On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c17.s1.72

v2.c17.s1.72

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.