On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c19.7

v2.c19.7

South of the Ganges, the pilgrim proceeds, was an old city above 70 *li* (about fourteen miles) in circuit, the foundations of which were still visible although the city had long been a wilderness. In the far past when men lived for countless years it had been called "Kusumapura city" from the numerous flowers (Kusuma) in the royal inclosure (pura). Afterwards when men's lives still extended to milleniums the name was changed to "Pāṭaliputra city". The pilgrim gives the following account of the origin of the city and its second name. Once on a time a very learned brahmin had a large number of disciples. A party of these on a certain occasion wandered into the wood, and a young man of their number appeared unhappy and disconsolate. To cheer and amuse the gloomy youth his companions agreed to get up a mock marriage for him. A man and a woman were chosen to stand as parents for the bridegroom, and another couple represented the parents of the imaginary bride. They were all near a pāṭali tree at the time, and as the name of the tree had a feminine termination they decided to make it the bride. All the ceremonies of a marriage were gone through, and the man acting as father of the bride broke off a branch of the pāṭali tree, and gave it to the bridegroom to be his bride. When all was over, and the other young men were going home, they wanted their companion, the bridegroom, to go with them, but he insisted on remaining near the tree. Here at dusk an old man appeared with his wife and a young maiden, and the old man gave the maiden to the young student to be his wife. This couple lived together for a year when a son was born to them. The student, now tired of the lonely wild life of the woods, wanted to go back to his home, but the old man, his father-in-law, induced him to remain by the promise of a properly built establishment, and the promise was carried out very promptly. Afterwards when the seat of government was removed to this place it got the name Pāṭaliputra because it had been built by the gods for the son of the pāṭali tree, and it kept the name ever since.