On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c20.134

v2.c20.134

The mountain of Indra's Cave of this passage has been indentified by Cunningham with the small isolated mountain of Fa-hsien, and both with the modern Giryek.¹ But this double identification, as Fergusson has pointed out, is open to objections.² In a sūtra of the Dīgha Nikāya and in the corresponding Chinese texts, Indra's Cave was in the mountain called Vediyaka, to the north of the Āmra-Park Village on the east of Rājagriha, and in the north side of the mountain.¹ The Cave of the canonical books could not have been in the side of a precipice, as Buddha is represented in them as walking up and down in front of it in conversation with Ānanda.² Then Yuan-chuang represents the mountain as being covered with a dense growth of vegetation, and the Vediyaka mountain was, at least in the Buddha's time, without any trees to give shade and shelter to the bhikshus. Indra once visited Buddha in the cave in this mountain, and the god came attended by the Gandharva musician and a company of other gods. On this occasion Indra stated his doubts and difficulties to Buddha who replied to them one by one. This visit had no connection with one paid to the Buddha on the Gridhrakūṭa mountain by the same Gandharva musician by name Pañchasikkha. Fa-hsien's small isolated hill may be, as Ferguson supposes, at Behār, although the difference in distance is very great. Yuan-chuang's Indra-Cave mountain may possibly be the Videha of other writers, by mistake for Vediyaka. In the sūtras which tell of Indra's questions there is no mention of the number 42, nor is there any writing down of question or answer.