Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c12.2809

v1.c12.2809

Kusinārā.—The capital of the Mallas and the scene of the Buddha’s death. At that time it was a small city, “a branch-township with wattle-and-daub houses in the midst of the jungle,” and Ānanda was, at first, disappointed that the Buddha should have chosen it for his Parinibbāna. But the Buddha, by preaching the Mahā-Sudassana Sutta, pointed out to him that in ancient times it had been Kusāvātī, the royal city of Mahā-Sudassana.¹ Between Kusinārā and Pāvā, three gāvutas away²—from where the Buddha came to Kusinārā on his last journey from Rājagaha, stopping at various places—lay the stream of Kakuṭṭha on the banks of which was the Ambavana; beyond that was the Hiraññavatī river, and near the city, in a south-westerly direction, lay the Upavattana, the Sāla-grove of the Mallas, which the Buddha made his last resting-place.³