Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c15.s1.16

c15.s1.16

The *Dīgha Nikāya*,¹ the *Buddhavamsa*,² and the *Mahāvamsa Ṭīkā*³ all indicate that the chief town and centre of Moriyan power was at Pipphalivana. This town is apparently identical with the *Nyagrodhavana* or Banyan Grove, a village in the Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh which contained the famous Embers' *stūpa* and is mentioned by Hsüan Tsang.⁴ Fa-hsien tells that the *stūpa* lay four *yojanas* to the east of the river Anomā (Rāpti) and twelve *yojanas* to the west of Kusinārā.⁵ Cunningham commented that as Kāsiā (Kusinārā) lay 35 miles to the east of Gorakhpur, the Moriya town could not have been situated very far from the last mentioned city.⁶ There are no serious arguments against this identification, which we provisionally accept.