On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c21.s1.2

v2.c21.s1.2

The statement here made by Yuan-chuang that Champā was the first city built on the renovation of the world is found in several of the Buddhist scriptures, but without the story of the goddess.¹ In the scriptures we find the Buddha often visiting this city, and lodging at the tank called Gaggarā, in Chinese transcriptions Ka-ga or Ga-ga (揭伽 or 伽伽).² The country was ruled for a time by the Aṅga dynasty, and it is called the Aṅga country, but in the Buddha’s time was subject to Magadha.³ Fa-hsien makes Champā to have been 18 yojanas east from Pāṭaliputra down the Ganges, and on the south side of that river; he calls it a large country; he mentions topes at the site of Buddha’s ching-shê, that is, vihāra, and exercise ground, and at the sitting-place of the Four Buddhas with resident Brethren.⁴ In several of the Buddhist scriptures the capital of this country is represented as a large and flourishing city. The transcription of the name given here by our pilgrim, Chanp'o (瞻波 or 婆), is that used by Fa-hsien; another way of transcribing the name is Chan-p'o (占波). Cunningham has identified the city Champā of this passage with the modern Bhāgalpur, and this identification has been accepted.⁵ But Champā was the name given also to a large district which apparently included our pilgrim’s Iraṇaparvata as we find the scene of the story of the Buddha and Śroṇaviṃśatikoṭi laid in Champā. Iraṇa and Champā are also mentioned together as having a great supply of war elephants.