Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c33.328

v2.c33.328

² Hiouen Thsang says (Beal, ii. 145) that the old capital occupied by Bimbisāra was called Kusāgra. It was afflicted by frequent fires, and Bimbisāra, on the advice of his ministers, abandoned it and built the new city on the site of the old cemetery. The building of this city was hastened on by a threatened invasion by the king of Vesāli. The city was called Rājagṛha because Bimbisāra was the first person to occupy it. Both Hiouen Thsang and Fa Hsien (Giles: 49) record another tradition which ascribed the foundation of the new city to Ajātasattu. Pargiter (Ancient Ind. Historical Tradition, p. 149) suggests that the old city was called Kusāgrapura, after Kusāgra, an early king of Magadha. In the Rāmāyaṇa (i. 7, 32) the city is called Vasumatī. The Mahābhārata gives other names—Bārhadrathapura (ii. 24, 44), Varāha, Vṛṣabha, Ṛṣigiri, Caityaka (see PHAI., p. 70). It was also called Bimbisārapurī and Magadhapura (SNA. ii. 584).