, *shêng-kuang* (勝光).¹ The latter means "Excelling brightness", and the name is said to have been given to the son born to Brahmadatta king of Kosala on the morning of the birth of the Buddha, on account of the supernatural brightness which then appeared. Another rendering for the name transcribed *P'o-se-ni* is *Ho-yue* (和悅) which means *cheerful, happy-looking*.² The two latter translations seem to require as their original a derivative from *prasad* (the Pali pasidati), and the transcription *P'o-se-ni*, which is the one in general use, seems to point to a dialectic variety like *Pasenid*.