Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c4.6

Language: English

v1.c4.6.1

The fact that the Brāhmaṇas of this part of the country are found, in the Buddhist works, to be tracing their descent from the Brāhmaṇas of the northern parts of India (udicca) shows that the source of nobility and purity of descent were believed to be existing in the north and not in the region where Buddhism flourished at first.¹ The inference drawn from the above evidences that Buddhism flourished only in the tract where the Brāhmaṇic orthodoxy was not so strong is partially corroborated by the evidences furnished by the Pāli texts. The first evidence is the definition of the Majjhima-desa of the Buddhists.² Its boundary is given as follows: On the east Kajaṅgala, a place 400 li east of Campā (Bhagalpur); on the south-east the river Salalavatī (Sarāvatī); on the south Satakaṇṇika; on the west the Brāhmaṇa district of Thūna (identified by S. N. Mazumdar with Sthāneśvara); and on the north Usīra-dhaja mountain (identified by Hultzsch with Usiragiri near Kankhal, Hardwar). The boundaries show that the Buddhists went a little beyond the limits of the less Brāhmaṇised country on the western side. The second and stronger evidence is the names of countries found in the Nikāyas. The northernmost places said to have been visited by Buddha are Kammassadhamma and Thullakoṭṭhita of the Kuru³ while the other place-names are included within the territories of Kāsi-Kosala, Aṅga-Magadha, Videha, and the eastern districts ruled by the several clans.

v1.c4.6.2

The third evidence is the list of places suggested by Ānanda as desirable for Buddha's parinibbāna, viz., Campā, Rājagaha, Sāvatthi, Sāketa, Kosambi and Benares.¹ Though the list is not expected to be exhaustive, it gives an idea of the area wherein resided the largest number of Buddhist lay-devotees. The fourth and last evidence that we can adduce regarding the early home of Buddhism is the list of countries, the rulers of which claimed a share of Buddha's relics for the purpose of worship. They are Licchavis of Vesālī, Sakyas of Kapilavatthu, Bulis of Allakappa, Koliyas of Rāmagāma, Brāhmaṇas of Veṭhadīpa, Mallas of Pāvā, Mallas of Kusinārā, Moriyas of Pipphalivana. It is further mentioned that besides the above who wanted to worship the relics there were other worshippers, in Rāmagāma, Gandhārapura, Kaliṅga,² but this seems to be a later interpolation. Though Buddhism was confined mainly to the territories mentioned above, the geographical knowledge of the Buddhists extended all over India; they were acquainted with the sixteen mahājanapadas and one suttanta, viz., the Mahāgovinda,³ relates how India was divided into eight dominions, thus, the Central kingdom of Reṇu and around it Kaliṅga (Dantapura), Assaka (Potana), Avanti (Māhissatī), Sovīra (Roruka), Videha (Mithilā), Aṅga (Campā), Kāsī (Bārāṇasi). There were, however, adherents hailing from distant countries like Madda and Gandhāra¹ in the north, Paithān in the south and Avanti in the west.

v1.c4.6.3

In the *Sutta Nipāta*, one of the oldest books of the Sutta-piṭaka, we have the following account of Bāvari’s tour: the ascetic Bāvari lived on the banks of the Godāvarī in the country of the Assakas (the district round Paithān)² ruled by king Aḷaka. He sent his sixteen disciples to Buddha. Their route lay through Paṭiṭṭhāna, Māhissati, Ujjeni, Gonaddha, Vedisa, Kosambī, Sāketa, Sāvatthi, Setavyā, Kapilavatthu, Kusinārā, Pāvā, Bhoganagara, and Vesālī (Pāsānaketiya).³ Most of the place-names are well-known and indicate that though Buddhism did not actually spread as far as the western part of the present Central Provinces, there were adherents hailing from these far off districts. Taking all the above evidences into consideration we may conclude that Buddhism during the first century of its existence did not have its centres beyond Sāvatthi on the north, Campā on the east, and Kosambī on the west and south, but there is no doubt that the fame of this religion spread all over western and northern India from the country of the Assakas to that of the Maddas of the North, attracting converts and lay-devotees from regions beyond the limits of *Majjhima-desa*.