On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c18.s2.62

v2.c18.s2.62

With the mention of the Tope of the Second Council our pilgrim brings to an end his account of the city Vaiśāli and its suburbs. The place, as has been stated, has been identified by Cunningham with the site of the modern village of Besārh to the east of the river Gandak,¹ but we need not accept the identification. From the Buddhist scriptures we do not get much light or guiding as to the precise situation of Vaiśāli. We are told that it was not far from the south side of the Snow Mountains, and that to its north were seven "black mountains" (that is, mountains on which the snow melted), and to the north of these was the Gandhamādana, the home of Kinnaras.² From other authorities we learn that the city was in the Vrijji territory not far from Pāva,³ or that it was in Kosala.⁴ The Mahāvana or Great Forest, so often mentioned in connection with Vaiśāli, was so called on account of its great extent: it reached to Kapilavastu and thence to the Snow Mountains, was a virgin forest, and was without inhabitants. The word Vaiśāli is explained as meaning "spacious" or "magnificent", and Licchavi (or Lecchavi) is said to mean "skin-thin" or "same-skin", the name being treated as a derivative of cchavi (chchhavi) which means "skin".⁵