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On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2: Volume 2

On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2

Language
English

Contents

Volume 2

Front matter

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ON YUAN CHWANG'S TRAVELS IN INDIA

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BY THOMAS WATTERS M.R.A.S.

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EDITED, AFTER HIS DEATH, BY T. W. RHYS DAVIDS, F.B.A.; LL.D.; PH.D. AND S. W. BUSHELL, M.D.; C.M.G.

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VOL. II.

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WITH TWO MAPS AND AN ITINERARY BY VINCENT A. SMITH.

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LONDON ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY 22 ALBEMARLE STREET

Contents

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CHAP. 13. VĀRĀṆASĪ TO NEPĀL . . . . . . . . . . . 46 ” 14. MAGADHA . . . . . 86 ” 15. MAGADHA CONTINUED . . . . . . . . . . 140 ” 16. I-LAN-NA-PO-FA-TO COUNTRY . . . . . . 178 ” 17. CEYLON . . . . . 233 ” 18. TSAO-KU-T'A . . . . . 264 INDEX OF ABBREVIATIONS USED . . . . . . . . . 307 INDEX OF THE CHINESE FORMS OF THE NAMES OF INDIAN PERSONS . . . . . 311 INDEX OF INDIAN PLACE-NAMES IN THEIR CHINESE FORM 319 ITINERARY OF YÜAN CHWANG . . . . . . . . . . 329 INDEX OF INDIAN NAMES AND SUBJECTS . . . . . 345 MAPS. 1: THE JOURNEY TO AND FROM INDIA; 2: THE JOURNEYS IN INDIA.

Kapilavastu

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"From this" (that is apparently, the neighbourhood of Śrāvastī) the pilgrim continued his journey, he tells us, and going south-east for above 500 *li* he came to the Kapilavastu country. This he describes as above 4000 *li* (about 800 miles) in circuit, and as containing more than ten deserted cities all in utter ruin. The "royal city", (that is, the district of the capital) Yuan-chuang adds, was such a complete waste its area could not be ascertained. But the solid brick foundations of the "Palace city", within the "Royal city", still remained, and were above fifteen *li* in circuit. As the district had been left desolate for a very long time it was very sparsely inhabited. The country was without a sovereign, each city having its own chief; the soil was fertile and farming operations were regular; the climate was temperate, and the people were genial in their ways. There were remains of above 1000 Buddhist monasteries; and near the "Palace city" was an existing monastery with above 30 (in the D text 3000) inmates, adherents of the Sammatiya School. There were two Deva-Temples, and the sectarians lived pell-mell.

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It is remarkable that while all the texts of the Records here give 500 *li* as the distance from Sravasti to Kapilavastu, the texts of the Life give 800 *li*, the direction being the same; the Fang-chih agrees with the Records. Then the Life does not mention the "more than ten deserted cities all in utter ruin", but it tells us that "the *tu-ch'êng* (都城), that is, the other cities for above 1000 *li* (in D 10 *li*) were all utterly ruined". Here again also the Life and the Records use the term "Palace city" to denote the walled city of the district called *the capital*. The word *ch'êng* means city and city-wall, and it was the wall of the city which was made of brick as to its foundations and was fifteen *li* in circuit.

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The numbers which Yuan-chuang gives for the ruined towns and deserted monasteries in this country were probably either hearsay statements or mere conjectures. We read of *eight cities* in the country, and we find "Eight Cities" used apparently as a proper name for a locality.¹ The number of monasteries is evidently an exaggeration; as Buddhism does not seem to have ever flourished, either at Kapilavastu, or in the surrounding districts.

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¹ Tsa-a-han-ching, ch. 20.

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The pilgrim next proceeds to enumerate the various objects of interest, all connected with the Buddha's life, which he found within the capital.

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On the "old foundations" of king Suddhodana's principal mansion there was a shrine (or temple, *ching-shê*) in which was a representation of that king. Near this was the site (lit. "old foundation") of the bedroom of Mahāmāyā (the queen of Suddhodana and mother of the Buddha) and in the shrine which marked the site was a representation of this queen. The shrine beside this had a representation of the P'usa descending to become incarnate in Mahāmāyā's womb. To the north-east of this was the tope to mark the place at which the rishi Asita read and announced the baby P'usa's destiny. At the south gate of the city was a tope to mark the place where the P'usa competed with other Sakyas in athletics and threw an elephant over the city-moat. The elephant, in falling, made a hole which came to be called "The ditch of the elephant's fall", and near the tope was a shrine with a representation of the P'usa. Beside this tope was also the site of the part of the palace which served as bedchamber of Yasodharā the P'usa's princess, and in the shrine here were pictures of her and her son Rāhula. Near this was the site of the P'usa's schoolroom on which was a shrine with a picture of the young P'usa as Prince. In the south-east corner of the city, at the spot from which the Prince (the P'usa) began his flight over the city-wall, was a shrine with a representation of him on his white horse in the act of going over the wall.

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In the above passage the word *shrine* or *temple* stands for the Chinese *ching-shê* as before. Julien renders this term as usual by *vihāra*, but the context shews clearly that the term is not to be taken in that sense in this passage. Fa-hsien, whose description of Kapilavastu is neither full nor precise, calls the memorial structures which he saw on various sites *ta*, or *topes*, probably using the word in an extended sense and as meaning also a small shrine.

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Then the Chinese word in the above passage rendered "picture" or "representation" is *hsiang* (像), commonly and correctly translated "image", which in Julien's rendering is "la statue". Thus the words *chung-tso-wang-hsiang* (中作王像) are rendered by him— "au centre duquel s'éléve la statue du roi", but the meaning is simply— "within which is a representation of the king". In the case of the shrine at the spot where the P'usa entered Mahāmāyā's womb Julien rightly translates "on a représenté le Pou-sa". According to Fa-hsien, who has only one representation of the Queen and the P'usa, the picture shewed these two at the moment when the P'usa "mounted on a white elephant enters his mother's womb". Neither this incident, nor that of the Prince (i. c. the P'usa) flying over the city-wall on his horse, could well be represented by a statue. The likenesses or representations of the king, queen, and other persons were probably pictures of them painted on the walls of the shrines opposite the entrance. Small temples with such paintings are familiar to all travellers in India and China.¹

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¹ It is possible, however, that the pilgrim may have used the word *hsiang* here in its ordinary sense of image.

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Now as to the sites and "old foundations" pointed out to our pilgrim and his predecessor as those of the various buildings connected with the palace of king Suddhodana, all labelled, as it were, with their topes or shrines, we may confidently assert that the information given was not correct. At the time of Gautama Buddha there was neither a king Suddhodana, nor a palace of his, at Kapilavastu. The city was apparently within the territory ruled over by the king of Kosala. The father of the Buddha was no more than a member of the Sakya clan, perhaps invested with some rank or importance as a chief magistrate; although this does not appear.² He may also have lived in or near a place called Kapilavastu, but he had not a palace and did not reign there. The topes and shrines shewn to the pilgrims must have been set up long after the Buddha's decease. Even the author of the "Asokā-vadāna", although he mentions the city-gate by which the P'usa passed out from his home to become an ascetic, does not seem to know anything of the various memorial buildings here mentioned.¹

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² Oldenberg's 'Buddha', p. 101: Rhys Davids's 'Buddhism', p. 92

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¹ Divyāv. p. 390.

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According to our pilgrim's description in the present passage the throwing of the dead elephant by Prince Siddhārtha (the P'usa) was kept in memory by three objects. There was a tope at the South gate of the city where Devadatta killed the elephant, Nanda drew its body out of the way, and Prince Siddhārtha threw the body over the city-wall and moat. Then at the place where the dead body, thus thrown, fell outside the city, there was the great hole or pit which it made by its fall. The third memento was a shrine containing a representation of the Prince. Yuan-chuang's language might seem to imply that the shrine was beside the pit, but his meaning evidently is that it was beside the tope.

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The "Pit of the Elephant's Fall", as Yuan-chuang calls it, is not mentioned by Fa-hsien, but we find it in some other treatises. In the Sarvata Vinaya² we find the story told very much as our pilgrim tells it, and there the Pit is seven *li* from the city. The "Fang-kuang-ta-chuang-yen-ching"³ also has a version of it similar to that given in our text. In the story as told in the sūtra just cited the Prince lifts the dead elephant with a toe of his left foot, and sends it through the air over the seven-fold wall of the city to a distance of above a furlong, and the elephant falling makes a great hole. In the "Ying-kuo-ching"⁴ Devadatta kills an elephant which blocks the thoroughfare, Nanda then flings the dead body out of the way, and Prince Siddhārtha hurls it over the city wall and brings it back to life as it reaches the ground; and a similar version of the story is told in the "T'ai-tzŭ-sui-ying-pên-ch'i-ching"¹ Neither in these sūtras nor in the "Chung-hsü-ching", which also relates the miracle,² is there any mention of a hole or pit made by the elephant's fall. According to Yuan-chuang and the Fang-kuang-ta-chuang-yen-ching the elephant which Devadatta kills is one which the king had ordered to carry back the Prince from the athletic contest in which he had beaten all his competitors. Devadatta, in ill temper at having been beaten all round by his cousin, meets the elephant going out to carry home this successful rival, and giving way to his temper kills the animal. But some other accounts, as the "Chung-hsü-ching", represent the elephant as a present from the people of Vaiśālī to the Prince, and Devadatta kills it out of envy and jealousy. It is not necessary to suppose that Yuan-chuang actually went to the Hastigarta or "Elephant's Grave", nor indeed need we believe that there was a ditch or pit with that name near Kapilavastu.

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² P'o-sêng-chih, *ch.* 3.

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³ *Ch.* 4 (No. 159).

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⁴ *Ch.* 2 (No. 666).

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¹ Ch. 1 (No. 665).

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² Ch. 3 (No. 859).

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Going on with his description the pilgrim takes us outside of the capital. To the south of the city, he tells us, and at a distance of above 50 *li* (about ten miles) from it, was an old city with a tope. This was the birth place of the Past Buddha Ka-lo-ka-ts'un-t'ê (that is, Krakachunda or Krakucchanda, the Kakusandha of the Pali scriptures). Not far to the south from this city was a tope to mark the spot at which Krakachunda having attained to perfect enlightenment (that is, having become Buddha) met his father. Another tope, which was to the south-east of the old city, marked the place in which bodily relics of this Buddha were deposited. In front of this tope was a stone pillar, erected by Asoka, above 30 feet high with a carved lion on the top, and an account of [Krakachunda's] decease (parinirvāṇa) on the sides. Above 30 *li* (six miles) north-east from this old city was another "old large city" which also had a tope. Here the Past Buddha Ka-no-ka-mou-ni (Kanakamuni) was born. Near this city, on the north-east, was the tope which marked the spot where this Buddha, after attaining Bodhi, admitted his father into his religion; and north of this was a tope with bodily relics of Kanakamuni Buddha. Here too was a stone pillar above twenty feet high, with a lion on the top, and a record of the circumstances of this Buddha's decease on the sides; this pillar also had been set up by Asoka.

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Fa-hsien places the old city of Krakachunda, (called by him Ku-lu-ch'in Buddha) twelve yojanas (about 96 miles) to the south-east of Śrāvasti, and he tells us the city had at his time topes and vihāras (that is, commemorative). He gives the name of this city as Na-pi-ka (那毗伽), which is perhaps for Nabhika the name of a town in the far north. Less than a yojana to the north of Krakachunda Buddha's city, Fa-hsien relates, was the city of Ku-na-han (Kanakamuni, in the Pali texts Koṇāgamana) Buddha, also with topes. This latter city was according to Fa-hsien less than a yojana to the west of Kapilavastu.¹ There is thus, as Cunningham has observed, a serious difference between the pilgrims as to the situations of these two old cities. According to Yuan-chuang, as we have seen, Krakachunda's city was 50 *li* to the south of Kapilavastu and Kanakamuni's city a few *li* to the south-east of Kapilavastu, while Fa-hsien places Kanakamuni's city to the west and Krakachunda's city to the south-west of Kapilavastu. Yet the two pilgrims are in tolerable agreement as to the distance and direction of Śrāvasti from Kapilavastu.

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¹ Fo-kuo-chi, *ch.* 21.

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In the Buddhist books various names are given to the cities feigned to have been the homes or birth places of the two Past Buddhas of this passage, but without any indication as to the localities in which the cities were situated. Thus Krakachunda Buddha's city is called Wu-wei or "Fear-less",² and An-ho (安和) or "Peaceful harmony",³ and Shu (sometimes written Lun)-ha-li-ti-na (輸詞呵提那) or Suhridin, perhaps the original for An-ho.⁴

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² Fo-shuo-Fo-ming-ching, *ch.* 8 (No. 404).

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³ Chang-a-han-ching, *ch.* 1. Khemavatī in Pali. (D. 2. 7.)

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⁴ Ch'i-Fo-fu-mu-hsing-tzŭ-ching (No. 626). The character for Shu is 輸.

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The city of Kanakamuni is called *Chuang-yen* (莊嚴)¹ "adorned", a translation of Subhavati, and *Ch'ing-ching* (清淨)² or "Purity", and *Ch'a-mo-yue-ti* (差摩越提)³ or Kshamāvat, and *Ku-na* (俱那)⁴ or Koṇa. The tope over the relics of Krakachunda Buddha is represented as having been built by a king contemporary with that Buddha and named Asoka⁵ or, in one book, Subha.⁶ We find the tope of Kanakamuni located in the Benares district,⁷ but his city Koṇa was apparently not far west from Kapilavastu. On the pillar recently discovered in the Nepalese Terai, near Nigliva, is an inscription in which king Asoka records that he had twice enlarged the tope of Kanakamuni and offered it worship. This information is very interesting, but it does not tell us which of the great events in that Buddha's career the tope commemorated. Yet some Indian archaeologists do not hesitate to call it the *Nirvāṇa Tope* of Kanakamuni. Fa-hsien, who places the two old cities on the west side of the capital, does not mention the presence of Asoka pillars; and Yuan-chuang, who places the two old cities to the eastward of the capital, records the existence of the pillars. He represents the inscriptions on the pillars as giving particulars of the decease of the two Buddhas, but the inscription on the Nigliva pillar does not give such particulars.

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¹ Fo-shuo-Fo-ming-ching, *ch.* 8 (No. 404).

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² Chang-a-han-ching, *ch.* 1.

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³ Ch'i-Fo-lu-mu-hsing-tzu-ching (No. 626).

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⁴ Sar. Vin. Yao-shih, *ch.* 7.

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⁵ Divyāv. p. 418.

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⁶ A-yü-wang-ching, *ch.* 4 (No. 1343). Sobha in Pali. (D. 2. 7.)

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⁷ Chêng-fa-nien-ch'ü-ching, *ch.* 47 (No. 679).

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The pilgrim continuing his description relates that above 40 *li* to the north-east of Kapilavastu was a tope at the place where the young "heir-apparent" (that is the P'usa while a young prince) sat in the shade of a tree watching ploughers at work. While so sitting he became absorbed in *samādhi*, and obtained emancipation from cravings. The King, his father, observing that while his son was lost in ecstatic meditation the sun's rays turned back and the tree gave him continued shade, became convinced of the miraculous sanctity of his son, and felt for him an increased reverence.

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The story of this passage is told or referred to in many Buddhist books with little variation as to the main incidents. In the Aśokāvadāna Upagupta points out to the king the jambu tree under which the P'usa had sat to watch the labourers, and tells the king how the P'usa here went into the first dhyāna having attained true views. He also tells Asoka how Suddhodana, on beholding the miracle of the continued shade, prostrated himself before his son in adoration.¹ It was, we read in another treatise, pity for the toiling creatures which made the boy think deeply of earthly miseries and the way of escape. Sitting under the umbrageous jambu tree, which all the day screened him from the glare of the sun, he attained by samādhi to absolute purity of thought.²

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¹ Divyāv. p. 391: A-yü-wang-chuan, ch. 2 (No. 1459): A-yü-wang-ching, ch. 2: Bur. Int. p. 382 ff.: Tsa-a-han-ching, ch. 23.

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² Fang-kuang-ta-chuang-yen-ching, ch. 4 (No. 159).

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To the north-east of the capital were several hundred thousand topes where the Sakyas were put to death. When king Virūḍhaka conquered the Sakyas, and took them prisoners to the number of 99,900,000, he caused them all to be massacred: the corpses were strewn about in heaps and the blood made a pond: on the prompting of devas the skeletons were collected and buried. To the south-west of these topes were four small topes where four Sakyas repulsed the army. When Prasenajit succeeded to the throne he sought a marriage alliance with the Sakyas of Kapilavastu, but these despising him as not of their class, deceived him by giving him as bride, with great ceremony, the daughter of a slave-woman. Prasenajit made this girl his queen, and she bore him a son, the prince Virūḍhaka. In due course this prince went to the home of his mother to be educated in various accomplishments, and on his arrival at Kapilavastu he lodged with his retinue in the new chapel to the south of the city. The Sakyas hearing of this became enraged at the young prince, and abused him because he— "the low son of a slave girl"— as they called him, had presumed to occupy the chapel which they had built for the use of the Buddha. When Virūḍhaka became king he promptly led an army to Kapilavastu, determined to have revenge for the insult. While his army was encamped at some distance from the city four Sakya husbandmen attacked it and drove it back. Having done this the men came to the city; but their clansmen cut them off from the clan, and drove them into exile, because that they, the lineal descendants of universal sovereigns and Dharmarājas, by having dared to commit wanton atrocities, complacently killing others, had disgraced the clan. These four men, so banished, went to the Snow Mountains and founded dynasties still existing, one in Udyāna, one in Bamian, one in Himatala, and one in Shangmi (Śambi?).

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The summary account here given by Yuan-chuang differs considerably from the history of Virūḍhaka as related in the Buddhist books. Thus some authorities represent king Prasenajit as demanding from the Sakyas of Kapilavastu one of their daughters to be his queen in order that he might have an attraction for the Buddha in his palace.¹ The Sakyas, 500 in number, consider the demand in council. They fear to refuse, yet they cannot depart from their law which forbids the marriage of their females with aliens. Their President (or Elder) Mahānama gets them out of the difficulty by sending his daughter by a female slave (or, according to one version of the story, the slave herself) to be the king's bride. But there is also a different account which represents Prasenajit as falling in love with a kind and thoughtful young maiden who turns out to be a slave of the Sakya Mahānama.² The King demands the girl from her master, who had seized her for arrears of rent due to him by her late father as his agent. The master gladly complies with the King's request, and the slave-girl becomes queen. In due course she bears a son, the prince who receives the name Virūḍhaka (or Viḍūḍabha or Vaidūrya). When this son grows to be a boy he is sent to Kapilavastu to learn archery and other accomplishments, becoming a young prince in the household or under the supervision of Mahānama, supposed to be his maternal grand-father. But the night of his arrival at the city is spent in the New Hall or Chapel, and the young Sakyas, in the circumstances described by the pilgrim, treat the prince with rudeness and violence, or, according to others, after he has left, they speak of him very contemptuously and treat his presence in the Hall as a defilement of the building. In the course of time Virūḍhaka succeeds his father as King of Kosala, having played foully for the Kingdom. One of his first acts after his accession was to collect an army for the invasion of Kapilavastu, and the punishment of its inhabitants for their wanton insults to him in the days of his boyhood. On his way, and when only a short distance from Śrāvastī, he had the memorable interview with the Buddha seated under a dead tree as already related. When the Buddha left the Sakyas to the terrible fate which they made for themselves the king renewed the invasion. While his forces were encamped in the neighbouryood of Kapilavastu, the Sakyas in the city, following the Buddha's advice, resolved to shut themselves up within the walls aud make a passive resistance. But one man Shê-ma (that is, perhaps Sama, Mr. Rockhill's Samaka) living at a distance from Kapilavastu, took up arms against the invaders, defeated them, and slew many thousands of them.¹ According to the account followed by Yuan-chuang there were four country-men who fought and repulsed the invading enemy. As the fighting had taken place without the sanction of the Sakyas, and against their decision to make only a passive resistance, the brave patriot (or patriots) not only did not receive any recognition from the besieged clansmen, but actually had to undergo the punishment of expatriation. The crime of Śama (or of the four heroes) was that he, a Kshatriya and a member of the Buddhist community, had taken human life, and caused it to be taken, in violation of the principles to which they were all vowed. When Virūḍhaka found that the Sakyas would not fight he attacked their city the gates of which were opened to him through bad advice. He then destroyed the buildings of Kapilavastu, and massacred all its inhabitants except a few who managed to escape.¹

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¹ Tsêng-yi-a-han-ching, ch. 26: Dh. p. 216.

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² Sar. Vin. Tsa-shih, ch. 7, 8 (No. 1121): Rockhill, Life, p. 74: Journal Buddhist Text Society Vol. V. P. 1.

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¹ Tsêng-yi-a-han-ching l. c.: Ch'u-yao-ching, ch. 3 (No. 1321): Rockhill, Life, p. 117.

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¹ Liu-li-wang-ching (No. 671): Mahābodhivaṃsa p. 98: Wu-fên-lü, ch. 21: Spence Hardy M. B. p. 293.

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Three or four *li* south of Kapilavastu, the pilgrim's description proceeds, in a wood of *Ni-ku-lü* (尼拘律) trees was an Asoka tope at the place where Sakya gu-lai, having attained Buddhahood and returned to his native land, met his father and preached to him. The king had sent a messenger to remind his son of his promise to return home on attaining Buddhahood, and inviting him to make the visit at once. Buddha's reply was that after the lapse of seven days he would return home. Hearing this the king ordered the streets to be cleaned; and he went in state to a distance of forty *li* from the city to await Buddha's arrival. The Buddha came through the air, escorted by devas and followed by his bhikshus, to the place where the king was waiting; from this the procession went to the *Ni-ku-lü* monastery. Not far from this was a tope on the spot where the Buddha, sitting under a large tree with his face to the east, accepted a gold-embroidered monk's robe from his aunt and foster-mother. Next to this was a tope to mark the spot at which the Buddha admitted into the Brotherhood eight princes and 500 Sakyas.

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The *ni-ku-lü* of this passage, as of other passages in the Records, stands for the Sanskrit word Nyagrodha (in Pali, Nigrodha), the Banyan tree. This transcription, which seems to represent a colloquial form of the Indian word, was probably adopted by the pilgrim from early Chinese translations of the Indian books. In his own translations from the Sanskrit Yuan-chuang uses a transcription nearer to the form nyagrodha. All this passage is unsatisfactory; and it seems to have been composed in a careless hurried manner. As the passage itself shews, and as we learn from other sources, it was not in the Banyan Wood, south of the city, that Suddhodana met the Buddha. The king went out in state along the road to Śrāvasti (or, according to some accounts, towards Rājagriha), and at the river *Lu-ha-ka* (Rohitaka?) forty *li* from Kapilavastu, waited for the Buddha's crossing into his territory.¹ Fa-hsien mentions the place at which father and son met, but he does not say anything about a tope or wood, and indeed he does not seem to have known of a Banyan Wood. There was one large banyan tree, we know, and there may have been several such in the neighbourhood. There was also near Kapilavastu the Nyagrodhārāma (in Pali the Nigrodhārāma) or Banyan Monastery here mentioned. This establishment was formed by the Buddhists of the district after their conversion. Yet our pilgrim makes the Buddha go to it on his first visit, as Buddha, to his native place.

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¹ Chung-hsü-ching, *ch.* 12: Sar. Vin. P'o-sêng-shih, *ch.* 9: Chung-pên-ch'i-ching, *ch.* 1 (No. 556): Rockhill, Life, p. 51.

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The name of the messenger sent by Suddhodana to his son was Udāyi or Kāḷudāyi. When this man came with the king's message he was converted by the Buddha and ordained, and so having come as the king's messenger he went back as the Buddha's apostle.²

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² Sar. Vin. P'o-sêng-shih l. c.

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The "great tree" under which the Buddha was sitting when he received the *Ka-sha*, or monk's robe, from his aunt Mahā Prajāpati was, according to Fa-hsien, a banyan. This pilgrim calls the robe a saṅghāṭi, and says the tree was still in existence at his time. The vestment was of fine muslin, we learn, and queen Prajāpati had made it herself. Out of kindness to her the Buddha accepted the robe, and handed it over to the Brotherhood.³

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³ Fo-shuo-fên-pie-pu-shih-ching (No. 930): Chung-a-han-ching, *ch.* 47.

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The "eight princes" of whom Yuan-chuang makes mention here were the Sakyans named, in one account, Aniruddha, Bhadi (or Bhaddiya), Nandi, Kimbila, Nanda, Upananda, Ānanda, and Devadatta. But this list does not agree with the histories of the disciples given in other works. Upāli, the barber, who left Kapilavastu in attendance on the young "princes" when these went to be ordained, also made up his mind, on the way, to join the Buddha’s Brotherhood. He was ordained before his former masters; and consequently these, on becoming bhikshus, had to reverence Upāli as their senior in religion, a service which some of them were very reluctant to render. There is not perfect agreement as to the place where the ordination of Upāli and the Sakya “princes” occurred, for the Vinaya and some other treatises refer it to Anupiya in the country of the Mallas,¹ while the pilgrims and other authorities represent the ordination as having taken place at Kapilavastu. It was in consequence of an order from king Suddhodana (or from the Sakya Elders) that the 500 young men and the eight “princes” joined the Brotherhood; but the ‘princes’ are, more properly, to be included among the 500.² Every family which had more than two sons, or only two sons, was required by the state decree to send the best son to become a Sakya bhikshu.

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¹ Dhp. 139 ff.: Vinaya Cull. VII. 1: Ssŭ-fên-lü, ch. 4.

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² Chung-hsü-ching, ch. 13: Ta-chuang-yen-lun-ching, ch. 8 (No. 1182).

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Inside the east gate of the city, on the left side of the road, was a tope where Prince Sarvārthasiddha (the P‘usa) practised various accomplishments. Outside this gate, the pilgrim continues, was a temple of Īśvara-Deva containing a stone image of the god in the attitude of rising and bowing. This was the temple into which the infant prince (the P‘usa), on the way from the place of his birth to the palace, was carried by command of the king his father (who was present with the party) to be presented to the god according to the custom of the Sakyas. As the baby was borne into the temple the stone image descended to pay respect to him, returning to its place when the baby prince (the P‘usa) was carried away.

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The place where the P‘usa while Prince Siddhārtha “practised various accomplishments” was probably the site of the school in which he learned archery and the other manly accomplishments of the Sakyas. The temple of the Deva of this passage, which is not mentioned by Fa-hsien, may have been on the site of the temple of the Sakya-Vardha (or -Vardhana) God to which according to other accounts the infant Buddha was borne. This Sakya-vardhana (Shih-ka-tsêng-chang 釋迦增長) was a Yaksha, the special protector of the Sakyas, and all Sakya children were borne to his temple to be presented to the deity and obtain his favour and protection for life.¹

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¹ Divyāv. p. 391: A-yü-wang-ching, *ch.* 2: Rockhill Life p. 117: Sar. Vin. P'o-sêng-shih, *ch.* 2.

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Continuing this description the pilgrim relates that outside of the south gate of the city, and on the left side of the road, was a tope to mark the spot at which the Prince (that is, the P'usa), competing in athletic accomplishments with the other Sakyas, shot at iron drums. His arrow pierced the drums, went thirty-two *li* to the south-east, and penetrated the ground up to the top, causing a clear spring of water to gush forth. This spot also was marked by a small tope; and the spring still existed, and had healing powers of great reputation. The people had always called it the Arrow Spring.

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Fa-hsien has a similar account of the Arrow-Well or Śarakūpa, but he has no mention of a tope. In another treatise, however, which relates the incident, a tope is stated to have been set up by believing brahmins at the side of the Well.² Of all the Sakyas who were competitors in the military exercises Nanda and Devadatta were practically the only rivals to Siddhārtha, the future Buddha; their strength and skill were very great, but they were far surpassed by the superhuman achievments of their cousin.

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² Fang-kuang-ta-chuang-yen-ching, *ch.* 4: Sar. Vin. P'o-sêng-shih, *ch.* 3.

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From the Arrow-Spring, the pilgrim proceeds, a walk of 80 or 90 *li* north-east brought one to the *La-fa-ni* (Lumbini) Grove. In this Grove was the beautiful bathing tank of the Sakyas, and about twenty-four paces from it was the old asoka tree at which the Buddha had been born into the world. On the east of this was an Asoka tope, at the place where two dragons washed the newly born prince with hot and cold water. To the east of this were two clear springs with topes where two dragons emerged on the birth of the P'usa and produced two springs. South of these was a tope where Indra received the newborn infant P'usa. Next to it were four topes to the four Devarājas who had taken charge of the baby Buddha after his birth. Near these topes was a stone pillar set up by Asoka with the figure of a horse on the top. Afterwards the pillar had been broken in the middle, and laid on the ground (that is, half of it), by a thunderbolt from a malicious dragon. Near this pillar was a small stream flowing south-east, and called by the people the Oil River. It was originally a tank of a pure oily liquid produced by the devas for the use of the Buddha's mother in cleansing herself from earthly soil after the birth of her son. The tank had become changed into a stream of water which, however, still retained its oily character.

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The La-fa-ni Grove of this passage is the "King's Park (or Garden)" of Fa-hsien, who gives its name as Lun-min (論民) that is Lummin or Lumbin, and places it 50 *li* to the east of Kapilavastu.¹ This pilgrim mentions a bathing-tank in which Mahāmāyā bathed before giving birth to her son; and also a Dragon Well, but he does not record the existence of either tope or pillar in the 'Park'. We observe, however, that the narratives of the two pilgrims agree in placing Lumbini about nine or ten miles to the east of Kapilavastu. According to others it was between that city and Devadaha, and belonged to the latter. This Garden (or Grove) is celebrated in Buddhist legend as containing the very spot at which the future Buddha emerged from his mother's womb. Its name, which appears to have been pronounced Lumbini and Lummini, was originally, according to some accounts, that of the queen of Suprabuddha, king of Devadaha, for whom the garden was made. Yuan-chuang's transcription La-fa-ni, which seems to be unknown to other authors, is apparently for Lavaṇī which means "beautiful woman". The various legends differ in the accounts which they give of this place. In some it is a Park or Grove, in some a Garden, and in some merely a part of the general forest. So also they differ as to the kind of tree under which Mahāmāyā stood when she was delivered of her child. According to the Sarvata Vinaya, and other authorities, it was an asoka tree. When king Asoka visited Lumbini he saw the actual asoka tree, and conversed with its guardian genius.² Fa-hsien saw this asoka tree still alive, and Yuan-chuang saw it, in its place, but dead. The Lalita-vistara makes the tree to have been a peepul, and the authorities used by Hardy and Bigandet call it a sāl. One Chinese translation merely has “Lin-p'i (Lumbi) trees”, and under one of these the P'usa is born.¹

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¹ Fo-kuo-chi, *ch.* 22.

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² Divyāv. p. 389.

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¹ Fo-shuo-p'u-yao-ching, ch. 2 (No. 160).

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As to the present representative of Kapilavastu there have been several sites proposed. Cunningham thought at first that the site of the city might be located at Nagar Khās, in the southern part of the Basti district, near the confines of Nepāl. But afterwards he abandoned this in favour of the site “on the bank of the Bhuila Tal or Lake of Bhuila, which is situated in Pargana-Mansūrnagar, in the new part of the Basti District, about 25 miles north-east from Faizabad and about 15 miles west-north-west from Basti”. This is the identification made, with great confidence, by Mr. Carlleyle, who thought he had discovered at the place nearly all the objects mentioned by the Chinese pilgrims.² More recently, however, this site has been abandoned; and a new one, the existence of which was pointed out by Dr. Waddell, has been discovered by the archæological explorers of the Indian Government. This is declared to be the true Kapilavastu, and the identification rests mainly on certain inscriptions on stone pillars found recently in the Nepalese Terai. Near the village of Paderia, which is about about two miles north of Bhagvānpur and about thirteen miles from Nigliva, in the Terai north of Gorakhpur, Dr. Führer found one of Asoka's monoliths. On this pillar is an inscription which records that king Piyadasi (Asoka) in the 21st year of his reign personally worshipped at the place as the spot at which the Buddha Sakyamuni was born. There is considerable difference of opinion as to the precise meaning of the rest of the inscription. It seems, however, to intimate that the king caused a pillar of polished stone to be set up at the Buddha's birth place, and reduced the Government contribution from the Lummini village.¹ With reference to this inscription we may observe that neither in the Sanskrit text of the Asokāvadāna, nor in any one of the three independent Chinese versions of it, is there mention of a stone pillar set up by the king, or of any reduction of taxation, or of the existence of a village at the Garden. According to these texts the first place which Asoka and Upagupta reach on their pilgrimage from Pāṭaliputra is the Lumbini Garden; Upagupta tells the king that this is the place of Buddha's birth, and points out the particular tree under which Mahāmāyā stood when her child was born; then the king sets up a shrine, or a tope, at the place, and makes a donation of 100 000 ounces of gold (or of precious substances), and goes away. Perhaps the shrine referred to is the one recently discovered, close to the spot where Asoka's pillar was found.² It contains a statue of Mahāmāyā, nearly life size, giving birth to the infant. The existing statue has not been closely examined, so its age is quite uncertain. Neither of the pilgrims has any reference to a tope erected by Asoka; and the topes now existing, near the shrine and inscribed pillar, are very small. Yet we find mention of a great tope at the spot where the Buddha was born,³ and about the year A. D. 764 the tope was visited, we are told, by the Chinese pilgrim known as Wuk'ung.⁴ Yuan-chuang, we have seen, mentions a stone pillar, but he does not say anything about an inscription on it. The Fang-chih, however, tells us that the pillar recorded the circumstances of Buddha's birth. Further search in the neighbourhood of Paderia may reveal the Sakya's Tank, the Dragon's Topes, Indra's Tope, and the Oily stream, all in the Lumbini Garden. About eight miles north-west from Paderia, we are told, are the ruins of Kapilavastu which are "to be traced over a length of seven English and a breadth of about three English miles", a statement not to be accepted.

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² Arch. Sur. India Vol. XII. p. 83 and XXII. p. 1 ff.

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¹ J. R. A. S. for 1897, p. 615: Epigraphia, Indica Vol. V. p. 1: Jour. des Savants, Fév. 1897, p. 73.

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² Journal Roy. As. Soc. 1897 p. 619.

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³ Hsin-ti-kuan-ching, ch. 1 (No. 955).

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⁴ Shi-li-ching: Journal Asiatique 1895 p. 357.

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Then we have the Asoka pillar of Nigliva already noticed (pp. 7, 16) the inscription on which shews us that the city of the previous Buddha Konakamuni, mentioned and probably visited by the Chinese pilgrims, stood near the site of that village. Nigliva is "situated 38 miles north-west of the Uska Bazar station of the Bengal and North-west Railway, in the Nepalese tahsil Taulihvā of the Zillah Butaul". Dr. Führer places the ruins of the city of Krakuchanda Buddha seven miles south-west from the ruins of Kapilavastu. As we have seen there is a serious disagreement between the pilgrims as to the sites of the two old cities of the Past Buddhas with respect to Kapilavastu. Yuan-chuang makes Krakuchanda's city to have been ten miles south of Kapilavastu, while Fa-hsien makes it to have been about seven miles to the south-west of that city; and Yuan-chuang locates Konakamuni's city to the south-east, while Fa-hsien places it due west of Kapilavastu. Further discoveries in the Terai and adjoining country may give more certainty as to the relative positions of the interesting remains of old Buddhism in the district. The two stūpas of Krakuchanda Buddha have been discovered, we are told, at a place about seven miles to the south-west of the ruins of Kapilavastu, and so about the spot indicated by Fa-hsien as the site of that Buddha's old city. Then Nigliva, which, as we have seen, has the stūpa of Konakamuni Buddha, is about 15 miles to the south-west of Paḍeria (Lumbini), a location which corresponds roughly to Fa-hsien's description. Thus the narrative of the earlier of the pilgrims is corroborated and illustrated by these important discoveries, and the later pilgrim's account receives from them useful corrections.

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The most recent discovery in the Sakya country is that of the Piprāwa Stūpa an account of which was given to the Royal Asiatic Society by the Secretary on the 10th August 1900. This stūpa enclosed certain vases which contained bone-relics and various other articles. On one of the urns is a short inscription which, in Dr. Bühler’s translation,¹ is— "This relic-shrine of divine Buddha is (the donation) of the Sakya Sukiti brothers associated with their sisters, sons and wives."

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¹ J. R. A. S. 1898, p. 388.

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But Dr. Rhys Davids translates it:²

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² The Piprawa Stupa on the Birdpore Estate containing the Relics of Buddha. ibid. p. 588.

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"This shrine for relics of the Buddha, the august one, (is that) of the Sakyas, the brethren of the distinguished one, in association with their sisters, their children and their wives".³

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³ [Professor Pischel, in his article in the Z. D. M. G. 1902, p. 157 has probably solved the problem of the difficult word Sukiti which he interprets as ‘pious foundation’. So the translation will run: "This shrine &c. is the pious foundation of the Sakyas, his brethren in association &c. Ed]

Rāma or Rāmagrāma

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The pilgrim goes on to relate that "from this" (that is, the Lumbini Garden) he travelled through a wild jungle east for more than 200 *li* (about 40 miles) to Lan-mo (Rāma) country. This had been waste and wild for a long time, and its area was not defined: its towns were heaps of ruins and there was a very scanty population.

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To the sout-heast of the old city (that is, the former capital), he tells us, was a brick tope nearly 100 feet high. This had been built by the king of this country (who obtained one of the eight portions of the Buddha's relics) to enclose his share for preservation and worship. Beside this Relic Tope was a clear tank the dragon of which, when he went out for a stroll, assumed the form of a snake, and performed pradakshiṇa to the Tope by crawling round it to the right. The wild elephants also came in companies and strewed flowers at the tope; all this went on without intermission. When king Asoka was dispersing the Buddha-relics of the eight topes, having taken away those of seven of the topes, he came to Rāma in order to carry off the relics in its tope also. As he was about to begin work the dragon of the tank, afraid of being dispossessed, changed himself into a brahmin and tapping the [king's] elephant in the face, said "Your Majesty's kindness extends to all Buddhadom, and you have largely sown the seeds of good works. I venture to beg you to dismount and deign to visit my abode". Asoka accepted the invitation, and followed the dragon to his palace. There overpowered by the splendour of the dragon's paraphernalia for the worship of the relics, he granted the dragon's petition, and abandoned the idea of rifling the tope. A memorial at the place of coming out from the tank recorded the event.

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The situation here assigned to Rāma agrees with that given by Fa-hsien who places it five yojanas to the east of the place where the Buddha was born.¹ The Fang-chih also agrees with the Records, but the Life makes Rāma to be above 500 *li* (about 100 miles) east from Kapilavastu, and this distance agrees roughly with that given in some of the Buddhist books, that is, thirteen Yojanas.

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¹ Fo-kuo-chi, ch. 23.

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Some texts of the Life place the Relic Tope to the east of the old capital, and some make its height to be only fifty feet. The Life also does not make any mention of the dragon of the tank changing himself into a snake, but states that he often assumed the form of a man and performed pradakshiṇa to the tope.

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For the words in the above passage "tapping the [king's] elephant in the face, said" the original is *Ch'ien-k'ou-hsiang-yue* (前叩象曰), and Julien translates this— "se prosternant aux pieds de l'éléphant, lui parle ainsi". This rendering is manifestly wrong from every point of view. The phrase *k'ou-hsiang* here means to *tap* or *strike* the elephant as *k'ou-ma* is to *tap* a horse. But these phrases are used figuratively in the senses of *boldly, sternly, seriously*, and it is not necessary to suppose that any actual tapping or knocking takes place. In the present passage the word "king's", which I have added, is really not needed, and we are only to understand that the dragon-brahmin faced the king, and addressed to him an earnest remonstrance.

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The story of king Asoka and the dragon who guarded the Relic Tope at Rāma is told in several Buddhist books with variations. The Divyāvadāna, like our pilgrim's narrative, represents king Asoka as going to the Nāga's Relic Tope, and on seeing the nāga's worship, as going away without interfering with the sacred relics.¹ But the "Tsa-a-han-ching" represents Asoka as carrying off the relics in the tope in spite of the dragon's remonstrances.² The Sinhalese have a legend about the nāga (or also nāgas) and this tope. According to one of their books the relics were removed from Rāmagāma (probably the Rāma of our author) by supernatural means to Ceylon; but this is a late and local fiction.³

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¹ Divyāv. p. 380.

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² Tsa-a-han-ching, ch. 23.

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³ Mah. ch. 31. See Rhys Davids on these legends; J. R. A. S. 1901, pp. 397—410.

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Near to the Relic Tope, the pilgrim records, was the Śrāmaṇera Monastery so called because its temporal affairs were always managed by a śrāmaṇera or unordained Brother.

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We have a short history of the origin of this Monastery, and the account given agrees in the main with the narrative by Fa-hsien at whose time the establishment was a recent institution. Yuan-chuang found in it only a small number of Brethren, who were very civil and hospitable.

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From the Śrāmaṇera Monastery the pilgrim, we are told, went east through a great wood above 100 *li* (about 20 miles) to a great Asoka tope. This was at the place where the Prince (the P'usa) made a halt, having gone over the city-wall of Kapilavastu at midnight and ridden on until daylight. Here also he gave expression to the settled purpose of his life in these words— "Here I go out of prison, put off fetters, unyoke for the last time".¹ Then the Prince took the jewel from his crown and handed it to his groom Chandaka to take back to the king, his father. At the same time he gave the groom this message to the king— "My present retirement to a great distance is not a wanton separation from you—I desire to have done with impermanence and put an end to moral defects". Then he spoke words of comfort to the disconsolate servant, and sent him back.

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¹ The Chinese for this soliloquy is— 是我出籠樊去罷銷最後釋駕之處, and Julien translates— "Aujourd'hui, je sors enfin de ma prison et je brise mes liens. Ce fut en cet endroit qu'il quitta son char pour la dernière fois." This rendering mistranslates the first word of the sentence, and ignores the construction.

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Fa-hsien agrees with our pilgrim in placing the tope of the "sending back" at about 20 miles east from the Śrāmaṇera Monastery, but he does not ascribe the tope to Asoka. So also in the Lalitavistara,² and in other works where this tope is mentioned it is merely said to have been erected by "people of after times". It was known as the Tope of Chandaka's Return, that is, the tope which marked the spot where the Prince's groom began his journey back to Kapilavastu with his master's horse. But the Chinese scriptures are not agreed as to the precise locality at which the parting between the Prince and Chandaka took place, some representing it as at a much greater distance than 20 miles from Kapilavastu.

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² Lalitavistara, Foucaux, p. 214.

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To the east of the tope of Chandaka's Returning was a dead jambu, tree and at the side of this was a small tope. It was here that the Prince (the P'usa) exchanged his princely robes for the deer-skin dress given to him by a hunter who was Indra in disguise.

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Near this spot was an Asoka tope to mark the place at which the P'usa cut off his hair, and had his head shaved by a deva; the hair cut off was taken by Indra to Heaven to be an object of worship.

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The pilgrim next mentions incidentally that accounts varied as to the age of the P'usa when he went out from home, some making him nineteen, and some twenty nine years old at the time. So also, he tells us, authorities differed as to whether it was on the 8th or the 15th day of the second half of the month Visakha that the Prince left his home to begin the religious life.

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From the Head-shaving Tope the pilgrim travelled, he tells us, south-east through a wild country for more than 180 *li* (about 36 miles) to a Banyan Grove which had a tope above 30 feet in height. This, he says, was the Embers Tope built by the brahmins of the place over the charcoal fragments which they found at the scene of the Buddha's cremation. These brahmins arrived too late to obtain a share of the actual relics, and they were allowed to take a portion of the dead embers— "ashes-charcoal" —from "the place of cremation". Carrying these to their native place the brahmins there erected this shrine for the worship of the embers; ever since its erection the tope has given miraculous testimonies, and at it many prayers of the afflicted have been answered.

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In an old monastery near the Embers Tope were remains of the sitting-place and exercise-walk of the Four Past Buddhas. Then on either side of this monastery, the pilgrim adds, were some hundreds of topes among which was one built by king Asoka which, although in ruins, still shewed more than 100 feet above ground.

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In this passage Yuan-chuang places the Embers Tope in the Nyagrodhavana or Banyan Grove, and this agrees with a Tibetan account translated by Mr. Rockhill.¹ In it it is only one Brahmin, named Nyagrodha from the Nyagrodhika country, who obtains the embers. In the Pali account of the distribution of the relics it is "the Moriyas of Pipphalavana" who come late to the scene of the cremation, and have to be content with the remnants of burnt fuel.² So also in two Chinese writings the "Changa-han-ching" and the "Mahāmāya-ching", it is Pi-po (that is Pippala) villagers who get the embers.¹ One treatise, the "Pan-ni-huan-ching", has an Embers Tope, and also an Ashes Tope, erected by different men at different places;² the former is built by a Tao-shi, or saintly recluse, and the latter by a brahmin; but neither of these topes seems to have been at a place near Rāmagrāma. The "Fo-pan-ni-huan-ching" agrees with the "Pan-ni-huan-ching" as to the erection of an Embers and an Ashes Tope, and places the latter in the Che-ka-kie country.³ In the "Ta-pan-nie-pan-ching",⁴ however, there is only the Embers Tope and it seems to be located at Kuśinagara.

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¹ Rockhill, Life, p. 147.

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² Rhys Davids, 'Buddhist Suttas' (S. B. E. Vol. XI.) p. 134.

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¹ Ch'ang-a-han-ching, ch. 4: Mahāmāya-ching, ch. 2 (No. 382).

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² Pan-ni-huan-ching, ch. 2 (No. 119).

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³ Fo-pan-ni-huan-ching, ch. 2 (No. 552).

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⁴ Ta-pan-nie-p'an-ching, ch. 2 (No. 118).

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The "Rāma Country" of the Chinese pilgrims, the Rāma Village (Rāmagrāma) of various writers, seems to have been little known until it attained celebrity for its tope containing bodily relics of Gautama Buddha. And it is interesting to observe that in the accounts of the division of the relics which assign a portion to Rāmagrāma there are some differences of detail, and that all accounts do not agree in assigning a share to this place. In the Pali sūtra of the "Great Decease" the "Koliyas of Rāmagāma" go to Kusinārā and obtain an eighth share of the relics; so also in a Vinaya treatise the Kou-lu-lo of Lo-mo (Rāma) obtain a share.⁵ In the Pali version from which Bigandet's information was obtained it was the "king of Rama" who took action in the matter.⁶ In the appendix to the Mahāmāya-ching it is the Kou-li (Koli) people of Lo-mo-ka (Rāmaka, or for Rāmagrāma) who obtain the relics, and so in the "Yu-hsing-ching" of the Ch'ang-a-han-ching, and also in the Pan-ni-huan-ching where the name of the country is given as k'o-lo (可樂) that is "Enjoyable", evidently for Rāma. But in no other of the Nirvāṇa treatises in Chinese translations, so far as I know, is there any mention of Rāmagrāma in connection with the distribution of the Buddha's relics. And the Tibetan text translated by Rockhill is also apparently without the name of either the country Rāma, or the people Koliya, in this matter. But Rockhill thinks that the Sgra-sgrogs of his text may be Rāmagrāma, and the Kshatriya "Krodtya of Sgra-sgrogs" obtained a share, and this was "honoured by a king of nāgas".¹

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