On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c20.122

v2.c20.122

The pilgrim proceeds to relate that to the north-east of Bālāditya’s Temple was a tope where Buddha had preached and to the north-west was a sitting-place of the Four Past Buddhas; to the south was a bronze (*tu-shi*) temple in course of construction by king Śīlāditya. To the east of this above 200 paces and outside the wall of the establishment was king Pūrṇavarma’s copper image of the Buddha more than 80 feet high in a six-storeyed building. Two or three *li* north from this was a brick temple with a large image of Tāra P'usa, a popular object of worship. Within the south gate of the wall was a large well which had been miraculously produced in the Buddha’s lifetime. To the south-west of the Nālandā sanghārāma, eight or nine *li*, was the town *Kou-li-ka* (Kolika) in which was an Asoka tope; this was the place of Mudgalaputra’s birth and death. This leads to an account of the conversion and ordination of Mudgalaputra and his friend Śāriputra. Three or four *li* to the east of Kolika, the pilgrim continues, was a tope at the place where king Bimbisāra came in great state to meet the Buddha on the latter’s first visit to Rājagṛiha as Buddha. Above twenty *li* south-east from this was *Ka-lo-pi-na-ka* town with an Asoka tope; this was the birth place of Śāriputra, and the scene of his death. The pilgrim then tells the story of Śāriputra’s birth, his religious life, and his final passing away.